New Happenings

The year started off with my happiest hobby, photography.  Except I wasn't the photographer but more like the subject of the photograph.  But that's okay because we took our larger family photographs.  I'm glad we did it on New Years Day because it's an easy date to remember.

And the year is already just flying by.  I'm trying to enjoy every last bit of my maternity leave as well as get ready for the birthday extravaganza week.  January 7th was a birthday party, my nieces bday is on the 10th, followed by my big day on the 12th, followed by my nephew on the 13th..

It's been harder to even get on the computer as Cammie is now a hold onto mom kind of walker or a pick me up kind of gal, followed by a I don't need to nap kind of attitude.  It's all good practice for next month and day care!

Then we just wait until March which gives me a month to adjust to my new back to work schedule..

Here are a sampling of our portraits we took.  It's our first one done as a family and we love them!

The cousins are so cute together!

Our family of 3!

Our cute crawler

All smiles, what she does best!

Next stop, MIL leaves and my parents arrive.  I've gotta soak up all of this time I have off before back to work!

4 days old

Our good friend and photo buddy came over and snapped away for me the below photos on March 20th.  I'll be taking photos later on, but it's best for me to rest for the most part.  I'm also having issues uploading and making pics smaller for web with my new laptop.  Will figure it out in due time.

 Swimmer feet already - 9cm's.  Longer than my middle finger.

 Yes she's so alert.

Our tired little girl.

I think she's got a mix of my hair and P's Irish blood in there.  Still she's even cuter in person!  

Ok yes I'm biased but I assure you I'm not joking.

I'm officially on Mat Leave

It feels a bit funny to wake up each day just knowing that in a few short weeks our lives will really change forever.  I finally hit week 37 of pregnancy and with that I'm officially off of work, taking some vacation time to relax and finish up some loose ends.


For the most part I'm very tired and usually sick so it's not much of a vacation.

 Here is another photo from my last night out with the girls baby shower.

 And a pic of me today as I keep growing around the belly.

I do remember some beautiful flowers springing up last year.  They have done it again, but I just don't have the energy to go down there to take some photos of the beautiful flowers.  Oh well...  Time!

It's Finally Summer

I've been down because we really were not having any type of summer that we normally have here in Victoria. Well I finally got my wish last Wednesday July 7 and Thursday July 8 where we broke our record temperatures of 32.6 C. I know it's not hot, but remember we do live next to the ocean! To give you a perspective, the day before our high was just 16C!

Here are a few of photos from my parents visit last month to the city by the sea of Sydney.  This is a fun place to walk around, explore and eat a good meal.

 Nice new sculpture in the park.

 Views of low tide and Mt. Baker from far away.

 Beautiful views of the Olympic Mountain Range.

 Our body guard for the day.

 Cute painting I liked.

 My dad and his obsession with these sculptures.

 Cute duckling

Ways Sydney beautifies their city in the summer.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer breaks.

Happy New Year

I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately and truly enjoying the 10 days off I haven't had since April!  Yes my second vacation all year that was more than 4 days long.  It was much needed time to catch up on so many things.

Hope everyone got to view some of the partial eclipse, or at least today's blue moon.  I know the eclipse wasn't visible at all in North America.  We took a shot of the moon a few days ago while there were still sunny skies.

Yes This is Winter in Victoria.

And a bit closer pic of the moon, with

Mt. Baker in the background.

And lastly, a bit of a laugh.  Here's my year in review.
(Click to view larger)

Happy New Year everyone!!!

City Views

Sunday afternoon we went walking around Victoria and Beacon Hill Park. It game me a great chance to take some photos of the beauty surrounding our home.

We started out seeing a few baby ducklings doing their own thing. It was so cute!

Sitting on the Fence. I still don't understand peacocks.
They are one funny bird!

We walked a little more until we reached the ocean and had this beautiful view.

I thought this shot of the lone runner was really neat.

Just sitting watching time go by.. Ah, it's so beautiful here in Victoria!

Weekend Snapshots

My good friend took these photos of me this weekend from the swim meet.

I'm in the first lane.

Posing.  I'm not fond of it, but it's a good shot.

Me swimming my favorite stroke - Breaststroke

Weekend in Photos

Here's a look at the photo tour I took over the weekend. Well I actually took 3 large tours, a great way to people watch and enjoy the city.

I managed to get a few laughs in with some of these captures. See if you would agree too.

Are they getting ready to up into outer space? I chuckle every time I see the whale watching tour boats go out and come back in. Even if it is 30C, they wear these beastly suits.

An Empress Sky

Spying a Tourist.
She was up high looking out her hotel room, obviously quite excited.

A beautiful evening.

Heading out on a jet plane, or a float plane?

Fall Leaves

Swapping boats?

The Fisherman's Wharf

Finding a Sea Lion or two.
These guys were getting a load of fish from the tourists.

The Seawall, all blue and beautiful. Looking out towards the East.


One Lonely Cruise Ship ready to leave the port of Victoria.

Beautiful colors just after sunset.

I might mention that I finally did a larger bike ride, 40km roughly.
I also got up too early this morning to swim! But it felt great knowing what I had accomplished by 7am in the morning.

An Oceanside Walk

My new home isn't far from the oceanfront. So last night I decided to go out and do a bit of a photo hunt and see what beautiful views I could enjoy.

The oceanfront of Victoria really reminds me of California, either near Monterey or San Diego area. You have a great walking trail which lasts for kilometers on end. Here is just a touch of where I went last night.

Views looking out towards Esquimalt and Sooke in the Straight of Juan de Fuca

Oceanfront Walking in Victoria looking out towards the US.

Beautiful fence at the dog walking off leash area.

The 90 minute ferry going back to Washington State.

Ah fresh air.

I'll have to take a lot more photos but these were some of the ocean views I haven't seen in so long.