On the road.... Merritt - Yukon.

.It would be the maiden voyage of our brand new 2011 dodge truck. It was Darren's idea to leave Merritt in the evening and drive through the night in hopes the kids would sleep through a big chunk of driving. I was sceptical thinking this could backfire. But it actually worked, and very well! We pulled out of town at 8pm the kids bedtime and sure enough they were both out like a lite within an hour or so. Darren drove while i slept only waking briefly to make sure he was still awake. by the time we reached Chetwynd it was around 7am and I was ready to take over the driving. The kids slept until just before Ft.St John, by then we were ready for breakfast. After filling our bellies we carried on to Ft. Nelson.

 Darren has spent many winters driving the ice roads into the oil patches here in Ft. Nelson.  He has friends with kids so This was a welcome stop for us and the kids. They spent 2 hours running around playing with the kids and their toys. Virgil was a bit shakey on the trampoline with the other bigger kids but loved it!

 Juliette had fun in the bouncy castle.

Back on the road..... Wildlife viewing, Bison between Ft.Nelson and Watson Lake. We continued driving on to Teslin and indulged in a hotel room for the night. We all slept soundly and had a fresh start for our last leg to Beaver Creek. When we reached Whitehorse we found out our holiday trailer that we are to live in for the summer had not arrived from Abbotsford yet and in fact had not even left. I was due back to work the next day so we carried on to Beaver creek without it and stayed in my trusty Atco trailer, no power or water. Darren built a nice hot fire and we were nice and toasty all night. We spent about 2 weeks in the Atco until we could get back into Whitehorse.   


Our trip up form Merritt was a total of almost 3000 kms. The kids did amazing on the trip, they are good little travellers!

Farewell, We are heading back to Yukon.

We stayed with Grandma MJ and Grandpa Wayne while in Vancouver for a couple of days. The Canucks were playing Chicago in round 1 of the play-offs. Darren's Dad took us to game 1, it was so exciting. The building was electric everyone twirling their white towels. The kids stayed at home with MJ and Wayne. Juliette woke up to her favorite breakfast, Grandma's homemade pancakes with berries and whipped cream!

Mom and Mark came to visit us in Merritt a few days before we left. We enjoyed a beautiful spring day out in the yard.

Hugs and kisses from Oma. We will sure miss everyone but are also excited about returning to work up North.

Great Grandma Juliette gives big kisses to Virgil

 We had a nice visit, Grandma Ashby is doing great. At 94 years old she does very well. Her hearing is really the only thing missing. Her long term memory is still very good.

The boys had some hands on play time with the kids, they are always great with them.

 What a nice looking bunch of kids!

We will look forward to seeing everyone again in the fall.

Easter on Gody

The Easter bunny was visiting the kids at Voght park. There was a big egg hunt and music playing. Juliette ran into her friend Mahlon from playschool among the crowds of people, It was so cute how they looked out for each other always checking to make sure they could see each other while playing in the park together.

Cuddles on Easter morning. Virgil was awake first and started finding things well before Juliette did.

He was casually going around unwrapping chocolates and eating them before we even noticed he had found them. sneeky little bugger. we had to find and save the rest for Juliette.

They both got little watering cans to help in the garden.

We had a visitor in the yard this morning. We always see the cows pass by but not usually this close to the house. Maybe she could smell the chocolate eggs!

Juliette was having fun with the play-dough.

In keeping with tradition there was an outdoor hunt on gody. The kids looked for their baskets, Juliette found hers up a tree.  

It was a beautiful day and everyone was invited to a BBQ down at Sara and hectors. The girls were busy playing with and arranging the plastic flowers.

Our last visit for the day was at Auntie Deanna's. She had all kinds of colouring books and puzzles for the kids.They got spoiled.

Cheeky monkey

This was pretty funny , Virgil ran off between diaper changes and decided to put on his boots. Then just went on about his business building blocks.

I thought it was so cute when he started playing soccer in his rubber boots and no pants!

Last day of playskool

This would be the last day of playschool right at Easter break before heading back up to the Yukon. She really loves going and meeting her friends 3 mornings a week. It is also amazing how much she has learned. All of her letters, writting her name, days of the week, etc.


The kids hung around after class to play on the gymnastic mats. The younger siblings joined in as they often do. It is amazing how well all of the kids get along and look after each other.

We are sorry to have to leave and i know Juliette will miss her friends over the summer. She is a year younger than the other kids that will move on to kindergarden, but  we will enroll her again for next fall.
 Picture L -R;  Dillan,Mahlon,Maddison,Mrs.Tarzwell, Juliette.

Virgil's first Hair-cut

I waited until Virgil was about 17mths old before  i finally decided it was time for him to have his first trim.  I waited for him to fall asleep. I was reluctant to cut his baby curls so i ended up just snipping 2 or 3 unruley wings.



The finished product, what a handsome boy!

Sea Turtle

Juliette took her first swimming lessons in Merritt. She was 3 years old.  I went in the water with her and stood by for a little encouragement. In her second class the teacher dunked her and she never fully recovered.


Learning to blow bubbles was the first feat as she doesn't like getting her face wet. We practiced in the bathtub.

She did the front starfish all by herself with the marshmallows.

Sliding down the big red ball was a bit nerve racking but fun.

By the end of the session she went out on the pool noodle with the rest of the class.

Virgil came along for support!

Couldn't resist the curls

The sweetest litttle boy, I couldn't help but put a pin in his hair. Just once!

I guess this is what he thought of that idea!

Mahlon's 4th birthday Party

Mahlon is Juliette's little friend from playschool. This was her first Friend invitation to a party.


The kids enjoyed playing together with all of the toys and balloons. Virgil tagged along and  as usual was full of mischief.

Maddy and Juliette enjoy the cupcakes

Valentines Day

Juliette all dressed up in red velvet for her Valentines party at school.

Here they are singing their "good morning" song with Mahlon in the special helper chair.

Maddison, Juliette and Mahlon in sync. Maddy started the trend and the others followed.

The kids baked cookies and exchanged valentines , they worked hard on the homemade valentines. I kept them in our display case until Easter.

Even Virgil wore red. They are busy playing with the new toy.

The Lemon

Virgil loves to rush into the fridge as soon as it opens and reaches for whatever he can quickly get his hands on. On this day he decided the Lemon would be a good choice......

Out of curiosity i let him have it to watch what he would do with it.

this was the first real sampling

Not bad, could be worse! Lets have another taste....

O.K. thats sour!

It is so sour, I just can't stop myself from tasting it!