Some Serious Packing

Emily has her own suitcase and it is already full! No room for mum and dad's clothes... So far it has been packed twice - but I'm sure it will be repacked until it is perfect. Only two more weeks to go! The anticipation is building... See you soon Emily, love you!

Strolling Nanaimo's Harbour Seawalk

Nanaimo's downtown is going through major redevelopment. What's finished is really impressive. Tonight we walked past a Blues Festival in Maffeo Sutton Park and then walked on to the harbour. There we saw a HUGE luxury cruiser up from Naples Island California. Its name was "Victoria". Could the Beckhams be aboard? We're looking forward to spending many sunny days strolling along the harbour with Emily.

Behind on Blogging

On our doorstep is Neck Point park and we've been enjoying good weather recently. Hence, evening strolls by the seaside. You never know what you'll see. We're very thankful to be living in such a lovely area of Canada.

Everyone Loves Louis -- and Kiana

Introducing Louis (brown and white - 13 years old) and Kiana (tricolour - 10 years old). A little bit about Louis: loves his bed, harmless, gentle, wary, bouncy and oh so handsome! A few words about Kiana: greedy, greedy, greedy! Poor Kiana, she is always hungry. But she's oh so clever, loving and loyal (so long as you feed her). Louis' health has been good - just suffering from old age now. Kiana has more health issues that are common to the breed - congestive heart failure, hip dysplasia and now an inoperable tumor on her eyelid. She's not in pain and hasn't missed one meal! One thing Kiana has developed a passion for over the last three years is swimming and retrieving! We love our puppies and would recommend Cavalier King Charles Spaniels to anyone.

Time for a Serious Discussion - Puppies!

Ok puppies - listen up! There are big changes in the works - but I'm sure with the right attitude you'll both cope well. Mummy and Daddy are going away on a short journey. While we're away you'll be cared for lovingly by Sally - so not to worry. But on our return there will be a new addition to our family. Remember "Lady and the Tramp?" Can you spell B A B Y ? This is not a time for drastic overreaction. Take a deep breath and lie down. Look on the bright side. Kiana, think of Emily as a puppy-sized personal feeder. Louis, you're deaf now, so her crying will not affect you. Everything will be fine and we'll all have fun together!

Something to hold on to

Another fantastic surprise from dear friends - Jack and Susan. What a creative idea these mugs are - we adore them - and will hold them close every day.

Thank you Joan for the beautiful pink outfit. She's going to look so cute!

Thank you Ron for the gift certificate - we really don't know her size right now and it will be great to actually take her shopping when we get back. We'll be sure she doesn't spend it all at once!

Catch of the Day

Friends of ours love to hunt and fish. They asked if we'd like to partake of their bounty. Of course we said YES PLEASE. This coho weighed 18 pounds and was delicious! Thank you Barb and Trevor for thinking of us.

Things we can cross off our to do list!!

Oh my it is less than 4 weeks before we leave for our trip to pick up our baby. We are coming Emily and very soon we will have you in our arms!!!!! We can't wait to see her and finally become a forever family! Just a few things we have had to do to prepare for this journey, not mentioning all the paper work we have had to do.

Visa's - done
Vaccinations for Peter and I - done
Visit to GP for prescriptions for all three of us incase we get sick-done
All travel info sent to our Facilitator with dates and times of arrival in China-done
Emily's Sponsership application - done
Emily's room - done, except we are waiting for the crib to arrive
Dog, bunny and house Sitter arranged - done

Next on our list is to pack and see if we can get everything into 2 suitcases!!! Very hard task for me as I generally over pack!!! Wish me good luck with this task!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Wow, more beautiful gifts arrived this week for Emily!! Peter and I are so grateful for all these wonderful gifts. Everyone has been so kind and extremely thoughtful. We know Emily will enjoy every single gift. Thank you to Holly, Ian and Esmee for all the toys and clothes that you kept for Emily.
Ayse the book arrived and I have started to read it. A very enjoyable read and packed with great information. Thank you so much. Peter is going to read it after me.
Robby and Dennis this big box arrived and we were wondering, what is this??? Emily's own rocking chair with her name on it. Now she can rock with mummy and daddy on the deck!!! Thank you so much, very adorable!
Joyce and Mark, thank you for all the goodies. The Fisher-Price Aquarium for the crib is so nice, I honestly think I want to be lulled to sleep by Pachelbel playing and watching the fish swim by and bubbles floating !! The blanket is so soft, crib sheets which we also needed as we have not bought any yet and I love the sage green colour. P/J's to keep her warm as well as the socks and the bib for messy meal times.
I think this little girl is all kitted out now!!!

Updated measurements!!

Today we received updated measurements of our baby Emily.
These measurements were taken July 15th.
Height:63cm, weight 7.1kg (15.6 ILbs ), head circumference:43cm, chest circumference 42cm, foot:10cm
So now we know which size clothes will fit her approximately.
We went straight into Emily's closet to see which sun hat will fit and we have a choice of 2 and lots of small clothes!!! So exciting!!

We also got an email from a couple in our travel group who have also named their baby girl Emily, so now we have 3 Emily's in our travel group!!!!!!!!

We have been busy sorting items for our garage sale on Saturday, it is all priced and set out in our garage ready for customers. We are making room for baby!! Quite embarrasing to see that we have so much stuff!!!!!!

On Saturday we went to Duncan to the Bird of Prey Centre. We had a 5 hour day arranged for us by my mum and dad for my birthday. I was a little worried, to say the least, when they gave us a waiver form to fill out and we had to give our Care Card # in case of an emergency!! What were we in for?? We knew we were going to learn to fly and handle our own Hawk, but this was getting a little scary.

We were first taken around the centre to look at all the birds they have. This centre is not a rescue centre for birds. They actually raise these birds of prey for educational purposes. The lifespan of their birds is considerably longer than wild birds - in some cases three times as long. They also have contracts with landfills and they take one of their hawks to scare the seagulls away. Amazingly, it works, as they used have 10,000 seagulls at a landfill near Winnipeg, and with the hawk there they only have around 500 seagulls. Some of their birds also are flown at Vancouver Aquarium for flight demonstrations.

Once we had met all the birds it was now time to learn how to tie a slip knot with one hand! Shall I say it took us several times to achieve this! Once this was done we were then taken to get our bird. I was given a Harris Hawk and Peter had Elton the Spectacled Owl. Once the hawk was on my gloved hand I felt very calm and was amazed at how patient this bird was. She was beautiful and it was very cool to see these birds up close. We then traded birds and Elton the owl was so laid back and had quite a personality!! He just loved to hang out with us and bask in the sun and started to fall asleep.

It was now time time to fly two Kookaburras whom were very noisy when they laughed! We flew our Kookaburras with success and we enjoyed watching these birds show off their laugh

Next we both flew Hawks and we did not get bitten!! Very impressive to see these birds in flight. Our trainer Bryony also demonstrated several bird flights for us and other people at the centre.

We learnt all about weighing the birds each morning and how to trim a bird's beak and tallons. We had a great educational day and enjoyed handling the birds. We recommend this place to parents who have older children as it is very educational and all the staff are very knowledgeable and very patient!! Enjoy some of the pictures from our lovely day.

Some relaxing time taken

Last Friday we were invited to go on a boat trip from Ucluelet to Port Alberni with a group of four lovely people. The trip was amazing and we enjoyed it very much. We drove the group to Port Alberni and we were picked up by a small tour bus which took us to Ucluelet. On the way to Ucluelet we stopped off at some view points and lunch was provided for us by the tour guide. At 2 pm we were on the Frances Barkley and toured through the beautiful scenic Broken Islands to Port Alberni. Many years ago this boat would deliver mail but now it takes tourists like us on trips and sometimes picks up kayakers on the way. This trip was on our list to do and thanks to Ron we can now tick this off of our list.

Our Travel Approval is Here!!!!!

Last Thursday afternoon we drove to our Adoption Agency in Victoria to pick up our Travel Approval from China!! This is really exciting, as it is an invitation to go to China and pick up our sweet baby! We can not travel without this important paper, so we will guard it with our life!!!!!

It was a lovely afternoon so we took advantage of being in Victoria and visited Fishermans Wharf and Beacon Hill Park. A very lovely afternoon!

Thankyou

A very big thank you to Linda and Stephan for this gorgeous pink snuggly puppy jacket for Emily! She is going to be so warm and cozy in this lovely jacket.

Also thank you to my step sister Jane in Germany for this cute mobile for Emily's room. It is so colourful and whimsical, I know Emily will enjoy spending time staring and giggling at this lovely mobile.

Travel goodies for Emily

Thank you to Kathy, Eric, Jessica and Robert for the Shoppers Drug Mart gift certificates for Emily. We were able to buy some travel size goodies that we need for Emily while in China. So now we are well kitted out for shampoos, lotions, talc etc for our trip. Thanks a million guy's.

Romance, sun, sand and sheer luxury!!

What an amazing weekend Peter and I had. A weekend away at Tuwanek B&B was booked for two nights over in Sechelt. Our first trip over to Sechelt and it was just beautiful. Our room was just stunning and they had thought of everything down to the smallest detail. Tuwanek is right on the water so we were served breakfast in our robes out on our private deck listening to the water and watching the kayakers and snorklers. It was such a relaxing weekend and just perfect. I was surprised with a full body massage and pedicure by my family which I knew nothing about. So a big thank you to my family and also big thanks to Mike and Jeannie for looking after our two dogs and two bunnies back on Vancouver Isand.
I had a wonderful birthday!!!!!!

A very busy month!!!

The month of July was a very exciting and busy month for us. Being matched with our sweet Emily was the highlight of the month, nothing can top that one! It was more exciting as we were matched the month of my birthday!! So double celebrations all round.
I had some big surprises this month one was a Wild Caving Exploration at Horn Lake Caves from my mum and dad. Peter and I went on this trip last weekend and it was something we have never experienced before. Alot of crawling, squeezing and bumped heads were involved. Here are some pictures from that day, do I look impressed after the caving, (the picture of me eating an ice-cream) or am I just exhausted!!!!!

A beautiful jacket from Victoria B.C

Thank you Jeannie, Mike, Maureen, Ishan and Helen for this beautiful souvenir of your trip to Victoria. We are so touched that you thought of Emily on your travels. She is going to look adorable in it!!

Sweet memories for all of us to cherish

Thank you to Susan and Jack for these very special hand and foot print keep sakes for all of us to cherish. A very thoughtful present, even the card has some very special words for all of us. Looking forward to Emily meeting you both!!