Camping five nights...

Most people are in question whether camping with two kids (4 and 2) for 5 days in a row is actually considered a vacation. Others debate even more whether driving a car with those same two kids more than 2000km, for approximately 35 1/2 hours within a week, is a vacation either. Well, WE DO, and WE DID IT - AND SURVIVED!!!

You wouldn't believe it, but the only time we heard the famous words spoken was after our first hour drive, the first day, after we realized we forgot something major and had to turn around and drive back home. 10 minuites into the drive back home Mark asked "ARE WE THERE YET?". Little did he know of the 34 more hours to come...

We had a great time meeting up with friends the night before in WA, and preparing for both our families to camp together the first 3 nights.

With 5 kids under 5 and 4 adults on the same site, it went amazing well. There were a few hickups - a borrowed tent without a fly, sharing one scooter between 3 or 4 kids, worring about fire safety while the kids played and got dirty. Sleep depervation is an obvious, but the amount of laundry was unexpected. Maybe we should have known we wouldn't have been on the beach as much as we wanted, but somehow I expected even if we didn't swim, we could have enjoyed sitting on the beach. The winds were harsh and cold but that didn't stop Mark and Ray from flying their kites. Ray was truely a kid at heart that day watching the kite take the wind and Mark was right there with him with his own Spiderman kite.

Discovering on the beach...

We enjoyed our first day of holidays beach combing with Joel, Josh, Mel and Don. The unexpected one extra morning with them was great. It may have taken extra long to get to our first destination, due to forgetful packing, but it was worth it.

As we walked the beach that morning, we were amazed at the opportunity to see a Bald Eagle resting on a rock. As we got closer the Eagle took flight.
It took a few shots but I actually am proud of my shot and couldn't have placed the boat more perfectly.





The kids loved walking through the tide pools and looking for sea life. Ray was also looking for crabs and after seeing many small ones picked up a rock for the kids and found a crab hiding underneath. It was a great start to our beach vacation.



What a great surprise to see Brianna and Derek while walking towards the pier as well.

At 11am we said our goodbyes and headed for the car to begin our coastal vacation.
Of course we had an hour and a half- almost 2hr. boarder crossing wait first.

New Aunties to play with...

My Dad arrived with Carolyn, Mikaela and Jessica on Tuesday of our family fun filled week. The anticipation of Grandpa arriving was big for the boys. I don't know if Carolyn or the these two newAunties knew ahead of time the energy 3 boys and a little girl have, but they were quick to find out. A cannon ball fight started it all. The boys were throwing the pine cones down at them from high in the tree house and then hiding as the girls reloaded the cannon balls back into the tree house. Kyla loved bringing dolls to show and sitting on laps for stories. Jessica was a huge hit with the animated voices reading "Pirates of the Caribbean" story and Micaela is most remembered by Mark as the "bestest" rock jumper into the waterfall. There was play time and story time, Farmer's Market shoping for fruit, beach time relaxing and building sand castles. Jet skiing and hiking, mini golfing, badminton, basket ball, boccie and water balloon fights. Ray also gave motocycle rides to almost all (except kids). We also had a Auntie Alma (my Dad's sister) and Lee come for a day all the way from Texas for a short visit while we were all together. They blessed us all with Jumbo shrip from Mexico - Yummy!!

We had a great time getting to know eachother a bit, and building memories and appreciated hearing all about their family trip to DR that they had taken before coming out here. We celebrated Kyla's birthday and she got Dora books and a Dora movie. Just in time for our own family holiday. The books were a huge hit for both kids all making noise - (thank goodness for mommy and daddy the three different books provided variety to the sounds) and the movie was a hit as well. How do you travel over 1800kms without new movies to watch and new toys to play with!!

Saturday they headed off to continue their trip on Westward as did the rest of us to begin our own separate family holidays. Stay tuned for the next entry of our continued family fun filled summer adventures....

The Harders arrive...

The waiting... The countdowns are finally here...the moment the Harder's pulled into the driveway was the beginning of a fun filled week of cousin Loven'!!! The boys came running to each other and Josh ran over to be the first to hug Kyla. Other than my poor directions they arrived safely. Why would you ask me for direction to begin with who knows. Am I not the one that can't tell which way is North or West to begin with? Why not ask Ray? He grew up here and He can tell you how to get somewhere having only been there once or even not at all (OK - that was because Nana couldn't remember either and it was safer to trust Ray getting out of Regina then Nana at the time!! but that's another story). OK,OK, they arrived and the fun began.

I don't even know where to start on this recap of our week together. We were so excited to show them were we lived.

They played toys, cannon ball fights in the tree fort, read books, exchanged gifts, splash parks, the lake, walks to the river for a cold - freezing dip(and Don pretending he was in a hot tub as his body turned numb from the cold), jumped off the rocks of a waterfall( I didn't jump as I'm afraid of heights but Joel and others did), hiked two mountains (actually Don, Joel, Mark and I hiked the one and we drove to the top of the other one as a family). Anyways, there was so much fun and great family time.

Can't wait till our next visit....

Grandma Visits

Mom came and to start off the visit we enjoyed a Shakespeare play at a Winery to celebrate her birthday. It was an amazing setting - great view of the lake and the actors did a great job.

Went for a wonderful walk down to the waterfront and mom saw the rose garden in Summer bloom. She's been here Fall, Spring and Winter and now has finally seen it in it's full glory. Mark was walking around the garden so carefully I dare say anything, but I did, and his response was "I'm just looking for the perfect one to pick for you mommy!".

Kyla took strange to Grandma at first but warmed up quickly. She really enjoyed stories and tea parties and playing dollies. Grandma got her a trike for her 2nd birthday and Kyla loves it.

During Grandma's stay Auntie Mel and Uncle Don and Joel and Josh arrived. Thus began a week long family fun filled visit with lots to see and explore. Although Grandma didn't stay the whole week, we packed in a lot while she was still there. Such as a visit to a Fruit museum - Cherry festival, water splash parks, lake, beach relaxing, walks to the park, and a ton of visiting time.

Soccer Boy

Mark has finished an 8 week preschool aged soccer Kick and Run group. Two coaches and 14 kids. They learned soccer stops and bounderies and hitting the ball with their feet and heads. Obviously the no hand rule was the hardest for most of the kids. Mark seemed to like to kick the ball out of bounds rather then keep it in bounds - still working on boundery rules. He hoped to throw it back in each time but didn't realize it was the other teams job. They had a ton of drills, a ton of water breaks, and fun games with the balls before the soccer game time each week. Lots of fun!!

Deck progress

Here Mark is working really hard on the deck with his Home Depot tools from Auntie Marianne. He loves to hammer the most. They can't be up there without adult supervision as it's not safe yet.
The deck railings have started to go up and the end of the project is in sight - over half done YEAH!! As the railing is finished it will finally be safe for the kids to be out there (as long as the stairway is blocked off until finished).


I think we are all ready for it to be done including Ray, working all day only to come and work on the deck until 8 or 9pm.

Kyla moments

Kyla has hit the beginnings of being two. She has another month and a bit to go but she is in full mood swings at times. She is still our little princess but we thought we should share this one picture of her tantrums too. I took a video of 30 seconds of her 45 minute tantrum the other day for a good laugh afterwards.
Kyla loves the phone but doesn't really like to talk much if someone is actually on the other end. She is here talking to Grandpa Ernie on the phone after I had already hung up. Grandpa do you like the shirt - she finally fits it. "I'm to sexy for my diaper!". She is trying to toilet train herself but no where near done yet.

This is our princess again enjoying the summer heat.

Mark learns to drive

Kids Traffic Safety Village is a great place for kids to go and learn traffic rules and driving skills. Not many parents want backseat drivers but the kids sure loved driving their own cars. Mark went with his preschool and looks forward to going again some day soon. Maybe even with his cousins when they come (we'll have to check it out). Mark came home proud he had only drove on the sidewalk once!!

Father's Day Camping

Father's Day weekend was a camping trip with Ray's family. We were sad to miss Shelley and Levi and they were there in our thoughts. Imagine only driving across the lake and setting up camp. We couldn't see home from our camp site but standing on the beach you could see the downtown buildings. I was surprised how we were so close yet it really felt like we got away. Three tents on one site with 5 kids in them and Gramma and Grandpa in the trailer across the path. Amazingly it all worked out well. First night was rough as always settling everyone down even the camp ground lady was frustrated with how long our kids took to go down. Eventually all the adults were able to sit and gab around the fire enjoying food.

Saturday our little family had a nice family hike. We were not sure how the kids would do but once Mark saw the stairs he was ready to run up them - first set was just over a 120. We set out to 1st look out and waited for Mark and Kyla to determine if they could go on. They were amazing. Kyla did all the stairs (200 in total) and was carried less then 1/2 way. Mark was so excited to walk the whole way running at times. Up the canyon and down to the river bed to splash and back up the mountain on the other side and back down to our campground. The waterfall was beautiful but most of all we were so proud of how well the kids did and their great attitudes and YEAH!! we have a hiking family.

Second night was raining so hard there was questions about going home. With their tent leaking Karen and Terry headed home. By the next morning the other two tents had leaked to and we were all packing up after the rain finally stopped. As long as you're prepared rain never hurt anyone but really it's not fun to camp in a tent in the rain.

Thanks Auntie Mel and Uncle Don for the Poncho for Kyla she loved it!!

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.