Elves trying to look like babies. Fiona and Zoe

Zoe is Fionas BFF...we went together to the mall with her parents to get the Santa photos taken. They created quite a buzz at the mall and then when we went out for dinner afterwards. This will be a photo for the archives, in 15 years she will think we were such losers for dressing her up like an elf...well Fiona here's a little secret, we are losers, get use to it ! ! !

Christmas morn

Our little family ( minus Loki cat) on Fiona's first Christmas morning. We drove 12 hours each way to Nelson, and that long drive was sure worth it. We had a great time with Tim. Judi, Niki, Steve, Ryan, Corey, Colleen, Simon Mia, Mom, Dad and Grandma Peg. Great family, great food and a gorgeous white Christmas in one of my favourite towns !

Niki and Steve looking uber-cute on Christmas mornin' . Niki is just finishing her nursing degree and has applied to many different hospitals all around Canada. Now they will just wait to see where she gets posted and off they will move to that location. What an adventure !

Fiona, Simon and Mia, early Christmas morning

The ice cream man

Tobogganing at the cemetary

Boxing day crabs....

Our contribution to the weekend, besides my now famous ' chai-ger-meisters' ( chai and jaeger for breakfast) was a bunch of crab legs which those who love them devoured. There was no talking during this time, just serious cracking, buttering and slopping back. The house could have caught fire and we would have remained at the table until the bowl was empty.

Getting ready for Christmas

Armed with hot chocolate, beer and Baileys we hit downtown New West to enjoy the Santa Clause parade. I would say that New West-ers seem to lack enthusiasm ( especially for their local polititians) when compared to the Mission parade. If you are a participant in the Mission parade you are practically a celebrity and the cheering makes you fee like one. Maybe because it is a small town and the onlookers know all the participants, or maybe people in Mission just dont get out much but Im thinking that these 'city' people here un NW might just be a tad snobish.
We had a great time all the same, and we whistled and cheered for the dancers and prancers and unicycle chancers.

With some of her friends.

Above : Fi sitting with Clay ( the son of Fred and Michelle) watching cartoons.

Below with her BF Christian. It seems like Fiona is a touchy little girl, everytime she gets near Christian or Zoe she wants to touch them and grab at them. We think it is cute, but maybe their parents think she is being agressive..

Family portrait

Loki is the only one missing from this photo that was clicked out in Mission at Niccol, Graham and Kaydens house. Ross and I stayed the week out with Kayden while Nic and Graham remained in Mexico for their honeymoon. I think we did a fine job, except for getting dog hair everywhere and loosing a set of keys and some forks. The highlight woudl have to be the night that I made homemade deepfried corndogs...and then we decided to batter and deepfry everything in sight...including the halloween candies. Kayden spend 2 days eating healthy food and recovering from this not entirely lucid moment of ours...I blame my old friend and co-troublemaker Ben Henderson for stopping by and encouraging this crazyness.

Off we go to Mexico....

Since she has decided to protest when travelling in her own gorgeous stroller, we had to take this old one that the neighbour gave us. She loves it as she can sit very upright in it and tip flat back when it is time for a nap. It has an air of 'rescued from the dump' kind of look to it but as long as she is happy, I'm happy. So armed with a couple toys, a load of diapers some changes of clothes we boarded our flight.



She was fine on the flights, she spent her time either snacking, snoozing or charming the other passengers. She was a perfect girl....

Our hotel room was totally gorgeous. When I first arrived, I was breathless with the gorgeous view from our garden suite and also saddened that Ross was not here to enjoy the time with us. Months ago we had opted for an upgrade to our suite as we though we would like to have more room to move around with the baby, so my room was deluxe ! I made Fi a makeshift crib between two luxe robes atop the queensized bed..not that she slept much of course but at least when she did in was in the lap of luxury.

We did well with keeping her in she shade, away from bugs and out of the night clubs...well except for that one night, but she mostly slept through the whole thing.

Upon arrival I was concerned that she might have some digestive problems because I had given her some formula on the flight, so I counteracted this possible problem by giving her some prunes which she quite enjoyed and it made for a very cute photo.

Niccol and Graham brought my suitcase to Mexico for me so that Fi and I didnt have to worry about luggin it along. Mostly it was filled with diapers and Fionas clothes. She had about 20 different cute summer outfits. I changed her outfits several time per day..just to keep the paparazzi hot. She had 7 bathing suits. LOL

I love this photo. It was taken at the house in Bucerias. To me this photo exudes a calming serentity that one might experience during a nap in the shade after a long journey in the hot sun. Or the juxtaposition of two opposing states of being...as the rest of us (about 25) are partying with snacks, beer and tequila right beside her.

She loved the ocean

She quite loved the sand and the feeling of the waves on her toes..again she took this very seriously as one should do when enjoying ocean play. She concentrated on her toes and on every grain of sand that came in contact with them.

The photo of Fiona with Niccol and Graham was taken on the patio of my hotel room. We had upgraded to a garden suite thinking that we might like the extra room to be with the baby. The first morning Fiona and I were awake very early so we spend out time outside on the lounge chair watching the sun rise and discovering our fantastic view. Slowly all of our 'crew' woke up and looked out their windows and shouted good morning to us from their balconies above. I motioned for them to come and join us for coffee and so began the morning tradition of everyone gathering in our garden in their jammies for coffee, freshly baked pastries and fresh fruit .

The Wedding

Natural beauty surrounded us, both in the people and scenery. The day flowed as perfectly as a bride would have hoped, from the morning mimosas right up to the night club cocktails.

The Bridesmaids

She almost made it through the entire ceremony, but just towards the end she got bored and she was gearing up to steal the show. She began chatting and hollerin' so grandma came up and whisked her away to the back.

secrets

Grandad Mike bought her this cute white Mexican dress at the market in Bucerias. ..the first of many we hope he buys for her. These photos are taken at our favourite beach bar...El Chiveros. We have been going to this particular eatery/drinkery for many years now and we are all very familiar with the staff and many of the patrons so it was great fun to introduce her to everyone.

Everyone loves the Shamrock bar...

..except Fiona. Here she has been captured by Liz, Sharon and Jesse and is not following suit with her mothers reputation of "Good time girl" Maybe she misses her Daddy and knows we are heading home to him tomorrow so she is screaming "Mom you are insane for bringing me to this country when I am only 4 months old... with the heat and the crazy drivers and the bad water and and and ...I NEED MY DAD "

jolly jumpin

Fiona takes her Jolly Jumping quite seriously. This is not a game, for her it is a chance to be autonomous and get the heck away from us...she is expressing her independance already HAHA. I think she honestly feels that she can jump jump jump her way out the door, head down the street and meet her friends at the 7 eleven to play video games and steal candy.

In these photos you can really see her red hair...it is growing fast but what is growing is definitely red. In medieval times they believed that red hair equaled moral degeneration, but if she is morally corrupt in any way, I would just blame it on her parents ; )