Vacation Time!

I am off tomorrow for a month long vacation in beautiful British Columbia!. We are renting a very large house in Kelowna, with 2 other families that are good friends of ours. All in all there will be 6 adults, as well as 6 kids ranging in ages from 10-18 The house is across the road from the lake and also has its own private swimming pool and hot tub. I don't think anyone will be bored! Kelowna, is in the Okanagan area of B.C, which is known for its fruit and vineyards as well as having very hot dry summers. Oh yeah...the house is only a few minutes walk from some of the local wineries, which offer tasting tours! Could be trouble! After that we are off to Vancouver Island to spend some time in our other house by the sea, and we also plan on meeting up with our other friends, who reside on the Island, for a few days. I am going to relax and enjoy this time with my family and friends, so probably won't be near the computer at all. Probably a good thing! I wish all my readers a super summer, and I will return in about a month with lots of interesting news...I hope!
Susan Pin It

Garden visitors

These two little guys (or gals?) have been around with their Mom on several occasions lately. They are so adorable and it is so fun to watch them prance around the yard. I finally managed to capture them on my camera.

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The Calgary Stampede! Yahoo!

This week my husband and I took our son down to the Calgary Stampede fairgrounds for the day. Having grown up in and around Calgary, we tend not to go to the annual event every year, but decided this year would we a good time to once again experience "the greatest outdoor show on earth"! The Calgary Stampede started in 1912 and is the biggest rodeo event in the world. It runs for ten days every July, with over 1 million people attending. There is also a midway as well as stage shows, agricultural displays, vendor market and First Nations exhibits. Free pancake breakfasts are held around the city all during the 10 day event, and often include country western bands and square dancing! Many people dress up in their western gear and cowboy boots and hats, and the whole city parties!

My husband and son went on several rides, but since I do not do rides, I held our backpacks of stuff while they experienced the thrills. Of course there was great people watching, which kept me entertained! They are the 2 on the right.

We saw the Superdogs show, which is always very enjoyable, checked out all the vendors, played some midway games, went to the agricultural displays, toured the lottery dream home and bought some lottery tickets for the big truck and boat prize. Check out this guy:

He was done up to look like bronze statue, and he kept extremely still, not even blinking an eye! It took awhile to figure out if he was real or a statue! Apparantly, among the new foods on the midway this year were deep fried jelly beans and deep fried oreo cookies! We stuck with the tried and true mini donuts and gourmet caramel apples. Of course my son got his fix of Dippin' Dots ice cream!


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Under the Sea

The inspiration for a necklace I made for my daughter just before she left for Australia, was from a beach find during last years vacation. We were on holidays in Tofino, on the West coast of Vancouver Island. During our holiday, we met up with our friends for a few fun filled days by the sea, and while we were taking a stroll on the beach, my girlfriend and I found the "Seaweed Thing"! It was a mass of seaweed entangled with shells, and stones and we just thought it was really neat! Here is my friend holding our find, it is the long mass that she is holding in her right hand which I call the Seaweed Thing!

So I finally got around to making a necklace inspired by this bit of ocean nature, and this is what I came up with:

I decided to call it "Under The Sea", which is a Disney song from the movie Little Mermaid, which was one of my daughters favorite movies when she was little. I used sterling silver chains, freshwater pearls, a silver sand dollar, Swarovski sea stars, a lampwork bead that reminded me of beach glass, copper rings and a pretty silver hammered heart, all wired together.

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Thank you!

I just wanted to say thank you to all my friends who left comments for me in my last post regarding my daughters move to Australia! Your wonderful comments meant a lot to me, as the last few days have been difficult. Yes there have been many tears, some shed in private, so that no one could see me cry, and of course I sobbed my heart out at the airport when she left on Friday. She called me Sunday evening, to let me know that she had made it to Brisbane safely, which made me feel a little better. I also hope that all of my American friends had a super July 4th holiday weekend!

The lovely Nicole, at Beadwright, felt I needed cheering up and awarded me the "One Lovely Blog Award". To accept this award I must nominate another 7 blogs, so here are my nominees:

Duck and Wheel with String

Splitrock Ranch

Sand and Sea Designs

Sweet Bead Studio

Sundown bead Designs Rhetoric
KS Jewellery Designs
Crafts and Cooking


Tag you're it!

I was also tagged by my furry friends at Beaded Tail, in a game in which I am to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder, of my photos. So here is the photo, which is actually a favorite secret spot of mine, located about a 15 minute drive from my home. It is along the banks of the Elbow river, in a wonderful wilderness area,called Kananaskis Country. I named this spot Mystic Canyon. It is a fantastic place to go to relax and reflect on life and nature.
I am tagging the following friends to play this game.
Please feel free to play along or not..you are not obligated,it's just a bit of fun.

A Rose by Name
Lenox knits

Storybeader

Sweetwater Designs
ChatElaine Jewellery
Cinnamon Spice and everything Nice

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Off Down Under

On Friday, Daughter # 2 is leaving for Australia. Daughter #2, is the brunette in the photo, I am in the center, and Daughter #1 is the blonde. Last year, she met a wonderful guy while she was living and working in Banff...and yes he is from Australia. They fell in love, lived together for 9 months here in Canada, and now she is off to spend some serious time with him in his country. She will be gone for about a year....and there is a strong possibility that if all goes well, that she will make Australia her permanent home. She has sold her truck, and most of her possessions, so this is a big deal for her. She is almost 29 years old, and if I had been in her shoes at her age, I would probably do the same thing. What an adventure! I am going to miss her terribly, and even although she has lived on her own for 10 years, she has always been somewhere here in Canada, usually close by. Australia seems so far away, the other side of the world...it is not like you can just pop over for a weekend visit! I am totally supportive of her decision, and I love her boyfriend, and I have not cried in front of her...yet!

Here is a photo of the 3 of us when they were little...and I was a bit younger too!

Another photo of them as little girls.
I just know that seeing her off at the airport is going to have me balling!
"I love you, and will miss you, Chipmunk!"
Love Mom Pin It