Brigade Days

I had the privilege of paddling from Abbotsford to Fort Langley (approx. 20+km) this past Sunday for a re-enactment of the fur traders arriving in the Fort for BC's 150th birthday, along with 3 of my fellow dragon boat team mates, Carrie, Corinne and Christelle. (good thing my name is spelled with a K!) What a great experience! We paddled for 4 hours in the gorgeous sun on the murky Fraser River. Here are a few photos from that day:

A view of the Mission Bridge with a couple of the voyageur canoes we paddled in.

Getting ready to go!
A view from behind our boat of most of the voyageurs
Me! Our lunch break at Crescent Island..we didn't stay long, since every mosquito in the world seemed to make their home there! Our boat is the one to my left, with the otter pelt under the green flag. We stopped at the harbour airport just outside of Fort Langley to get into our costumes..Carrie was trying to find the "right" hat, and found road kill instead! Corinne thought it was hilarious! (as did I!)
Leaving the airport in full costume!

From left to right, Joel (Christelle's husband), Carrie in lead stroke, and Christelle. Matching red "Where's Waldo" hats!

Me! I chose a head band..after all it was about 30 degrees out! Who wants to wear a wool hat?

The "Gov'nah" in his boatGetting into formation as we approach the beachI bought this photo from the newspaper, it made the "archives" section! hehe Well, we thought it was great! We approached to hundreds of onlookers and paparazzi!The "Gov'nah" making his way off the boatSome more of the costumes
Us! From left, Corinne, Carrie, me and Christelle posing in front of the map. Some paddlers actually paddled the voyageurs all the way from Fort St. James, BC (10 day trip) and camped their whole way down. Dedication! No showers, no toilets..NO WAY! Sir Simon Fraser and I!

Harlow family makes International News!

Nicole heard something interesting on the news the other day, and decided to give it a closer listen...little did she know, it was a story about a cousin of ours from Indiana! He's a pastor in Kokomo, IN, who used a motorcycle in his sermon for a prop...but his sermon didn't exactly start off as planned! Read the story here for a good laugh! And yes..we really are related..

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8717453&nav=menu188_2

Really LONG overdue!

So sorry about the very long pause between updates! My life has been crazy busy! I just got home last week from a 2 1/2 holiday in Devon, and as you can imagine, I came home with plenty of photos! I got there just in time for Kennedy's 1st birthday, on June 28. She sure loved her cake!

And Grammama brought her a tiara to go with her cake! She kept it on for quite sometime!

Grammama poses with her 3 great grandchildren! 4 generations!We spent tonnes of time out at Tammy and Dallas' farm south west of Calmar. We ALWAYS come back with funny stories and photos! Here, Nicole tackled one of Dallas' prized grain bins. That's as high as she would go!
Poor Riley did a face plant into a mud puddle! And being the caring and concerned Auntie that I am, I turned and ran for my camera first, Riley second! Playing in the canola fields...Riley too!One of my favorite photos of Kennedy. So precious! Kennedy and I posing in front of the field..she was more interested in the dog!My hottie sister! I swear, Nicole should be a model! She's disgustingly photogenic! Forget this nurse business! Go pose for photos for a living!
This photo just HAD to be included! Nice timing, hey? I was taking a nice shot of Nicole, and just as I clicked, our stinker nephew Ben whipped a koosh ball at her head..it was so perfect! Again..my hottie sister!July 9 would have been James' 7 birthday, so I went out to the cemetery for a quick visit. Jen, Stephen and kids went out later and brought James a cupcake and sang happy birthday, a yearly tradition.I had to get a shot of this..since our beloved Patti is buried just behind James..she's watching over him for us!
Of course, Menna and I get together and cameras are constantly going!I wish we had a stick with a bag tied on the end..cuz I coulda taken a great shot of Menna looking like a hobo!Looking over the city. Always have to have a night shot!One of my favorite pics! Ben does the splits on the trampoline!Our cutie pie Riley! The kids and I.Nic and the kidletsNic and the boys (since Kennedy got tired of posing!) My mommy and daddy!

Sturgeon Fishing!

I got the opportunity to try my hand at sturgeon fishing on Saturday..and what a rush! I went with my friend Carrie and her friend Rob (who's a pro! That helps!)

Here's Carrie starting the day off with a good breakfast!

Shortly after we dropped our lines, we got our first bite! Carrie was the first to try and wrestle it in!
It was heavy! Rob gave it a try too!I kept busy making faces!My turn! Yes, it really was that heavy!Measuring the sturgeon! 5 foot 7 inches! WOAH!
Carrie trying to keep the tail from spanking her! Yep, she's squealing too!Much better! My turn! It took a little bit of convincing by Rob to stick my hand in it's mouth!2 thumbs up!Sturgeon number 2!This one was smaller..looks about 3 feet or so! It was hot! 33 C! So, how does one cool off? Hits the nearest watering hole! In our case, it was the muddy Fraser River!And what stayed dry with the head dip, got wet when using a bowl!My turn! Shorter hair and more of a chicken meant that the head dip wasn't as successful!
Put your legs into it!
I gave up and went straight to the bowl method!
It was a great day! Can't wait to do it again!