Summer Recap

Here is some of what we did this summer:

1.  Beach Bums

What do you do when you live north and your sister lives south?  Meet half way of course!  That is exactly what we did....at Sylvan Lake.  The weather was beautiful this trip resulted in my first painful sunburn in quite sometime.  We loaded up all our beach stuff and snacks and headed down.  Unfortunately there wasn't any "beach" where we were on the strip but there was plenty of grassy area for our chairs and toys and the water is quite shallow; which makes for some fun playing for the kids. 

 

Here are the two bright beach babies.  Two moms with 5 kids between them and no one drowned!  That would be a very successful trip in my books.  My sister brought her blow up pool which acted as a playpen type structure to corral the girls in.  It worked pretty well. 

 

Here is Megs trying out the floating "surf" board.  I also had an orange blow up floater mattress and as per tradition Megs and I held on and kicked our way out to the buoys.  Which is quite a ways further than it looks.  With the wind blowing slightly we were a little off course. 

 

 

We also brought Meg's whale.  The girls had fun sitting on the whale and splashing in the water with their mom. 

 

 

2. Capital Ex Parade

 

The parade starts at 10 and we got there about a f hour early.  I bought some timbits for a little treat and some toys/small games to help keep the kids occupied while we waited. 

Here is one of the entertainers that came by to help pass the time until the parade started.  He was from Australia and he was this amazing balloon tying guy.  He was one part of a 3 man marching band.  His two band mates were made entirely out of balloons; hair, faces, instruments.  Awesome!

 

 

Here was one of the bigger floats to pass by.  It was always funny to watch then maneuver these giant floats under the pedways downtown It was a pretty tight squeeze. 

There was also clowns, horses, little motorcycles, various people riding by on floats, bands....etc. 
We lasted almost up until the end.  Aaron had had enough and wanted to go besides the fact that  we were being squeezed out of our spot  and I wanted to try to beat the rush out of the downtown.  Unfortunately it took us over 1/2 hour to just get out of the downtown core; what with all the walkers crossing the streets and others who also decided to leave early. 

3.. WEM Water park

I almost forgot about this we took a Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the fun of an indoor water park.  It was pretty busy.  The kids had way more fun this time around.  They loved the kids area and a few kid friendly slides.  Not to mention the tube ride and hanging out in the actual wave pool. 

 

 We were having such a lovely time but then 1/2 way through Evan wasn't feeling well.  He just sat on his chair sleeping and wrapped in his towel.  We actually ended up staying a little longer since Megs was having such a wonderful time.  Poor Evan he just sat there not feeling that good.  He was the one who wanted to go into the hot tub to warm up.  That is so not him, usually it is too hot for him. 

 

Afterwards we went to Tony Roma's for a little dinner.  What a fun family day. 

 

4.  Fort Edmonton Park

 

I love this place.  There are little fun things that you can do for fairly cheap.  A train ride is always a good idea and a great way to start a day of exploration.  Here are Megs and Aaron (Aaron just woke up from a little power nap in the van). 

 

I bought some tickets and was hoping for the kids to go on a little guided pony ride.  Evan and Megan went and had fun.  Aaron on the other hand cried so much just sitting on the horse that the lady said he would have to stop crying or get off so as to not scare the horse.  So off he came. 

Then we stopped at the bakery for a treat.  A huge brownie, a cinnamon bun and some giant cookies with some icy cold lemonade to wash it all down. 

 

No trip would be complete without a trip to the fair grounds.  The kids love to ride the Ferris wheel (I did once; I'm not a big fan) the carousel is also a hit.  Here is Aaron riding on a free ride that is powered by hand by one of the workers.  They also have some penny carnival type games where everyone is a winner! 

 

 

There is also a photography studio there where you can get an old fashioned picture taken.  If you want to see that you'll have to come visit me and see it hanging on our wall.  There is a 4D theater, playground, wagon and stage coach ride, various candy shops, ice cream shop, mini golf, hotel, shooting range and a few restaurants.  We always seem to go when it is the hottest day out?  The kids have been really good sports as there is a lot of walking involved. 

 

5.  Elk Island Park

 

Elk Island Park is one of our new favorite National Parks to visit.  We went there for a short afternoon visit this summer.  The mosquitoes were terrible on the short hike that we went on and caused us to do some quick walking and brief periods of running. 

 

 

 Of course we came prepared to check out the living boardwalk.  The kids had a grand time scooping out whatever water bugs they could.  The water was quite murky and we didn't find as many insects as we have in the past.   Here we are on the boardwalk.

 

 We also secured a fire pit and picnic table and had a hot dog roast.  Afterwards the kids played at the park there.  The best part of this park is that it is only 30 minutes away and you get to see Buffalo up close.

 

6.  Camping in Jasper/Family Reunion

 

It was a long planning process but we were able to get everyone together for a camping reunion.  The weather was pretty good.  We had a couple of rainy periods but nothing that didn't keep it exciting. 

 

We were also able to get campsite as per our request fairly close together.  The cousins had a fabulous time running around and playing together.  We went on various hikes and rotated dinner cooking responsibilities through the three days we were together.  Some of the best times are at night around the campfire.  Sharing stories and treats and catching up with family that we haven't seen in awhile.

 

I was going to do it with just myself and my kids since Spencer was going to be writing his final exam right through the time but after his last day he quickly drove out to Jasper to join us.  Which was really fun.  Camping is a lot of work for one adult.  Our van was packed full and we even brought the kids bikes strapped to the top of the van.  Evan re-learned how to ride his two wheeler in just one day and loved riding around the campsite with his cousins.  Spencer had to bring out our toques and a few extra blankets as the temperature in the morning was quite chilly until the sun popped up over the trees. 

 

 

Here is the train that my boys could spend an entire afternoon on if the could.  There isn't really much to do on it except fool around and climb all over it.  

 

I went a day early to spend sometime with just my kids before everyone else arrived but Grandpa and Grandma thought that was a fabulous idea so they came a day early too.  Actually my one brother and his family were already camping there so we all hung out together.  Here we are at pyramid lake.  We rented a canoe and Grandpa and uncle Jeff took the kids out.  Unfortunately the weather turned on us and we had to put a hold on the fun. 

 

 

 Here is a view of our campsite.  Our tent is the blue one in the background.  We purchased a new Coleman stove and I loved using it.  It made cooking food faster than over a campfire. 

 

 Here we are after a short hike up to Angel Glacier.  The water was freezing and the kids had fun picking out the chunks of ice from the lake.
 

 

 It is called Angel Glacier because it looks like an angel with its wings or arms out stretched.
 

 

Here we are before the hike.  Excited and ready for adventure. 

 

 

 This is us hiking the seven bridges.  It is really a pretty hike and you can cross over seven different bridges.  It is neat to see the rock canyon and how deep it is and how powerful the water is to slowly carve away at the canyon rock.  The kids enjoyed throwing rocks down each time.

 

 This is lake Annette.  A little sandy beach with shallow water so it warms up some in the sun.  Spencer always has such fun building sand castles at the beach.

 

Here is the rest of the crew with snacks and blankets and shade.  This is our take a break area.  The weather was nice.  The one thing that was a first for me on this trip was the fact that Aaron kept on having accidents and so I ran out of clean clothes pretty quickly.  I hauled the kids into town and we had to wash our clothes at the laundry mat.  The town has two and of course we picked the dumpy one.  Oh well we got most of our clothes clean again and we had a chance to look around town for a little while. 

 

7.   Jazz Night at the Muttart

 



 

A week night date at the Muttart was a fun night to spend together especially in the summer when babysitting is easier to come by.  They had a Jazz band playing and the show pyramid was in full blooms with Dahlias to enjoy.  We enjoyed a nice dinner at Culina Muttart and most important time spent together.  We also got the chance to pot some herbs that are outside in our garden. 

 

8. Carson Lake/Pegasus Provincial Park

 

We knew that we had to get in one more trip to the beach and Spencer missed out on the canoeing on our Jasper trip so he searched around to find a beach where you could also rent canoes.  This is what he found -- Carson Lake.  It said that it had a day use area and also camping sites.  So we drove and drove and thought we were lost but we weren't it just took a while to reach the turn off.  Yes, we drove about 2.5 hours up past Whitecourt to be able to enjoy a beach and canoe rental.  The drive was really quite pretty and a good highway to drive on. 

 

 

 Here is our beach stuff.  We were a bit surprised at the size of the day use beach area.  It was no bigger than a postage stamp.  But we still staked out our spot and it made it easier to keep an eye on the kids.  They had fun playing in the sand and with the other kids.  The water was ok to swim in.  We packed snacks and a picnic lunch of some frozen KFC chicken (which wasn't thawed for us to truly enjoy or have much of a lunch with).  The mosquitoes were terrible but the sun was shining and we had a good time.

 

 Here we are enjoying the lake.  Me and the boys are sitting on our air mattress and Megan is knee deep in digging as far down into the sand as she can to reveal the clay underneath. 

 



 

The canoeing side of the park was just a short walk away.  The prices were ridiculously cheap compared with Jasper.  Spencer took Megan and Evan out first and I look like they paddled to the other end of the lake but Spencer said they were still quite far away from it.  They had a good time while Aaron and I hung out on the shore, watching the other boaters come and go. 

 

I went out with Aaron and Megan came along for the ride.  I didn't last long.  I was too paranoid about tipping over.  Canoeing with little experience is not my cup of tea especially with a rented canoe. 

 

We lasted about a hour doing this and then had to start our long drive back home.  We stopped to grab a bite in Whitecourt and then enjoyed our drive back home after a busy but fun and successful day.  

First Day of School

My posts will be a little out of order but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk about the first day of school. 

Of course these two wish summer would last forever and that they didn't have to go to school.  I keep telling how lucky they are and how exciting a new school year can be with new teachers and old and new friends.  But my wisdom again falls on deaf ears.

Here is Evan ready for Grade 1.  His backpack is one that he won at the end of last school year and was excited to use it this year.  It was packed full of all the supplies that he needed.  His teacher is new this year and is young and looks to be really fun.  He was excited to go to school this morning and see his friends again.  Spencer was able to come with us this year to drop off the kids.  I helped Evan a little in his class room to help him get settled, but truth be told he really didn't need my help; I was only his Sherpa carrying all the extra supplies that didn't fit into this backpack.  Oh well, I'll add that to my resume.

 

Megan came downstairs all decked out in some new clothes that she was rocking.  Little white t-shirt, bright pink knitted top sweater and black pants.  Wow.  She eventually agreed that it would be nice to see her friends again after a summer apart. (Notice the light jackets, it was a bit chilly and windy on this first day but warmed up in the afternoon). We we arrived she was quickly told by a fellow classmate that she was in his class and that it was a 5/6 split.  Interesting!  I don't quite know how it will all work but hopefully this may be an additional challenge for her.  She is slowly making it up to the higher ranks of the school ladder.  Although she is secretly already asking about jr. high and which one she will go to.  Oh......I told her I would worry about that in another years time.


I received an afternoon call from Megan informing me that someone had moved the table at lunch and she spilled her pomegranate juice all over herself.  She asked me to bring her some clean clothes.  So being a soft mother I did; since by the sound of her voice her entire school year could be ruined by this unfortunate incident on the first day.  It wasn't as bad as she made it out to be but I had her back this time.  Not next time though.  My rule is if your not throwing up....your going to school! 

Evan came home in tears....telling me that they only got organized and didn't learn anything new today.  How boring! He already knew everything that the teacher had taught him.  I told him that it would be a little bit of review for the first little while but things would challenge him soon enough. 

On a positive note I was up and at'em earlier today than I've been for quite sometime.  It feels good to get back in to a routine with structure.  I say let fall begin.  I'm ready. 

Party On!...

The partying continued at our house in July with Aaron turning 3!  I can hardly believe it; time is flying buy.  He wishes it could go faster as he has increased his independence a ton over the last few months.  He is quite the chatter box and can carry on a conversation that most days I can follow.  He is heavily involved in everything that his older siblings are doing, either as a slower participant or as an audience member for them. 

We celebrated his special day with a trip to the Edmonton Zoo with the family.  They have quite the fun little petting zoo that we enjoyed.

 

We also took one of the paddle boats out for a little paddle on the small pond there.  We were all able to fit in the boat.  Spen and I peddled and megan sat in the middle and tried her best to figure out the boats steering and the two boys in the back enjoyed a backwards view. 

 This is in the new part of the zoo next to the seals and sea lions new center that they have.  Here Aaron in showing that he is still my little baby.  I bought the kids these cry baby sour soothers.  They were pretty sour and the kids loved them. 

After having a look at some of the other animals our last stop was for the train ride.  All Aboard!  We filled up the caboose. 

YTV happened to be at the zoo with the traveling beyblades station.  So the kids were able to play to their hearts content with hundreds of different beys and to try out some new ones.  They really enjoyed that and they even gave each of the kids a new beyblade.  Awesome!

Here is Evan in front of one of the beyblade stadiums.  They were impressed at Aarons beyblade abilities.  The only things bothering us here were the mosquitoes. 

We had monster cupcakes for his cake and each child got to decorate a few cupcakes with various treats that I picked up.   They turned out pretty silly and the kids loved to gobble them up. 

 

 

Here is Aaron opening a few presents.  He received a few service coupons from his siblings and a wall track hot wheels set, another new beyblade and a game and a I spy book. 

 

Another successful birthday finished! 

 

Aaron at 3 is very independent.  He loves to dress himself, spell his name and others in the family, going to nursery, playing at the park, helping mom bake, getting books at the library and playing the Wii and playing with dad in all forms. 

 

We love you Aaron.  Happy Birthday to my "little big guy"!

Megan's Birthday

On to the third birthday of the family -- Megan.  She turned 10! YIKES!

 She started out the day with a sweet cereal. 

 We tried our hand at a movie theme birthday. So we had plenty of popcorn, drinks and a few treats and watched Hugo. I didn't stay downstairs with the girls and my two boys.

  They did fine for awhile but then started to get bored and the girls I find anyways would rather hang out instead.  So I had a few party games that we played and we quickly thought up a few more that we all played and won a few prizes. 

 We opened presents and I made this super hero cape for Megan.  Now she matches her brothers.  She got some books, hair accessories, mario figurines, snap bracelets, bath and body works, a hand drawn picture from Evan and a coupon for a slurpee. 

This is Aaron's reaction to the whole present opening.  He wasn't impressed that it still wasn't his turn to celebrate a birthday.  Poor guy.  He is waiting so patiently for his big day.

Here is Megan's cupcakes in the shape of the number 10.  They were chocolate cupcakes with oreo cookies crushed into the icing and and oreo piece put on top.  Yummy.  Of course we also had cookie and cream ice cream. 

This is Megan trying out the crackle nail polish that I bought for her.  It was pretty fun. 

Megan at 10 years old is quite the student at school.  She loves to read and often shares funny facts that she has learned.  She plays the piano, swims, is involved in gymnastics, activity days, has a flyer route with 239 papers (Evan helps with delivery).  She is sometimes girly-girl and often times tom boyish.  She loves to play the Wii and saved up enough money to buy a nintendo 3DS with her brother.  She is my babysitter in training and a great help around the house.  Her favorite color is blue or teal.  She is maturing more and more every year.  We are so luck that she belongs with our family. 

Happy Birthday Megan! We love you!

Canada Day

Since Canada Day was on a Sunday we took it kinda easy.  I decided to skip the usual pancake breakfast at the Legislature (they only serve pancakes, watermelon and juice anyways).  I instead made french toast with the Maple bread that I bought from Costco.  That was yummy!
We just played at home and then went to church I had to teach the RS lesson. 

Then we had a fabulous BBQ and continued to hang out at home until 9pm.  At which time we packed some things up and braved the fireworks at the legislature grounds.  We tossed the frisbee and enjoyed being outside on such a beautiful day.  Then we found the best spot so far to enjoy the fireworks as we had a front row seat (right behind the fence that they put up).  We enjoyed the fireworks at 11pm and struggled our way back to our vehicle and waited our turn to leave the downtown core. 

Here some of us are in front of the water feature at the Legislature. 

Here is the other half.  Aaron fell asleep in the van ride over.  Remember is was after 9pm and he had a full day already. 

 Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.  Aaron is still asleep and I bought some glow necklaces for the kids to wear; next year I'll buy way more and pack some card games to play.  Evan was done watching the fireworks after about 10 minutes but they continued on for another 5 minutes.  We woke Aaron up so he could enjoy them; although I think they may have been a bit too loud for his liking. 

Happy Canada Day. 

Happy Birthday!

Evan turned 6 this year.  I can't believe that my little boy is already 6! yikes!We had a party right on his birthday with a few friends.  His theme was Lego. 

 Evan started his day with the latest addition to the corn pop family -- cinnamon corn pops.  They tasted pretty good. 

Here the boys are playing the open the present game.  We also played a balloon stomp game where the was a piece of paper inside the balloon that said "winner".  I think the boys had fun popping balloons.

 Here are the cakes that I made.  Lego in theme.  They looked fantastic with the candles on them and they tasted yummy!

Here is a gift that Megan made for Evan.  It is a homemade Wii game, I think this one is a Kirby game that Evan likes.  He got some games, lots of different kinds of Lego, beyblades, money, cards, Nerf gun.  He had a really great birthday and what made it so fun was that he got to celebrate with friends. 

Evan at 6 years old is my special boy, with as we say, platinum blond hair.  He is a great student and is an excellent reader already.  He loves to play Wii and computer.   He loves to participate in swimming and gymnastics and anything outside and anything that that keeps him moving.  He does great with his chores and responsibilities and is a great brother.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.  Happy Birthday!

End of School

The last part of June is always busy with the wind down of all our activities and the last fun days of school.  Evan had a field trip to the zoo that I was able to go on with Aaron.

Here is our little but had my-hands-full group.  The zoo was packed that day since a few other schools also had the great idea of visiting too.  I think I counted 9 other school buses there when we arrived.  This is one of the first hot days that we experienced.  The kids were tired after all the walking around and excitement. 

 Here is the famous Lucy the elephant.  She is old and all alone and lots of animal rights people want her to be moved to an elephant sanctuary.

After we stopped walking around and looking at some of the animals we had lunch and then played with the parachut.  Aaron was even able to join in.  He had a blast and so did Evan as you can see.

On Sunday Megan had her final piano recital for the year. 

 Here's our group outside Concordia University where the recital was held.  We got some rain earlier in the day but then it turned out quite nice. 

Here is Megan waiting in the correct seating position before the recital began.  She kept saying that she was extremely nervous and she just might have been.  But as usual she did a fantastic job.  The students had to say thier name and what they were playing.  The old ladies finally couldn't complain because they couldn't hear anyone.  Megan spoke slow and clear and loud. 

Here's my boys trying to sit still and behave. They choose to sit on the bleachers while I sat in a chair on the floor. 

Here is Megan playing the Bear Necessities. She took her music up just in case but I don't think that she used it.  This is her second year of piano.   Great Job! Megan. 

Next up was getting the teacher gifts ready for the last day of school along with birthday party invitations.  Busy, busy, busy. 

 Here is Evan's Lego Party invitation.

 Megan's popcorn invitation -- we'll be watching the movie Hugo.

These are some gifts for the teachers.  Cute clip boards and a thank you note. 

Sorry for the sideways picture but these are some gifts for the teacher helpers in Evan's class; some key/ID tags holders (the fabric was cute ladybug and flowers) along with some apple hand sanitizer. 

On the last day of school the kids/teachers helped to organize and put on a talent show.  Of course Megan participated and was pretty good.  She sang a song called Girls Can Too.  Sorry I can seem to upload the video. 

Some of the other talent included a puppet show, magician, dancing, singing and Kung Fu routine.  It was really entertaining.  Spencer took some time off work for an hour in the morning to watch Megan perform.  We hope it continues for next year as we are already helping to plan Megan's routine. 

The last day of school here are the kids teachers/helpers.
 

This is the famous Mrs. Casali.  She is a wonderful Kindergarten teacher.  She kept 28 kids organized and learning all year long.  She also saw that she could challenge Evan a little more and did so through out the school year in order to help him keep focused and out of trouble. 

This is Miss B a teacher assistant and below is Mrs. M another teacher Assistant.  I don't actually know what their last names are since Evan always referred to them in this way.  They were great ladies as well. 

 This is Mrs. Thompson, she was Evan's teacher for the last 3 or 4 months.  They divided the kinders into two classes for some extra teaching focus and to better help prepare the kids for grade 1.  She also taught Megan in grade 2.  She would teach Evan's class in the morning and then go and teacher her regular grade 2 class in the afternoons.  

 This is one of Megan's teachers Mrs. Rygus.  She is also the assistant principle.  She is a great lady who has been at the school for 20 years. 

This is Megan's other teacher, Mrs. Reklow, she is also the Music teacher for the school. 
After being a mother I think that being a teacher is the toughest job.  These are people who are  educating our children, spending 6 hours a day 5 days a week with them and who have such an important impact on our children that I believe they should be compensated accordingly.  I think that our sports heros that make millions for a few years of effort at playing a sport don't really deserve that and that society just may have their priorities mixed up. 

These teachers did a wonderful job this year and my children have loved this school year and learned many new things.  Thank you.  Good luck in the fall.  Everyone of them is leaving to pursue new opportunities, except for Evan's kindergarten teacher (i'm not sure about the teacher assistants).