Kamo's Happy Birthday!!

5 years old!  Time goes by so fast.  Especially when you start at 3 1/2.  He's grown so much in a year and a half.  Physically, and in every other way.

We bought him a new bike today and he took off.  Through every puddle, over every bump and into every fixed object on purpose.  We love Kamo, Everyone loves Kamo.  He exudes love. You stay too close to him and you crave a hug.

He's so full of love.

and crazy

and fun

and joy

he loves his family

and cake.

All boy.  He loves trucks and trains, noises - oh so many noises and the louder the better, puddles and dirt, machines and all they do.

Joyfull, loving Kamo.

Happy Birthday.

First day of Summer 2014.

 For the longest day of the year we packed it full of a few of my favorite things.

* trees.  oh how I love trees.  the smell. their oxygen. their greenness.

* hiking.  uphill. on rugged trails. surrounded by trees.

* family.  love my kids and husband.

* picnic.  yeah.  this one didn't go as planned as we got kicked out of our spot due to it being "private property".  eating from the back of the van and making it a tailgate party wasn't so bad.

* seeing something for the first time.  Lake Louise.  I've always wanted to see it and today was the day.  First time for all the kids too!

(i must reluctantly tell you that this photo is courtesy of Tery.  His colour was so much better than mine and I could not refuse to use it.)

* seeing a bear.  We really wanted to see one today and we were leaving the park and I was saying this.  A minute later Ter spotted one and we all got to see it!  There was a lot of cheering and celebration.

(this is not a photo of the bear we saw.  I took this from a poster before we left thinking I would crop and doctor it some to make you believe we saw it.  But I am telling the truth we did see a bear I just did not get a photo of it)

 * getting a photo of all of us together.  this doesn't happen very often seeing as usually I'm taking the photos.  love this.

* Day trips. the Loewen speciality.