School begins today

It is Monday morning and Kevin is teaching his first class. He has 31 students registered so the class is very full. He spent quite a bit of time this weekend getting ready for class. We interrupted his class this morning to get his office key and the students thought Kendra was pretty cute walking right in and giving her daddy a hug! I am still hoping to be able to do some work in the library here. We have some students who are interested in babysiting so once we get that figured out, I'll try to do some work too.

The weekend here was beautiful. We spent yesterday morning walking around the old part of Klaipeda. Lots of old buildings and rough cobblestone streets. Much of the city has a strong Soviet feel to it, with old rough looking buildings. However, slowly the city is building new, more modern buildings. We walked along quite a busy shopping street too. I may have to return there on my own and do a little exploring!!

The kids are both doing very well here. Yesterday they slept until 6:00am and this morning was 7:30 am!! Thats a better sleep than we get in Canada!!! We're hoping that continues. They are getting used to walking everywhere and Kendra doesn't ask where our van is as often anymore!! We live up on the third floor of our building so we are also getting used to packing up the kids and the double stroller and hiking it up and down the stairs! Maybe I'll develop some arm muscles before we go home again!

Arrival in Lithuania!

Well, after 24 hours we finally arrived at our apartment in Klaipeda, Lithuania! It was a long trip but the kids both did quite well. We are now adjusting to life in a different country where we can't read anything or understand what people are saying. This makes things like grocery shopping very interesting. The first day we ended up with a bag of buttermilk instead of regular milk - not a hit with the kids, or with us either!!

The weather here has been beautiful so far so we have been able to do some walking around town. We have spent some time at the college already, as Kevin gets ready for his course starting on Monday. It is only about a 15 minute walk to school.

We are quite happy with the apartment that they found for us. It is quite spacious with lots of room for the kids to run around in. They are learning to find different things to do to keep themselves busy. We are also still adjusting to the time differences. Right now, the kids seem to think that 4:00am is a good time to be up for the day! Hopefully we can get that adjusted very soon as it makes for a very long day!!

Sorry there are no pictures with this post. We have to figure out yet how to get them off our camera using the computers here.

Thanks for your prayers - we appreciate them!!

Fun in the Sun!

Saturday was a beautiful day and so we broke out the sprinkler and the pool! Kendra was very excited but once the sprinkler was going she was a little hesitant! Owen, on the other hand, was in his glory! He loved the sprinkling water and thought dumping water from the bucket over his head was great fun!

"Mom, my bathing suit is stuck!" Now that there are no more diapers, this was Kendra's first experience with the bathing suit wedgie!!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

This weekend we celebrated Kevin's 40th birthday! It was great to have some family and friends over to help us celebrate. Kendra had fun helping me make Daddy's birthday cake and blowing out the candles with him. She loves to draw and colour and was also quite excited to make him a picture for him!

Just a few things . . .

I haven't posted for a while but we haven't really done anything "postable" in the last little while. Just kinda doing regular days! Owen did chip his front tooth, although we don't know when or where he did it, Kendra is pretty well finally potty trained so that is a blessing and I had a very nice Mother's day yesterday. So, I thought I would post a few new pictures, just for fun!


Me and my kiddies!


This was the scence before we finally got both kids looking at the camera. Quite a chore to get these 2 to sit still and smile at the same time!!




Just bein' goofy!



Kendra's latest artisic creation. She first drew the sunflower with a pencil and then painted it. We had done one together a few days before but this one she did completely on her own!


Owen, just being his goofy self! His hairdo is thanks to applesauce smeared all through it!

Sun Run 2008!

We just came back from completing the Vancouver Sun Run. It is a 10km run (or walk in our case!) through Vancouver. It was a little chilly first thing in the morning, especially for the kids as they were not moving. However, once we got going, the sun came out and it was a very nice walk. It is fun to listen to the bands along the way and just "people watch". You certainly see all kinds!! We borrowed a stroller from some friends so Kendra and Owen would each sit comfortably in their own stroller. Owen was asleep before the 2 km mark but Kendra had a good time taking in all kinds of new sites.

The picture is a little dark, but we took the Sky train from Science world, where it was easier to find a free parking spot, to downtown, where the race began. Kendra was quite excited to ride the train!

Believe it or not, half of the people had already left!! It is quite a site to see all those people on one street!

At the starting line, ready to go! (1 hour and 15 min. after the first racers had already left!) Standing on top of the bridge looking at all the people still to come. We weren't last!!!

Trip to Edmonton

I just returned from a week trip to Edmonton. I have 2 brothers living there and because we didn't go to Smithers for Christmas, I hadn't seen them in quite a while. My mom was here for my niece Courtney's wedding and so she flew with me and the kids to Edmonton. It was a busy week but we had a great time there, despite the dump of snow we received! I also spent a day with my good friend, Carole, and her 3 kids. We had a great day out in Fort Saskatchewan!! It was great to spend some time with family and friends who we hadn't seen in quite a while. It was fun for Kendra and Owen to spend time with their cousin, Liam too! While we were there, it was Liam's first birthday so we had lots of fun at his Western birthday party! Thanks Sid and Holly and Rich for hosting us!!

Kendra and Owen in their cowboy outfits!!

Happy Birthday Liam!! He looked so cute in his cowboy boots and little Wrangler jeans!





This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning!! We didn't come prepared for that!A final dinner at BP's before we flew back home. (Sid, Mom, Kendra and Rich)