Life :: Sofia's 3rd Birthday

Where else do you take a 3 year old on her birthday but to the most magical place ever?!
Okay... so maybe we couldn't afford that... and what fun would that be without your friends... and I may be slightly biased (but more on that later)...

But we did take her to her favorite place ever! A birthday at the local Wildlife Park, with her very own encounter, and a nice quiet day to see the animals...

Kylie, Sofia, Cara, and Leo

Leo the long eared owl

Princess Birthday!!

Can't go that far and not ride the train...

My favorite... I LOVE Barred Owls!

For a March day, it was cold, and cloudy. It made for good animal viewing, but no one wanted to be out in the blustery weather for long... thus, we kept our visit short and to the front half of the park...

Life :: Community Arts Festival

Kamloops can be a beautiful place in the summer. No matter how much I complain about it - I mean, it's hot, dry, and it's a freaking desert, and looks like it... But there is so much to do around Kamloops in the summer. Winter, not so much, unless you enjoy skiing.

But, back to the thought at hand:

This year, the Kamloops Community Band was joined by the St. Ann's Academy High School band, the Kamloops Rube Band, and mascots from around the community... as well as local artists, dancers, etc for the Community Arts Festival.

Of course, we showed our support by watching the other bands play...

And played some of our best pieces of the season...

We, being Kylie, Sofia, Shane and I, spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around taking in whatever we could find, and enjoying the sun. Thank goodness for gorgeous sunny days. :)

Life :: Wildlights

Well, with Christmas come (and gone), everyone has their own sort of traditions they do. Around here, many Christmas traditions include the BC Wildlife Park's annual Wildlights...  This year seems to be quite dull and boring around here, because it hasn't snowed anywhere near as much as it should have (as I write this, we secured another record high today of plus 10 C)...

Each year, the BC Wildlife park holds their annual Wildlights Festival. They, in conjuction with BC Hydro, string millions of lights around the park for people to enjoy. They have the wildlife express running (a miniature steam engine), and have changed over the last few years to include a light show, and wolf feedings...

This year, I went with my favorite neice, and her family... and had a great time. It was surprisingly warm, and we spent much longer out there than anticipated.



This year, they upgraded the light show, to include a new laser light. It was pretty impressive, and even included fog so you can see the work of the laser behind you... It was quite exciting (and I would say worth the $10,000+ they spent on it). Our experience culminated with Sofia and her perfect little 'shocked' expression with the lights flashed in front of her...

They have interactive stations where you push a button, and things happen. Sofia was learning how this all works to make the penguins swim...
We even had the joy of visiting the goats, although Sofia wasn't too sure about them...

Maybe next year she'll be more into participating... and walking on her own.
We finished by taking a ride on the Wildlife Express... just for Sofia! Definitely her highlight.

Definitely a fun time... a highlight of most... and a good tradition in our area. I'm always intrigued to see what has changed from one year to another... Lets hope everyone else has someplace to relax and unwind like this...

Life :: Canadian National Wakeboard Championships

Well, this past weekend was the Canadian National Wakeboard Championships. Why they decided to run them in the middle of the South Thompson River is beyond me... All the water-ski events (and anything to that sort) generally happen at Shumway Lake.

The sunday we went - for the semi-finals - was unbelievablly amazing. Not a single cloud in the sky, warm weather... Not unlike typical August weather... Unlike this August. The weather this year has been very touch and go... They lucked out running the Canadian National Championships this weekend - had to be one of the most beautiful weekends all summer!

And, I couldn't take anyone but my favorite neice! :) Sofia enjoyed the sun, and relished in the chance to play in the river... Such a little water baby.... and such a ham!!

We saw some good runs... but my favorite photo has to the be following. The poor kid tried multiple times to land his jump, to no avail... until this time. I looked like he was going to biff it, and go down, but he held his ground, stuck it, and recovered... Amazingly! :)

And... like I said, Sofia played in the water, went under at one point, but that didn't faze her... She kept trying to go deeper, but still step over the waves...

Life :: Kylie, Sofia and Shane

Well... Here's a lot awaited shoot!
For nearly 8 months, Kylie and I have been talking about doing a shoot with Sofia. I'm so eager to get some photos of her, and play with my camera, that I was so excited, reguardless of it being cloudy, overcast, and threatening rain (which is did spit on us for a while). It was relatively cold and dreary for an August day around here.

My poor niece LOVED the swing. She was happy to spend hours swinging on it... rain or shine. She screamed when she was pulled out - only to find her love of the slide too...

Once she had enough of the slide, and we returned to the swing... we extracted that crazy grip of hers and wandered around a little. She went and chased the seaguls, and wandered down the pier with us... before playing in the river with Shane - against Kylie's wishes...

She was one cold little girl who was very grumpy when she left the river and went for lunch...

I love photographing her... Get her in a good mood, and Sofia is normally all smiles! She's such an easy model, she just loves to play, and as long as mom is not too far away, she'll smile for hours. I absolutely adore her smile - just lights up a room with the twinkle in her eyes...
God I heart that kid... proud aunt? I think so...