Aloka and Ani at Gyro Pool

Argh, I'm trying to upload a movie but I guess it was too big. Here's another one in the meantime, and tomorrow I'll get that post up. It's a funny one!

Expanding use of language

Tonight I made dinner and called Aloka in from the trampoline to eat. She was tired and wanting to go to bed. I said "Didi, do you want some dinner, and then we can get some books to read?". She said back to me, "I'm not interested in food right now mama, I'm just really enjoying my water". I was laughing!
The other one was when she was talking to Josh's mom, Lynn. Lynn asked her what's growing in her garden, to which Aloka replied "Buttercups". "Oh, buttercups are a pretty flower!" said Lynn. Aloka responds with "Buttercups are a weed. Bye!" and gave the phone back to Josh. We were cracking up!
Here are a few recent pictures, with different various friends and activities.

bounce bounce bounce!

We just got a trampoline a couple weeks ago. Aloka is so comfortable on it now compared to the first day it was set up. Children learn new tricks so quickly. This video was taken a week ago, and already she does summersaults around us. She probably be doing back flips before we know it. That goodness for the safety net!
This video is during a cold snap we had, hence the warmer clothes. It's now back in the balmy 80's, whew! Summer's not over just yet.

Summer in Nelson - a summary

In starting this blog, I'm not sure in fact where to start! We've had such a full summer. Aloka had her 3 year birthday a few weeks ago and she got her first kite. We went to Lakeside park to fly it, there's a picture here of her flying hers.

In a summary of our life currently, we have finally gotten our work permit submitted and are waiting with bated breath. It will probably be another month before we know. Once we get it, we can finally go down to Spokane and pick up all of our belongings out of storage.
It will be a relief to have some of our things again (like our bed), but in many ways we've really enjoyed living with so little. Our house is teeny, and so easy to clean. I can't imagine how it's going to look with more furniture and things in it. We will probably be selling a lot of stuff. But, oh, our bed! I will relish the night that I get to sleep in our bed. I've been joking that our queen size air mattress has now turned into a king sized pancake (round!). I guess they're not meant for long term use!

On a sad note, our kitty Zooey ran away two months ago and we think he is no longer. It caught us very off guard, we had always had the image of taking care of him into his old age. He got spooked when we had some guests visiting and he ran off. There are many predators in our area, and he doesn't really have very good survival skills. It's been a huge loss for us.

On a more up note, we are loving the summer here in Nelson and have been enjoying the beaches, the outdoor children's pool (at Gyro Park) and all the many events and festivities. Tomorrow is the Wednesday Street Market, Thursday is a "Storytelling from around the world" thing for kids, on Saturday there's a festival called "Froggy Fest" put on by the Sinixt Nation here for kids, and next week is the "Lenny Graf" concert for kids (i think this is Raffi-esque) at Lakeside Park.
Oh, and I forgot on Friday there's the Street Fest (they are once a month during the summer) which is in the evening. We went to the one in July, it was so much fun! There was belly dancing until late at night, over 40 vendors, music, face painting, just a blast. They turned the organic bakery into a "Turkish tea house" and when it got dark, the belly dancers moved into there and everyone joined in to dance. This video of Aloka is from that street fest, when it was still light out. She was emulating the belly dancing process. She has now gotten quite good and insists that we get her some finger cymbals. Aloka loves dancing, and if we're out and there's music playing, she will be dancing!
Our schedules are full, and we are having so much fun.
There are some great places to camp and very child friendly, we're wishing we had our tent. We'll be doing lots of that next summer!

It's hard to sum up the summer in Nelson. There's also a whole other side to it, which is the outdoor beauty and tranquility. I am in awe of the majestic but feminine quality of the mountains, the shimmering Kootenay Lake, the forests... and I'm eager to participate more in the hiking and camping side of things when we get our gear.

It feels good to be outside so much, and believe it or not people, I actually have a tan line!! Ok, it's very subtle on my shoulders (like I EVER tan) but I'm not flourescent anymore. I really do have pigment contrary to popular belief! Josh and I both feel like we have more vitality than we ever had before, and that's a good thing.

Goofy girl

Josh did Aloka up as a cheetah with our at-home face painting paints. I'm trying a video out, we'll see how well this works!

Summer festivals and face paint!

We have all been enjoying the summer more than I could imagine. The only other place I've lived that gets hot in summer was Colorado and I hated the heat. This place is different though, we're on the lake and we get nice breezes from it. There are beaches everywhere you look, and always something extremely fun to do. There are so many festivals in this area that they have a magazine/booklet thingie for all the festivals year round. We just recently went to one called Starbelly Jam. Aloka got her face painted like a butterfly.
She is now entering a "dress-up" phase, where she loves putting on her fairy wings, or poofy tutu's, crowns, or turning her play silks into capes. And, of course, face painting!