Yukon Summer 2009

On April 24 I set off on my journey back to the Yukon. I had to leave a week earlier than the rest of the family to attend my spring training in Dawson City. It was very strange being without Juliette for the first time since she was born. We also decided this would be the perfect time to ween her, as we are expecting our 2nd child in September. I have returned to my job with Tourism and Darren has returned to Highways. Unfortunately he is working all over the Yukon this summer but so far has managed to come to Beaver Creek for his days off.

We have a wonderful couple; Wendy and Sylvain babysitting Juliette while iam at work. It works out perfect as their daughter Lacy is very close in age. Iam told that they are partners in crime! I can only imagine what 2 little toddlers can get into together. She has had an event filled summer so far between all the activities; swimming, Trip to Fairbanks, playing on her favorite toys,the swing and slide at the park, etc. She has continued to use her sign language for various things, but has started to be more vocal using words as well. Her favorite word has been "GEE" for about 4 months now and we are still not sure who or what it means!

On Canada Day we watched the parade in beaver Creek. Juliette enjoyed all the floats and kids. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the whole town was decked out in red and white. One of the locals did his traditional fly by in his plane over the parade.


All of the people on the floats were throwing candy on the side of the road. Juliette got a hold of a tootsie pop that she tried to eat through the paper. It was quite comical.

In February before valentines day i was all set to bake some special cookies for friends and family. It turned out i never did feel like baking , I was dealing with nausea and the many food aversions i had early on in my pregnancy. well, Valentines day finally came in July and i dedicated a day to baking and decorating.

Shortly after we arrived in Beaver Creek we planted in the community greenhouse. We are now enjoying fresh veggies out of the garden. Juliette likes to watch me water the plants and thinks it is funny when i give her a piece of lettuce or carrot to munch on. She just plays with it instead.

In the middle of July Keneesha and Indy made the long journey from Merritt up to Beaver Creek to see Juliette and cousins Kendra and new baby Michael. She was so excited to see them both. They had a couple of sleepovers and alot of laughs. We will look forward to our return to Merritt in the fall.

On Juliette's 19 month birthday she decided to dress for the occasion and accessorize with my undergarments, she must have had about 7 pairs around her neck. She was just proud prancing around the room.

We went to Klukshu to visit with family. Juliette had a great time with her cousins and Auntie's Jessie and Jamie.

After the beautiful hot summer we had in Beaver Creek Ilooked forward to the berries that would come. I found a nice little patch of wild blueberries down at the lake. Darren brought Juliette into the patch and she was thrilled to pick her own berries and eat them right off the bush. A few weeks later the high bush cranberries were ready and again Juliette loved to pick and eat them off the bush, but these she did not chew before swallowing as her diaper proved later on.

I managed to pick 15 litres of cranberries to make juice and enough blueberries and mossberries to make a couple batches of jam. Despite my big belly I was determined to get my berries.

When September 7th came, this marked 2 weeks prior to my Sept. 21st due date and it was necessary for me to go to Whitehorse. We were generously offered a friends house which was vacant to stay in while we waited for the baby. we found a little dayhome for Juliette just down the street so she could socialize a couple times a week and in the event that i went into labour in the middle of the night the lady said she would take Juliette for us. I was sure this baby would be early judging by the size of me and the achiness i was feeling.

Fathers day

Juliette was hard at work drawing her Dad a picture for Fathers Day.

Darren's mom Mary Jane was in the Yukon for 3 weeks and she spent about 10 days in Beaver Creek with Juliette and I. She was good company and a great help to watch Juliette for me while i was at work.

We spent the Father's day weekend in Haines Junction, Darren met us on his days off. We rented a room and had a relaxing weekend together. MaryJane had us over to Nadia's for a spaghetti dinner one night and sourdough pancakes on Fathers Day. We took Juliette to the park a couple of times and did a little photo shoot in the grass.

On June 19th she turned 1 1/2 years old. It is hard to believe the time goes by so quickly. We had a really nice weekend together.

Easter 2009

We spent Easter in Vancouver at Grandpa and Grandma Ashby's. Juliette had her first taste of chocolate, we only let her have a nibble of the bunny's ear.

She got the cutest little suitcase/backpack from Grandpa Gordon and Grandma Joan. This kept her occupied for a long time.

We went to visit her Great Grandma Ashby in the nursing home. We had a nice visit. We put both grandma's panda bears on their laps for a picture.

Juliette, Justin and Dawson spend time together. They gave her the sweetest little dress for Easter.

California

we arrived in L.A. on March 6 for Our first family vacation. we spent 5 days in Anaheim, Disneyland being our main destination. We bought a 3 day park hopper pass. Juliette loved Disneyland, smiling at all the kids and swaying back and forth to the music entering the park.

Here is Daddy and her walking around while waiting in line for California Adventure to open up. She had just learned to walk 2 weeks prior to the trip at 15 months old.

On our magic morning we took advantage of all the photo ops so we didn't have crouds of people in our pictures.

Toon town was a big hit, we were one of the first ones to go in when it opened. We went straight to Minnie and mickey's house for pictures before the line got too big. Of course we had to get the classic jail picture as well!

Here is Juliette and I posing with her favorite character Minnie in front of her house.

Her first ride was in bugs life on the hungry catterpiller ride. She wasn't sure what to think.
Bugs life was lots of fun she liked pointing at everything.

Dumbo was her second ride, she seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Her favorite ride by far was "It's a small world" She was singing, swaying and pointing at everything. There was a lady in the boat in front of us that kept turning around to watch her. She told us after, The best part of the ride was watching Juliette.

All the excitement sure tired her out and us as well. We usually went to the park in the mornings and stayed until the afternoon and when it got to busy we left for the day. Our hotel was only 2 blocks away at the Red Lion so we walked. Our room was on the 7th floor facing the park and every night we watched the fireworks from our bed. Except one night we walked over with Juliette in the backpack to watch them live.

Darren went to see an Angels baseball game. they had a special fireworks tribute to the young pitcher Nick adenhart that was killed by a drunk driver 2 night prior. He also caught a Ducks hockey game in the same night. Juliette and I went to downtown Disney for some night life and shopping.


Juliette loves practicing her newly found walking skills. This was in the hallway of our hotel.

There was a cluster of mini palm trees in front of the hotel and i thought it would make a really cute picture to put her in the middle of them.

Every Disney story ends with frieworks so i thought this picture taken from our hotel room would be fitting.

Valentines Day

In February Darren had to go back up to work for 3 weeks so my Mom came to stay with Juliette and i for a couple of weeks. It was so nice to have her stay and help out with Juliette and around the house.
On Valentines day keneesha and Indy came over and brought Juliette a little pink bear that sings, with wings that fly back and forth.


She just loved this bear and figured out quickly how to turn it on by squeezing its toe. She would turn it on and grab it and sway back and forth to the music until it stopped and do it over again.

New Years 2009

New Years Eve we went to Kamloops for Darren's cousin Angie's Birthday. We met for dinner at a fancy Greek restaurant, we didn't have a sitter so we brought Juliette along in hopes that she would be on her best behavior. We ordered right away and managed to make it through our meal with little interruption. As soon as we finished eating it was time to go, We were happy for the couple hours we had.

After dinner we went to some friends back in Merritt that was child friendly to ring in the New Year. The older kids were jamming on Rock Band (which the adults later took over). Juliette made it until 1am and as soon as we got in the car to leave she crashed.

New Years we spent a quiet day at home.

Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas together at home in merritt. Darren just returned on Dec. 23rd from 9 weeks of work up in Ft Nelson. It was nice to have him back in time for Christmas.

As you can see her first visit with Saint Nick didn't go over so well. we were the first to arrive for a visit and Shaw cable was in the middle of interviewing Saint Nick for a Christmas special they were running. They asked if Juliette could sit on his knee for part of it, she wasn't happy about it but she's famous.

Christmas morning was alot of fun watching her open presents. She liked tearing the paper and was usually more interested in it than the actual present.

We went to Darren's cousin Rona and Don's for Christmas dinner. Juliette loves hanging out with her big cousins.

Juliette got a sled for Christmas and she just loved going for rides. She would follow along with the big kids and watch them slide down the hills.