Unusual Baby Gift

On Friday a guy with a big digger came over to the house and dug out this stump that was sitting in the front yard of A & D's new house. Dave had cut down a huge tree and dug down to expose the stump. Someone came to the house on Friday to visit the babies and then said he was sending a guy over with his machinery to improve the landscaping! I'd come back from walking the babies and they were sound asleep while all of this digging was going on. I couldn't help but think about how excited they would have been to see this equipment in about 2 years time! Guess we'll be there soon enough.

Heading for Old Glory

A beautiful day in southern B.C. (at least to start) and of course I forgot my camera!! The views towards Old Glory were good, although somewhat hazy in every other direction. I hiked up to Record Ridge in about an hour over an excellent trail with plenty of frost on it. The ridge walk is gorgeous with Old Glory straight ahead. Views to the south (WA state) are super. By the time I got to the split in the trail I'd pretty much decided I wasn't going to hike Old Glory - snow up top, it was windy and I really didn't bring the best gear for cold and wind. Also, I had no gaiters with me. I chose, instead, to head over to Plewman Peak and then down the Plewman Trail. Lots of variety on that one, but snow-covered for the top third of it. A really nice circuit back to the car and it took me 4 hours! Very pleased to have passed a couple of hikers on the uphill who were at least 20 years younger!! The running and pushing the stroller must be helping my fitness level.

Cinderella Complex

Friday a.m. I started my "work" by making turkey soup but I had to go outside and clean vegetables that I'd picked out of the garden on Wednesday. I did feel like the scullery maid out there - misty wet weather and scubbing in the garden! The soup turned out okay. I did a few loads of laundry (not a big chore to someone like me with a blog called The Clothesline), cleaned the bathrooms, washed floors and did a wee bit of vacuuming. The best part was taking the boys out for a long a.m. walk along Centennial Trail past the Rossland Reservoir. They slept the true sleep of babes. When I got back an unusual birthing present was given (a planned future post) and I learned that I'm feeling I have a bit of a Cinderella Complex over my new role!

Valley View

This is the view from my living room and kitchen. It's particularly good in the autumn, I hear. I really love looking out at it although the nights are "drawing in" so there's not much time to sit and ponder. Big excitement this morning as a bunch of fire trucks arrived at about 1 a.m. on the valley road below where I live - don't know any details, but I didn't see flames so figured I was safe enough!

Misty and foggy this a.m. as I head out to the babes. It can really settle into this valley I've noticed. Yesterday, had an a.m. walk with the boys (Miro crying through half of it - even running with the stroller didn't help) in mist and fog, but I'm getting my exercise heading up the steep hills of Rossland with the stroller. Not sure if I'll be able to do this when they both start weighing 10 kg. or so. Had them to see the Kiwi pediatrician and Atley (the big one) has gained half a pound. Miro is just a few ounces more and is a slower eater. He's the family "baby" as we call him. Got to yoga last night - a good work out and the walk home in the dark wasn't totally scary - I blew my whistle and had my headlamp.

Morning Sunrise

Sunrise at 6:45a.m. today was glorious. The fog that I could see below me did reach Happy Valley by 8 a.m. when I left the house. It took until 11 a.m. to start clearing in "upper" Rossland. It's day 2 of grandmothering/housekeeping and it's been fun. I do feel tired at the end of the day. The babes have enjoyed their time in the big double stroller and today I took them over to the "other" house and harvested carrots, beets and potatoes while they slept. I didn't go running today, but pushing the stroller up some of those steep inclines in Rossland makes up for it! Not sure if I'll be able to do that when they weigh 10 kg each! We've managed to dry laundry a couple of times on the new clothesline and this could be the beginning of "routine" - who knows? I had a couple of cats hanging around the stroller over at the other house and remember all the tales I heard as a child about cats and babies - is any of that true?

More Twins!

My friend Eva, Kaslo's brilliant librarian, is a fabulous gardener and she thought of Dave and I every time she saw "twins" in her garden. This gift of more twins was given to me last night. Don't you love it? Thanks, Eva and Mike!

They're Home!

The boys arrived home this afternoon. Their parents looked pretty darn good! I think the grandparents were probably feeling the most worn out. We had moved stuff from the old house to the new house and cleaned up both! What a great way to get out of a move - have twins!!! One thing I did discover is that we moved at least 7 Tickle Trunks worth of dressups so we're ready for that stage. The thumbsucker on the right in this picture is getting himself a serious blister with all the sucking he is doing on his hands. Feeding is going really well and Mum keeps looking better and better! It's a Thanksgiving to remember. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

The Room With the Other View

The twins get a good view of what keeps Trail alive - Teck! They can see the smelter from their crib, but fortunately, lots of poplar trees block out most of it. I kinda had to lean into the window to get this picture. We get a tiny glimpse of the mighty Columbia where we'll hopefully all get to go canoeing in the years ahead. I think it's good for the twins to get this view of the "real world" and I sure hope we can turn them into raging environmentalists. Let's hear it for Atley and Miro!

Room With A Literacy (?) View

Here's the view the twins got from Room one. It was really a tiny room and we were hot and somewhat uncomfortable with 2 grandpas, 2 parents, 1 grandma and the TWINS! That was day one. I hope they picked up on all the graffitti out the window because I do want these guys to be readers AND writers. The local high school is located next door to the hospital so you can see how the students spend their free time - at least all of it is "clean"! Mum and Dad got moved to a big room on Friday morning and it is way more comfortable. We now get the view of the Trail Teck smelter!! However, with the leaves on the trees, the changing colours and a peak at the Columbia River, it is actually a really nice view with west exposure. I've been showing the babes the polluted world that they will help to clean up and the river that we'll canoe in a few years.

They're Here!

Happy to announce that I am now a grandparent. Baby boys born on October 5th (the most common day for birthdays, I understand!) at 5 p.m. Today I spent a good part of the day with them both while Dad went home to sleep for awhile. Lots of fun to hold those babes and watch the differences in their personalities (yes, already!). Nothing better than holding a babe and relaxing!