Spaceketeers...

...was the name of the space camp that I attended this past week as an aid for one of my fave kids I use to work with! It was at the Telus World of Science (a famous Edmonton landmark). I had so much fun, and it definitely was so nice to be around children again. I am always so amazed in be in their presence because they are so innocent, and amazingly brilliant and creative. They are so smart, and they taught me alot about space! We got to do alot of cool things, like watch movies about Space (and I honestly watched one of the most fascinating films about Space Stations! I was seriously intrigued!), build rockets, create space suits, explore science galleries (they ARE cool!) and play space games. The Telus World of Science use to be called The Space Science Centre when I was eight! My how it's changed so much!

My favorite part about going to this camp, besides being able to work with my (not so lil' anymore) guy again, was being surrounded by these awesome kids! They just loved chasing and climbing all over me, and showing me things! One really adorable kid really took a liking to me, and made me the.cutest.necklace.ever. and gave it to me the next day! It has an array of colorful plastic beads, and included block letters spelling my name. How cute is that?! Another kid I noticed had an anger/frustration problem, which I quickly helped him deal with, and none of the temper tantrums occured again for the rest of the camp time. He actually started to connect well with me (and others) after I helped him deal with his anger. It was so awesome!!!! Talk about having my therapist skills come in handy, eh!? Should of had my business cards handy! Just kidding!

Here are a couple pix from the last day of camp. The kids had been working so diligently on building these amazing, model rockets, and on Friday, they got to launch them outside with gun powder. How cool is that!? I couldn't believe how stress relieving it was to be around these beautiful children.

It's made me realize how far I've come through my own process of becoming a therapist in being able to relate to children. I've always been able to somewhat relate to children, but I think I have a new found way, in which I feel I can truly relate to them, and have them relate to me more through our interactions. I gotta brag here...I am truly good with children, but it's because I am truly appreciative and fascinated by how their minds work...I love watching them process things in their head and come up with all these creative, brilliant ideas. They have no limits and boundaries in their creativity...and I wish that as adults, we could allow the same more often in our worlds.

For privacy and respect of the children, I won't be posting pictures of the children's faces.



Here's the kids waiting patiently for someone's rocket to launch....5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Can you spot the rocket?

My Bridal Shower

Last Sunday, July 8, I had my bridal shower. My mom insisted we host it at our place, and I was all for that because that would mean my parents would be motivated to kick out some of the saved up junk in our house, and give us a chance to fix up some things. As some of you may recall, my parents are packrats. To give you an example, my dad has newspapers saved from even before I was born!!!! As he was recycling these papers, he joked that if I see him having any withdrawal symptoms in the next couple weeks, I'll know why. Hehe. After weeks of painting, fixing and cleaning our place up (thanks to Belinda, Shawn and my parents for helping), our house was presentable. Whoot!

Thank you to everyone who attended, it was such a wonderful, girlfriend-filled day! I <3'd>



Jenn, Suzy (5 months pregs!!!!), moi, and Michelle - and if you squint, you can see a picture of me and my brother when we were cute lil' kids in our rockin' 80's outfits!

Linda, Sholly, Christy and Carolyn (Dan's sis)

This picture is just too adorable!!! It's of Chrissy (my friend Belinda's daughter) and Hannah (my friend Bick's daughter)

Suzy, Ama and Andrea (Linda in background)

My cute mom, videotaping the whole bridal shower. Honestly, I don't think it'll be that much of an exciting tape, but it's good to keep as memories and to show my future children! I'm such a sucker for sentimentals and memories!

I think this is a cool picture of Michelle - love the reflection in her shades!

So one of the games that my bridesmaids got us to play is "20 Questions about Daniel". Each person read aloud a question (that Dan had prepared in advance about himself), and each time I got it wrong, I would chew on a piece of bubblicious gum (and these pieces are huge, I'm tellin' ya!!!!). Here's me listening intently

...Hmmm...let me think about that one...

Ooh...I'm not doing so well....got a bubble going...

What?! MORE GUM!?!?!? I'm sure this was the picture that was taken after I answered a question correctly, but Dan had put an answer I had never heard him say. To be exact, the question was: What does Dan think the worse way to die is? And I know for a fact, the answer is: To be a vegetable in last few years of life . BUT dear Daniel put burning as his answer - and he later admitted that he forgot about the vegetable answer, and that I was correct!

Ok, those questions were REALLY tricky!!!!! Do I even know Dan!? Oh well, I have a lifetime to get to know the stranger! Hehe. This here, folks, is almost 3 Bubblicious packs!!! EWWW! It was truly disgusting and difficult to keep all that in my mouth!

Opening up presents in my backyard! To be honest, the next set of pictures aren't all that exciting - just me opening up my wondeful presents! Seeing that it's a kitchen bridal shower, I got lots of kitchen gadgets, dishes, a beautiful tea set, crystal dishes, some cute kitchen decor, gift certificates, and nothing naughty! Thanks gals!

Presents galore!

My bridesmaids, Jackie and Jenn, and my maid of honor, Michelle

Me with Hannah, my flower girl (left) and Chrissy (Belinda's cute daughter)

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED...A MINI-GETAWAY!

For the long weekend, Dan and I decided last minute to go visit his parents on Qualicum Beach, on Vancouver Island. His dad's memory has been suffering, and Bill also doesn't have the easiest time physically getting around. As a consequence he sometimes needs to be dependent on Dan's mom. Unfortunately, Dan's mom, who is such a energetic go-getter (and really doesn't know how to be lazy!!!), had a mishap and broke her left foot. Without much explanation, they were limited in mobility. So Dan and I wanted to take the long weekend as an opportunity to visit and help them out as much as possible around the house. Besides a nice visit, it was also a very nice time for me to get away and relax from a stressful week.



Here we are, on a ferry deck, on our way to Vancouver Island!

Dan enjoying the warm sun and breeze in his face.

I like this shot taken by yours truly - no, not b/c they are cute guys, but for the artistic value. These guys came and sat in front of us, on the ferry deck.

These guys were actually pretty good. They belted out some awesome rock tunes...REM, Blind Melon, Counting Crows...it was such an amazing ferry ride. At the expense of sounding cheesy, there was a warm breeze, sun in our faces, music carrying over the water, and a hint of BC bud that we could smell from a passenger lighting up near by (no, we didn't smoke any, but it just added to the moment).

...taken by the moment

There were some whales swimming by - Dan caught this great shot!

So peaceful

At the front of the ferry -the sky was amazing!

Dan and I received an early wedding gift from some relatives in his family, and it was delivered to Dan's parent's place.

...Wow! How many stamps can you count!?

SATURDAY: After our run, Dan and I headed to the beach right by his parent's place. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Exactly just what I needed after working so hard for the last couple years!

Daniel cooling off in the water

I could stay here for quite a while!

MONDAY We headed out to Victoria (about two hours away from Qualicum Beach), before heading back to Edmonton. We stopped at this really nice place for lunch on our way to Victoria.

A view from the entrance inside.

I love those bar stools!

The restaurant's patio overlooking mountains and a river

A table for two - look so romantic le sigh

A nice family photo...mmmm! the food was delish! Bill, Dan and I all went for the wild salmon goat cheese salad (when you're in the west coast, gotta take advantage of all the sea food!)

*Muah*!

We stopped at the ocean side somewhere in south Victoria. It was pretty breezy. Perfect for people who were paragliding.

We decided to stop at Habour Bay in Victoria. I love this pic of Dan's parents looking at the amazing scene.

Me enjoying the view of the harbour bay

The next three photos put together would have made a great panoramic picture

Angle 2

Angle 3

Here I am at the Victoria legislature building

What a great picture of people in action

I love people watching! Here are some kiosk stands on the habour

The Empress Hotel - wow! Magnificent!!! What a great place to hold a wedding - if you were rich enough!

While Dan was studying on the ferry, I decided to walk around and take some photos - have some fun with what I call, my attempt at shooting some cool photo shots

A breathtaking view

A lighthouse