Chow can not join the Coyotes

Last night on our evening walk in the grasslands Fletch and I heard in the not far off distance the yippin' and callin' of coyotes. This is not an uncommon sound for the Loops, or for our particular area of town as we often see them running in the fields at dusk and hear them all summer long. However, last night, they were a little too close for comfort. The Chow, in his usual friendly ways, wanted to go greet the other "dogs" and have them come over for a snack. I was terrified that a good looking she-yote would coax him into the forest area and then the pack would eat him - as is typical of coyotes. I quickly grabbed him and put the leash on him, he was not impressed as Fletch normally has free run on these evening walks. Better tied to mama than being some yote's supper!

Homecoming

My parents both return to the Loops today after being away for what seems like an eternity! I mean, jeez, they JUST moved here and then there they go, off gallivanting around the world! First it was Montreal for 10 days for a conference, they were home for 3 days when WHAMO, gone again. My dad was in Mongolia and my mom went back to Vancouver. And yes, that was Mongolia, and yes, he is suppose to be retired. I think these sorts of quick projects keep his brain active, and seeing as he is no longer killing brain cells by smoking (yay Papa!) he can reactivate them.
Coming soon: Photos of the garden and the very exciting news that our grass seed is SPROUTING!!

Tia, Mighty Mower Hunter!

Ken & Hot Sauce

Congrat's Greg!

We went to Kelowna for an over-night visit to celebrate Greg's triumphant achievement of his Master's Degree in education. It was an awesome surprise party hosted by Shannon, with more food than you would believe!
Kelowna is a strange place...where the Easter bunny pro-creates in the off-season! I love to drive down Enterprise and look for bunnies, much to the shegrin of Daryl. But Fletcher gets a vote too, and he loves looking at bunnies, wishing that he could play tag...with his teeth!
Uncle Daryl was teaching Tia to drive...
Blake and Daryl flippin' out
The party was awesome, with lots of people, food and drinks. Of course I have no photos of anyone except the animals! For some the excitement was just too much!Fletcher drank my drink and was WASTED! He is so cut-off!

On May 26 Kamloops officially opened the $30M Tournament Capital Centre. With over 55,000sf of sporting space it really is an amazing building! The Premier Gordon Campbell was there and announced that Kamloops will host the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games! woohoo! Later that day, after 2 years of being tattered and torn, we decided it was time to replace our Canada fish wind-sock atop our home. No, Daryl did not do this during a thunder storm (although the clouds beg to differ). We weren't sure what to do with the old fish, as it is a Canadian flag...are you allowed to throw an old one away? Are we going to go to jail? Daryl scaled the house with the flag pole up over two stories...in hurricane force winds!
The new wind-sock...strong and free of tangles and tares!

Then the night got weird...

These are photos of everyone eating...ha!

CierraKen
Carla
Nathaniel
Nathasha

Teresa
Natasha
Sam
Sam (again)
DarylNathaniel Teresa has had enough with the camera!
Brian was happy! It was almost desert time.
Ken had his desert all picked out. Then the night got OUT OF CONTROL! *psst* Brian, you're snoring.

Hectic

That is the only word I can use to describe life in the last 10 days. Daryl arrived home on the 19th for a brief 10 day visit (much better than the 2 days we were originally planning on) and we just didn't stop! The yard re-landscaping is complete - we are just waiting for the grass seed to sprout. Twyla, Gil and the Tia-pet came for a visit over the long weekend, we went to Kelowna for a brief over-night visit to help celebrate Greg's Master's degree, and in between all that we had time to play with the neighbours, go for some hikes and spend some quality time together.

It was very difficult to say good-bye, once again, at the airport and this time even Fletcher is pouting. Daryl is committed to actually start looking for permanent employment in the Loops to be closer to home, and in this market it should take no time at all!

So on the the fun part...the week in photos!
Tia...obviously!
Tia loved Fletcher's non-stop wagging tail. She would dive in and come out with a mouth full of chow tail-fur. Poor chow!

I love the look on Fletcher's face in these photos...

As Daryl would cut the grass, Tia would get all tough and try to herd the mower.

When Twyla and Gil were over we had the opportunity to meet some more extended family, Della and Richard, who recently moved to Kamloops from Fort-something (either Nelson or St. John, I can't remember). We had a lovely Victoria Day morning break with stinky cheese and lots of tea and coffee. During this time, I found out that their pooch, Cane, was going to be put in a kennel when they go on a week's vacation. Well, the puppy lover in me would just not have that! So I offered out home. From the 24 to 26 we did a trial run, and Cane was the cutest little shit-zu I've ever seen. He had a lot of spunk for a 12 year old!

On Friday May 25 we had the first family BBQ of the season at Ken & Carla's, and what a feast it was! Daryl and I prepared beer-butt chicken, tater skins and I was in charge of the kids desert! I made chocolate cupcakes with star sprinkles, complete with worms! They were devoured even before dinner was served! Teresa and Brian brought over a delicious London broil and countless pitchers of Mojitos! YUMM!

Tater-skinsBeer-but chicken with yummy rub!
Daryl and Nathaniel causing Carla's heart-attack as they jump on the trampolineTeresa guarding her mojito