What a unique place...

Handsome Adam standing on the Santa Monica Pier. This was our first night in town.

And this was our last day in town:

We venture down to Venice beach to check out the famous "muscle beach" i was shocked at how absolutely strange this area is! We saw a man, about 50 years old, hop onto his skateboard, whistle at his dog - who go onto the front of the skateboard, and off they went. BUT the strange part was they had matching mohawks, both died blue. Poor dog.

Then we saw this man skate by! Nobody else seemed to be gawking at this clown... and the strange part was he would stop and out of a bag he'd pull out shirts to sell

OHHH NO! this is more like MOLSON MUSCLE BEACH!

Us down by the ocean. It was chilly.

Today's fun.

The pirate ship floats again.

Southern California Sun

I've been out of Canada for mother's day twice this year.
Yes it did come twice for me... see blog Mum's the word - twice! !!!!
Adam had a few meetings here in Santa Monica and I got to tag along.

So yesterday I called Chaplin and he said
"Good Morning mommy Happy Mothers Day" in his little chirpy voice and my heart melted.
I tried to keep him on the phone as long as I could, but a four year old with a full day ahead of him had other things on his mind. He is staying at Watham's house, and '"m sure he's being fully entertained by Susanna (she's home from University for the summer), Christie and Robert (I think he was home for the weekend). Adam took me to see IronMan 2 and dinner at Sushi Roku.
Good movie, and best sushi I've ever had. YES better than sushigo!!!!

Oh and we've spotted one celebrity, Natascha McElohne at the farmers market on Main Street. Main Street is like 4th Ave in Kits.


Boardwalk. Just down from our hotel, and on the peir we found Bubba Gumps. It took me a bit to decide what Santa Monica feels like then this morning I decided it is Big City Beach Town (the air smells like Maui from our hotel patio).

Have you ever heard of June Gloom or May Gray from the marine layer? yeah me neither!
Anyways, it has something to do with the sun not really coming out until later in the morning! I don't understand, but anyways the sun did come out at about 10:00 am and it's beautiful!

Two Firsts

FIRST first:

HEY... what's going on here?

First hair cut... or maybe it's more like First Trim.

Chaplin flat out refused to have his hair cut - until today.

He went with Adam today to watch his daddy have his hair trimmed and when Adam was done Chaplin felt it was okay to let a few of his own long locks get snipped. He did not want it short, but the bangs are now off his eyes.

http://kristydavies.com/

(this is our hair dresser, and she even put a picture of me on her website)

SECOND FIRST -

After his hair-cut the boys went to the optometrist. Adam has 20/15 vision - so he's got super hero eyeballs. Big deal. And Chaplin has his dad's eyes with perfect vision. Dr. Renke told Adam that Chaplin was the best patient he had ever had in the office.

Learn to Ride

This morning we went for a bike ride with the Nordby family. Adam was pulling Chaplin in the Chariot behind his bike when he decided today was the day that Chaplin gets his first bike. So after our ride and some lunch we went shopping.

Lori: What do you think of your new bike?

Chaplin: it's great, I like riding on the sea wall and it's DARK BLUE.

This is a birthday gift from Nana & Papa Viens. Thank you, it's a perfect fit.

First crash. He took this corner too fast and actually tipped right over into the weeds.

He didn't let his crash stop him, he got right back on his bike and continued to pedal hard.

Stop in the park for a rest.

A fellow stopped and asked us "What breed is he?"

I said "pardon me?" ... he's human of course!... OH you mean the DOG not the KID!

Too funny and Fever is a she not a he, can't you tell.

1537 miles in the jeep

YES that is a bit of hockey history that Adam and Chaplin are touching! The Stanley Cup made a tour up to FSJ to be on display for one day during the Allan Cup.

And as announced in many newspapers (Vancouver sun, globe & mail)

Fort St. John Flyers went through the tournament undefeated to win the 102 Allan Cup.

We washed Fever up before our long road trip home, and I thought this was the funniest sign I've seen in ages:

I read it as "touchless Dog Wash"! I envisioned putting Fever on some sort of conveyor belt that took her through a series of wash stages, you know - something similar to a drive-in car wash. too bad, all the Dog Wash bay had was a large sink with overhead hose and she was washed the old fashion & boring way - by Adam with his hands and a bottle of soap.

I LOVE Chinese food in Fort St John! I don't know why, but it's the best I've had - ever.

Plates out and getting ready to eat. Neacail is graduating next month!

Sweet Auntie Cailin and Chaplin.

This photo of Sheri is in this spot for no reason other than she needs to be in the blog.

Okay back to our last day - our car is packed up to head back to Vancouver.

Chaplin's very first song he ever sang to us was,

"It's hard to say hi, it's easy to say goodbye" - so we'll take his advise and drive away with a smile being happy to have seen our family again.

Look at those mosquito bites! i find nothing nice about these bugs.

Judy gave Adam a Tim Horton gift card for helping her setup her computer email... thank you Judy we filled up our tummy's at Timmy's a few times.


We arrived home Friday, and Saturday night we went to the International Wine Festival with Mark and Sue stock! This is about our 5th time going, and it's truly a great night out. Sorry that the picture is out of focus.. but after tasting wine for three hours it's lucky i could even get the camera out of my purse! kidding.