Great News.... It's FINALLY Official!

We had two instances of great news this morning!

First of all, we put Spencer in underwear for the first time all night last night. Now both and Todd and I woke him up during the night to go pee but he made it all the way to the morning without ANY accidents! We're both SO proud of him!

Our second bit of BIG news is that we will be the proud owners of a little piece of BC of our very own NEXT WEEK! Yes... I said NEXT WEEK!

We're MOVING!

We bought a 0.25 acre lot in Elkford with an older mobile on it. The mobile is in pretty good shape and sits on a 9 foot foundation wall where the whole length of the mobile is used for storage. It sits on a pie shaped lot on a culdesac in upper Elkford. We have untouchable green space right off the back of the property... meaning no one can build on it. We also look over the fields of both the high school and elementary school, right off the back yard. We have an opening to the school yards right off the back yard. We have enough room on the property to either build another house & garage or put a new mobile on the lot with a garage... which is our plan EVENTUALLY!

We met our neighbours on the South side a few days ago. Two couples from Calgary own the large lot next to us and are originally from Ontario; Sault Ste Marie. One them is a vice-principal of a school in Calgary and both couples vacation during the summer in Elkford. They have a 4 year old little boy and the other couple has a 2 year old boy. We haven't met our Northern neighbours yet.

We take possession on Friday May 29th and immediate family and friends will recieve more information as to address in the next 2 weeks or so.

Moving to Elkford means less money for rent since the mortgage is cheaper, no gas for Todd to drive to work since the mine buses will pick him up and drop him off at the front door and we may even go down to one vehicle which means less insurance too. The taxes are way cheaper than they are in Ontario in Elkford!

We're off today to get some of the paperwork done and visit Elkford to see what the actual taxes will be on the property. Spencer has pre-school too today so it's going to be a busy day of traveling!

Traveling the Back Roads!

On Sunday we decided to see if we could make it to the Elk Lakes Provincial Park, about 60km above Elkford on the back road. This road is not maintained at all so it can be rather bumpy!

We stopped for Spencer to have a pee (one of many stops along the way... he's now known as "Fountain Boy") and this little girl was sitting on the side of the road right in front of the Jeep. She let me walk up to her pretty close and take her photo before she took off into the bush.


We climbed from 1150m (the valley's altitude at home in Sparwood) to 1700m (550m or 1804 feet) up the valley to this beautiful plateau about 20km from the Elk Lakes Provincial Park entrance.

The above photo is looking towards the park and the photo below is looking back towards where we had come.

Well needless to say, we made it to within 2 kilometers from the park parking lot. Yup... only 2 kilometers from our destination but we encountered a rather LARGE amount of snow on the last 2 kilometers of road prior. Even though we had the 4x4 on the Jeep, we spotted a low spot ahead on a bend in the road and it was filled with water. Not knowing how deep it was or how soggy the road was underneath, we decided to turn around. So on a little decline we turned around in the ditch and back we went, back toward Elkford again.

We had passed a little area with a mini cabin and two small areas with picnic tables so we stopped for a few pictures. If you look in front of the Jeep, that's how much snow was on the road where we had turned around! A lot.... considering it's the middle of May! Yup.... and that's MUD colouring the side of the Jeep! And lots of it!


My guys.... in "cheese" mode!


Spencer and I. (I'm going to have to teach Todd how to use the close up action on the camera!!!!)


We had packed a dinner meal to prepare on our journey. At mile marker 144 on the trail, we had passed a beautiful user maintained camp site with a view of a gorgeous stream and a picnic table and bathroom. We stopped and got out the Coleman stove and cooked up some yummy sausages on a bun with fried onions and had them with potato chips. It was delicious... especially due to the scenery.

My two characters......


Our "dinner" site.... the river is behind the boys.


On our way back, we stopped at Blue Lake, another user maintained camp site nestled in the bush. We'd been here before in the fall and there was only a puddle of water left the last time. We we overjoyed to see some beautiful but rather cold water in the little lake this time. It was crystal clear!!!

Spencer thought it would be a great idea to go "fishing" so he grabbed a stick and began to fish. Well no sooner did he "cast in his line" when the fish began to break the surface. They continued to splash and make themselves known to him. He was so excited! Little did he know, it was just Daddy throwing stones in the water from behind him.... hahahaha! Daddy did eventually get caught... thanks to Mommy!


Spencer then decided to take his version of a "dip"... he fell in the lake.... so we quickly got him into some dry clothes and off we went, back home.

Another great adventure. I even drove the Jeep most of the way home from our dinner camp site. Gotta love the back roads baby!

Adventure to Lost Lake

On Saturday, we got in the Jeep in the afternoon and decided to investigate Sulphur Springs Rd., a road that begins at the Line Creek Mine in between Sparwood and Elkford.

As we drove we gained about 300 meters in altitude and up the mountain ridge. We ended up high above Elkford looking down on the town.

We discovered Lost Lake at the top of the mountain. There was a trail from the roadside to the little lake so we got out and decided to take that adventure.

In a few spots they had board walk trails due to the water.


Here's the pretty lake we came to....

And back we went.... Spencer wanted to stop and "fish" in all the puddles on the way back.


On our way down the mountain we took a spur road to round the corner to discover these lovelies...


We came to a switch back and took the Lower Sulphur Springs Road to see where it went to.

We came across this wild turkey on the road. The first one I've seen in our area. I knew they were hear but had yet to see one yet.

We also came across a small herd of elk eating there lunch.

We drove back to the beginning of the road and took the road to Grave Lake to see how busy the camping area was there. On our way back, we spotted some deer AND elk standing along side the railway tracks. So weird to see them both together!


Gotta love this beautiful country!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope you're all having a great day today! It's just Spencer and I hangin' out all day here. Todd's at work.
Spencer made me a pretty pink personalized book mark at school. It even has a cute little photo of him on it. Todd and Spencer got me a little compressor for my Copic airbrush system so I have endless "air". Gotta love my boys!

Hope you're having a great too!