SWEET 16

16 years old!!! Can you believe it? I remember when Naomi was born and we were so nervous because we had this brand new baby. Remember how shy she was - wouldn't talk to anyone. Here she is at her 5th birthday.Now that has all passed and she is a confident, beautiful young lady. We are so proud of her. She has made parenting teenagers a very rewarding and pleasant experience. I can't say enough good things about her. She is such a joy to have in our lives. Our little baby grew into such a beautiful, amazing person.

She has her grade 10 graduation on Friday. Then we are off to Whitehorse where she will receive her presents for these two events. We are buying her a digital camera for her birthday and a cell phone for her grad.

Happy Birthday Naomi! We love you lots, baby girl.

ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY INSANE BIRTHDAY PARTY

It's Naomi's 16th birthday on Thursday, so last night we had her party. She had 4 friends sleep over and believe me, it was crazy. We decided to make it a spa night. Well, these girls decided it was more like makeover night, and took it to the max. They started with colouring hair. Check out Hannah's before and after - they used a bleach blond colour: They wanted to bleach it some more, but we decided it wasn't a good idea because it dried her hair out so much.

Then they decided to give each other "masks":

Of course there is the present opening ceremony. Josh gave Naomi this beautiful rock he painted. It's hard to see, but it is a fox, curled up.

Oscar is never one to miss out on a party.

A PICNIC AT LAPIE CANYON

Yesterday the older kids at school got to spend the day at Lapie Canyon. It is about 12 km out of town. They had a gorgeous day for the picnic. Josh was one of the kids who rode his bike there and back. Brian was the teacher designated to ride his bike along with them. The trip out has 3 brutal hills to climb, but other than that it is a great ride. The rest of the kids rode in the school van. While there they had a big bonfire, roasted hotdogs, marshmallows, and apparently, oranges. The river was pretty high and extremely cold. The ice only came off a few weeks ago. But wouldn't you know it, the teacher's kids (our 3, plus one more) were the ones who just had to cross to the little island. Only 2 other kids were crazy enough to brave the water. Can you believe Naomi was one of the first to cross. I'm not sure what came over her - some form of maniacal craziness. They had a rope to hang on to and teachers were ready to go into rescue mode. I'm glad I wasn't there because just seeing the pictures was scary enough for me. I hate the thought of my kids doing crazy stunts like this. I always tell them - you are the only one of you there is, I can't replace you, so please be careful. They just smile sweetly and say "yes, Mom."

This is Hannah and Tyrone (her boyfriend) crossing. He was really scared to come back after this fall. His teacher had to really coax him across.

Naomi's teacher, Mr. Keating, is giving her a hand back out of the water.

What absolute craziness. Still sends shivers up my spine.

SWELTERING

Just a quick note to let you know that we have been sweltering here today. Can you believe that it was 40 degrees at lunch? Everyone at school was just dragging from the heat. Definitely not something we are used to up here. Buildings just aren't equipped to handle the heat - no air conditioning. At least it's not raining!

UPDATE:
Today (Tuesday) has been another really hot day. I even wore shorts to school because it is just too hot not to. I arrived home and just sat at the computer and the thunder started, so maybe some rain will actually be a welcome respite at this point - as long as it doesn't stay too long. Apparently there is a fire up the North Canol which is why we have had this haze.

NEWS AND PHOTOS

At last the long awaited photos of the deck. It still needs paint and rails on the stairs, not to mention approval from the building inspector who we neglected to inform of our project. It passed the "lots of people having a BBQ" test. Last night we had some people over for a great BBQ (ribs, burgers, hotdogs, salad - the works!). Our deck was filled with people and it didn't collapse. It was great fun. I guess it wasn't all work, just mostly.

We also got these great Adirondack chairs. See the fantastic stairs I built??? All of these photos were taken with out brand new digital camera. I picked it up in the mail at lunch today, then I spent my lunch hour unpacking it and figuring out how to operate it. I was able to come home early from work, so I spent the time fiddling with the camera. I was ready to take pictures, but Oscar was the only subject available, so I started clicking. He was so compliant - he just lay there looking cute.

Naomi was the next culprit to walk in the door (she was compliant to, just sat there looking cute). They spent the afternoon at school doing garbage clean-up so were all tired and grubby.

Josh was the next victim in the door.

Now, this is really cool - you can take pictures without the usual digital camera waiting time: