Okay, I have finally finished it! It took me almost a 3 weeks but I am posting our 7 week holiday to Vancouver in one go. WARNING -- I haven't read it over and I'm tired so I'm sure there are some mistakes, but enjoy!
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The flight back to Vancouver, Craig and I were definitely a bit worried. Logan being so active, pretty much just a bundle of energy. So we went with the "hope for the best, expect the worst" mentality and we got the best. Logan was absolutely amazing. Keeping him on Melbourne schedule was the best thing we did.

checking out Melbourne from the air



What service Logan got at the Sydney airport.



Little Tonka trucks, best airplane distraction.



Week 1 - Family farm fun before the big birthday bash

The first week back in Canada was crazy. We spent a few days in Chilliwack with Gramma (here is Logan enjoying their backyard)







And then we headed to visit Auntie Denise and Grampa on the farm. And boy, did Logan have a blast there.




Taking time to smell the flowers



What's life on a farm without a couple of great dogs. Logan really took to Freddie, the dachshund -- probably because they were the same size. Mocha, the big mushy dog was a bit intimidating.



Getting acquainted with the horses



Logan LOVED the quadrunner. He couldn't stop pointing at it ALL the time and saying "brmmm, brmmmm." There we several laps around the farm on this bad boy.




Auntie Denise and Logan playing with one of his favorite toys -- his John Deere tracker.-- Thanks Auntie D.



And how could we forget one of Logan's favorite past time -- Shoe play -- so many more shoes than back in Melbourne.



After the warm up on the quad runner and familiarization with the John Deere, it was time to pull out the big guns. A tour on the REAL SIZED TRACTOR!! yup, Logan loved it.




Some food exploration, corn on the cob and frozen yogurt. Mmmmmm




Last lap on the quad runner before heading to the airport for our return to Chilliwack.



Once back in Chilliwack it was Logan's 1st birthday crazy weekend. Saturday was our bday party with friends. About 30 adults/kids, good food, big cake, lots of presents for the little man. It was a big day for him.

Still enjoying that chilliwack corn.



Carmen with here little guy Jacob



Cake and presents




Boy buddies



Birthday party number 2, the family birthday party.

Introducing the birthday cake -- Leo the Lion.



Playing with MORE new toys -- he was so spoiled again!





Hanging out with Great Gramma and Gramma




And then out came Leo and Logan was in Heaven with this cake. Finger licking good the icing was, and then cramming a whole piece of cake in his mouth. It was seriously a hilarious moment.






Hanging out with Nana



The Novotny's



The Nitschke's



Week 2 - Time for friends and fun.

After the birthday weekend, it was time to relax a bit and catch up with some friends. Our first stop was a waterpark with Jen and her little ones Liam and Sarah. What started out as a beautiful day turned into a crazy thunderstorm and pouring rain. But we got a couple of good hours. The cutest part was Liam helping Logan walk to the waterpark -- what a sweetie.




Believe it or not, it's POURING rain here and these kids are happy little clams.



Then while Craig stayed in Vancouver to work for a few days, Logan and I headed to Kelowna with Valerie and her youngest, Hannah to visit Pia and little Andreas.

A little swimming at Okanagan Lake



What's better than going wine touring with some great girls and our bubbies.



Playtime with Andreas




Still smiling on the long drive back to Chiliwack.



AHHH, almost standing!!!




Week 3 -- Vancouver Island.

We start the week by visiting Melissa in North Van for a night before heading to the ferry. Quite nice since she was house sitting this awesome place -- thanks Donald :) Logan loved the piano and Melissa even gave him some lessons before going solo :)




First stop on the island -- Lyle, Cindy, Colby and Carson. Just a day of hanging out and kids getting to know each other. The next day we headed to Shawnigan Lake for a little dip.







The Boys



A rare family shot.



Stop number 2 -- Valerie, Dean, Claire and Hannah. Two days of relaxation with the kids. A little hike, a visit to Westwood Lake. A wild night of circle rummy (too much scotch for the men) And then a great trip to Coombs for some yummy ice cream.







Stop 3 -- Courtney/Comox for Gordon & Phoebe's wedding-- I didn't have a lot of pics on my camera, but we did get a nice family shot -- don't we all clean up nice, or it looks like it. (there is a lot of dirt and food being worn by all of us in this picture.)



And back on the ferry -- it was such a beautiful day to take a ferry ride, we just spent our time outside doing laps on the deck :)





After the ferry we drove all the way back to Chilliwack and it was SO flippin hot that day. Gramma was so nice enough to get Loggie a little kiddy pool. We all spent our time trying to cool off in the water and enjoy some fresh yummy strawberries.






What is this -- first steps...YEAH!!! Logan took first steps before Craig went on his Melbourne - Soeul - Rome tour. So lucky and so happy he didn't miss this moment :)



Great Gramma, Loggie and Craig.



Week 4 - Craig goes leave Canada leaving me and Loggie in Vancouver to adventure by ourselves! Being a tourist in my own city!

Logan takes the driver's seat from here on in :)



We decide to go to explore Granville Island. On our walk there how could we pass up this swing area? Now is that a view or what? If I could fit my butt in the swing, I would have enjoyed that just as much as he did :)



Then we visited Erin for lunch -- little cheeky Logan trying to distract Erin with his cuteness before grabbing a fry!




The weekend arrived and we did one of our biggest excursions, hiking to Garabaldi Lake -- This hike was over 7 hours and Logan was amazing. Barley a complaint from him until almost the end, but why would he, it was a gorgeous hike and we even spotted and owl in the wild -- pretty awesome. Thanks to Christine for helping me carry the little man that day.










Week 5 - A tourist in my own city - part II

Another beautiful day and I was a tourist in my old city. Colleen, Logan and I went on a walk from downtown to Stanley Park and along the way, we had to hit the Olympic Cauldron. The Olympics may be over, but it was still pretty cool. Thanks Colleen for a fun day. My feet still hurt from walking so much that day :)




Continuing the tourist trail, Logan and I hit the Olympic Villiage, they have some very interesting stuff there. First the huge, public lawn chairs. Very strange, but Logan really loved playing on them, they were like huge slides. I wonder how utilized they are.




But this was one of my favorite things -- the huge sparrow. A little freaky, but kind of cool at the same time. I love the picture of Logan posing at the talons.




Auntie Gabriela, Logan and I did a trip to the old stomping ground (Naramata)to take care of some family stuff. It was a great weekend. Lots of fun in the sun, beach time, wining, dining and just plain old catching up. It was great having some sister time. I don't have many pic because Gabriela's camera is far superior to mine, so I didn't pull out much, but there are a couple of good ones.




Then back to Vancouver for one last night with Tini -- Thanks Tini for having us for those 10 days, it was great staying with you and thank you for all of your help (and the one night of babysitting so I could go see Lady Gaga!) You rock, and Logan loved staying with you as well, as he was so comfortable with you by the end, he just started to walk all over you!!! Hahaha.



Week 6 - Nana's

Then it was off to Surrey. I was so sick of packing all of our stuff, I had things randomly in bags instead of packed neatly away in luggage. Thank goodness Nana's apartment complex has a couple of random shopping carts (hmmmm....) Logan definitely had the best seat in the house!



Nana had to work one day there so we took the opportunity to visit Jen and her family. Again, we had some crappy weather, so we just stayed inside. The kids got to play and Jen and I got to gossip over coffee, the best of both worlds really.




What's more fun than barnyard animals? I know, not much. This was a great day where Logan, Nana and I joined Jen, Liam and Sarah at Maplewood Farms in North Van. And this was the day that Logan really started walking. I think it's because he wanted to be like the big kids (aka, Liam and Sarah) because once they started chasing those ducks, he all of a sudden wasn't that far behind.





A great walk on White Rock Beach -- there is no stopping this kid now.



Ah, Logan and his best friend -- Soofie



A couple of randoms from Nana's place. The first one is with Norman, what used to be our Norfolk Island Pine that was almost dead before Nana rescued him. He's HUGE!!! Twice the size as Logan. It's hard for me to believe.



These stacking blocks are great, although I don't know who had more fun, me building them up, or Logan knocking them down.



A great shot of Nana, Logan and me on our last day before heading home to Melboure. Thanks mom for a fantastic visit, great food and spoiling your grandson! He and I loved it! See you soon.




And that was the end of our 6 1/2 week trip back to Vancouver. Logan was AMAZING on the flight home, although I was a little concerned during the first hour, when he screamed! But after that, he settled in and slept for most of the flight. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. For a 12 month old to be moved from place and lived completely unsettled, without routine for almost 7 weeks, he adapted amazingly. You are my world little man!

Randoms

Logan's favorite way to eat Cheerios -- off the floor



This is a new little thing Logan likes to do -- lick the window.



Another fun day at the park. Logan has started to lean back in the swing and look at the sky. Pretty cute.



He also has started to go down the baby slide all by himself. :) Lots of laughs every time.



The big slide still needs adult help. He loves going down with his daddy.

Snow-baby

Yes, believe it or not, Australia gets snow. We had done a bit of research and we decided to drive a couple of hours so Logan could have his first experience in the snow. Lake Mountain, here we come -- we were very excited. We dug out all the thermals, snow pants, gloves toques, yup we were prepared! As you can see, Logan was all ready, decked out in his snowsuit (thanks Gramma)



So, we're ready and this was what our first experience with Melbourne snow was! Yup, that is about it. One dinky little hill of mostly man made snow. AND, it's SUPER icy, AND about every Melbournean and their dog was up there tobogganing (because that's about all you can do -- well there was a bit of cross-country too) Great for kids and adults alike, but not so great for a 11month old. I was pretty crushed.





So, we decided to trek to higher grounds. Walk to the summit and maybe catch some lovely, fluffy white stuff on the way. Well, the trail was ICY but we managed. And the higher we got the more white stuff we got (fluffy -- definitely not, but I'll take it)



So, we plunked Logan down in the wet snow and he really had no idea what to think about it. He just sat there for the longest time staring at the snow. He started to touch it with his mitt and move it around. But it was so wet and heavy that he had a bit of a hard time with playing with it.





So, he then tried to move in it. Crawling and even trying to stand. But that was a pretty tough task too which pretty much resulted in being belly up. It was pretty funny sight.





But as soon as he got a hold of Daddy's fingers and had both feet on the hard snow, he was a happy little camper.



So in the end, our day up to the snow was a success. We all had fun playing in the "snow". We stayed for maybe 20 more minutes and then the weather started to turn so it was a quick B-line back to the car.

The Veggie Patch

At Craig's work, they have these 2X2 veggie patches and we finally got our hands on one. What's better than being able to grow our on vegetables, and even BETTER, in the winter. Logan and I headed to CERES, this great little community nursery walking distance from our place. After serious humming and hawing, Logan and I decided on: beets, broccoli, leeks, celery, spinach, carrots and an artichoke.

While I was picking out the seedlings, Logan was being humoured by the pet chickens. Lots of pointing and squealing, it was quite funny.






I think the chicken likes what we've picked out for our garden as well :)










Then, it was off to Burnley to plant. Craig did all the hard work, digging and planting. I pretty much had to supervise Logan from not eating the dirt or mulch, although the soother was a great distraction. After a while, the little guy was really getting into and even help daddy planting.





The finished product, the Nitschke-patch.