First boat ride

The boys went out on the lake in a motor boat for the first time to a friends property.  They were clearly excited about the whole thing and had fun playing with toys out there, and hunting for crystals.  Smiles all around.

Cole

Grayson

Apparently Cole didn't stop smiling like this the whole ride

Grayson

Biker dudes

The boys are still ripping around on their run bikes.  During a recent trip to Vernon, they insisted in bringing their halloween costumes to show grandma.  It was pretty cute.  They have graduated from their baby chick helmets to real kid helmets.  We hit up the field down the street as usual but it didn't last long as the fast growing grass was getting pretty high and itchy on their little legs.  We had a great visit seeing Uncle Rick and Kay, Nanny and visiting Papa in the hospital, but we missed Acacia and Cy and Aunty Chris this trip.

Dragons riding in the cul de sac

My, the grass has grown

This didn't last long in shorts for Cole

Mother's Day weekend

Our Mother's Day weekend was spent staining the house.  On Friday I picked up the stain from the border, and after a long Friday that finished at 9 pm in the dark with me vacuuming the dust off the logs in the near dark.  Saturday morning we dropped off the boys at daycare and got started.  Working in the shade around the house we finished the first coat by 5:30 pm in time for my bike ride.

Starting on the west wall

West wall done

East wall clean and ready to go 

I am really happy with the product we chose do put on the house, but sadly the colour is a little darker than we wanted, but it will last.  A lighter colour could have meant restaining in 2 years time as it doesn't have enough pigment to block the UV, and breaks down quickly.  Next we cover the fascia in black metal, so we never have to get way up there again to do anything.  Properly finish the fascia and soffit around the house, and eventually we will get to the bottom half of the house and the deck.  Cha-ching.

Hike up the mountain....

get carried down in turns.    A great trail leads from the back of our house right up the mountain to the top of KC, where there is a beautiful view of the mountains and our little town.  Its a big adventure for two 3.5 year olds and I wasn't sure we'd make it.  They did great on the way up but ran out of steam and got very cold on the way down.  They took turns between wearing my down vest and walking and being cold but carried.  Please excuse the millions of photos of wild columbine.

Lunch on top

Almost done sanding

 A week ago or so?

Trev hard at work on the east wall

The last section to angle grind

West wall done angle grinding

Yesterday the professional guys came and chainsawed the ends of all the logs and grinded them smooth. Imagine standing the top of the scaffolding with a chain saw, yikes!

The last section on the west wall to be sanded a second time with 60 grit.

The hardest corner to deal with 

The first flowers

The first wildflowers to show in Rossland are Wild Columbine.  We have a patch behind the house that is pretty large.  They don't last long so you have to enjoy when you can.

Rainy day fingerpainting

The weather was pretty crap all last week.  Luckily the overhang on the house is pretty significant so we could still get up on the scaffolding and sand in the rain, but when we weren't we had to fill up our rain days with activities for the boys that didn't involve riding their bike in the monsoon.  We tried to make homemade finger paints which they liked, and later made gingerbread animal cookies.

Cole and his favourite pink coloured flour slop