A few new things...

Today is Jaime and my 7th anniversary but I think we're both agreed that Finn turning 13 weeks seems to be preoccupying us more. Our baby boy is so much more alert at the moment. His smiles, laughs and giggles are all very forth coming and imensly rewarding. Finn's sense of humour while basic is fickle. Something which may make him giggle into screams 3 or 4 times will become of no interest as soon as someone else is looking. We believe we are extremely lucky when it comes to sleep, Finn is for the most part sleeping through the night for around 8 and 9 hour stretches. His coordination is coming along but the most common thing he seems to grab for is my mouth or glasses... which probably means daddy needs to back off!

The last few days seems to have finally brought summer here in the Fraser Valley. I'm sitting outside as I type this and it's been between up to 35C by our thermometer. Clear blue skies very little breeze and tons of mosquitoes. Its probably something to do with the damp mild weather up to this point but we're getting swarmed at times. Not nearly as bad as other places in Canada but non the less I'm British I have to find something to complain about.

In the last month we've been quite busy, we were lucky enough to have friends staying with us from good old Blightly. Having Julie & Joanne stay with us gave us the chance to do a bunch of touristy things we've been meaning to do for a long time. They seem to have brought a touch of wildlife spotting luck with them during their visit, we maintained a respectable tally of Raccoon, Bear, Deer, Snake, Otters and Coyote. Jaime was on hand to highlight and in some cases wrangle critters (well snakes anyway). This was topped up with a visit to Jaime's former employer which meant they were not short of animal sights.

The much warmer weather has allowed us to join Jaime's dad on several trips on nearby Stave Lake and now that the waters are receding the Fraser River. Clear skys making for breath taking views as always, I don't think my appreciation for the local landscape will ever get eroded.

Julie & Joanne were kind enough to bring Finn his very own Newcastle United strip, meaning that even though it will be a long time before he gets to see a match, he can be getting in on the spirit. Football (Soccer) is played out here. Vancouver the largest city in the area has a major team, The Whitecaps who compete in the MLS along side teams like LA Galaxy. Soccer is growing in popularity but locally it does not get much of a look in over Hockey, this is compounded by The Canucks recent near success in the Stanley Cup and the fact that in general terms the Whitecaps Suck! Getting to see a decent footy match is not that easy here really, and I'm just not into Hockey yet, so in search of an alternative sport to spectate , Jaime and I have talked about Roller Derby a few times and we have a localish team, The Reign Valley Vixens. The Vixens seem to do pretty well and we've managed to get to one bout and its fast, painful looking and a well worth a watch.

Painful to watch brings me to my final subject for this blog post, The Abbotsford Agrifair & Rodeo. I'm not a city boy, I was brought up in the countryside and am fully aware farm life and the sensory experiences it brings, however I've never been to an agricultural fair or rodeo. Lucky for me the annual Agrifair in Abbotsford was last week and it was well worth a visit. Jaime, Finn and I all took a trip on the Saturday afternoon. Jaime is a seasoned visitor having been many many times over the years and even participated as a child, where as Finn decided that mostly it was a warm day and he had many years yet to look at horses and livestock so slept through pretty much everything. I on the other hand got to see people of all ages taking pride in their horses, goats, donkeys, llama, chickens and so on before we settled down to watch the main event, the Rodeo.

I understand what a Rodeo is, that is no mystery to me. Watching it on a screen or reading about it in a book does not do justice to what appears be sheer lunacy! People pay good money to strap themselves to nearly a tonne of angry testosterone fuelled, very much still kicking steak, then hang on for dear life. Its not like in the movies, its not in slow motion and it looks sore even before anyone gets stood on by the aforementioned testy bovine! No matter your opinion of the sport you can't help but be impressed by what some of the competitors are able to do or achieve on a horse or bull trying to throw them in to orbit.

2 months and 408 months

Summer is late in coming here to Mission. We've had the odd warm or even hot day but spring type weather has been much more prevalent. The snow melt is making its way down the Fraser River making it extremely high at the moment.

Today our, baby boy is 2 months old and he's doing well and growing fast, so far in that time, he's been jet boating three times, been to the beach, been to lots of dinners and breakfasts out of the house and has never eaten anything, celebrated his first national holiday and smiled!

Also this weekend I was 408 months (34 years) old. To celebrate we had a day at the beach in White Rock, partially because I miss it a bit, but mostly because there was no mosquitoes which seem to be coming into their peak season.

We've only had one unfortunate incident recently which was our bouncy little dog getting a bad leg gash due to broken glass on a lakeside beach which cut him to the bone. Vet trips, stitches, anti-biotics and limited exercise followed. He's all sewn up now and mostly mended, which is fortunate timing for him as we have to teach him a new trick as he is short-listed to appear in a TV commercial. Duffy is possibly becoming a little star. In May he was enlisted to be a street dog getting kicked in a movie, we'll give details if he doesn't hit the cutting room floor.

Its been just over a year since we moved out to Canada and its flown by and we seem to have packed in a lot. One of the many reasons we love British Columbia so much is the great outdoors. Although we have not had the long stretches of warm weather yet we are still managing to get out an about.

Being a Dad...

At 8:33am Sunday 8th May 2011 our lives changed forever. Our son Finn Noah Kennedy was born weighing in at 9lbs 4oz.

I now have a lifetime to work out how to be a good Dad but in the last three weeks (which have passed so quickly) I've learned a small number of things already.

1: Having a child is amazing.

2: Its hard work and afternoon naps are a welcome reality

3: Communication with Finn is a learning curve but mostly the cries seem to mean "Your not the mommy, bring me to a breast!" or "Be ready, I'm working on something and I WILL need my diaper changed"

4: Winding a baby can be a two directional process with VERY audible and on occasion physical results.

5: The natural human response to catch things is hard to overcome, even if the projectile is liquid or from well within a baby's body.

6: I'm thankful I'm not a squeamish person!

7: Having a child is AMAZING and we are loving it.

Chasing Winter

We've hit a run of warm (ish) weather the last few days, blue skies and sunshine. Spring has very much arrived and Winter has long gone. Not content with Winter leaving of its own volition we chased it off this weekend by heading around 140 miles North East to Bluey Lake, which is still well and truly frozen at this time of year.

Jaime's dad invited us to try Ice Fishing, not something I've ever tried. As it sounds Ice Fishing is fishing through ice. In this case Bluey lake had an ice surface which was several inches thick. The ice is not only thick enough to walk on but easily thick enough to support the weight of a quad or much heavier vehicle. An ice auger is used to drill the hole through the ice before dropping a fishing line into the water below.

Like most fishing, from there on its a waiting game, and this being far enough from civilisation it gave us the chance to enjoy the view and be in the great outdoors. While the sun was out it was warm and pleasant but as we were sitting on one massive piece of ice when the clouds closed in a little, the temperature dropped. A fire to warm us through and a few Thermos flasks of warm drinks soon resolved that as a problem.

Unfortunately we didn't have the most successful fishing day, but it was of no matter, it was a chance to experience outdoors somewhere and something new.

Spring has not arrived yet.

March 2011 has rolled around and I'm led to believe spring is supposed to have started. To be fair the level of rain we're getting in the Fraser Valley is much like the wet springs I've been used to in the UK, but the pattern is all thrown to pot with the odd down fall of snow.

As of today we have 9 weeks to go until Stottie's (as we've come to call the bump) due date. Jaime is still doing very well and is very active. Last weekend we headed out for a hike up in the hills behind Mission. We planned to drive up towards Davis Lake on a disused logging road and hike down to the lake itself on a trail we'd read about.

We should have paid more attention to the 70 or so spent shotgun shells beside the car as we got out. We should have made more note of the sounds of shooting. We should have taken the number of tailers for 4x4s, ATVs and Dirt Bikes as a sign this was not going to be our usual wander in the back woods, but we didn't. We carried on regardless.

We parked the car, ignored the garbage, the sound of constant gunfire, negotiated a stream of dirt bikes, and found the trail, where we clambered around a burnt out BMW 3 Series. Onward and downward towards the lake, we found the trails well worn by 4x4s. From here things seemed to quieten, the gun fire was muffled by the closed in trees, snow on the ground made for a perfect playground for the dogs although a little slippery for us. We encountered the occasional train of ATVs and heavily modified Toyota 4x4, but for the most part had a not to terrible hike down to the lake shore and at first glance it looks amazing, but then the eyes focus and you can see a bunch of vehicles further around the lake, the ears pickup their country music blaring through the peace. Non the less out came the camera to catch a shot of a mostly picturesc and flat lake.

We managed three or four shots between us when the grumble of ATV motors behind us started to get louder and louder and down the tail came a four strong troupe heading straight for the lake, presumable to show their skill on all terrain. The first made a long sweeping semi circle around a bush and through the first few feet of the lake, the second followed in a more direct line straight into the lake and stopped and sank. Amusing to watch, more amusing to listen to, lots of advice was bandied about, to push, to pull, to rev. The best information of the day coming from the rider himself "Well my old quad floated!" Recovery was not swift but did make for and entertaining if brief rest stop.

The arrival of three more quads who's riders dismounted and fired up their own pre-recorded country concert, breaking out the beer and smoking up a storm spurred us on to bushwhack out way back to the car away from man and vehicle.