He can whistle

Calum has finally learned to whistle. When we see a dog, I've been trying to teach him the ASL sign for "dog" but have added the whistle too. On Saturday, Calum and I were helping Dakota deliver her papers. We saw a dog statue in a garden and Calum patted his leg and whistled! The sure pick things up.

Calum also thinks that every horn beep is Dad coming home from work. When Don gets home he sets the car alarm with a beep. Calum hears the horn and stops whatever he is doing to say "Dad". Sometimes he runs to the window or the door. I have to show him if it's someone else on the street or he will continue looking for his daddy.

We should get the keys to our new place tomorrow so we will go in to take a closer look and start taking measurements for the blinds, rugs, etc. It's always a challenge to see where you stuff will fit. We didn't do much packing on the weekend - we were pretty tired. On Friday, I took Calum downtown with me to do some banking and to drop off some work. We went to meet Don at his meeting but it was running a bit behind so we walked around my old neighborhood - Denman Street. We stopped for a cupcake at the cupcake store, went down to the beach to splash about and did some sightseeing. He loved it but was exhausted by the end.

Don has the day off tomorrow. He has to take Dakota to the doctor to get the results of her bone scan. She hasn't complained about her foot recently so hopefully it's healing or healed. It's hard to judge just how bad it is for her because Dakota tends to complain about the little injuries but not complain about the bigger ones. We'll see tomorrow I guess.

Playing in the Surf at White Rock

Packing up!

Finally received word tonight. We will be moving into a house on Rumble Street in mid-August. It's in a great location for us. The high school is across the street (and Calum's daycare too), there is an outdoor public pool next to the high school so Calum and I will spend the last couple of weeks of August splashing about. There is a market on the next block, and a 7-11, a grocery store, video store and bank just two blocks up. We will also be 5 blocks away from the skytrain station and can even walk to the mall.

The house is older than the one we are in now (read as "a house with character needing a little TLC"). The owners live next door and will let us do some painting and we can have pets! We can move in on August 1st but don't have to be out of this house till August 15th. I don't know our moving date yet but we want to spend a little time painting the bedrooms and doing some touch ups.

So, now begins the packing. We've made a good start so far. Pictures are taken off the walls, Dakota and Don and I have packed up most of our bedroom stuff, our office is about half packed, all of our books are packed and I've sorted a load of stuff for donations already. Poor Calum has even had some of his toys and books packed. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks. Can you believe July is almost over?

At Spanish Banks with Henry

We stopped so uncle Henry could get a quick look at the city across the water. Next time we'll have to actually make it into town to show him the sights.

Visit to the Museum with Henry

Yesterday we took my great uncle Henry on a quick trip around Vancouver. Desiree invited us out to the Museum of Anthropology to be a part of her first tour group. It was Calum's first visit there too. We enjoyed the tour and uncle Henry got to learn a bit about Northwest Coast culture and art. Don was busy taking pictures and trying out the "bigger and better" flash that we just got for the camera.

Calum and Goldie

Finally got around to posting the photo of Calum on his first pony. Meet Goldie. She's a nice little pony but Calum wasn't too sure about it all. Notice all the girls around though!

Another month

Luckily, our current landlord has given us another month at the house. We have been looking at a few houses and haven't found anything suitable yet. We've found one with enough room but in an area that is too busy. We've found one in the right area but with less space than we'd like. Now, if only we could put them both together. At least we have another month and a half to find something. Don and I wanted to have some quiet time at the end of August to do something with the kids but it looks like we will be busy packing and moving.

Just going out the door for a family dinner for Dakota's birthday. Forgot to post on the blog - it was on the 13th and she is now 14. I remember when I first meet her and she was still getting kids meals and playing with Pokemon cards. How quickly they grow. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.

Still House Hunting

Wow, I knew it would be hard but this is ridiculous. I've called over 50 places. A lot are rented before we even get to look at them. The ones still available are either just too horrible to contemplate living in or too far out of the catchment zone for the school and daycare. We are going to look at a place tonight. It didn't look bad from the outside but we'll see. The Rental Guide has been ok - you have to call in everyday (and the line is always busy) and they usually have only 2 or 3 new listings a day. The problem is that everything so far has been in North Burnaby.

Don's busy this week with AFN meetings. He's off next week so if we don't find anything soon we'll put in a concentrated effort then. Wish us luck!

Mr and Mrs Shuter

Des taking pictures

Des and Calum on the Trampoline

Dakota

Dad, Mom and Calum

The family having fun

Mom, Nicola and Jen

The family

Bonnie, Mom, Larry, Dad, Angie

The wedding party

Calum had a little help walking down the aisle

Mom had to be in the picture too