Canada Day

If you haven't been down to the Whitehorse riverfront lately, they have really done quite a nice job of fixing it up.  Now, instead of Rotary Park, events take place at Shipyards Park (the old Moccasin Flats squatters area).  A few of the old buildings have been fixed up and used for NGO's offices.  Well, this is where the main goings-on of Canada were held this year.

I ran into a couple of people I know who were pushing around a couple more people I know.  Unfortunately the wee ones were not feeling too well but still gave a smile and a wave to their Gramma when they saw me.

The Cannucks were playing when I was there.  Remember them??  They played at Shaun & Brooke's Wedding and at the Senior's Soiree at Christmas time and at a million other events considering they have been around since 1963 ...  yes, 1963!!!!

We had the kids out of their stroller and dancing to the music.  (Note the Canada red shirt??)

Emerson especially likes to move to music.  His was swinging his feet and clapping away (also note "team Canada shirt!) and also pointing to many "interesting" things.

And then the rain began.  Canada Day forecast - hot and sunny.  In actual fact it was hot and sunny in the morning, but in the afternoon the clouds came and so did the showers.  Too bad, I would have stayed longed if it wasn't wet.

Inside Out

Guess who I went to the matinee with on Sunday ... Silas, Debbie and Ella.  We saw INSIDE OUT.  It is the newest Pixar movie to hit the screens.  Rotten Tomatoes gives it 5 Stars and I concur.  It was excellent although I do believe the story must have been a little too complicated for youngsters.  First of all they have to understand that the movie is giving feelings a human-type form and live inside the head of the little girl.  Then they sort the feelings by short and long term and use them in REM sleep.  May have been complicated for the little ones but I enjoyed it.

June 22, 2015

First of all, for yesterday, Sunday June 21 - Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers.  I had a lovely dinner of bar-b-qued melt in your mouth steak and glorious salad at the Rudolph household to celebrate the occasion.  I sat beside Emerson who gobbled up 1/2 of my steak.  (I cannot believe how much those babies eat!!!), but I was glad to share.

Also, Happy Summer Solstice for yesterday as well.  Now, unfortunately, the daylight hours will be getting shorter but on the plus side, summer is here!!!!!

And for today, June 22, Happy 2nd Anniversary to Brooke and SR.  

There.  Got it all in.

Just sharing the price of gas these days.  It doesn't take long to turn the prices around now that summer is here.

We have a lot of forest fires in the Yukon now.  Just heard on the radio that 77 new fires started on Saturday, 15 of those in the Whitehorse area.  Above is my current view of Haeckel Hill from my kitchen window.  This was taken a couple of days ago at 9:30 PM.  You can see the sun trying to show itself and still it was quite a bit above the hill.  The smoke is misting all the scenery.

This is the latest map that is published - June 17.  You can see all the fire areas in the Yukon at that time and as stated above, we have many more.  Apparently Alaska is burning up as well and there are many air quality advisories in various towns there.  

Above:  Haeckel Hill, 10:30 PM, June 21, 2015.  I never tire of the light.

June 16, 2015

Today the twins turned 1.  Yes time does go quickly.  Happy Birthday Emerson and Alanna!!  Brooke and SR had a dinner to celebrate the event.  Alanna looked so pretty but it was difficult to catch a picture of her.  She and Emerson are constantly on the move.  And I should add quickly on the move.  Rachael finally caught her and I took a quick snap.  We never did catch Emerson.

The first time they had a birthday cake.  One each.  And two candles, one for their age (1) and one for  Good Luck - doesn't everyone do that?  The singing surprised them, as you can see.

After the candles were blown out the eating began.  This is the first time they have had SUGAR.  Good luck with sleeping tonight.

Then it was present time.  They went for a spin or two on their new Cat Loader and Princess Mobile.  

New Toys

Had the kids over for dinner yesterday.  SR spotted my garage sale finds - little sit-on toys you propel with your feet (there must be a name for those!).  So, he put Emerson on it.  At first he was a little perplexed, but soon enough, he found it was pretty cool.

He was happy when he understood how it worked.

When he looked behind, he saw his sister was on a walking rider as well.

Along came Alanna right behind him.  She couldn't quite get her feet to move correctly and was more interested the bells and whistles than on moving the small car.

Luckily SR found you could convert it into a walker - and away she went.  Now she was extremely happy with the new toy.

Lola

Just had to add this photo - Lola, taken by sister Lisa with her phone.  I think it is art show quality.  Good work Lee.

Water Park

Friday, another hot and sunny day so Brooke decided to take the kids to the Water Park in Rotary Park.  SR took some time off work to join the fun and as I was already downtown when I received a call saying where they would be, I joined the fun as well.  Above, the kids are in swimsuits and sun hats ready to play.

They are at the water station, observing.  

Brooke and Rachael (the nanny) take the kids into the streams of water.  The water was cold cold cold and comes directly from the Yukon River which is right beside the Park.

Alanna (on the right with Rachael) loves to walk.  Unfortunately she can't unless she is holding an adult's fingers.  If she is not walking, she is not happy, so that is what we do - a lot - with her.  Emerson, on the other hand (on the left with Brooke) is very happy crawling and does it like a bullet. He is the great explorer.

River Stroll

Had to wait for someone while downtown the other day and decided to stroll along the riverbank to do so.  Above is a view looking south.  Notice how beautiful the sky looks.  Our weather is amazing so far this year.

And above is looking north.  The railway tracks (narrow gauge) are now used by the small trolley that is used for tourists in the summer.  They once were used as the end of the route for the White Pass and Yukon Railroad when rails were the only alternative for travel to Skagway Alaska.  At the end of the tracks you can see the roundhouse.  The red building the foreground is the refurbished Fire Hall, now used as a meeting place for small concerts, talks, craft shows etc., and behind that you can see a portion of a brown building.  That was the rail station, a log building where I used to work in the Ticket Office and also as Train Order Operator.

And right across the river one can see the Hospital, where SR was born, although he was born in the "old" hospital.  

The Weekend

Hazardous Waste Day at the dump.  We have one day in May and one in September.  This is where you take your old paint tins, used oil, spent mercury light bulbs, chemicals etc for disposal.  In the past this was not problem.  Drive to the dump, drop off your waste and drive away from the dump.  THIS YEAR, it was drive to the dump at 10:48 AM (HWD opened at 10:00 AM), then queue, with your engine running, as you creep ahead.  It took 55 minutes to travel 0.4 kilometres, along the dump road until I was at the spot where I could empty my truck.  We may be saving the ground but all those cars spewing greenhouse gasses I am pretty sure is NOT good for the environment - I'm pretty sure it contributes to climate change.  When I drove away, the line of cars was about double the length of the line I was stuck in.  Above is a view from my car looking forward - cars until you cannot see the road anymore - and in the rear view mirror - again, cars until you cannot see the road anymore.  Something has to be done about this.

Later that day I dropped in to visit the wee ones.  They were outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

I had to laugh.  It doesn't matter how much room they have to crawl around, inevitably they crawl on top of one another.  In the case below, they had ALL of the front lawn to use.  Kids!!

Sunday

I know this was in the sun, but it is only May 24th and it has been like this for two weeks now.  By the way, it reads about 26C in the shade.  

May 22

Twinsitting Day today.  We went out for a stroll in the morning.  It turned out to be a bit longer than I expected and I almost melted in the heat.  The babies were wheeled around in the shade of their stroller so they were OK.  Alanna fell asleep and Emerson almost did before arriving back at home.  In the afternoon Brooke set up their pool and in they went.  As they are both now wanting to stand, they pull themselves up on anything and everything, even the side of the pool.  (That is not a good thing!)  They look so cute in their SPF sun ray protected suits.

OH NO, I'm being attacked by a Dinosaur.  Oh, wait, it is only Emerson.  Whew!

Emerson had already pulled himself up and toppled over the side of the pool, landing on his cheek then his whole body flipped him over, so I was a bit more vigilant in keeping an eye on him.  But Alanna was not far behind in wanting to do that, so keeping an eye on both was a challenge.  Thankfully Brooke was there too.

May 21, 2015

Thanks to Terry's visit to the Yukon, I finally got to see Lexi.  I have read about her in Facebook and heard about her and now I see her in person.

Terry got along famously with the wee dog.

And Roger showed us the results of Obedience Training.  Of course, she will only listen if you have treats in your pocket.  But she did well.

Then Iris appeared and Lexi ran to her Mamma's arms.

It was great catching up and especially hearing of Iris' family tree information.  It is so involved, I am waiting for the book (or the movie)  to come out, to fully understand it all.  

The weather was superb, hot and sunny.  Sitting on the deck under an umbrella weather.  Then suddenly the wind whipped up and the rain pelted down.  It was a quick shower, then sunny again.  Hope this is an indication of a summer to come.

Mother's Day or should I say Mothers' Day

Dinner on Mother's Day.  Above is Brooke celebrating her first Mother's Day with the two little ones. Table beautifully set and food ready to serve.  A great meal by chef SR (mostly and a little by Brooke) and fabulous dessert.  It was a great meal for the two mothers celebrating their day.

Woman in Gold

Finally went to the theatre on Monday.  It seems half a year has passed since they brought in a show I wanted to see.  Woman in Gold.  I love Helen Mirren.  As you know Debbie and I saw her in live theatre when we were in London.  Anyway, although this didn't get fabulous ratings, I really enjoyed the movie and her acting is exceptional.  The theatre on the other hand ... I had forgotten about the lowly shape it is in.  My seat cushion was flat and there was a space of about 3 inches between the back of the seat cushion and the back of the seat.  And I especially liked how the EXIT sign shone a glowing red light upon the right hand side of the screen.  The constant noise of the running fan did nothing for the sound of the film.  Other than that ...

We exited the theatre around 9PM, had our customary beer at the Westmark Hotel to discuss the film, then headed home.  This being around 9:50 PM.  I almost needed my sun glasses.  The following are photos taken on the way home.  Yup, about a month and a half to the longest day (June 21st).  I never tire of the light.

Up Hamilton Boulevard past the Canada Games Centre.

Turned onto Lazulite at 9:59 PM.  What I didn't notice was the man standing behind the white car in front of me.  Now that I see him I think, "that's weird!"

Wednesday Morning

Look who's crawling - and in a forward motion now.  Was my morning to look after the two of them and it is a busy time now.  

Although Alanna would rather walk (holding onto an adult's fingers that is) she is now starting to crawl.  She is in the crawl backwards stage and I sometimes find her with her body under the couch and her head sticking out with a perplexed look. 

Thus the use of the Pac n Play or as I would call it - a play pen.  You can see Emerson is beginning to panic when he realizes he is banned from crawling and contained but eventually he calms down and just bites the top of the bar, content once again.