ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Today we took Hannah to Faro to write the test for her learner's license. The deal is that we pay for the first test, but if you fail and have to rewrite the test then you pay for it out of your own pocket. Hannah, never one to turn away freebies, studied like mad and passed it on the first try with only 1 question wrong. Now we have another driver in the family. She drove home from Faro and did a wonderful job. She was so nervous at first that she couldn't stop giggling, but she was soon regaling us with Spongebob and Simpsons stories while she made the long drive home. She is going to be a fantastic driver. She seems to just have a natural ability and instinctively knows when to apply the brakes, etc. Of course it started raining on the way home so she had to work the wipers as well as concentrate on just driving. We got home without incident until we arrived at the local gas station where she pulled up a little too close and hit the pump. But all is o.k. and no permanent damage was done.

I have also been busy studying to get my class 4 license. I just joined the ambulance team and need my class 4 to drive the ambulance. Now if the examiner would just come all would be well.

MEXICO

I just came across these pictures we took when in Tijuana. We had such a great time there. Josh posed with the mariachi band. They came right up to our table and played a song for us. Very cool.

I think the arches behind them lead into the old town part of Tijuana - a place no tourist should venture.

One-stop shopping at it's finest.

OF LIFE AND LIMB

I think that while we were down south we must have stolen the sun. When we first arrived home it felt like we had come straight into autumn. It was quite cool outside. The last few days, however, have been quite hot. We have been working outside and have to keep taking breaks to get out of the heat. Today it reached 40 degrees. But we have been trudging on like true soldiers, getting work done on the house before it gets too cold out. Our deck is officially complete now. The painting is done. Today I worked on staining out deck chairs - last spring we bought some of those nice wooden adirondack chairs. Very comfy. So, before they get too weathered we decided to stain them. This is where "limb" comes in. As you may know, I have been suffering with pain in my elbow for a few weeks. It is what Eric likes to call my "bocce elbow", I would rather refer to it as my "golf elbow." Anyways, I should be resting it, at least that is the conclusion that I have come to, but you can imagine how hard that is. I keep doing things that aggravate it, like eating and painting. Pretty soon we will be tackling our firewood so I really need to get rested up. Oh well, I suppose I should just listen to my body and take it easy, but that is easier said than done.

As for other life events: Naomi is patiently waiting for the driving examiner to come to town so that she can get her drivers license before she moves to Whitehorse. We are taking Hannah to Faro on Wednesday to write her learners, so then we will be doing all this training again. Josh is just enjoying watching t.v. and playing Wii with his friends. Brian and I, as I mentioned, are just getting things done around the house. Yesterday morning we decided to go hunting. Being the mighty white hunters that we are, we ended up spending the morning scouting out the ideal hunting spot for future use. This involved a 10km hike during which we discovered the perfect spot that we can drive our truck to, camp and wait for the moose to show up. If only the moose will come close to the truck so we don't have to pack it too far!

JUST A FEW PICS

So, I finally finished organizing our vacation photos and thought I would share some with you at last. These pictures were taken in Northern California (Eureka and the Giant Redwood Forest).

The top row here is from Bryce Canyon and the bottom row is the Grand Canyon.No trip is complete without a visit with family:
So, there you have it - a quick glimpse of our fantastic vacation.

HOME SWEET HOME

At last we have arrived back to our humble abode. We spent a few nights in Kelowna visiting with my family. We were so busy there visiting with various people that the time was gone before we knew it. Then we moved on to Kamloops and began a whirlwind of activity there. We left Kamloops Thursday morning planning on taking 3 days to make the trip home. While we were in the truck we started talking about how much we just wanted to get home. The next thing we knew we had made the decision to tackle the distance in just 2 days. So we fortified ourselves with food every so often and undertook the drive to Fort Nelson on the first day = a mere 15 hours to drive 1400 km. We stopped at a fantastic Super8 Motel there and dropped into bed. Then yesterday we only had to tackle about 900 km. We took time to stop at the Liard Hotsprings for a quick soak and made it home just before 8:30 pm. We haven't even unpacked yet. We just took out the stuff we needed and left the rest for today. It was great to sleep in my own bed last night. Best sleep I've had in 2 months. Everything was good with the house except the weeds have grown at least 2 feet while we have been gone. That is something we will definitely have to tackle soon, but I think today we will empty the truck and just take it easy.