Making Sausage at Little Bow

Oma and Opa came to town, so we grabbed them, the Grandparents, Oliver's Tante Linnea and Uncle Mike, and (of course) cousin Dexter! and we all headed up to Little Bow to relax - and to make sausage!

In the above picture, Dexter finds out that we are making sausage, but that he won't be helping.

Here's a shot of some of the guys playing with meat. Oliver is hugging Grandma in the background.

Grandpa, Uncle Mike, and Opa Jack deep into the sausage making process while Oliver's dad teases them with beer.

Whenever the women folk got too uppity about the All-Male Meat-O-Rama we pointed out this label on the sausage machine. Pay special attention to 'Cautions: #2'. Heh


Dexter, blocked from joining the All-Male Meat-O-Rama by the niggling age requirement, spent the day playing with Omas and Grandmas.

Oliver showed his displeasure at being excluded by having a long nap...


...and then by joining Mom who was relaxing in the hammock.

Everyone enjoyed the day, and most importantly, the All-Male Meat-O-Rama produced enough pork sausage to feed a small nation!

Oliver's new outifts

A wicked new kimono!


And (from Oma and Opa) Dutch 'wooden' shoes!

Oliver and Mom!

Future Babysitter!

Chihiro currently has the inside track on the job based on the enthusiasm shown so far.

Oliver learns how to work the Internet

Each week we gather at Grandma and Grandpa's place to enjoy a nice teleconference with Oliver's Oma and Opa in Vancouver.

Oliver's full attention for this family event is (fortunately) not required.

Dexter's first Birthday!

(I've reloaded these pictures to the blog, for some reason only the first showed up)

Dexter's party started off as all good parties should, half-naked in the backyard.

Oliver convinces yet another person to pick him up and obey his bidding.


Oliver tests out the Bumbo that Dexter had outgrown. Thanks Dexter!


Uncle Mike boosts Dexter eye to eye with his Opa.


Tante Linnea demonstrating how she has a handful and more with Dexter now that he is mobile.


Tante Linnea cracks up as Dexter mows down the helpless cookie.


Dexter had trouble hiding the excitement he felt opening this gift. Electronics!


"Curse you sock-monkey! I shall not speak to you again."

Oliver lets the sock monkey have a blast of withering ambivalence.


Still surrounded by a group of thoroughly mesmerized women, Dexter surveys the damage of his first party and saw that it was good.

Oliver visits Little Bow

Opa Jack leads Dad and Oliver to the shore of Little Bow.



Oliver shows how excited and impressed he is with the shores of the Little Bow by falling fast asleep shortly after we arrived at the waters edge. Just before he fell asleep, he mentioned to everyone how much he loved the cabin, and was looking forward to coming back. Then he danced the first three Fred Astaire routines from 'Singing in the Rain', and crashed.



Opa Jack, pirate and terror of the Little Bow sea.



Oliver has it made in the shade. Which is good, because both his parents presented the symptoms of moderate radiation burns over 15% of our bodies the following day.



Opa Jack and Marnie in the Cat race across the lake.

Aunt Karmen, Chihiro and Oliver

Here are Oliver's cousins Ayely and Chihiro!



And here's Chihiro getting lessons from Aunt Karmen about how to look after Oliver...

Jen's visit

iPood in my new Aquarium

Oliver and his Tilly

Oliver's First Canada Day!

As you can see, Oliver is way beyond excited to celebrate the birthday of his nation. Way beyond.



Here's proud Dad.



Our first stop was to the original Fort Whoop-up to take in the activities. Dad was particularily pleased because we fluked out and got excellent parking.



A passing train over the famous landmark.



From thence it was off to the park where children of all ages were present. Ther was easily a $M worth of Graco baby/infant products - in particular their four wheel drive strollers. Haidee ran into some family friends, we ate some candy, Oliver continued his nap.



Here is Oliver when we returned home. Wow is Canada Day Fun!

Haidee and her 'Old Man'

The Fashion Plate

A Calgary Flames jumper, with green striped socks on a bumblebee baby pad. With fashion sense like this, his parents are dooming him forever.