I am One With Nature

This past weekend the weather was PHENOM.  (that’s short for phenomenal in case you were wondering).  We pretty much spent the entire time outside.  And what made this weekend even more spectacular is that Rachel (Ben’s sister) graduated from Redeemer, and so his parents were down (up?) for a visit. 

Their visit was short, but we (as per usual) managed to cram quite a bit into our time together.   We didn’t take our camera to Rachel’s grad, but let me assure you it was very grad-esque.  Lots of people, many of them wearing long dark robes and hats, much celebrating, lots of words about looking into the future but not forgetting the past, Rachel walking across the stage and getting her diploma (woot! woot!) and CAKE.  Oh the cake.  Yes, I am proud of my sister-in-law graduating, yes, I revelled in all the family time, and sure, it was GREAT running into old friends and colleagues at Redeemer, but I have to bit a little bit honest when I say that I may or may not have elbowed my way out of the auditorium and pulled an “excuse me, pardon me” towards the cake table at the outdoor reception. (what? is that not socially acceptable behaviour?)

Here’s a picture that I blatantly stole off of Rachel’s facebook, because, that’s how I roll:

Anyway, the next day, we again took advantage of the great weather and spent the day at the Royal Botanical Gardens and took in the lilac festival.  It was SO nice outside.  These gardens span several km’s so we hiked for a bit to get from one site to the next.  It was so nice just to walk, talk, and soak up the sun.  We ended up at the gardens that held all of the lilacs and it was beautiful.  Hills and valleys FULL of lilacs.  See?

 We took several pictures…

 

 Sometimes Ben couldn’t resist the smell…

But isn’t he handsome?

We hiked a bit more and there were chipmunks and squirrels everywhere. 

Such as this little guy:

 I know right? I should probably just go ahead and let National Geographic hire me.  I mean, who else could grab such an intense action shot of an animal of this ferocity? (Or maybe it’s because these animals are SO used to people around, that this one couldn’t have given less of a rip that I was 2 feet away from him.  He was far more focused on the mounds of seeds left for him by other humans than me sticking my lense in his face.) 

All in all, it was a great weekend.  We LOVE having Mom and Dad B come to visit, even if they are far too short.  (the visits, not their height – just in case you needed that clarification)