Waking Up Mommy

This morning when Isaac and I went in to wake up Bonnie, I asked Isaac to tell her the three favourite words she liked to hear from him. I'm thinking it's pretty obvious that he'll say, "I Love You."

But no.

Instead he says, "Hugs, Kisses, and Rasberries".

I don't think he meant the fruit either!

Early morning flowers

I made a few images of some of the flowers in our front lawn this morning.

Isaac at Camp

Here's some shots of Isaac during his first week of Summer Camp experience. Yesterday he went to Tyhee Lake swimming, today he went to the pool swimming, tomorrow he's going back to the lake I think for Kayaking! He's having quite a time.

The shots here were just before I started a little activity with the whole group of kids where I came and made some candid portraits of each camper. It was a little diversion from the water-themed activities they've been doing all week. It was fun to see Isaac interacting with other kids and really making some good friendships.








For this one, the kids were painting with their feet.

A Little Adventure

This morning after Bonnie and I dropped Isaac of at camp, we took another drive up to Twin Falls and went for a little hike. We went further than we'd ever gone before and were rewarded with an amazing experience directly at the base of the left-most of the Twin Falls. It was loud from the pounding of the water on the rocks and wet from the mist that was everywhere. It makes me want to go back with my camera cover that Bonnie got me for Father's Day (perhaps tomorrow?).

In any case here's a self-timed shot that we got together.

Supper...Sesame Street Style

This evening's meal was brought to you by the letter "P".

• Pork Chops
• Pickles
• Potatoes
• Peas
• Pineapple

Dessert in the movie theater (for Bonnie and Isaac)

• Popcorn
• Pop

Our afternoon adventure

This morning I suggested that we take a little trip and explore our surroundings. Basically, I wanted to see something new. There's so much beauty around here, and we so seldom have a chance to check it out together. The guys wanted to know where I wanted to go (specifically), but I couldn't tell them, as I didn't have a particular destination in mind. I just wanted to explore.

Thankfully, they decided to humour me, and so we packed a picnic lunch and headed out. Just before we left, the sky opened up and let go a deluge of rain, which set a pattern for the afternoon's weather. The rain would come down for a bit, then the sun would come out, to be followed by more rain, then some sun again. I decided not to let that dampen my spirits, though. Well, maybe a little.

As it was my idea for the adventure, I got to drive. I admit there were a couple of times I wondered if we should turn back - who wants to eat their picnic lunch in the pouring rain? But we persevered. I drove as far as Moricetown Canyon, where Curtis had been earlier to take some photos, then crossed the bridge. We ended up eating our lunch in the van a few kilometers later, having pulled off the road, then continued our journey down the Telkwa High Road. Our next stop was next to another bridge, as Curtis wanted to take some photos of the creek underneath it. While he was busy, Isaac and I walked along the road a bit, and discovered some wild strawberries. We went back to the van for a Tupperware container to put them in, then proceeded to pick some more. We even discovered some wild raspberries. Yum. They were bigger than the ones in my garden! After exploring a little more, we decided we were wet enough, and headed for home.

Below are some photos of our 'adventure'.


Isaac enjoying his pizza and chicken.


One shot of the creek.


Here we are among the wild strawberries.


Some of our 'harvest'


A mushroom we found (and left) along the trail.


A view from the Telkwa High Road towards the mountains behind Smithers. We thought we could see Twin Falls, one of the places we like to take visitors to.

Recent Photos

My mom and Bonnie checking out some flowers in our back yard.


Isaac playing ball with my dad. Yes, the little white dot in the middle of the photo was actually the ball IN THE AIR as opposed to on the ground.


We put up a hummingbird feeder and Bonnie got this image the other day.


We took a trip up to Twin Falls the other day (see our July 2nd post for more details), and I was busy taking photos of the water and snow (that hasn't melted yet).


Isaac climbed up on the snow with me and had quite a fun time posing!



Supper time up at the base of the falls.


Isaac has quite taken to reading by himself lately. This shot is him reading his Word & Song Bible. Bonnie and I are amazed at how quickly he can read the stories. I think the fact that he has listened to the stories on the CD so many times helps him. Actually we quite often find him reading ahead from memory and not from the actual words on the page. But still it's quite an accomplishment for him. He often wants to read stories from this Bible after supper for our devotions.

Bonnie's Birthday Present

We had a bit of excitement earlier this evening as Bonnie's birthday present finally arrived. There was a new store (<- click the link to visit their website) that opened here in Smithers a few months ago that allows one to buy custom, handmade beds. So I figured since I was blessed to have done enough photography lately, the business could buy her a new bed (head, side and footboards). So all she got on her birthday was a piece of paper with a representation of what would arrive in a couple months. Well today was delivery day!

Other than it being solid oak which will mean we'll never have to buy another bed, the coolest thing about it like I mentioned earlier, is that it's completely made by hand. Once the store gets the order, they deliver the specs to a craftsman who is part of a network of artists that create these masterpieces. So once the builder got our specs, he was then working on "The Cunningham Bed". Like the photo below shows, he even signs it once he's done. So you can see that my calling him an artist was on purpose.

Anyways the bed got set up quite easily, and now Bonnie can rest in peace (in a good way of course).


The signature of the artistan who made our bed.


Dusting the headboard.


Installing the sideboards.


Voila!

Recent business activities

The past months have been busy. The latter part of May and all of June saw me doing the photography for the Smithers Minor League Soccer and Softball leagues. Doing the photography was the easy part. The time consuming part was processing the orders and making sure every child/family got their orders in good standing. There's only a handful of families that haven't come by to pick up their photos, but I imagine that's due to family vacations and the busy-ness of summer.

I've also written and delivered several proposals for new photography ventures:

1. Newborn photography at the hospital here in Smithers
2. Minor league hockey for both Smithers and Houston
3. Photography for two local schools

I've done some family portraits and a few people have come by for passport photography. At the beginning of June I did a one-day session for my church to get some more families for our photo directory which I produced last year.

Lately I've been working with the Smithers Recreation Department to help provide some alternatives for kids during the summer. I lead one workshop this past Monday and then just yesterday I photographed the same kids I taught on Monday. They had some time where they dressed up and did some charades. So the Rec Dept. thought it would be a good idea to photograph them so the kids could have a record of some of the things they did this summer.

I'm currently scheduled to do a few more events like this between now and the end of August, so it's a good opportunity to make some more contacts.

There's Still Snow

This afternoon we all took a drive to Twin Falls to have a little hike, enjoy some scenery and have a picnic up by the water for supper. It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon. Like the title of the post says, we even found some snow that still hasn't melted into the streams. Isaac and I climbed up and walked around on it for a little while which was fun. Thankfully when I was taking some of these pictures, the only thing that fell into the stream was my sunglasses (which I recovered).

Enjoy the photos.