Hello so sorry but it would seem that I have been setting my post to local and not public so none of you could see them. Didn't notice this glitch until I was viewing our site from a computer outside of our house. Sorry now for the flood of post but oh well lots to read now… 

The last month has been very interesting as it seems that every weekend or so we are off doing something new with the boys. I guess that they are at the age where they are a lot of fun to take to different events small and big. 

First it was the parade for May days here in Rutland. The parade wasn't super big or anything (nothing like Macy's) but for boys who had never been to one it was just perfect complete with tractors, clowns, tons of candy and even a rose for mom.

Then there was the Family fun day fair at the rec center here. For Tristan this was tons of fun mainly due to all the bouncy castles but he did have to learn the hard lesson of waiting in line. Tristan wasn't that thrilled of face painting but both boys loved the crafts and such. However the day did prove to us that the boys are too young for Disneyland yet as it was all very tiring for all of us and that was only after 3 hours.

Last let's not forget Croc-a-palooza!! Yes there is a crocodile rescue centre here in town and they put on an even to raise awareness and funds for what they do and a new facility. Of course I just had to take the boys. Sadly I didn't get many pictures of the crocs/alligators but the boys loved the tortoises. All in all it wasn't a huge event but can only grow year by year and it was good to support something as cool as this in town.

Yay!!! today i got my brand new iPad and am soooo excited. Happy birthday to me! (present to myself). 

So far I am loving it. It is soo good for reading magazines, the net and well playing games. It will take me some time to get used to it and really use all it's features but more on that in future posts. 

Now I can wait to get my new case for it and my stylus. Then I can more use it for a sketchpad at won't look like a dork carrying it around. 

Yay!! After over a year of work and planning and consultation the game is finally launched. This is one of the many secret projects i have been working on at work along with the release of mission 11 on CP. 

Very excited to have been working on another DS title and think that this is better than the first one. Hopefully the fans all agree and we can see sales like the first game. 

Basically Herbert our resident villain makes his grand debut on the DS along with his trusty ever loyal sidekick Klutzy. This game was a lot of fun to make and there are some great memories, as well as pains but that is all par for the course. All in all though it was very good to be part of something very cool.

Well wouldn't you know it may comes around at it is a ton of B-days! Let's see there is Rhys on the 12th, my dad's on the 15th, mine on the 17th and our best friend Ginny's on the 19th crazy!! There was even a birthday party for a little boy down the street Jaxon. So many b-day so many presents and cake and food and parties. But it is all so fun. 

Rhys of course really enjoy's opening all the presents but does have to fight off his big brother a bit. Tristan is just in there like a dirty shirt, "teaching" his brother all about how it goes down, but hey a 2 year old needs to learn somehow.

It is finally here another quest game launched on CP. It has been a long haul to get this one created for various numerous reasons that are just to long to explain on this blog, but I very happy that it is here.

Of course it couldn't have been completed without the hard work of Cody, Cael, Neil, Rory and Tika. Thanks so much guys we rocked it out now onto more new things and other fun stuff!

For all of you out there if you have an account on CP please head on over and check it out. If not here are some screenies, but of course these don't replace the game play.

Yep back from what??? Yes Icograda, a design conference in Vancouver. It was a little last minute but one of our graphic design guys at work was stuck in Europe due to the volcano ash and so I was asked to go in his place. Not really a graphic designer myself but was honored to be asked to go and jumped at the opportunity. I really hope I did our design team proud as I really enjoyed hanging out with them for 4 days in Van last week.

I have to say the conference was really really inspiring and thought provoking. From architectural sustainability to brand through history a overview of the design of the 2010 Olympic brand and a discussion on "Delight" it was some of the best presentation and talks I have ever been a part of. I was very much inspired and found a lot of the presentations to be very applicable to game design on so many levels. All at the same time being humbled by the amazing talent and careers of the people in attendance. This conference was very top notch and well worth the worry about getting child care in place so I could attend. 

Outside of the conference it was really fun to hang out with the design team and get to know them more. We had some amazing dinners at some awesome restaurants and did some really cool team events as well. We visited the art gallery and saw the Leonardo Da Vinci mechanics of man exhibit (amazing), painted on a giant video screen with electronic spray paint(sooo much fun!!!!!), group painted at a small restaurant in Yale town, and even did a little Karaoke (I didn't sing!!). On the side I took a co-worker to Tom Lee's music and tested out the electronic drums and drag 3 girls on the team to a comic store whom all ended up buying comics themselves (yes this store is that good).

There is a lot I am still taking in from last week and soo much to tell but I am still trying to parse through it all. It was a whirl wind to be sure and very last minute but well worth it. However as it being that Naomi was leaving for Edmonton on Wednesday night and I left for Van on Monday through Friday wasn't the best of timing and easy on the kids. The silver lining was that Tristan and I got to spend some good quality time together on the weekend just the 2 of us before Naomi and Rhys came back on Monday. We visited the boat show, tried to fly a kite (wind died), Tristan had his first pirate pack, and shoveled a ton of compost!!

What a crazy past week but I loved every moment of it even down to the family picnic dinner in the living room tonight.

What an awesome time of year! It's so exciting to start planting the flowers and the garden – much more fun this year that both the boys are into it.  In fact, Rhys actually cries after being outside for 3 hours when we want him to go inside.  We've just started letting him eat outside all the time… less mess to clean up that way!

We planted tons of flowers, both in the front yard and back.  We are really looking forward to spending lots of time in the backyard this year – although it seems campfire season in the Okanagan is already over.  Good thing we got lots of campfires in in February.  We are hoping to have a few barbecues over the summer, and really enjoy having a placy for the kids to play in the backyard.  Also, it's good for them to see where their food comes from – tomatoes come from a vine, not just the grocery store!  Here's a few pics of the boys helping us out, and one of Rhys  being cute with his "I push the button" (doorbell) at Papa and Nana's house.

Now my only worry is having to get up early all summer to water all the flowers!  Oh well, it's worth it.  We just love being in the yard so much!

We are back and rested… well not physically but at least had a nice break from the regular hectic pace of life around here. Our trip was amazing to say the least and an awesome experience. It would be very difficult to recount the entire trip here in one post so I will give just the highlights and explain some of the pics. I did try and keep a journal which I was going to re-type here for you all but with the long sailing days and time we spent studying there was no time for anything else (only had time for one journal entry). There are a ton of pictures here so we hope you enjoy.

The whole trip started with of course the drive out to Vancouver which had us a little worried about the weather we would encounter as the car got knocked around from the high winds and both Stanley Park and Lion Gate Bridge were closed on the same account. That night we stayed at the Best West at the foot of Granville Bridge and had an awesome meal at the Sanafir which we really highly recommend.

Saturday was our first day out and getting familiar with the boat and all her parts. The boat we were on for the week was Alony-se a 37' Bentenau, very nice boat. We spent a lot of time in false creek with different maneuvers before we headed out into English Bay after a lunch at the Granville market (what a really awesome market). It was a nice comfortable sail as we got used to the boat and the view of the city from the water is just awesome. That night was our first night sleeping aboard the boat which left us a little tired since we weren't used to it.

The next day we all attempted our docking procedures which was a little nervous with all the people watching from the market. After this we headed out into English Bay again but with really high winds that were a little much for us cutting our sail a little short. That night Naomi and I had a nice stroll down False Creek a bit a ate at a wonderful little restaurant run by a Russian couple called Brana's with some live Spanish music. Nobody wanted us to leave the restaurant but we need sleep and to continue studying (there is a ton to learn for sailing!!).

The next morning we got the boat ready for our cruise with food, water, and new dinghy (there is a long story with that one). Then we made sail across the strait to the gulf islands to anchor in Clam Bay. We were lucky in that the winds where good enough to sail across and we where joined by dolphins (very hard to get a picture of).

The morning we woke up in Clam bay was so calm and peaceful surrounded by jellyfish and a hearty breakfast of Red River. The winds were very strong this day as we sailed around salt spring to Ganges for a quick stop and lunch then it was off to Montegeau Bay where we moored for the night.

We woke up this morning to very high winds and made sail back to Ganges for the day. This passage was a little nervous for us as we where in high winds and heeled the boat over at 35 degrees at times facing 3-4 foot waves. Not something all of us except for our skipper where used to. Once we got into Ganges we ate lunch and stayed for the remainder of the day. This was great as we got some good time in for studying further for our next test and got to see our friends Alex and Hannah and their little one Niko.

We left Ganges the next morning and headed back to Clam Bay mainly because of the winds. This day was the day that Naomi and I had to Skip and Navigate the boat which went fairly well considering it was out first time doing so. There was some tense moments especially when the Dinghy broke loose and we had to retrieve it under sail while I was skipping. Let's just say that it took waaaayyyy to long. We made it back to Clam Bay in fairly good time and managed the high winds well as now we had more experience under our belt. That night's BBQ salmon was well deserved. 

Finally we came to the last day of our sail and headed back to Vancouver. There was basically no wind so we motored back across the straight but were joined by porpoises and dolphins along the way. Once we got in it was time to demonstrate that we could all do a man overboard figure eight maneuver (not easy to say the least) and to our final test. With all this behind us Naomi and I headed to our hotel for a much deserved shower/bath and Italian dinner.

We spent our final day in Vancouver with a morning breakfast at the Boathouse and a walk into Stanley Park. Then it was onto the Tattoo Parlor to get my wedding ring Tattoo (ouch!!) which I have been wanting since I broke my ring a few years back. Then it was onto shopping and dinner at Rodney's Oyster Bar.

It was an awesome trip with lot of memories, nervous moments and a swirling head of knowledge. We are still recovering from it and still have sea legs which don't seem to go away. We missed the boys and it was good to see them again. Although I don't think we will leave them for that long again, they missed us just too much.

That is all for now there is soo much more to tell but we can leave that for later and many stories in the future.