happiness is.....{summer family fun}

it's kind of difficult to imagine that exactly one 

week ago from today we were out enjoying the beautiful

sunshine at white rock beach...

especially considering today is supremely gloomy and wet.

(seriously? looking outside i feel like i should be wearing a wool sweater,

jogging pants and my rain boots..and its the middle of july.)

anyway, with the impending work/life change that will

soon turn this household upside down, (that deserves a blog of its own!) i cherish every

single moment i have spending time with our family of 4.

we had such a great time during our little walk to

white rock beach that we thought we'd make a day trip out of it.

the hubs had a day off from work in the middle of the week

so it was nice to avoid the weekend crowd too.

our free spirited olivia got very comfortable with 

the sand..which made me a bit anxious (cuz i'm a clean freak)

but i couldn't help but enjoy watching her enjoy it..so

the anxiety quickly faded.

the hubs was outlining the dimensions of their

supposed human-sized sand castle while emma looked on..

me, of course, in charge of making sure the kids were well

fed and hydrated and out of the sun...

(do note that i am under an umbrella, although it doesn't end well!)

the human sized sand castle didn't quite pan out..

but a lovely throne did..note how 'excited' and 'comfortable'

emma looks sitting in it...

with the girls becoming one with the sand,

i thought it was a perfect opportunity to take some

fancy shmancy shots with our camera.

the throne in all its glory.

hop, hop, hop!

skip, skip, skip!

livi got quite tired after all the wandering around she did.

it was great coming to the beach with the tide being so low.

we situated ourselves on an 'island' so-to-speak surrounded by

shallow pools and olivia just loved walking around, stopping for a moment

to squish some sand in her hands and continue on.

if it weren't for olivia's hand in the way..this would've been frame worthy!

splish splash!

sisters.

so yeah. remember how i said my 'shady-ness' doesn't end well?

well i decided to show my husband what a practical sand castle looks like,

and in the midst of doing that..my back got wickedly burned.

-i've shed a layer of skin already.

dad being silly.

mom being silly. clearly, i'm no basketball player. note the 

lack of air in my jump..hehe.

since my maternity leave has ended and i'm waiting to hear about

work, we seize the moment and take every sunny day

to do something outside..even if it's as simple as 

chalk drawing in the parking lot of our building.

happiness is cherishing every second of my little girls growing up.

emma's going to kindergarten and olivia just turned 1. two major milestones

in both of their lives.

i'm feeling..truly blessed.