Married To My Best Friend

15 years ago tomorrow I married an amazing man.

Some say love at first sight doesn't happen but I am here to tell you that it does.

You see, I first noticed my honey when I was 12 years old. He was leaning against his locker at school ( talking to a girl ) and I fell head over heels madly in love.

It wasn't long before we began dating and for me I knew he was "the one".

We dated through high school and into his final year. After his graduation from high school he left the province . I stayed to finish my final year however, the distance proved too much for a couple of kids with the college years ahead of them and so we parted ways ....

I never forgot him even though I met and dated other boys ( and he other girls). We kept in touch over the 4 years ..........writing letters , seeing one another in the summer, hanging out once in awhile ....

Somewhere along the line ....we drifted back into one another's lives .......and we fell deeper in love.

In July 1991, he proposed marriage and I accepted. We married a year later in a small church in the heart of the village that we grew up together in.

We have been through a lot together over the last 16 plus years: the trials of infertility and heartache of failed attempts and the loss of people that we love.

We have also had many many wonderful memories too! The adoption of our two beautiful children, our trip to China , family Christmas get togethers , spaghetti Sunday's, and the most recent .....enjoying time in our new home as a family of four.

I wouldn't trade where we have been and what we have been through for the world. We are so fortunate.

JP, You have and always will be the love of my life .....

My heart has belonged to you from the beginning and it always will be yours .....

I love you and our life together.

Happy anniversary Bub !

I hope the next 15 are as happy as these have been!

Andrea

Our Adventure Into The Wilderness ( minus Daddy)

Blog Entry Summary:

The kids and I ventured into the wild this weekend with some great friends and set up camp. They brought along their cozy camper trailor ( Ben referred to it as their cabin) and we set up our tent ......

On Friday, hot and sticky, we loaded up the SUV and set out in 30 C degree weather ....

Thus began our adventure ....

We crossed hills, rivers and even took a ferry boat to our destination ......

Once there, we scouted out the best site and began to unload all our goodies .....

The weather was superb up until Saturday BUT somewhere along the line ( 5:45pm to be exact) the heavens opened up and unloaded buckets and buckets and buckets of H2O.

Yes, it rained all of Saturday pm and all through the night . (Did you know that rain drops on a tent covered by a tarp are pretty noisy ??? If you didn't know ....I can tell you that they certainally are :) and believe it or not, the kids slept through it all .......

Needless to say, Mommy did not ..... :)

Rain or shine though , it was an adventure .....and ours to own. Besides, we were warm and dry and snug as a bug in our cozy little tent although, on the way home today Ben said ..."you know Mom ...we should get a cabin like our friends".

So much for roughing it ......:)

READY TO GO !

FERRY RIDE

MAKING BUSH PIES ( LIKE MINI PIZZA POCKETS)

PAINTING ROCKS

OUR TERRIFIC VIEW OF THE WATER

ALL SET UP !

YA GOTTA WEAR SHADES

SUNDAY AM

OUR RIVER VIEW ON SUNDAY ( MINUS THE SUNSHINE)

CAMPING PANCAKES ARE THE BEST !

MOMMY'S LITTLE CAMPERS !

The difference in these two pics cracks me up ...

I have been blessed by both a girl's girl and a boy's boy .....

Here is Aly in her pretty party dress admiring the flowers in her Aunt Gail's garden and the next picture is Ben with a frog that he found in the exact same garden a few moments later.

Too funny .....






I've been neglecting my blog these days.

I guess we have been really busy with summer fun. I plan to get it all in before I return to the working world.

I hate to admit this but my child care leave is just about through ....

Gosh, the time has moved so quickly.

I go back to work in 7 weeks.

Yikes .....

We have been having the BEST vacation.




We have been to the USA to visit a terrific water park and we have also "roughed it" in the wilderness with the kids.

It was both Ben and Aly's first time tenting and we had the best time.

I can honestly say that it has been the most enjoyable trip that I have ever been on.

We fished, swam, told ghost stories , flew kites, ate smores ( of course) and relaxed.

No phone, no t.v, no email, no pagers ......

I wish everyday could be vacation ......

More snapshots from our time with Grammy and Papa ....

The three of us ( poor Dad had to work) left last Sunday for a three day trip to the "camp".

We call it camp in New Brunswick.

Everyone else calls it a cottage ...

We had the BEST time and the kids enjoyed spending time with their Grammy and Papa!

We even ventured to the ocean to dip our toes into the salt water and look for seashells.

We kayaked, fished and looked for frogs and fireflies too !

We ate icecream and yummy pancakes,picked wild flowers and Miss Aly learned to dance with Papa.

It was fun .... fun ...fun ...

We just returned from a fantastic few days with Grammy and Papa.

It was fun filled and action packed 72 hours and the kids have returned with smiles on their faces and sleepy eyes.

Thanks for a great few days Grammy and Papa.

Your camp is a place that is made for childhood memories ....

Who would you vote for ???

Alyana and the kitten have been battling over a basket that I bought at a local craft store a few years ago.
It is too funny to see them in competition for this comfy spot.
Notice that they are almost the same size ( give or take a few pounds).
Here are a few snapshots of the dualing duo ...

Our sleeping beauty ....( with binky , of course) ....

Soccer

Ben's soccer games tend to be a family affair ( most of the time anyway).

Alyana loves to go and see her big brother kick around the soccer ball and feel the grass between her toes while Ben prefers the sidelines as opposed to the game ( the monkey bars to be more precise).

Regardless, the 4 of us make a team effort and hit the soccer field anyway twice a week.

Like I have said before the coach is a cutie .....and not at all bad on the eyes ....

and while the other kiddies are calling him coach .. .....

Yes, she had a wardrobe change in the middle of the game ...it was chilly out !

Ben just calls him Dad .....

Pictures From The Park ....