breathtaking Garry Point

The kiddos and hubby were up at 9am and started work on our garden !  I wanted to sleep in but couldn't so I grudgingly went out and planted peonies.  I can't wait to see them bloom.  By noon, we were all tired so we all went in, ate lunch, got dressed and went to Richmond.  We (I) wanted to get prawns from Steveston Landing (Fisherman's Wharf). 

Mr. sun was bright, the wind was calm and cool, I suggested we pay an impromptu visit to Garry Point park (close by) since we got some time.  A place I heard of many times but never had a chance to see what it is all about.  And boy, was I ever glad we went.

My first feeling was:  quiet, quaint, calm, the air was clean and clear.  The mood ?  there's an ease about it.....I feel so relaxed, like I'm far far from the city.  My eyes were happy to see vast open field along side a body of water.  There are small sandy "beach" areas with drift woods lining up, separating the field from the rocks, sands and water.  There are few trails leading to the main one along the water and many people were out with their kids biking.  Something I wanted to do with the kids for sure.  As this place is simply too wonderful not to visit again. 

We went to look for a bench to sit and found a plot of lupins.  These wild flowers with shades of purple, indigo and magenta grew in groups, randomly dotted the park.  I quickly grabbed my camera and with some "selective" angle-ing, I managed to captured some pictures that looked like we're in a field of lupins, not a small patch :) and that we're the only one at the park !!!  Hubby did the same too.

The kids LOVE running around, up and down the hill, around the lupins patches, in the lupins patch, around the benches, chasing after dogs (there are many many people with their friendly cute pooch there), and watching tug boats pulling floaters full of sand.  There were many kites there too, a great place for those who loves flying kite.  They love it so much that we had a hard time stopping them from running and telling them we're leaving (too hot).  We bribed them with promises of ice cream so Bee happily complied (Lovebug follows whatever Bee wants to do).  We definitely will come back again for a picnic and (hopefully) to get some professional family pictures taken by our friend Jade !

Here are some photos:














   

Enjoy the warm sunny days ahead and do visit Garry Point if you're in the neighborhood.  A great place to for a long stroll or just to sit and soak in the sun !  I highly recommend a picnic or a bbq.  Or at the least, bring snacks and water for the kiddos as it's a long trail.   If you don't, there's concession stand there with concession price :)

There's absolutely NO shade once you leave the small park area near the entrance.  It's all open field from there on so remember to bring hats for the kids.  Where were ours ?  it was an impromptu first visit so we didn't bring hats for the kids or else we would have stayed longer.   It was so bright there that hubby glad he got his driving glasses on.  He even took our pictures with the glasses on because he couldn't barely open his eyes !  So hat and sunscreen is a must if you go on a sunny day ! 


Blessings,

TT 

fun with kids : home activities

I don't know why it took me this long to realize that as long as the kids are occupied, they won't be so crazy hyper active !!!  Both is my kids aren't into toys :( 10 min. and they are ready to move on to something else.  "What we do next?" Bee would say when she's bored.  Watching cartoon isn't her thing either.  Which in a way is good !  And only not so good when I need her to leave me alone to put baby to sleep or to make lunch or dinner.

It rained this morning so I decided to make some home made paint.  1/2 cup of flour, water and salt.  Add a few drops of different food colouring and they are ready for a master piece.



The rain stopped just about when Bee and Lovebug is done with their finger painting.  I took them out to play in our "renovation in progress" yard.  After what feels like an hour pushing both swings, I came up with an activity to keep them both busy and give me some rest :)

Imaginary fish pond with clovers as fishes and butterfly catchers as fishing nets.  It sure keeps them entertained for a long time !  I have to pat me on the back for that one :) 


After a warm bubble bath and hot lunch, the kiddos still have lots of energy.  They drained all mine though.  A box of recent delivery was sitting on the floor and Bee made it into a tube.  I suggested to her we play red, yellow ad green.  In her words "red means stop, green means go and yellow is be careful" !  Hubby taught her that. 

With the box on her, Bee was a mean car ready to follow which ever color I yelled out.  She ignored most yellow and red and treat them as green so she can speed down the hallway with Lovebug trailing behind.





Then both kiddos took turn sitting inside the box.  Bee said they are pretending to be a toy in a box and that I need to open the box and pull them out.  They are dolls for me to play with !  I tried pressing a few buttons on Bee (like those toys with the "press here" switch) but all she did was giggles!  

Lovebug went to hug me and signaled that she's ready for nap (rubbing her eyes).  I suggested to Bee that she should watch Dora and have some snacks.  She complied but was bummed out that baby can't play with her.

Hubby came home from work a bit early so we quickly ate dinner then went swimming.  All and all it was an activities-ful day.  The kids were out around 9ish.  Hubby and I decided to watch a movie together and gossip about our kids in between scenes :)

teammate

Pastor J was sharing about Godly Men in church yesterday.  A very insightful topic.  I wish he write a blog about it because he bought up so many interesting points about men and women.  During the sermon, I was reminded again that men are linear thinker and task oriented, while women are relational thinking and multi-tasker.  For a long while I was getting pretty annoying with my husband's inability to read my thoughts.  Seriously, how could he not know ?  He doesn't know because you didn't tell him, a little voice inside of me pointed out the obvious.  Blah.

So, a man wants a teammate.  Someone to play along side them, to support them and their goals.  This is indeed very true !  We've been married for more than 10 years now !  we tread difficult waters without knowing these little know facts (linear vs multi-tasker) the first few years.  If only we are aware of it like we are now, it would save us lots of headache and heartache.

My husband loves sharing his plans to me.  Even when I'm so sleepy, he would nudge me til I'm awake to share with me his personal goals, our financial plan, plans for our house, our garden, our kids, our next week, our next month, our summer goal, our winter goal, our church goals...I just thought C has something like A.D.D (attention deficit disorder) so he has to make plans to keep himself focused.  Who knew !

While having lunch, I was thinking about what makes a good team mate ?  am I a good teammate ?  I surely can't answer that so I asked C.  In his words "off course.  why would I marry you if you're not ?", "but what makes you think I would be a good teammate to you ?" I asked.  "You love God and you love people, so then I knew."  "That's it ?"   "That's all" he said.

Totally NOT what I was hoping to hear.  I was hoping for stuff like, your great sense of humor, fun, good personality, happy demeanor, secure, etc.....  Hmmmm......BUT even though his answer is short,  after giving it more thought, some how I get it.  I get it.  Mr C knew he wanted me to be his team mate because of my love for Jesus.  Because it secured a few important things for him (when I probe more at him later), common faith goals, marriage commitment, life goals and tithe.  What is important to C, is important to me, so that makes me a good team mate in his eyes.  However, that doesn't mean we will play well together.  All the other stuff helps us to make that decision !  you know stuff like we're attracted to each other, we talk, we date, we fight, we learn about each other, we learn to fight nice, we learn to love.

We were so different then, in our teens.  High school was stressful.  We were trying to figure ourselves out, learning about ourselves and trying to find ourselves.  But we made a commitment to stick together through our growing years.  We weren't the perfect person for the other when we first dated, but over the years, we can see God transforming both of us, little by little, into a perfect partner to each other.  We're not perfect in all aspects, but we've come a long way from the start.  This year marked our 21 years together !

We are still changing and growing.  And growth is good right ?  It take sometime to adjust and we will bicker over it ! Learning curve is never fun.

Talk about learning curve, 3 weeks ago, hubby was complaining to me about me !  about me not closing the cabinet doors.  He said, "you know it's not you I complain about right ?  it's your habit.  I'm only saying this because it bothered me and stressed me out.  And because you love me, can you please do something about it !"


This isn't the first time C asked me to close the cabinets.  I have the habit of leaving any cabinet door I opened open.  I DON'T KNOW WHY I don't close them.  Lazy ?  Forgetful ?  I don't know.  *sigh*  I open, I forget, I move on :(  I'm constantly multi-tasking !

Any who, usually i would just wave it off, thinking it's not big deal, he's just complaining for the heck of it.  Then I would end it by saying something in the line of "its my house too, I like to leave them like that".  It's kitchen cabinet doors for goodness sake !  they got nothing on us.  We're good. 

That's where I'm wrong < it's hard for me to even type that word, because I'm so often right :-)  But I shouldn't disregard my husband's comment.  He's telling me his feeling.  He's sharing how my carelessness (because I didn't think much of it) is causing him distress.  What seems trivial to me is NOT to him.  And I need to respect that. 

I can see that he is really stress at the sight of doors open when they're supposed to be closed.   OCD ?  maybe ?  but what's is important is, I should know, no, actually, I do know, I just choose to ignore.  C is Mr. Clean, Mr. Organize !  Sight of clutter stresses him out, I know that.  I like clutter.  I can be in a hoarder's house sipping tea and feeling just fine.  While C will die just at the sight !

I really didn't know opened doors annoyed him that much.  I know, it's because I never fully listen.  I heard him now.  I can't guarantee that I will always close the doors, but I decided that I will make the effort to close them.  If one do it many times it'll stick right ?  how many time does it take to train a habit again ?   Closed door = smiling happy C !  I can do this.

This is just one example of no matter how healthy you think relationship is, there's always room for improvement, room to grow .  Marriage is like a garden, it needs care and tendering. For me, the word "teammate" conjures up an image of 2 volleyball players playing along side with each other.  Each taking turn with the lead and assistant role, depending on their strength and weakness, we each cover for each other.  We communicate, we ask for help when needed.  Our plans and goals have to the same to win.  That's kind a how I pictured my marriage.  2 different players with common goals.  We're team mate and we got each other's back.

I must admit that C rubs off a lot of his "orderly" ways on me.  While I "inspire" him to wear slim jeans, colorful shirts, eat kale...While we are alike in many ways, we are still different in many ways too !  We don't lose ourselves in each other.  We each are unique individual.  We're not done "growing" yet though, as we are now parents of 2 lovely.but.crazy kids, there are many challenges ahead of us and it will test our patience with our kids and each other.  But we got God as the center of it all, and that common denominator will keep us together.

As God is shaping our heart, He also uses each of us to shape each other.  Go team Truong !

not in the water

We were out swimming today and while in the kiddie pool, Bee happily informed me:

Bee:  Mommy, I peed !  (big smile on her face)
Me:  Oh NO !!!  we don't pee in the water.
Bee:  NO I don't (shake her head rapidly).  I peed in my pants (pointing down) !

She was really proud that she peed in her pants and not in the water :-)

I was just glad there's no urine indicator dye in the pool !


fair weather

We have got some gorgeous days here near the coast.  I got a day off so I spent it having a tea party out in our yard with the girls !  It was fun getting all dressed up and running around. 
Lovebug broke one of my fine china.  It's a pretty one too.  She's a baby, I should know better not to trust her holding 2 !  She banged them together and right when I stopped her, she managed to squeeze in another bang and one broke :-(

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