My new Nephew! - now with info and photos

My not-so-little-any-more little brother and his wife just had a healthy little baby boy! They named him Lyrik Michael. He weighs 6 lbs 3 oz- a little peanut. My brother told my mom he is perfect. More news to come when I know it. :) Congratulations to the new parents!

Many thanks to my youngest sister for taking the photos below and posting them to Facebook so I could see my new little nephew for the first time!

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3

Lyrik Michael

The new parents with Lyrik. I love the look on my brother's face here. He looks so happy!

Social Sister

I just can't believe my widdle brudder is a daddy!

Technical Difficulties

I got an email from Picasa, explaining that I was one of 0.05% Picasa customers that experienced a bug. Yes, they said 0.05%!!! So the first paragraph below is solved. The second paragraph however still stands and if you are reading my blog with IE, I ask you to please forgive me for the craziness. At least the posting area is unaffected! I will try to work something out, but it is more likely you will just have to live with it. (I worked too hard on this template to start all over again) but we'll see.

I can no longer see photos in the post below about Stanley Park. Please let me know in the comments if you can or cannot see the photos in the post. It would be a huge help. All my other posts seem fine. This post just has empty spots where the photos should be, and when I click there, it takes me to a white page with the name of the image and that is it. If you know what my problem might be, please include that in your comment!

Also: If you read my blog using Internet Explorer, I have to apologize. I just checked over in IE to see if the photos were showing up there, and the blog is so messed up! Crazy colors, no solid background in the sidebar etc. must be so hard on your eyes! I will try and figure it out, but try Firefox or Google Chrome to check out what it's really supposed to look like around here.

Sunny Stanley Park

Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC is a beautiful place to take a picnic and a camera. If you are of the sort that likes to move a little faster, there is a path around the entire park that runs along the sea wall and you can rollerblade, bike or jog your way around. The Mr. and I ate a nice picnic lunch on the North side of the park and then he took off on rollerblades with Petra and I grabbed my camera, planning to walk through the park and snap a few photos. Well, as you all probably know by now, a "few photos" in my book turns into more like a hundred, but here are a few favorites from the day. If you are ever visiting Vancouver, please take the time to visit this beautiful park, you will not be disappointed. There are several different types of gardens to visit as well as sports activities to watch or take part in, swimming (pool and beach), laying out in the sun, an outdoor theater, going for a carriage ride, visiting the Vancouver Aquarium (which we love), getting your caricature drawn or watching clowns tie balloons and stand on their head.... the list could go on and on. They host many events throughout the park, you can visit many historic and natural landmarks, if you have kids you can visit the petting farm, miniature train or "traffic school" where kids pedal little vehicles around and learn about traffic with a real live cop. See, I told you the list never ends! Here is a map of the park that you can print out and take with you, it would be very helpful.

Petra's ready to go.

It was hilarious to see Petra's first reaction to the rollerblades so I took a quick video. It only took a few more strides for her to get totally used to them and just run alongside The Mr. She doesn't pull, which is good! (And safe!)

I watched this great blue heron catching his lunch and eating it. See the minnow at the tip of his beak?

I'd never seen black squirrels until I moved to this area and visited Vancouver.

The base of this statue reads "To the use and enjoyment of people of all colours creeds and customs for all time I name thee Stanley Park." Lord Stanley, Governor General, October 1889.

This is a portion of the Harding memorial. Of all the statues and memorials, this is the hardest one to find if you ask me, but the most beautiful. It's set back from the path and is also unfortunately hidden by nearby construction. It is a memorial for the first visit to the park by a United States president. It is very interesting to read the words of the President and I love the old fashioned language.

"What an object lesson of peace is shown today by our two countries to all the world. No grimfaced fortifications mark our frontiers, no huge battleships patrol our dividing waters, no stealthy spies lurk in our tranquil border hamlets. Only a scrap of paper, recording hardly more than a simple understanding safe-guards lives and properties on the Great Lakes and only humble mile posts mark the inviolable boundary line for thousands of miles through farm and forest."

"Our protection is in our fraternity, our armor is our faith. The tie that binds more firmly year by year is ever increasing acquaintance and comradeship through interchange of citizens, and the compact is not of perishable parchment, but of fair and honorable dealing, which, God grant, should continue for all time."

"Erected by Kiwanis International in memory of a great occasion in the life of two sister nations. Here on July 26, 1923, Warren Gamaliel Harding, twenty-ninth President of the United States of America, and first president to visit Canada, charter member of the Kiwanis club of Marion, Ohio, spoke words that are worthy of record in lasting granite. Dedicated, September 16, 1925."

Japanese Monument

"Girl in a Wetsuit" statue.

Brockton Point Lighthouse

The gift stores are gearing up for the 2010 Olympics. Care to buy an anime abominable snowman/bigfoot or some other little guy that isn't any sort of real animal at all?? I think make believe anime stuffies are poor excuses for 2010 Olympics mascots, but I am sure they will be popular.

In this shot of downtown Vancouver you can see Canada Place, a cruise ship getting ready to leave the terminal and the lookout tower. I'm sure there are some other famous buildings in there, but not that I can recognize.

Petra's tired out after the rollerblade. They went around the ENTIRE PARK! What a trooper. It cracks me up when she sits like this on one hip.

The view from Prospect Point.

A blue heron and its nest. There was so many blue heron nests that we couldn't count them. If you are ever at the park in the Spring, head towards the tennis courts/dog park. The trees around this area are loaded with great blue heron nests and it is amazing to see. Just don't park your car under a tree! Blue Herons lay and incubate their eggs in May. The babies hatch in June and in July they are at teenager stage- real ugly by the sounds of things!

Nighty Night

What a Day

Two weeks ago The Mr. and I pushed off from Blaine Harbor to spend a day on the Salish Sea with Drooler and his family Chasm, Dee and Cake for the first time. The sun was out, everyone smelled like sunscreen, the kids were snug in their life jackets, the icebox was packed and we were off for a day of fun in the sun! Our first stop was Sucia Island for a potty break and a short walk to stretch our legs. I must admit that most of all the purpose of the stop was to show off Sucia to the newcomers, as it is one of our favorite places! (Are you tired of me saying that yet?!) At Sucia, I spotted my first Climbing Honeysuckle, but didn't get good photos of it. I am trying to get a good photo of each of the flowers listed in my new book, just for fun.

Six baby geese with their momma and poppa.

Beautiful red colored Sea Anemones (I think) were attached to the sides of the dock at Sucia. When you poked them, the feathery part disappeared. We took a video, so make sure you watch it at the end of this post!

The first Fairy Slipper or Calypso orchid I found on Sucia. I like this shot because the guys are standing outside the composting toilets in the background lol. It adds atmosphere don't you think?!

Leaving Sucia.

No, this is not another place to sit on the boat. This is the swim platform. Please do not ask.

Look at that wall of water to his left.

Climbing up the steps to walk out onto the bow with his dad.

The busy state park dock at Jones island(it's the only dock there.) Hmm, just a thought: if you are a 40 foot boat complete with crane and dinghy, might it not be a courteous thing to use the mooring bouys in the bay instead of mooring at the dock? About half way through our visit to the bay, some boaters at the dock lowered their dinghy into the water, and climbed into it, motering past us while leaving their boat at the dock. We were so frustrated! Sadly we did not get to set foot on Jones island, I guess we need to get a blow up dinghy to keep on the boat? We had a really good time in the bay anyways and moored at a buoy for the first time, it was neat! We had a cold lunch and relaxed in the sun. Next time we will go back during the middle of the week and see if that is better. Anyways, please excuse the rant!

Tied up at the Roche Harbor breakwater dock. The regular guest area that we use was completely full as there was a Nordic Tugs rendezvous. It was so cool to walk down the dock and see so many of the same boat, they are so nice! We even saw one from Edmonton Alberta.

Big boats are pretty to look at, but I prefer our 21 1/2 footer because we can island hop as much as we want! I doubt this guy has ever visited three harbors and two state park islands in one day!

The "We brew Starbucks Coffee" was seen from afar at the Good Brew Coffee shop. Iced coffee tastes so good on a hot day. Actually, we all ordered iced americanos with vanilla and cream.

The gardens in front of the Hotel de Haro are so beautiful!

I love seeing this dark lilac variation.

While walking down the dock on our way back to the boat, we came across a shrimp farmer. I'm sure that is not what they are really called, but they had just finished harvesting and boiling their catch of shrimp for the day and offered us a sample. It was kind of weird to stand there and eat a shrimp while all his other little shrimpy friends were swimming around in a tank less than a foot away from us. Oh well, it was good!

We bought two pounds and ended up eating a few fresh, and the rest of them at home with lots of butter and freshly minced garlic. Mmmm.

Harbor seal families. The pups are adorable. Click on this one!

Drooler has good sea legs and was very comfortable on the boat. He is so big now, maybe we need to shorten his nickname to Droo? All these nicknames are probably getting hard to remember, but I still believe nicknames are better than real names, so that's just how it is. Chasm, Dee, Droo and Cake. What a family! Newcomers to the blog will be so confused, but I guess that's part of the fun, the old-timers will understand the code and know who everyone is and why they are called what they are.

Cake having a grand ol' time. She just loved watching the wake and water spraying up behind the boat. She would kick and squeal and laugh.

Minnows under the dock at Stuart Island.

We hiked about a mile on Stuart island. I got beautiful photographs of four different types of mushrooms, but I'll spare you from those. I also spotted my first Salal plants, but again didn't get a good shot of those. I didn't know they were edible, they sure look strange.

Not sure what these are, can anyone help me out? They aren't in my book.

Nor are these succulents.

After our hike at Stuart island, we were very hungry for dinner so we made our way to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for dinner at the Hungry Clam. While walking from our boat, I noticed something to my left that looked very familiar. Why did it look familiar? I had just started reading this blog a couple of weeks earlier. It's a small world. Captain Rodriguez's blog is very interesting if you are a local boater and it was neat to run into his boat!

I've seen this yellow cab parked near the Doctor's Office coffee shop several times but this was the first time I was able to get a clear shot. I love old cars!

I never tire of taking photos of Mt. Baker.

This is so sweet. Tired kids with strong, loving parents to hold them tight on the ride home.

Dee holds a sleeping Baby Cake under that blanket. The seats at the stern are the most fun to sit in, and if it is a bumpy ride, it is the smoothest place to sit.

Semiahmoo

Our view of Drayton Harbor from Blaine as we are driving home.