Nudes Veer Left - or so we hope.

The kids and I took a walk just a ways from our place this morning.  There is a trail that heads down to the ocean.  We've wanted to try it but it's like 300 stairs so we haven't ventured too far yet, but today I discovered this sign :

Uh.

I thought Wreck Beach was a bit further away.  The sign at the trail head says Terrace Beach - and then the trail splits.  Left for nudes.  Right for the rest of us.  I hope anyways, the signage is a little unclear.  I guess we'll just have to try it.

Here are the kids:

Owen's Wild Ride

Our first weekend here was quite an emotional ride. 

Well, truth be told not just the first days here also the days before moving.  They were so busy and so full of "last times" and farewells and such, which we need to do, although my first instinct is to avoid those moments altogether.  I felt like I just wanted to cut and run, disappear into the next thing and avoid making people and myself sad.  But, since we seem to move every 3 years or so, I have learned the value in a good goodbye.  It's important. 

Then we left.  Left Camrose, the farm, Calgary, Alberta.  I got a bit choked up crossing the boarder into BC.  I have a lot of my heart invested in people and places in Alberta and it was a bit of a reality check seeing that sign that we are going far far away.  (ok, that's a bit dramatic.  It's not Mongolia far away, or Pakistan far away, but, well, you know.)

I had mentally prepared myself (and Jonny) that I would most likely burst into tears upon walking in the door of our new place.  And I did.  It's not a bad place.  It has it's quirks - but it's exactly what we need and fulfills all our needs and it's clean and well, functional.  But it is different than our little grey house in Camrose and I needed to adjust.  My first step to adjusting is crying.  waa waa waa.

As we unpacked and got to know the neighbourhood things looked up.  I realized this is good and will be good and got excited about exploring and getting my head around our new digs.

Then, just as my emotions had evened out Owen took a wild ride. 

I decided to take out the garbage and learn how to work the garbage compacter.  It turned into a family event.  Owen was plopped in the stroller, Amy and Jonny came along so we could learn how to take out the trash.  We threw in the garbage, keyed in the code, everything was find and dandy.  Then out of the corner of my eye I see our stroller buzzing down the street opposite us.

I love my new stroller.  A phil and ted sport with second seat, and big tires.  Apparently quiet tires.

Everything is on a hill here and while we were keying in our garbage code Owen just rolled away.  I have never ever run so fast in flip flops.  The road he was cruising down was a quiet back street but would eventually (at the bottom of the hill) cross a much busier one.

Just as I had almost reached him and by some miracle, the stroller tipped over.  My baby tipped over.  I grabbed him, scooped him up and burst, burst, burst into tears.  I was shocked, I was scared, I was so so so relieved.  He was ok - a bit of a goose egg on his head from when he tipped over, but was ok.

All I could think of was how fast that had happened.  It could of been bad - but it wasn't.  But it could have been.

I held Owen pretty tight for a long time.

And I have become an avid stroller break putter- oner ever since.

Prayer Poetry and Protest

Tonight I sat in on a free evening lecture at regent called prayer, poetry and protest. I admit, my first thoughts were cynical ones. I had just had a very trying day mothering our 3. We are still not quite at home here yet. Just enough so that things require a lot of energy and we have not settled into a routine. Some of today was good - I drove though Vancouver to a superstore and successfully shopped with all 3 kids, managed to make a yummy Danish meatball supper that everyone, including the kids (!) loved, and passed the before bedtime hour playing with the kids in the rose garden. But on the way home from superstore the check engine light came on in the van and I'm just hoping it was just a dash light glitch (it happens) and will fix itself. But it rattled me a bit. And just the usual afternoon of 3kids in a small space, a grumpy 2 years old who just does not know what to do with himself without a backyard so just whines instead, a baby who poops on the rug and crawls around in it while I'm trying to comfort said 2 year old who is tangled in the sheets on the top bunk, all the while really trying not to resort to just turning on tree house all day for Amy while I deal with the rest of it without losing my temper because I know all the neighbors around here can hear almost everything because all the windows are wide open because there is poop tracked all over. You know, a normal-ish day around here.....
Humph..
but in my mind this is real life. This is it ...getting down and dirty and dealing (hopefully somewhat gracefully, or at least not cruelly) with what comes at you on any given day.

So sitting in a quiet lecture hall with being told to reflect on the profound importance of looking deep into poetry to find insight into how to respond to injustice n our world was a stark contrast to the down and dirty, real life I had lived all day. I was almost offended by it. Who has time for this? to read poetry, much less think about it??

But, by the end i was completely, absolutely captivated by the topic and challenged and refreshed.

And my view of the value of higher education was restored.

Crawl Owen Crawl Take 2

Here's the little video of Owen crawling I had promised before.  Already he has progressed so much ... he just motors around the house super fast and super cute now.  He's our first baby who crawls for real. It's a lot of fun.  But it also means he's just growing up so fast.  He'll never be just a sit and play baby anymore.  He's all about movement.  Next he'll be pulling up, walking, running, graduating college .... my baby.....

The Posh Grocery Run

Today I ventured out on my own into Vancouver to get groceries.  Maybe not such a big deal, but it was my first solo excursion in the van.  It was a piece of cake.  The funniest thing was I went to this posh little Safeway and seriously was the only one in the whole store with a cart.  Everyone else just had baskets and buys enough for one meal or something.  It was bizarre.  I had Owen with me and a huge load of groceries because we had just built a shelf into our storage closet to use as a pantry and needed to stock up.  I felt a wee bit out of place.  I think I need to next find a grocery store where the real people with kids who live in West Van shop.  I'm sure there are some somewhere....

Also, it really does rain a lot here.  It's still a bit of a novelty for us and the kids love to run around with umbrellas but I can see how you can get a little tired of it.

We were out all day yesterday hanging with Heather, hitting Ikea, and doing laundry and visiting Auntie Yvonne and Uncle Paul.  It was a nice day.  Nice to be in a home with more space and with family.  But you know what?  When we got back to our little university place, we walked in the door and it felt like home.  That was a nice feeling.

Beach Day

For fathers day we headed down to the beach despite the gloomy looking weather.  It didn't ever rain on us and was actually nice although it looked stormy.  We watched people crabbing off the dock, sail boats, big boats, tossed rocks, collected shells, waded a bit and were completely entertained by the novelty of just being by the ocean in just a quick 10 minute drive.

This picture of Owen is just to prove we were there and because he's just so dang cute.

Alef Bet

Jonny has his very own, home grown study buddy.
Amy is going to love university.

This is her very first Hebrew alphabet lesson.

Castle Playground

This playground is a 2 minute walk from our place.  The kids love it - sandbox, swing, and a slide.  I love the setting.  The building is the Vancouver School of Theology ~ we pretend it's a castle.

Photos

Here are a few photos of our first few days here.  We've had a lot of fun exploring Vancouver and there is a lot to discover.  We are 10 minutes from great beaches, watched crabbing, Ben loves the boats and sand.  Heather spent yesterday with us and we took in the Vancouver Aquarium.  Amy was so excited she was just vibrating and she wasn't disappointed.  Then we found the totem poles and cruised around our neighbourhood.
Today Amy made her first friend.  A little girl right next door named Brooklyn.

Oh dear, sorry they are sideways, I have a few things to figure out here.  But, there is a small glimpse of life here.

We are enjoying it.

Crawl Owen crawl

We are off to the Vancouver aquarium today and I'm very excited. Amy has a list of things she really wants to see in Vancouver. Killer whales, the ocean and totem poles are at the top of it. We have seen plenty of totem poles in our neighborhood already, spent an afternoon at the ocean for fathers day and now off to see the whales!

The kids have been doing good so far at adjusting. Amy especially is loving life here. Her enthusiasm has been a good reminder for me at times. Her big question is, 'how do I make friends.'. To which jonny answered that we will make friends and then she can be friends with our new friends kids. So now she is always on our case to get out and get some friends quick!

Benny does well as long as he's entertained but when he gets frustrated the first thing he asks for is to go home. Breaks my heart.

Owen started crawling as soon as we got here. You totally called it avey! Here is a short video.

Ok, hmmm. I need to figure out how to post vids..... Hold on a minute...

The Next New Chapter

Welcome to the Vancouver Chapter for the Aicken's 5! We've been here 4 days and I have a whole load of stories to tell. It's going to be great! I've been thinking lately of how, looking back, life seems to take on a chapters-like appearance. Since marrying Jonny 8 years (almost 9.... what?!) ago we've had:

Chapter 1 ~ Living in an old folks home finishing our undergrads in Calgary chapter c

Chapter 2 ~ Wetaskiwin basement apartment working the afternoon shift together to pay off loans chapter

Chapter 3 ~ the WMPL and Mongolia adventure ~ to the ends of the earth and beyond

Chapter 4 ~ there and back again ~ Camrose, WMPL, CLBI, babies..... oh my! and now .....

Chapter 5 ~ Off to Vancouver to live next to the ocean on the pristine UBC Campus while hubs goes back to school while raising 3 kids in 875 square feet with no money, lots of love and an enormous (although often wavering) amount of faith, and hope and trust that this is the next step our Great God has for us.

Let the fun begin.....