Adventures in Fun Land

We had another Doyle Adventure Weekend this past weekend to explore an area of BC that we hadn't seen. There is a lot to do around here and we've only done relatively short day trips. We were commenting about how much more we get out and about and see stuff when we have no friends to get in our way (just kidding, friends. It was really our family who got in our way. Just kidding, family. We miss you ALL lots and lots). Anyway, this weekend was Ironman competition in town so it was packed with super-fit peeps in swanky compression stockings getting ready to spend an insane day swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and finishing off with a marathon. Did I mention insane? There was a street festival Friday that we wandered around just to feel badly about ourselves and the fact that we have more than .04% body fat. Molly liked the Irish band, though, and had some frenetic and fancy moves going so may join her friend Sadie in Irish dancing lessons when we return east. Poor thing doesn't know what she has for genes, unfortunately. On Saturday, we had a family date with some people I had met through our music class. It was nice to be social! And Sunday, we hopped back in the car and headed east towards the Kootenay region (although we didn't go all the way there) and went to a little frontier life museum and then up to a beautiful lake to beat the heat. The museum pictures will come later because John has them on his phone but here are some of the lake pictures.

I think these cows picked a pretty good spot to gaze. Although Molly wished she had seen pigs too (not me, man. I was just waiting to get called a pig and didn't want to give her any reason to make the connection after last week's hippo incident), she liked saying hi to the cows who really had no interest in returning her greetings.



Purdy lake and, well, pretty secluded I guess you could say. Camping around here is plentiful and I'm excited to get back outside once the thought of sleeping on my sleeping pad doesn't make me want to vomit.


The splasher. Oh boy, did she have fun in the water yesterday. It was a scorcher and she was so happy to be completely wet wet wet. I was very, very proud of John, too. He survived a lunch with bees (have you ever seen his bee dance? It's enthusiastic), although I got stung because I was a little too nonchalant AND he went in the water even though there was some sort of unidentified critter in there. It was just too pretty a spot to pass up.


And our trip home. We decided to forgo the real road and instead traveled the fire road home. These guys were not impressed with our decision and it took us some time to get them to move it move it.

Honesty Really Is A Lonely Word

Is honesty really the best policy?

Example one: (pointing and clearly indicating me) "Mama hippo. Mama hippo" I mean, what woman doesn't want to be called a hippo? Awesome.

Example two: (me) "Molly, are you doing something you're not supposed to be doing?"
(Molly, in a sweet voice) "Yesssss. Yes. YesYesYesYes".

(For the record, dressing herself up in her hats was not what she was doing... I'm still unclear exactly what she as up to. I was trying to clean up a rather odoriferous balsamic vinegar spill, which did not have anything to do with her.)

When Molly dumped out my entire cup of (lukewarm) coffee this morning, I also got to hear the unedited version of how I sounded when I turned around to find the scene. It has now become this morning's oft repeated phrase (said in a deep, growly voice because that's apparently how hippos must sound) "Ugggggggghh. Molly, why you do dat?"

As my midwife reminded me the other day: out of the mouths of babes... comes a lot of stuff that we'd rather not hear. Right-o.

Riding In My Car

I'm not sure these need much of an explanation. Our little friend didn't subscribe to the "won't fit" theory that I was trying to sell. She thinks it's so so fun to prove me wrong.

I will say that sometimes I'm glad my mom is a fan of nostalgia and holds onto things longer than some others would (my dad, for instance. Not that she holds onto my dad longer than others would but rather I'm not sure he's always the #1 fan of the collections process). This is my old Barbie car. Granted, it was only a year or two ago that I played with it daily, but I'm glad it didn't get tossed in the garbage heap for two reasons 1) it's fun to get see Molly and her cousins resurrect our old playthings and b) I'm not sure where you find such a stylin' Corvette this day in age.







After a rather lengthy trip back west, we're back in Penticton without plans to return east as a family of three again. Exciting stuff. While we're waiting for Numero Dos, we'll just try and keep up with the verbal barrage that greets us each day. I'm sure everyone with budding linguists appreciates this, but it's so interesting to me to watch Molly's growing speech capabilities. What started off as sign language moved to single words, which moved to simple two word sentences, and now she's talking more in concepts and longer sentences. It's just so fascinating to watch the progression in kids and I love getting a glimpse what's to come with Molly's older buddies. On the other hand, sometimes, I wish I didn't understand exactly what she was up to...

Sounds of Summer

Since it's unlikely that we're going to experience the sounds of silence around here any time soon, we've decided to focus on the sounds and images of summer instead. We're still out east, awaiting the fallout from Hurricane Bill (probably nothing too interesting in the end), and munching on more blueberries than we can count. We've had fun filling our days with visits to our old neck of the woods (I was too sad to drive by our house but John went by and saw our neighbor, which I'm glad about since we didn't get to say goodbye), yummy treats, devilish activities, the beach, and some alpacas (what girl should ever reach her second birthday without seeing an alpaca? If only Molly would call them alpacas instead of llamas. Jeesh).

Grammy and Grampy are redoing their kitchen, which involves moving the pantry. Molly decided to "help out" by removing the baking supplies from the conveniently located temporary bottom shelf onto the floor, and then into the living room, but then not finding much excitement in moving them back onto the appropriate shelves.

Maybe she's just excited to bake her first pie?

Hmmm... where to put the molasses... next to the salt? corn starch?

There's no such thing as summer without ice cream. There is, apparently, such a thing as pregnant/mommy brain because why I let her get a cone instead of dish is beyond me. It was dripping hot and Molly seems to enjoy holding onto the coldest part of all treats (popsicles aren't held by the handle but rather by the actual popsicle). Since all trips outdoors seem to be accompanied by picking up rocks, we experienced something akin to tarring and feathering once we were ready to get back in the car.

Our trip back to Newburyport was on a gorgeous day and we met up with our pals at the beach. Kate, Olivia, Sadie, and Molly reunited for some fun in the sun. It was great to see Molly's partners in crime and run into some unexpected friends as well!

Summer means good carefree days with friends and Molly and Sadie got to spend some QT together (Sadie was having a bad hair day post nap [before her nap, she had adorable pigtails, which naturally made me jealous] and Molly was once again having a nearly no hair day despite everyone's cheerful comments that her hair was growing. A mother can dream, right?).

And yes, we did visit an alpaca farm. These creatures are so cute and apparently garments made from their wool is warmer than warm. I have to say that I think they are a little cuter and less smelly than llamas. Molly was even quiet enough for half a minute to let one of them come nearish to her. Silly alpaca.

We're here through early next week and then will head back west for our longest stretch out there without visitors or a trip back home. Luckily, we've got some good things lined up for the fall -- a Doyle family vacation to Chelan, Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving (both the Canadian version and the US version), anything else? Right... a newbie somewhere in there. Good times.

Getting Around

We're here, we're here! We've just been up to a little of this and a lot of that and being away from home always makes it harder to keep up with the blog. Before someone calls the world-famous wahhhhhhhhhhhmbulance, though, I'll just get to it.

We flew back east last week so that DJ JD could bring his 10 year DJing hiatus to an end and spin some tunes for Aaron and Carrie's wedding celebration. This will also be my last trip back home before Numero Dos shows up in just over nueve weeks (and my foreign language skills are now exhausted). GULP... nine weeks. Actually, I'm ridiculously excited for the new arrival, matched only be Molly's excitement at all her own antics. Seriously, I haven't met a more self-congratulatory kid although it may be that she's egged on every once in awhile. Maybe. Anyhoo, the celebration was wonderful. I cried (shocking). I repeated the parts that made me cry to my mom when I got back here and we both cried (shocking). It was great to catch up with folks and really nice to have a weekend away from small paws. She had a good time back in Maine, visiting with her cousins, aunts, and uncles and learning all sorts of fun new words and tricks from Grammy and Grampy.

Today, we beat the heat and joined the crowds in Ogunquit to meet up with Liz and Beth and their broods. It was definitely a good day to be at the beach and jump in the water in the hopes that my hair wouldn't be quite as huge as it has been since coming back to the land of humidity (and no, Wilson, I did not get a perm. I just have huge hair when it's hot and humid). It was loads of fun and so great to see these two (four, six...). The little men are getting so big and I love watching them all play together and create their own songs (one little ditty that goes something like "No more bubb-les. No more bubb-les").

I wish we could get out to see everyone but I think our time is going to be limited to northern New England on this trip, unfortunately. We will catch everyone soon, we hope. We miss all you guys!

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls (On Second Thought...)

In the midst of all the dry, desert environment in Penticton, just a short ways up the road is a great little walk along a creek and up to a waterfall -- maybe a 45 minute mini-hike (depending on the guest list, could be longer, could be shorter). The creek runs all summer and it's a beautiful little oasis. The waterfall is actually quite a doozy and then there are a series of little falls and swimming and splashing holes beneath it. Molly's Uncle Chris and fam would be happy -- they're always on the hunt for good swimming holes. Well, Molly wholeheartedly agrees that waterfalls (or anything that resembles a waterfall -- a fountain, a boat's wake, someone dumping out his or her water bottle... her definition is pretty loosey goosey) are one of the awesomenest things in the world so she was pretty much in hog heaven.

Unfortunately, for Grammy, the beginning of the walk started with a bit of an "UGH", with a sign indicating that we were smack in the middle of rattlesnake season. Grammy absolutely adores snakes...


Molly snoozed during a bunch of the walk but John woke her up for the falls and she was pretty glad that he did. Behind that binky is a grin.

And then oh boy, she was excited to stick her piggies in the water. "Piggies, water. Piggies, water. Piggies, water". (We're in a big repeating phase right now... and god help you if you can't figure out what she's saying because she'll keep chanting over and over until you figure it out).


And here is #2 at 29ish weeks (this was last weekend). All are doing pretty well and he/she is at that stage where he/she is big enough to kick pretty forcefully and small enough to be able to maneuver well enough to make everything felt. We're getting ready for baby around here, some of us by climbing into the baby's car seat and cracking up, others of us by sorting and washing clothes and other fun tasks...



We had a fairly quiet weekend this weekend. Molly took us down to the Peachfest parade and we got to see lots of floats, gymnasts, ladies of the lakes, bands -- the whole shebang. We did more piggy soaking in the lake, some yard work, and went for another nice walk (there are an incredible amount of places to trot around out here). We're getting ready for a final trip back east while #2 resides on the inside. We've got our good friends' wedding reception to attend next weekend (where DJ Jazzy JD will make a comeback) and some people to visit before we become too scarce for the next several months. We'll take a break from the dry, hot, sunny Okanagan in order to get our fill of humidity, the blissfully frigid Atlantic, and frizzy hair for a few weeks. Ah, home.

Finally, a big get well soon to Molly's cousin Becca. Nana told us about her bad fall and we're sending her lots of hugs and zerberts.

On Top Of Things

One of Molly's favorite parts of having visitors stay with us is to come down in the morning and call out their name so that she can be sure to share the breakfast hour with them. I don't mean share as in time spent together, I mean share as in eat whatever they are eating (in addition to whatever she is eating). Grandpa usually got up and ate prior to Molly's arrival on the scene so they ended up sharing the morning paper instead (luckily, she didn't want to eat that). She still misses Grandpa driving the Jeep around and isn't quite as satisfied in the wagon no matter how cool I try to make it. In the end, I guess it is one big grocery getter versus the much hipper Jeep -- where she can see out and almost reach the door handle.

Catching up on the daily events.

I've also told people that I would take pictures of the house so that they could get some sense of where we're living (sorry it's taken so long). Here's our kitchen/dining/living room area. Behind me is a bay window and Molly's play area. I'll try and snag some more soon but we really haven't been spending much time inside since it's been either too hot or too nice to be cooped up.



Speaking of the abode, the little domestic diva was very helpful this morning (and unfortunately, my camera battery died so I don't have any pictures). I was hanging laundry out on the line and I peeked from behind a towel to see that someone had harvested a ripe tomato off one of the plants and was partaking in its yumminess (better than poking finger holes in them like she had been doing). After that, I left her outside to throw another load of laundry in before I cleaned her up since she had a river of tomato seeds trickling down her belly (thankfully, we do a lot of diaper-only wearing here). I went downstairs and was very confused as to why the washer was full of clothes since I had just taken them out to hang on the line. Oh, because sometime when I hadn't been looking, she had taken it upon herself to fill the washer with clothes that had been sorted on the floor. I guess she thought that she didn't have enough clean whites. I took those out, put my intended load in, and brought her upstairs to have a shower with me. Next thing I know, while I am shaving my leg, she has decided to also work on her personal hygiene and also has her leg up on the wall to shave... I think all the hair clips in her hair has turned her into a little caricature of femininity. This is all happening amidst her growing affinity for boys. She loves to ask where the men in her life are at any given moment -- her grandfathers, her uncles, her friends, her friends' dads... I'm getting worried. She's going to flash those baby blues and melt some hearts one day. I just hope any man she picks also appreciates a good mullet 'do and a voracious eater.

Hairy Cary

Molly's buddy Sadie has some beautiful brown locks that are long enough to put up in two legit pigtails (I can't even address my jealousy for Molly's friend, Kate, who has had thick, long, styleable hair for at least six months. I really can't go there). Molly's buddy Sadie actually lets her mom put up her beautiful brown locks in barrettes and bows and headbands and elastics. Sadie's buddy Molly has just grown three wisps of hair that might be considered long enough to put up in any contraption. Sadie's buddy Molly does not let her mom put up her hair in any of the barrettes or hair clips that she has collected. Molly's mom is very jealous of Sadie's mom because she thinks it would be fun to be able to have hairstyling hour in the morning. Come to find out, however, she will allow Grammy to "style" her hair. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I now present you with Molly's first hair accessory photos (or at least those since she has been old enough to reject the mullet wigs and headbands that I forced on her when she was more wee). It wasn't a straightforward project, there were lots of other activity detours along the way, but the point is that she has hair clips in her hair! And they stay there on their own!


This is the mom block to the noggin. Can't get near the tendrils.

Now that the hair clips are in, actually getting Molly to leave them in and stand still is virtually impossible. I think it took about twenty shots for all the stars to align and get a picture.

But there were some proud as a peacock moments for someone...


interspersed with the suggestion to walk on tiptoes (new favorite game where Molly can announce that she has done an excellent job)...


and a little shimmy shake in there too (preferably on tiptoes). Molly is blessed with two great dancers in both her grandmothers (probably in her grandfathers too but I haven't seen that as much). Her grandmothers both indulged her dancing queen side when they were here and it's a great way to get the wiggles out and to distract from anything, say, in her hair.

America... Scratch That... Canada the Beautiful

Grammy has been out visiting us this week and we've been having a whale of a time, as usual. It's been so nice having visitors to explore the area with (i.e. drag along to things that I think are interesting but maybe really aren't). It's been H-O-T again, perfect for the Miss Bikini/Mr. Muscle contest on the beach tomorrow. I think my competitor form got lost in the mail -- I sure hope they don't miss having this amazing bod out on the sand tomorrow. Beer Belly/Pregnant Woman contest? Oh, that's NEXT week.

Since I didn't have to spend time tanning for tomorrow (which I guess is good considering that the WHO has now confirmed tanning beds are basically akin to arsenic poisoning... yummy), we've been checking out some of the local and not-so-local attractions, including more fear inducing highways and byways. We have confirmed that Canada really has a "hey, we warned you once that you may plummet to your death off the side of the highway with some obscure sign back there so now it's YOUR fault if you can't stay on this teensy weensy sliver of highway and avoid that giant outcrop when careening around the corner" attitude. I applaud the emphasis on personal responsibility that folks have here. I really do. This last bit was tested out because I really wanted to go over a pass in the summer months to see if it was as fear inducing as our trip over the Coquihalla last winter. Um... check. While the summer months don't bring the one-lane rutted highways with no real snowplowing, they lure you into thinking that the scenery is beautiful, which it is, only to remind you at some point that in winter, some truck will barrel down on you and eat you for lunch. It's really pleasant. Fortunately or unfortunately, though, we live in a valley and to get out of the valley and see other parts of BC, guess what we need to do? Mensa anyone? In any event, I will now pledge to only drive in the valley and if we leave I'm bringing someone with me who doesn't find her stomach in her mouth the minute the altimeter climbs about 300 meters.

On to what we have been doing rather than my neurosis...

As usual, little sticky fingers has found a way to get her mitts into everything that doesn't belong to her. Here she is snaking her way into Grammy's bag and stealing her water bottle.


We went to some ornamental gardens in Summerland, just up the road from Penticton. It's a beautiful place with lots of grounds to wander. I found out that sometimes Molly will indeed stop to smell the roses (except these aren't roses but same diff).


She also likes park benches -- but mostly to get up and then down and then up and then down and then ready, set, go, up and then down...


and won't sit still for a nice picture with Grammy but insists on showing her true, spirited colors.


Sometimes trapping her is the best policy.


The upside is that all her hard work tuckers her out and she slows down for a snooze fest about 30 seconds after getting in the car.


Because it's been so H-O-T, we've retreated to the lake yet again. I can't usually wait until Molly's had her afternoon snack so the other day we dined al fresco and washed off the pound of tomato seeds that covered her from head to toe in the lake. Easy peasy bath.


Lakes were built for prego women, I think. First of all, it cools you off and secondly, it makes chunky monkeys a whole lot lighter. This is especially nice when someone insists on being bounced around a lot.


Today, we headed over to the Cascades for a peek back at the ol' US of A (we're in Canada but those peaks are in Washington) and for the aforementioned trip over one of the vertigo-inducing passes. We explored some vistas...


and did a little hike (modified because we forgot our backpack and our blistering speed walker wanted to either run down the path or illegally pick the wildflowers. We eventually MacGyvered a ride for her out of my pack. We wanted to get back to the car at some point that day).


And we thankfully made it there and back in one piece thanks to our aspiring cartographer.

Grampy will also be happy to note that Molly has finally mastered the use of a Camelback. She had a little trouble on her first attempt last month and Grampy may have gotten a little backwash. Now, however, she's a pro at getting the water out... sometimes into her mouth and sometimes to create her own personal waterfall.