Cars and Monster Trucks

During the May long weekend we stopped in for a car show after camping. Mark picked his favorite cars and took some of the photos.

For an early Father's day gift I sent Ray and Mark to the Monster Truck show. They both loved it and were glad I told them they needed the ear plugs. That's just me being paronoid over their hearing after working in the field of Deafblindness for so long. Great Father-son bonding time.

A motorcycle show might have to come next time as they both loved watching the motorcyles jumping more then the trucks.

More construction

Some of you may think we are always under construction in some way or another but we're not. We are finally starting this next project though. I was hoping to have this started back in April but with all the paper work it wasn't until the end of May. The new deck will be 1 1/2 times the size and will be large enough to put our patio table up on it plus have room to play. With summer here I am desperately waiting to use it!! Anyone other than Mark want to come help so Ray can finish it faster???

More Easter Pics...

Forgot some Easter pictures of the family and thought I should add them. I think we were the only one with the family shot at Theif River Falls.

Also enjoyed our visit with Uncle Alex and Chuck and friend Anna.

Amazingly this was Marianne's first visit to the cottage.

Many friends have enjoyed this little get-a-way so I'm sure they are surprised too to find out not all the family has even been there yet. The cousins were happy to enjoy the cottage toys and especially Grandma Joan's amazing finds of cool lego including pirates!! Hey mom, guess what I found some here too so now Mark has his own Value Village find of Pirarte lego.

Another memory for us was our visit to Paul and Myrna's to sadly discover the favourite pool has been dug up and will be replaced with grass :( We're sad but since we're not there much we couldn't really fight it and I'm sure they will love the grass over the concrete.

A visitor from Winnipeg

When we got the phone call that Jodi was coming and needed a place to stay while attending a family funeral it was of course hard not to have some excitment in my voice. On a sad and serious trip it was nice to know that we were able to make it a bit easier for her to come and provide a happier side to the trip. Jodi, I know this wasn't easy for you, and I hope you know we loved your visit and think of you and your family often. Mark was sad the kids couldn't come and still talks about when "Joey's Mom" came. We'll wait to see if the summer allows for you to make it here as a family.
Kyla loved having baby Annie here to play with. Kyla was excited to see all the "baby" toys come out again as I had put most of them away. It was fun to play with the toys again. She loved sharing dolls with baby Annie and is here dancing with her. Kyla would walk holding tightly to the side of Annie's stroller as we went for walks and enjoyed our Mother's Day coffee at Starbucks thanks to Grandma Joan.

Thanks Jodi!! Amazing how a funeral can be a sad time and yet bring family and friends together. Glad you were able to be here with your family and cousins. The timing of your visit was much needed for me too. May was an emotionally hard month for me for a number of reasons and I totallyappreciated our long talks together and just having you here.

Mark and his bike

This is Mark at the Gardom Lake fundraiser. He biked the whole 5 km up and down the hills. Some hills he needed the extra push especially on the way back but he was the youngest bike rider this year and won a prize for it. Most adults; including Grandpa Wally bike the 70kms. For Mark's age and his distance we figure it's pretty comparable and impressive!! He was pretty proud of himself here holding his prize - his water bottle - a true highlight for him as he seems to be obessed with water bottles these days.

Mark's most recent news is that he lost his trainning wheels the second week of May. I thought I had a picture to show but I have a ton of video and no still photos. I tried uploading a video but have to try the youtube idea that the Gunther's and Duester's use so you'll have to wait for me to figure it out - I'm slow on the up hill when it comes to technology!!

We were prepared for a painful learning curve for Mark to catch on to the balancing of two wheels but he blew us away after figuring it out in less then 10 mins. Just ask Jodi Epp in Winnipeg as she was here as a witness.

Easter

Easter in Winnipeg was fun filled with cousins playing. It was bitter/sweet as we didn't get as much time as we had hoped to visit friends but had some much needed time with family. Saw a few friends but for sure missed alot too. Thanks to those we were able to spend time with and sorry to all those we missed :( Believe me it was very emotional leaving friends and family behind again for me.

The cousins had time dressed up, playing outside and inside and of course the Easter Egg hunt was also a hit. A quick day trip to the cottage to satisfy Mark and prove to him there are no frogs in April in Winnipeg as there is still enough snow to get stuck in - we proved that.

Also took a trip to the USA to the Thief River falls waterpark and a quick stop shopping in North Dakoda at Target and Old Navy.