Spring in the Okanagan

Sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus) is out to welcome the sun.

 

 C & J enjoying some beach time.

 T & M on Kal lake

Some popular activities around here

 Morning walk in PJ's. C brought James his boots and hat and insisted on some outside time.

 Happy outside

 Baking a cake with Dad.

 Here, Cassia is helpfully holding the electrical cord. She is also very skilled at getting flour out of the flour jar and onto all surfaces, including the bakers.

Dishes are always a hit.

Big Boots

 She's starting to dress herself. When it's not practical, it's at least very cute.

Christmas Day

Opening her stocking.

 Her new stroller - still a big hit over a month later.

A shot of C's curls which we are hoping will stick around.

PJ bear and Pippi go for a ride.

 

On her new cross-country skis. And just starting to show signs of the fever that knocked her out for the next 24 hrs (including a blissful 4.5 hour nap on Boxing day).

Christmas Tree Adventure

 As usual, we headed out to the powerlines to find ourselves a good tree.
After much debate we settled on a western white pine.

 

Sawing

 Timber!

 Up and decorated. Or at least the top half is decorated...

 Decorations from the bottom half of the tree have all been removed and piled into various locations.

A rare family shot with all smiles : )

NatureNerd-Approved Blocks!

I got Cassia these nested stacking blocks for her birthday. I liked them because they were made of wood, had animals on them and nested nicely. They also had the big bonus of having pictures of animals that were not from Africa or a farm. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against elephants, giraffes, sheep and cows. But it just seems that the large majority of kids books is about these animals and our local wild animals are often missing from books and toys.

And then one day I noticed something really cool (um, ok, really cool for really nerdy biology-type parents perhaps). The animals are colour-coded into ecosystems. So, all the ones with blue backgrounds have sea-creatures on them...

 Red is for the farm animals.

 Green is for North American wildlife.

 And orange is for African animals.
Obviously a very exciting  and blog-worthy discovery around these parts.

Here and There

We went to Canmore for a visit, where it is properly winter with snow and everything. 

Cassia had her first toboganing adventure and loved it.

 Back in Revy we were still enjoying some balmy weather and nature walks
(until the snow-rain-sleat of today that is.)

I bought Cassia a few plastic bowls recently. J thought it was a grand idea to use them as bath toys first and then I encouraged her to wear them on her head in the bath. It all made perfect sense until we introduced the same bowls at the dinner table. 

Cassia thinks these stocking are a hat. As far as I know she has never actually worn these on her legs.