Camping at Cold Lake

In July, at the height of mosquito season, we braved the elements to spend 5 days camping in bear country up by Cold Lake. We never did see any bears though we did see rabbits, lots of birds, and way too many squirrels. We set up our tents in the rain (and in the dark), and we ended up taking down our tents in the rain too so it was definitely one of our wetter camping trips but luckily it didn't rain the whole time so we were able to enjoy the beautiful park we were at.

One day, Connor found this little murky pond beside the lake that was full of minnows (and who knows what else) and he pretty much spent the whole days hunting minnows with his net.

He got pretty good at patiently stalking his prey:

And eventually, he decided to build a dam to try and trap more minnows in his pond. A dam out of slime...EWWW. Thank goodness for hand sanitizer.

Hudson missed me while I was out in the dinghy, he gave me a nice hug when I got back.

There was a lot of "The Force" game happening at the lake - that's where the younger kids hold up their hands and pretend they're using the Force to knock Shae over backwards in the water. Apparently it's hilarious.

This is our campsite. We were pleased with how private it was. Though not private enough to block out the sounds from the obnoxious neighbours behind us who let their kids stay up way later than ours...I guess maybe they thought we were obnoxious too since our kids woke up way earlier than theirs!

I think this might have been everyone's favourite part: singing old cheesy campfire songs after a marshmallow roast.

Summer Stuff

Well, it's been a busy summer, I can't believe it's almost over. It's been too busy for me to sit down and go through the thousands and thousands (literally) of photos Jess has taken this summer, and pick out my favourites to upload here but I think I'm finally ready to give it a shot.

I'll start with a few random pictures I like and then I'll talk about our camping trip to Cold Lake.

First off, here's what happens when you leave the kids alone and they're being really really quiet...

First, he was mad that I took his markers away from him:

Then he laughed when I started laughing:

And then he proudly showed me all his artwork on his belly:

Jess' "little" brother Spencer came to visit us a few times. It's not every uncle who will dress up in a pink cape to play with his nieces and nephews...

We went to Fort Edmonton Park a few times because Hudson is at that age where trains are the coolest thing ever. Here's the train we rode on:

And Hudson's face when we climbed on board:

It was a rainy day but it wasn't pouring and we still had a good time...despite the duelling pipe bands marching around the park. We happened to be there on their annual Celtic celebration and there were about a dozen bagpipe bands marching around, each one playing a different tune. I found it quite entertaining but Jess was less than impressed!

June Happenings

I just want to post some pictures of what we've been up to lately.

We've finally gotten some nice summery weather and the kids have been outside a lot. Yesterday, Maira was playing by herself with the sidewalk chalk and I noticed that she had drawn a little chalk house for her polly pockets, with beds and other furniture. Very cute.

Hudson loves trains and farm animals so now that Fort Edmonton Park is open, I've been taking him and Maira there whenever I can. The first time I took him, he talked about it for days. He was thrilled to ride a "big choo-choo", ride on a big horse, and pet the goats and pigs. He absolutely loves it there. Here we are on the "big choo-choo":

And here are my little cowboy and cowgirl riding the ponies:

And here they are playing at the old playground they have there:

We also rode on the rides they have at the old 30's style carnival:

Lots of fun, they really love going there.

Another thing that happened last week is the Awards Ceremony at Shae's school. She received an award for excellence in her Construction class, as well as a medal and certificate for earning Honours with Distinction (90+ average). I was so proud of her!

Lots of smart girls at her school!