2006

April

Raya runs into my arms each time we meet and I roll backward to the ground with her.  One day she was nervous about the other people in the room and stayed on my chest.  Her body was motionless except for her head which moved about checking things out.  It seemed like a baby otter resting on its mother.  After a minute or two she felt secure and ran off.

Raya loves to run outside and search for bunches of seagulls.

May 9 - 16, 2006 Las Vegas

For our 12th wedding anniversary, we headed to Las Vegas again, plus we visited Zion and Bryce.  For details and pictures, click here.

May 15, 2006

Kolby Jordan Ridewood arrives as the second grandchild of Teresa & Kevin Mitchell, son of Pamela Mitchell and Jordan Ridewood. 

This year was the first in many where we were unable to get into our regular spot at Parksville.

July 10 - 17, 2006 Shawnigan Lake

Our annual trip to Shawnigan Lake was a little on the cool and rainy side.  Ironic as Vancouver Island had one of the hottest and driest summers on record.  We had visits from all three of my kids, with Tracie showing up for literally under 10 minutes and Kathryn staying for several hours.  Lovisa and Chopper spent a pleasant afternoon with us.  Stan came up every night all week, which is amazing as he seems to have more energy now than he did years ago. .On the Saturday we had a full house, with Lovisa's friends and also Billy's relatives and their powerboat for tube rides.  The little cabin was full up on several occasions, when the Mitchell clan arrived.  I hadn't seen my son James for almost a year and was taken by surprise in filming a video in the kitchen to see James in my view finder!

July 20 - 23, 2006 Arlington

On a Thursday evening, we headed to a hotel in Vancouver and had a quick visit with Tracie and Kathryn.  Kathryn, Viki and I walked to a nearby park to escape the sweltering heat of Tracie's apartment.  On Friday, we headed to Arlington to visit Dennis and Dawn.  It was 90 F by 11 am.  We went to the Bite of Seattle and then to a Mariners-Red Sox game at Safeco Field.  The game was a home run contest won easily by the Red Sox.  I enjoyed watching Papi blast one out.  Safeco field was an amazing facility and the train horns echo continually in the rafters, for a great special effect.  Traffic was unreal both before and after the game.

On the Saturday, we were supposed to float the Stilly, but Dennis made a change in plans and we took to rafting on the upper reaches of the Skagit instead.  We were joined by Debbie, Dan, Donya, Fawn, Bob, Brady and Madison.  Having never rafted before, I was a little nervous with the speed of the river, the occasional short white water sections and some tremendous log jams in the turns.  It turned out to be a blast and the perfect way to spend the day in the 90 F heat.  The water was icy cold and there was high overcast.  Dipping your hat into the river and placing it back on your head was the perfect way to maintain the right temperature.  We floated for 4 hours and it was the experience of a life time.  Rafting was a pleasant way to hold a lazy conversation one minute and paddle for your life the next.  Listening to teenager Brady and 8 year old Madison sing Frank Sinatra tunes was heart warming.  After the river run, we all returned to Dennis and Dawn's for a barbecue and deserts.  An amazing day.

The next morning we attended church with Dennis and then headed back to Victoria.  Arlington affected both Viki and I very deeply.  We actually seriously started talking about moving there and joining this steadfast Mormon community.

On July 29, 2006 we attended the joint birthday party for Lora and Teresa Mitchell.  We had some tough match ups in ball hockey, including Teresa, Kevin and Tim as the Old Timers, facing all challengers with success.  The highlight was the pinata though.  Raya still can't stop talking about it.

August 4 -6 BC Day

The 4th and 5th were lazy days, caring for Raya, as she fought a fever.  The one evening she laid limp in Viki's lap and watched movies.  When her parents came to take her home, she gave the softest, sweetest "Thank you for having me for movies".  In her weakened state, her gratitude touched us both.  On the 5th, we took her to Carnarvon Waterpark, where she briefly came alive again and went nuts in the water.  We luckily captured this on a short video.

The 6th was a busy day in Victoria.  Viki and I attended the Snowbirds exhibition at Willows Beach at noon where 30,000 others were also present.  Then that evening we went down to the inner harbour for the annual Victoria Symphony Splash.  The symphony played from a barge in the harbour while 40,000 fans watched from the lawn of the legistature.

September 2006

Time for the Saanich Fair again.

October 2006

At the beginning of October, Kari, Robert, Brennan, Tim, Viki and Raya spent the day at Galey farm.  The corn maze was fun for Tim.  The child minders were all worn out after taking a second ride on the train.

Shortly thereafter Viki and I had Raya for the day.  She was over-tired and didn't want to be buckled in her car seat as we traveled.  She squirmed and complained.  Suddenly she shifted her approach, as her lessons about politeness kicked in.  She said very politely, "Grandma, can you help me?  I'm stuck in my chair."  When leaving our house, she has started a routine of re-opening the door after she closes it.  I'm waiting at her height and she mumbles gibberish, then closes the door.  She repeats this two or three times and then disappears.  Everyone wonders what she is saying, but only she and I know what's going on.

At her 3rd birthday party a few days later, Raya was so excited that she ended up blowing out all the candles about half way through the singing.

At Halloween, Marika, Drew, Tim and Viki escorted Raya to the various houses in Oak Bay.  Sponge Bob ran as fast as she could on the sidewalks between houses, but at the houses she tended to hang around on the steps and porches.  She even was invited in one place where she examined stuffed toys and dolls.  Back outside, she declared "Ooo, stars - they're coming to get us."  Repeatedly as she left houses, she glanced at the moon and said "Another moon."  When we got back to her house, there was a giant pile of leaves on the boulevard and she and I rolled around in them despite how cold the weather was.

November 27, 2006

Stan, Viki and I traveled to Seattle to watch the Packers play the Seahawks.  It was 10 years since we attended the last match between these two teams.  We ended up with record snows and it took us two days to make the trip which involves less than 200 miles.  It was coincidentally 10 years ago that the West Coast was blasted with record snowfall.  It was also the end of the American Thanksgiving weekend, so the border crossing took more than 2 hours.  We saw too many cars in the ditches to count.  We were supposed to meet Dennis and Dawn in Seattle for dinner on the Sunday, but ended up having breakfast with them in Arlington on the Monday instead.  Dennis used a chainsaw and 4x4 to reach us.

The game was quite a disappointment compared to the previous trip.  The Seattle fans were extremely loud.  We had to cover our ears the whole time Green Bay had the ball.  The snow storm that came on just as the game started was fun, but it was cold sitting in the outdoor stadium.  Stan is 83 now, but that didn't stop him from quickly ascending the 93 steps to our seats in the rafters.  After the game, we couldn't find a cab and he walked nearly a mile up hill in icy winds to our hotel.  As you can tell, Stan is doing amazingly well.  It was fun to see Brett Favre, even if it wasn't a great trip.

Christmas 2006