Thursday, July 30, 2009

Hunting

I am a hunter. I hunt not for big game or for small fowl, but for a tiny predator mighty and quick-the common fruit fly. The little buggers are my sworn enemies and the moment they take flight in my kitchen I declare a full-fledged war.

Seeing as how the fly is my enemy, I thought it pertinent to do a little background research to get a better grasp of who I am dealing with. The fruit fly's technical name is Drosophila melanogaster and apparently it is one of the most commonly studied organisms in genetics, physiology and life evolution. A group of scientist even took the time to sequence its complete genome. What, why?! And all I want to do is annihilate these little pests from my home.

A single female fruit fly can lay 100 eggs a day. The lady flies do all of their egg-laying in the bits of decaying fruit left around by my 1 year old. So, when there are 25 fruit flies buzzing around my kitchen there is a good chance that left unchecked I could be dealing with 10,000 flies in a matter of days. Disgusting.

Upon advice from my sister-in-law (who is dealing with a fly war on her home front), I concocted a supreme hunting device. I simply mixed together a small amount of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar for a true fruit fly delicacy. Then I placed plastic wrap over the top of my mixture. I then proceeded to make tiny little holes in the plastic wrap to allow curious flies to enter their dungeon of doom. The trick is to make the holes large enough for the flies to enter but small enough to make their return trip to my kitchen impossible.
The end result is fruit fly Armageddon.

Warning: If you are squeamish I would suggest not clicking to enlarge the photo, there are some sick little swimmers in this shot.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Passport Party



Lily is officially a dual citizen! After a couple of months of paperwork and sending away for obscure documents ( i.e. Jr. High transcripts), we received Lil's brand-new U.S passport. She is fascinated by books right now and was excited to see that her picture was inside the little blue booklet. We might try to apply for Lily's Norwegian citizenship next, but we are pretty sure that whole process involves living in Norway for a short amount of time. Which segues well into my next announcement...

I would like to take this opportunity to share about our plans to move back to California. People have been speculating about our move for a while and I can confirm that the rumors are true. Life circumstances have closed some doors but have also opened new and exciting ones.

We have been inundated with reasons as to why we shouldn't leave Victoria by our fellow Canadians ('you have a nice house', 'Gov. Schwarzenegger is handing out IOU's,' ' the economy has gone to pot,' California is going to turn into a third world country with a multitude of destitute and pockets of rich people'). While we appreciate everyone's opinions ( ahem, sometimes), we are excited about making the change. I will miss many things about Victoria
(mostly just people) but I also miss 8 months of sun and being in close proximity to my family. We are currently waiting for Ben's Green Card paperwork to be processed through and then we will be taking off.

The next couple of months our family will be in a state of limbo while we sit and wait to make our next move. We are hoping that our relocation will take place in the late Fall, but we just have to sit tight and see. Can't wait to share this next chapter with all of you!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Fun with Cousins & Friends

Lil's second cousin Sienna (and her mom and dad) came for a quick visit to Victoria this past week. We had lots of fun hanging out and enjoying the hot weather!


July 2008



Two consecutive summers together.The girls have matured a lot over the last year!



July 2009














Pool time with cousin Hunter.

Digging around while friends and cousins are going for a swim in the lake.

Moms and babes cooling off in the lake.

Goats Galore




We decided to take a quick trip to the park today and check out the petting zoo with Lil. We thought that Lily would be thrilled to touch the goats but apparently she is more interested in just pointing at them from a safe distance. There were a few tears shed and a little bit of uncharacteristic shyness. Maybe we need to just stick to petting her grandparents' dogs for right now...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

She's On a Boat

Driving and navigating with Far-Far.

Leaving the BC Ferries in our wake...

Hanging out with Dad and Grandma Bev.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Kisses

I have received a couple of emails asking us if we are OK since I have not updated the blog for 3 weeks. Honestly, I think that it might just be a case of summer apathy. I would rather hang out with Lil in her baby pool then sit inside and sort through photos for our blog. But I will try to get with the program and make some updates...

Earlier in the month we did a week long trip down to SF to visit with my family and meet Lil's new little cousin Forest. He is such a sweet little guy. I miss him already and wish I could give him a squeeze. Lily made sure that Forest got lots of kisses while we were visiting.

Cousins that are too cute.