Welcome to Autumn!

So, it's been about four months since we updated anything; I'd like to blame the sunny weather and the increase in festival-going. So there.

Our summer:

The first week of July the entire family borrowed Gramma's shaggin' wagon and went camping. What a disaster! The first night we camped about an hour away, and Sevvie did NOT enjoy sleeping in a tent. In fact, he finally went to sleep at about 1am. The next day wasn't much better, when we realized we weren't going to have enough time to hit the Calgary Zoo, as planned. Instead, we drove straight to Drumheller, where we had booked a campsite at an "RV resort" ... "on the river" (they said) for two nights. 36C, mosquitoes big enough to carry the Boss away and not a spot of water in sight. Or shade. And the so-called playground was a structure so rickety Grayson didn't want Sevvie anywhere near it. So, we left and went to see if we could find something else. Lo and behold, we found a much better sight down the road, with shade, access to the river and sand.

And sand flies, it turns out. Apparently Drumheller was in the middle of a sand fly infestation, so--after a quick consultation--Adrian and I decided to splurge on a hotel room for the night. After all, our vacation is supposed to be enjoyable, right? (btw, I still have scars from the sand-fly bites I got in the ten minutes were at that campsite.)

We ended up staying at the Drumheller Inn for two nights and spent one day touring Badlands Provincial Park and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Very cool. We also spent time at the spray park downtown, which rocked.

After leaving Drumheller, we decided to return home two days early and enjoy the rest of our vacation relaxing in our own backyard. Adventuresome, aren't we? But it turned out to be a good vacation and an important learning lesson: we don't want to take a toddler camping. Period.

Adrian and I (aka mum and daddy, which Adrian hates. Ha.) got to go to Jasper for the weekend in August, which rawked! Thanks again to Marc and Linda; fantabulous babysitters! We stayed at the Jasper Park Fairmont, which was actually more rustic that I expected. We stayed in a cabin (ok, a row of rooms made to look like cabins) and spend two days hanging out, swimming, hiking and golfing. Our weekend "package" was won at the Venture Publishing 10th anniversary party in April and included a round of golf. Very fancy. We even had a golf cart! And, at one point, we came around a bit of a hill to discover an adolescent black bear ambling across the fairway! Very cool. We also came across the biggest freaking white-tailed deer I've ever seen! No antlers, but that thing was at least eight feet tall. S/He stopped to nibble on some grass right in the middle of the resort one night, so we came across this big big shadow in the dark. Good times.

Other than the requisite festivals, the summer was spent hanging out, enjoying the back yard and hitting a couple of beaches.

Now, it's fall, Grayson is back to school (grade nine and fourteen!) and recently started his first job! He's working at Little Ceaser's pizza place by his school and gets paid minimum wage to wave a promotional sign at passersby. He claims one of his coworkers said people in cars have spit at him, and G says his Uncle Clancy threatened to shoot paintballs at him during his next visit. Nice job, if you can get it.

Sevvie's working towards the possibility of maybe giving up naps. We'll see. He went to the doctor last week who said that he's 36 pounds (80th percentile) and three feet, 2 inches (75th percentile). That's our ox! He's on a pancake kick right now and, last night, he came into the office on three different occasions to ask for "one more pancake." On the third one, Adrian expressed his scepticism to Sevvie, to which Sevryn replied, "last one dad; I need a pancake."

What a card.

So, here are some pictures of our summer (and probably a few from spring). Thanks for your patience.

The Willfreyevans'

PS-80 and I may have some more news soon. Stay tuned. And gawd no! No more BABIES. Ick.

At the beach! Adrian had the day off work, so we decided to spend the day at Pigeon Lake. It was fun and, a good thing we went when we did, because they closed down the beaches the next week due to toxic algae blooms. Nice.

Skipping forward, (I dunno where our camping pictures are; I'll post those next), here's a shot of the big dude waiting for us as we came around a corner leaving Jasper. He didn't seem particularly bothered by the cars.

Pictures from Grand Forks

The boys + ice cream = fun times.














Here is Sevvie meeting a cow for the first time. (This is completely out of order.)
Sevvie and I went to Armstrong to hang out and see my friend Val and her sons (see below) and, on the way, we passed a dairy farm. I pulled over to the side of the road to let Sevvie see the cows and the farmer, being curious, came over to see who the hell was in his yard. When I explained that we'd stopped so Sevvie could see his first cow, the farmer (who, I think, was convinced I was neglecting my child by not introducing him to farm animals yet) insisted on showing us around the farm, including the little separate huts that housed the calves. Very cool; very hospitable; very typical of Armstrong.


Here is the house we all lived in when we lived in Grand Forks. This house has some serious memories.












We lived in Grand Forks, BC, from the time I was in grade two until grade 6. I haven't been back there in a long time, but stopped by for a little visit during our Easter escapade. Here, you see Sevvie "helping" Dick move bricks. Dick and Gail are Gramma's friends from back in the "drinking beer and playing hockey and causing trouble days."

Sevvie riding a dinosaur. Need I say more?


This is Sevvie going down the super-cool slide in the fancy playground at Polson Park in Vernon. Watching him is Emma, another partner-in-crime of mine from a'way back. Emma, in fact, baby-sat Grayson for me on occasion, as did her sister Sarah.



This is Val and Elan, Winter's brother. This park is the Armstrong Centennial Park, where Val and I didn't get into any trouble, of any kind, at any time, when we were in high school together. Right Val? Right?!


Sevvie, feeding a duck in Polson Park in Vernon. What you can't see is the hundreds of sea gulls gathered nearby, waiting to pounce.

pictures from spring

This is Winter; my friends' Val and Denis' son. This picture is from way back at Easter when Sevvie and I went to BC.

Clancy, circa Easter. He decided it'd be a good idea to drink his beer out of the bottom of a mixer. Why? He's Clancy.