Team Scotland 2008

For the second time in 8 months, Team Scotland descended upon our fair city for a lovely (but far too short) visit. Princess Savvy is 11 months old now and quite taken with the J-bird - perhaps foreshadowing of a future royal marriage?

Feathers, Savvy and the bird at the Urban Playground

Uncle Ty and the princess!

The future Mr and Mrs J-bird?

Auntie Shark mixing with royalty

The Gang - aren't we good lookin? : ) (Thanks for the open-eyed pics Ash!)

Mimi's Bday

Mimi and Papa came to Vancouver to spend a nice long weekend with Jasper! As per usual much eating and drinking occurred, including a lovely dinner at the Salmon House, an Indian Feast and a homemade Thai seafood fiesta! YUM! We did manage to burn off a few calories with some rousing games of Guitar Hero and Wii Sports. Too bad Papa C never managed to not get booed off the stage - maybe next time Papa C!

Here are Mimi and Jasper showing off her bday present - a fancy new calendar!

A Great Weekend

What does tons of sunshine, great visits with family and friends, and a whole lotta ice cream cake add up to? A GREAT weekend!

Happy birthday to our sweet Marley - how can you be 4 already?! Here's all the wee folk chowing down at dinner.

Fun in the sun at Maplewood Farms on a gorgeous Sunday....

Hanging in the Cove

It was gloriously sunny when we left our house, but by the time we descended down into Deep Cove, it was cold and foggy and quite wet. But Jasper and I had fun anyways - we spun some wheels and cruised the main drag and terrorized some small dogs.

The Days have arrived!

James, Suzanne and wee little Kieran have finally arrived safe and sound in North Van. We got to spend a glorious few sunny hours together yesterday down at Lonsdale Quay. Will be so nice to have more family close by, and another wee little playmate for Jasper!

Big Boy Bed

"Peep! Peep!"....Today we set up Jasper's very first big boy bed! We have not yet gotten brave enough to completely rid ourselves of the crib yet (read: sometimes he NEEDS to be trapped in it) but we are all excited nonetheless.

Snow Lovely

In the past 3 days - 1.5 feet! Been hard work for the single snow plow that works for the DNV!

Brilliant Brand Awareness

Kudos to the marketing geniuses at Starbucks, McDonalds, and Nickelodeon. Jasper at the ripe old age of 20 months can locate any and all Starbucks and proceed to scream "nana loaf" at the top of his lungs until I give in a buy him some banana loaf and of course a latte for me (from which he demands a sip). Jasper also can identify "Don-alds" even though he has been there less times than I can count on one hand, and of course will only wear one singular pair of running shoes every single day (despite the fact he has loads of lovely boots and cute shoes to choose from) and those are his "Go Diego Go" sneakers....sigh.

A few random shots from this weekend....a new tricycle from Mimi and Papa!

Vegas baby....

We are the king and queen of the "self-portrait!"

In the course of one week I had not only my first overnight trip away from Jasper, but my first actual "get-on-a-plane-and-fly-away-for-2-days-and-nights" trip without Jasper. I decided to take the opportunity this year to meet Aaron in Vegas at the end of his work trip for CES. I think the hardest part of the trip was the anticipation of leaving Jasper and actually getting out the door, but once I was safely cruising at 30000 feet I started to relax and get into the vacation spirit. Night one - we hit the buffet and cruised the strip - inhaled tons of second hand smoke from the casinos - drank some drinks and called it an early night (but one with 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep!). Friday called for some daylight cruising of the strip, a blissful hour of shopping in Sephora, a 100$ jackpot for me at slots, a quick trip to the Outlet Mall and a lovely long dinner topped off with drinks and the Blue Man Group....Much love and thanks to Grandma Day who took such amazing care of her grandson, he is so lucky to have you! xo

Momma's night out

I am so fortunate to have so many great friends in my life. Some of these friends I have had since high-school (and grade school!) and are still very special, very important parts of my life. So what a treat that 4 of my girlfriends from high school and I descended upon Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria for 24 hours of drinking, laughing, spa-ing and eating, and here's the best part - all without our kids! (insert major thank you to all the grandmas for looking after said kids!!)
On a bittersweet note - its the last time I will see my pal Janet for awhile as she is off to Sydney Australia in 2 weeks to begin an exciting new chapter in her life...good luck Jano - I will miss you!

"Wi" wish you a Happy 2008!

We rang in 2008 this year with some good friends at Casa Nielsen. We managed to get the kids down at the decent hour of 10pm after a whole lotta surf and turf and the most heavenly homemade tiramisu (thank you Nathan!). Surprisingly all of us made it not only to midnight, but well past to the wee hours of 2:30am - I think the intensity of the Wi tennis competition helped all of us push through the fatigue...congrats to Ron who holds the title of Wi Tennis Champ for 2008!
Happy 2008 to all of our friends and family - we wish you nothing but happiness, health, and many new and exciting adventures!

Christmas Numero Dos - Nielsen Style

After much merriment on the 23rd we were ready to hit the road to join the rest of the Nielsen/Miller clan up at the cabin. Aaron was particularly motivated to get there as Olde Mor promised a Danish smorg upon his arrival - pickled herring and beets for everyone (gulp!).

Jasper managed to figure out how to climb out of his playpen and onto our bed in all of about 10 seconds, so that made for an interesting few nights and more than one late night poke on the nose for me by my little one looking to play at 4am!

Christmas is always magical up at the cabin - the fire burning in the stove, the snow covered surroundings, dancing (and singing) around the Xmas tree, and of course always the holiday food and drink! Best of all, showers and changing out of your pajamas is not required - even by supper!

Santa arrived early Xmas morning and left a mound of treats for the entire fam. It took the better part of the day to open everything, and even then there were gifts left! Guess we were all very very good this year.

Christmas Numero Uno - Day Style

This year, we hosted the Day Family Xmas at Casa Nielsen on Dec 23rd. Was nice to finally have an excuse to decorate the house and deck the halls and all that festive stuff. The day started out with a trek up Mt Seymour (in the new Volvo - now christened "Curtis") for family tobagoning, only to discover that the perfectly peaceful day down at our house was actually a windstorm up on top of Seymour! So, the Days braved the wind (even Paigey!) and had some good rips down the hill, the Nielsens camped out in the Volvo, out of the wind (this was Jaspers decision after many tears, not mine!).

Later, we ate many an appie and drank many a drink and we were spoiled as always by our family. Best of all was the time spent together as an extended family and seeing Jasper really connect with his cousins.

Sprinkles, sprinkles everywhere!

On sunday we had our first annual casa nielsen kids xmas and cookie decorating party. I think I will be cleaning up sprinkles, frosting, and cookie crumbs well into 2008 but it was well worth it as a good time was had by all (above and below the age of 3).

My New Baby.....

Well after a week of some paperwork and a few trips across the border, here she is (although imagine her in black)..my stealth momma wagon! Mmmmmm....love the momma wagon!

Xmas Fete-ing

On Saturday night Jasper met Triana Aleman and I think it was love at first sight. Lets hope this is all they do on a bed for many many years to come!

Team Nielsen had a busy weekend helping celebrate young Sonje Vanderkuips first birthday (yum cupcakes!) and fete-ing in Ladner at the Days on Sunday.

We may have also bought a "new" car in the US of A on Monday...pics to be posted as soon as we clear the border later this week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Aaron spent the ENTIRE weekend hanging my energy efficient LED lights - who knew trying to save the environment would cause such a problem for him? We also had our first BIG snowfall - so lovely and Christmasy but a right old &$*$$*# to drive in (even with 4WD). Tonight we put up the (fake) Christmas tree (again, for the environment) and decked the halls, it realy is beginning to look alot like Christmas at Casa Nielsen. Now, to begin the shopping...argh.