The Great Flood of 2009

Ok so now that you have seen all the posts with all the snow it's time to see the aftermath. Once the snow stopped falling, the temperatures rose significantly melting a lot of the snow that was sitting up in the mountains and in addition we were lucky enough to get a whole bunch of rain. When these three things happen all at the same time the rivers fill up and we get to enjoy a flood.

This is a road about a mile from our house that leads to a park where we walk Archie. The river runs perpendicular to this road, if you were to keep going straight you would walk/drive right into it. As you can kind of see, the river has come over its banks and flooded this road all the way up past the park entrance. The people at the end of this road must have had water in their houses.

This is the river in between the park above and the golf course below. You can't really see the banks of the river because the water is right at the top of them. The straight thingy in the middle is a full sized tree that has been ripped out of the bank at some point and is just tootling along. Aaron got to witness the kind of damage that a root ball from a tree this size can cause as it travels down the river. Not Pretty.

This is difficult to see but it is one of the fairways at the golf course across the highway from our neighbourhood. It became a river tributary as the river overflowed it's banks and took a short cut.

This is another view of the Fairway/River.

This is the Maple Valley Highway bridge that spans the part of the river as it begins to encircles our neighbourhood (Colleen you might remember this is the one we went over then immediately down under so Archie could go in the water) . They have closed off one of the lanes of the bridge because they think there may be structural damage to the foundation. Just beyond this bridge is the house of one of our neighbours we know quite well, Jack Lyon. He said the water got to about 3 feet from his back door. They were definitely doing some sandbagging there.

It was amazing to see the river this high and people who have lived here for a long time say they haven't seen it like this for decades. We have been assured by our neighbour, Dennis that even if the river floods really really badly we will simply have water front property and that it is very unlikely to reach our house. Despite his reassurances, out home owners insurance is kept up to date!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ok so it's a little late but at least it's still January.

This year we got ourselves off the couch (and managed to be illness free) and headed up to Alex and Darcie's for a New Year's Eve/ Surprise Birthday Roast for Alex's 40th .

There were tons of people there we knew and some new ones we got to meet.

A group of friends singing a modified Christmas carol to roast Alex. There was also a slide show of child and teenage photos with stories to match and lots of nasty comments about his Mom.

Although he was MORTIFIED (he HATES to be the center of attention), it was very funny and his ego will eventually heal and someday he'll forgive Tim for the slide show.

We managed to stay until about 1:30am. I think Aaron was ready to keep partying but by then I was too tired to keep up polite conversation. We arrived home about 2:30, after passing a terrible accident on I-5 and spent the next two days recovering. (why did Tori Spelling always look so cute showing off her baby belly and I just look like I'm grabbing my crotch? Seriously I need a publicist to help with these things)

We had a great time as we always do and baby Elliot slept through it all!!

Shovelling Snow

This will be one of the very few times we will likely ever see Aaron shovelling snow. Around here it rarely stays long enough that shovelling is necessary but over the Christmas season of 2008 it just refused to leave.

Sure it was pretty and fun for Christmas but once the holiday celebrations were over it got old really fast.

It doesn't look like much but at this point it had melted a little and refozen several times that it was diffficult to get over the lump at the end of the driveway into the street and then maneuver through the tracks without rubbing off important car parts as you headed down the street.

New (for us) Furniture

With the discovery of the broken leg, we decided it would be best if we put a rush on the purchase of a couple new chairs for our living room.

Serious safety hazard if you weigh more than 100 lbs, which we both passed long ago.

The one on the left is the old chair (you can see how the one arm is sort of cattywhompus/detached) and by process of elimination the one on the right is the new one.  We got it off Craig's list and it is even nicer than the old one.  We have found a replica/replacement for the blue one (also on Craig's list) that Aaron is picking up as I type.  With two of them we will both be able to recline, which I am finding a more and more desireable activity as my pregnancy progresses.

The new chair gets a 10/10 on the the rigorous Moe Approval Test.

Belly Update Week 26

So in this picture you can see that the belly growth has begun to swing around to the backside.  How the heck did that happen!??

It is definitely growing but it still feels bigger than it looks.  Now sometimes when the baby moves you can actually see it from the outside.  

CLose Ups

Christmas Morning 2008

It all started at about 8am on Thursday morning. We rolled out of bed earlier than usual to get things done and Matt on his way. Of course we started with stockings. Aaron helped Archie while I took care of Moe.

New squeaky toys for the poop.

Each one had to be dragged over to its appropriate place by the dog bed.

"My Daddy Rocks" onesey from Em to Dad.

Matt Donnelly spent the night with us so he could borrow my car to go get his daughter from Bellingham in the morning.

The wading sandals Aaron has been lusting after for about two years. He isn't happy about them at all.

A new book about catching really big fish signed by the author!

My super cool peacock Mary Jane Crocs that Match a new stripey apron and food processor.

Aaron's new practice rod that allows him to simulate fly fishing in the house. It's great fun!!

Even Moley got in on the Christmas fun with a couple new toys.

Although I wasn't able to get to MB to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad we managed to have a very nice day. I took a LONG nap while Aaron fiddled on the computer then we had a great steak dinner at our new table. We missed you all and are hoping next year will find us together again.