Camping

 The only two pics we took on our overnight camping trip this weekend. But they still capture the moment - Cassia's excitement over setting up the tent.

 

Garden

Our new garden beds - now with rounded corners!

Family Bimble

 A white wild ginger flower (Asarum caudatum). 

I've only ever seen dark purplish-brown flowers on this plant before and the guidebook makes no mention of white flowers.

Trying to get 3 kids to smile at the camera...

I particularly like C's expression here.

Leaky

Sometime last winter we noticed the sound of water running in the house. It was coming from underneath our stairs and turning off every tap in the house had no effect, nor did turning off our water main. So we called the city and they turned off our water out on the street. The noise didn't stop, or so I was told, I wasn't here for that bit of the adventure. The city concluded that it was their pipe out on the road that was leaking. They also decided to wait until spring to fix it, because digging up roads in the middle of a snowy winter is not recommended. 

So we listened to water running all winter. We occasionally wondered if maybe it wasn't such a good thing to have all that water running under our house, but mostly we happily ignored it because it was the city's problem and not ours. But when the city came back this spring and dug up a patch of road they re-concluded that it was in fact our problem in our yard.

So tonight, James headed out with a shovel and a plan to follow the leak. He found it. And suddenly we realized just how much water was coming out of that pipe. We had a small creek flowing behind our house.

And it was flowing into a small lake.

We were suddenly asking questions like "Does the city do after-hours calls?", and saying things like, "Boy am I glad we convinced all our friends it would be fun to dig a drainage ditch around our house six years ago."

And then this happened:

Water Leak from Nature Nerd on Vimeo.
I particularly like how James takes the opportunity to wash his hands in the spray at the end of this clip.

 Close-up of the leak.

 Once the water was turned off (thank you after-hours city guy!), we got a good view of the maple roots causing the problem.

James looking simultaneously proud and garden gnome-ish next to his handy work.

Now to fix the pipe.

Grand Forks to Rhone by Bike

We decided to have another go at cycle touring along BC's rail trails. We headed back to Grand Forks, which was were we ended our last trip on the Columbia and Western Railway. Cassia and I spent the day in Grand Forks, while James dropped our car off in Rhone and cycled back along the road.

Cassia trying out Dad's helmet and gloves.

The flooded Grandby River. 

We chose this section partly because we thought there would be lots of beaches for C to play on. Not so much. But luckily C also found playing with rocks, pine cones and sticks fairly enjoyable.

Big horn sheep

We camped at Eholt station our first night. 

There used to be a school, 300 homes, 6 hotels and a train yard here.

Cassia, how do you feel about camping?

Tea with Dad

First introduction to horses. Definitely a memorable stop.

There were llamas and alpacas too!

The real secret to the success of this trip was the playgrounds along the way. Our favourite was this one in Greenwood. In addition to the helicopter, there was also a train, a horse and a merry-go-round.

Random sewing-machine tractor in a coffee shop in Greenwood.

Chillin' by the river.

We camped at the Kettle River Provincial campground on our last night. Our very friendly neighbours brought their tent over for us during a downpour over dinner. They also gave us firewood.

Cassia learning to break sticks over her knee - an essential life skill.

Meeting the ground squirrel.

Cyclist rest stop in Rhone.

This is built by Paul on his own land. There are 3 beds in the caboose and if you ring the bell he'll bring you cold water. Paul is 90 years old and was full of good stories about the history of the railway.