'tis the season.......for craft fairs!!!

Frank and I have been amazed at the number and quality of craft fairs that have been on, and continue to be on, in Kamloops in the leadup to Christmas. So far we have been to three, and there have been many more than that!

The first was at the Interior Savings Centre, where the hockey rink is. It was covered and the rink area and all the surrounding level spaces were full of a wide range of arts and crafts.



Craft Fair on the hockey rink

We have also been to two smaller ones, each with great products! One was at our own Barnhartvale Hall, where locals had stalls. The other was at the heritage St Andrew's downtown.

Liam and Phoebe keeping their energy up at Barnhartvale Hall
(They were having a good time, really!!)

Remembrance Day weekend

A Mountie at the cenotaph

November 11 is a public holiday here for Remembrance Day. Liam's Beaver colony was involved in the Remembrance Day Parade and we went to the Remembrance Day Ceremony in Riverside Park before all marching up the main street!!

Liam in his uniform

The ceremony itself was very similar to one in Australia, but with different community groups represented and that it finished with 'God Save the Queen'!! I haven't had the opportunity to sing that for a very long time!

After the parade we went for a coffee with Adam, Louise and Nico to warm up!




Phoebe thawing at Zack's Coffee

Marching up the main street

That night we all had a fantastic ham dinner at Mike and Carol's.

The previous evening Frank and I went to see a play version of 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. It was a great performance and Morrie was played by Jamie Farr, who used to play Klinger in MASH.

On Saturday Leslie and I went to a class on how to use a 'knifty knitter' knitting loom. We had a great and productive afternoon and finished off with a drink at Tumbleweeds on the way home.



A pack of Mounties!

Movember MADNESS

You may or may not be aware that Frank is taking the Movember challenge this year. Oh man.

The Doyles are probably used to Frank and his facial hair, but I am afraid I am not, and it is tough!!!

Here are the photos from weeks 1 and 2. Only 2 more weeks to go! Please sponsor him if you haven't already!!!!

Go to http://mobro.co/FrankDoyle56



End of week 1

End of week 2





Liam Beaver

Liam's Beaver Colony had their investiture last night, and Liam graduated from 'kit' to 'beaver'. He had to say the Beaver promise and motto to the Area Commissioner. (He's the one in the hat!!) He then received his necker, woggle and tail which is pinned to his hat. His is pale blue to indicate it is his first year in Beavers.



The pre-investiture scene.





Receiving his necker, woggle and tail.

Liam making his promise.



Halloween!!

We started our Halloween celebrations on Friday night with the Beavers' Halloween Party. It included haunted room run by the cubs, spider cupcakes and spooky craft. Liam was Mario and he even won a costume prize!!

Beavers

Mario

On Saturday morning we headed to Chilliwack, which is near Vancouver, to meet up with some other exchange teachers for a Halloween celebration. We started at the Chilliwack corn maze, which was fun. The maze itself was quite muddy, and after a couple of turns we decided we would turn back. But there was a lot of other fun stuff to do there including a corn pit, which was like a ball pit but filled with corn kernels!

the corn maze

Liam being buried in the corn pit!

Then we started our parties! We started at John's place for drinks and appies and it was great to see other exchange teachers we hadn't seen since February and hear about their experiences.

We then moved on to John's friends' place for pumpkin carving and beer tasting. Frank did a fantastic job on our pumpkin with excellent advice from others who were doing the same! It was a big job. Likewise, I did a great job on the beer tasting.

Frank hard at work

Then we headed on to a Halloween party at the house of a couple who are going to Perth on exchange next year. It was very atmospheric (Liam was in tears at the dummy on the porch!) and the costumes were great. (See photos for ours!!)

The exchange group

At midnight we called it quits and headed to Carlene and Bruce's place in Port Coquitlam for the night. Carlene and Bruce are from Highton in Geelong, just around the corner from Peter and Robyn!!

The next day we were up and away early in order to be back in Kamloops for Liam's friend Summer's Halloween birthday party. That evening we took Harry Potter and his fairy sister to 'Boo at the Zoo' at the Wildlife Park where they had lots of great decorations and Halloween activities in the dark!

At the Wildlife Park

My Harry Potter

Boo at the Zoo

...and the reverse

The front of our pumpkin...

Monday was Halloween itself and we were already exhausted! Liam wore his Harry Potter costume to school and we took our pumpkin up in the pram! It was heavy! They had a Halloween dance and did craft which we used to decorate our house! At Frank's school there was also dress-up and competitions.


Frank and some colleagues



The pumpkin in the pram!

Some of the pumpkins at school

Liam's classroom on Halloween

On Monday evening we went trick-or-treating. We started next door at Susan and Gary's and then visited some other friends before meeting up with Kim, Ben, Louise and Adam to hit a street where the houses are close together and the driveways not too steep!!! (so practical!) We spent almost two hours out and came home with 10 pounds (!!!!) of treats! Liam did a great job and Phoebe, who started off calling out 'trick or treat', moved on to 'treat' and then finally just what she really wanted....'chips'!!!





Fairy Phoebe and Mario Liam

Trick-or-treating at Susan and Gary's














The fam in costume!



Getting ready to hit the streets

Kim's house, complete with graveyard!

Jack (Liam's partner in class)
and Liam

We finished off at Bruce and Cynthia's. We had promised to walk down their really long driveway, but we were so tired we just drove to the door!


It was a really great evening and such a happy, community event. We had a great night.





Halloween baking 2

Halloween baking 1



This says it all!

All the leaves are brown...and yellow...and gone

The cooler weather has definitely arrived with nights below zero and some days getting only as high as 2 or 3 degrees. Winter is on its way!!

October has finished and we have been busy with school and activities around home.

On October 13 Frank had the opportunity to go to Vancouver with the Me to We leadership group from his school. Me to We is a program encouraging students to become involved in local and international community service. There was a very large conference in Vancouver with a great line-up of speakers and performers, some well known and others with amazing life stories to tell. Among the more famous were Mikael Gorbachev, Mia Farrow and Richard Branson. Frank found the event very moving and had a great day.

Rogers Arena, Vancouver

Gorby



the NorKam contingent

We had Liam's parent teacher interview the following day and enjoyed seeing and hearing about all the things they are doing at school. Liam has been busy with friends having play dates, party invitations and playing after school. The PAC (like the P&C) has been organising hot lunches every two weeks and Liam has been enjoying those as well as ordering milk or yogurt to have with his lunch.

Liam and Mr Benesh

The annual Beaveree was held on the 22nd. It is like a day camp with activities and lunch and Liam and I had a great day together there. Activities included cooking bannock (indigenous bread) over a fire, obstacle race, craft and navigating with a GPS! It was a bitterly cold day and the event was at the Pow Wow Arena in Kamloops which is an open arena. But we were having such a good time and the hot dogs were so good that we didn't really notice!!





Cooking bannock

navigating



Adam and Liam with their creations

That evening we attended a harvest party at Joel and Leslie's. Joel was back from Port Hardy for the weekend and they had a large group of family and friends for an amazing meal!

Joel and Leslie's harvest party

Last week was spent preparing for a big event in the Canadian cultural calendar......HALLOWEEN!





Harvesting our pear crop!

Phoebe