Spring Time Visitors.

We love when spring comes because it brings people out of hibernation and we get visitors.

 Granny and Grandpa came out to see Bryson perform in his high school musical production - 

Legally Blonde: The Musical.

Stacey came too, so of course we had to make a visit to Butchart Gardens for the spring flowers.

We also toured them around to some of the other spring sights and sounds around town.

Bryson did very well playing the part of "Warner" in the production.

We're a little biased, but think he was the highlight of the show.

Then came the Grandkids.

Cindy and Scott 1.0 dropped them off on their way (?) to New York.

I'm no prophet, but I foresee some wedding day blackmail (a la Sailor Moon)

We took advantage of a low tide to explore and enjoy the beach and tide tidepools.

The boys had fun catching crabs, exploring

Building sand castles with motes,

Giving the crabs they caught a bath, 

and beach combing.

We also celebrated Landon's birthday.

7 years old! (don't count the candles)

Bryson spoiled Landon with electronics for his present - boys and their toys.

Now we are on to moving and settling in to our new house. 

While we were moving a few things over yesterday, Bryson watched a bald eagle land in the trees behind the house, gather nesting materials and fly up to the nest on a neighbouring tree. There are 3-4 nesting pairs along the beach at the end of our cul de sac. 

If you are coming out this way, let us know. We can alway make room for one more.

March Madness

March means basketball in our house (for one last year - yeah - no more bleacher butt!!) 

Bryson's team had a great year. They had some wake up calls early in the year, but that served as a motivator to work harder. 

 In the end, they placed second in their league, then it was on to the island championships.

But first, the Spartan's gave back to the community by playing a fundraiser game against the police team. 

They raised $1200.00 for a local Charity.

At the Vancouver Island Tournament, they came together as a team and dominated the schools that had given them fits earlier in the season.

 In the end, very disciplined defence brought the Vancouver Island Championship trophy back to Claremont for the first time since 2002

Every basketball players dream - the chance to cut down the net after a big game.

Then it was off to the big dance floor at the provincial tournament.

They played very well as a team.

Had some big individual moments

New Basket ball shoes - $90.00

New Basket ball - $60.00

(Yeah.....blocked that one!)

Ferry ride to and hotel stay on the Mainland $200.00

Having your fast break replay on the Jumbotron - Priceless (Video to follow)

Catch Up Time

Alicia came back to stay with us for a few months and save $ to go back to school.Stacey and Scott 2.0 came home to Victoria for Christmas too, so we almost had a full house again. 

Mrs. Clause thought up a doozie to make everyone earn their presents this year. When they woke up, they found a set of car keys......on a string(aka unrolled 1/4 mile spool of binder twine!) The rules were to slide the keys along the string to the end where the keys would be released for them to open the car and get their presents.

The string went all through the house....

Out windows and around the trees and railings in the yard and driveway.....

 Then back to the gauntlet -

Mom had two airsoft guns and used her quick draw skills to shoot the present seekers trying to get to the end of the string tied to her dresser.

 She really had them hopping

Once they had the keys, they had to find the car ......that was not in the driveway. With a little neighbourhood search, they were able to finally open the trunk.... and found it empty except for a note. Just another riddle to solve that brought them back to face the airsoft guns again and the moniacle laugh Mrs. Clause took on as she truly enjoyed a second round of pelting.

 Success at last!

 They worked up a great appetite and we all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner.

A day of napping, recovery from food coma's and we were off to see the Christmas sights in Victoria.

Then came the bug zoo.

A ferry ride over to Vancouver to visit the aquarium on our way up to ski for a few days at Whistler.

You'll have to check out everyone's Facebook pages for ski pictures. We (I) drove off leaving the camera in the closet.