Aloka's birthday!

Today is Aloka's birthday! She's 6! I baked cupcakes that turned out DELICIOUS!! They're some of my favourites that I've ever made. They are Vanilla cupcakes with lemon icing and a strawberry custard filling, totally dairy free, though you'd never know! But they are light and fresh and we each (me, Josh, Aloka and Larissa) ate two without feeling yuck afterward. so yum. enough about the cupcakes.


Aloka is having a blast, and my sister Larissa is visiting. We went to Lakeside Park yesterday, and first hit the beach, then moved up to the grassy area where we picnic-ed, ate popsicles and played. Aloka and Larissa also went for a trolley ride. It was a beautiful and fabulous day!
I still have tons of videos and a few events that have happened from the past couple months, so stay tuned!

Chillin' on the beach; we love Nelson... beautiful mountains AND sandy beaches!

Then we moved up to the park!

The Christmas Train!

I have a million zillion things to post about with all the festivities going on around here, but i'll just do it all a bit at a time. Things are busy with work, but thankfully slowing down finally. Ah, the joys of the retail toy industry during Xmas! I must have been overheard a hundred times in these last few weeks saying "I feel like one of Santa's elves", since my job is to manage the website and do the orders and shipping.

Just before Christmas, the train came into town. It was quite an exciting and HUGE event; I couldn't believe how many people were there at Lakeside Park just to see the xmas train. It had to be in the thousands. There was live music. roasted chestnuts, hot cocoa. popcorn... and best of all, it's a fundraiser for the food banks. They travel all across Canada earning money and food donations for the needy.

And of course, Aloka also got some fun playtime at the park in the pitch black amongst about 30 other children, all sliding down icy slides in their snowsuits, shooting out and off at 100mph!



Goodbye Christmas Train!