Friday, July 25, 2014

Fabulous Fifteen





We celebrated this girl all day yesterday.  Happy 15th Birthday, firstborn!!  Mom and Dad came out for a quick visit and we had a nice day together.  There was a last soccer practice that was called half way through for a thunderstorm, but there was enough time for cupcakes with yummy buttercream icing (thanks for the recipe, Mom!), and then a sleep over with a friend that didn't end until suppertime today.







Saturday, July 19, 2014

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Summer Came!!

Welcome, Summer.


We spent a week camping at Duck Mountain right after school ended, Madeline was off to Senior Teen camp at Katepwa Lake Camp right after that and then yesterday we took her back to do her first LIT (Leaders in Training) week.  The way she greeted her friends you'd think they'd been apart for ages, not just two days...

Today feels like a little bit of normal; Nolan and I up in decent time, taking it easy, going on a park / geocaching / library adventure this morning (the pool was intended to be the main feature of our outing, but I forgot to check out that sneaking suspicion that this might be when they close for their annual cleaning).  And now, bliss, he is down for a normal-day nap.  We've had more off-normal days than on this summer, and combined with being in different places, messed up (short, late, and non-existant) naps have led to more than a few 11:00 pm nights.  That's just wrong. 


The first three days camping, it rained. Thankfully, our friends (with their trailer big enough for all of us!) were also there, so we spent lots of time over at "Mr. Harder's Campsite" as Nolan called it.  We were thankful for the trailer we were in, too, and that we weren't in a tent!




The most fun we had was on the lake - we rented a canoe for us and Nolan, and a kayak for Madeline.  Good family time, and the kids both loved their new experiences.

Sean had a guy's golf trip booked, but it morphed into a 'two families' trip.  The guys got in two games of golf, us girls had an afternoon at the spa, and it was a good weekend in spite of the long drive to get there.  Elk Ridge (by Waskesiu) is a nice place.

Nolan and E (also 2) checking out the balcony.

The boys: N in red is 5 and M in blue is 4.  Nolan had fun with all of them.




The trip overlapped a day over M coming home from camp, but aunts and uncles are wonderful and she happily spent time with Carla and Larry, taking in the Rider game and her cousin's hockey game.

There's a bit of a catch up for those of you who need to see photos of the kids... :)  Hope you're all having a great summer and getting a chance to get away and relax.