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.
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