On A Golden Springtime

The last few evenings we have had a little bit of sunshine so after dinner we have been out and about.  Mostly Eli asks if we can go to the ocean and we are happy to oblige him.  Although, it does usually end with him throwing sand or rocks into the water and getting the entire beach into his hair. A couple of days ago we went to the pier at Jericho Beach but they were doing some repair work on it so we didn't get to actually go out onto the pier. We still had a ton of fun balancing on the logs and enjoying the sunshine. Oddly enough there are also a fair amount of wild rabbits in the area and it was hilarious to watch Eli try to chase them.  It seemed that everywhere we looked there was another one and Eli would go taking off after it.  I don't know how they came to live there because they don't look like your average jack rabbit or anything.  It actually looks like they all just escaped from a pet shop because they are all sorts of different colours and pretty small.

Sunset at Jericho Beach

Hello!

We also ventured out to Queen Elizabeth Park this week to look at all the beautiful spring blossoms.  Eli's favourite thing in the whole park was the fountain.  I think that he would have stayed there for hours if we had let him.  Every time they would shut off he would get super concerned but then they would come on again and it was the most surprising thing ever!

Watching the fountains

Father and son

Climbing a cherry tree

Bruce took this picture the other day when they were playing and I guess that Eli lined up all of his Sesame Street characters on his bed.  At first Bruce thought that he was being so sweet until Eli punched every one of them off.  I guess we haven't gotten past his little aggressive phase yet but to be fair I probably would have thought that was pretty fun too.

All lined up and ready to knock down

Easter

Concentrating so hard

This year for Easter we decided to drive up to my in-laws in Kamloops for a few days.  We were so lucky with how beautiful the weather was while we were there.  The entire weekend it was around 20 degrees and we soaked up every minute of the sunshine.  Overall we had a wonderful Easter weekend that was complete with an Easter egg hunt, decorating and a lovely Easter feast.

The whole decorating crew

It took about every ounce of my restraint to let Eli decorate the eggs by himself.  He was putting the spoon for the blue dye in with the orange dye! Can you believe it? I was on OCD overload but he had so much fun and was so proud of himself that eventually I just sat back and supervised.  You might notice in the pictures Eli's fat lip... He was having a wonderful time playing with his Papa on the treadmill in the basement and I think that you can probably guess what happened next.  A little face plant and road rash but he recovered quickly when he saw that there were chips on the table.  Like father like son I suppose.  He also got a little bike from his Nana and Papa for Easter and has had such a good time using it here.  It has taken him a little bit to figure out the steering but he is getting much better and I love walking along side him while he makes his "vroom" sound effects as we go.

Happily decorating eggs and a good shot of his fat lip

He is so proud of the eggs he made!

First time on his bike.

Spring, spring, spring!

Well April is finally here and it seems that the rain in Vancouver has started to taper off a little bit.  Granted it is raining right this very second but we had a good week long stretch of rain-free days and it appears that spring has arrived!  When we moved to Vancouver it was in the late summer and so this is our first experience of spring here.  I am certainly not used to it arriving so early but it's a lot like Alberta in that it arrives very suddenly.  One day you wake up and out of no where there are birds chirping and tulips blooming and people are friendly again.  We decided to go out and gather up some of the flowers that we found and take some pictures before they are no longer in bloom.  The crocus flowers have already wilted but daffodils have taken their place along with tons of others that I wish I knew the name of.  I think that it should be mandatory for people to put labels on the flowers in their gardens so that I know what they are.  There are just so many different varieties here that seem to grow without anyone planting them or taking care of them.  Eli has been enjoying the flowers just as much as we have.  Every time we pass someones garden he has to stop and smell them and he always points them out when we drive by.  Bruce and Eli even picked some daffodils for me (from the front lawn of the empty house next door) and they have made the house smell terrific.

My lovely daffodils 

No coats!

A little gnome tree

I have no idea what this flower is but I love it.

Magnolia

Our street full of cherry blossoms