Catch Up Time

Part I: Our Camping Adventures While not Actually Camping

So we bought a used tent trailer this spring. And we were so excited to try it out before taking it on our big trip this summer. So we finally find a weekend that works, make a reservation, pack it all up. We make it as far as the perimeter when we hear a noise, and then see smoke and have to pull over to the side of the road. So what do you do? You call your dad of course! And of course, because I have the best parents, they drop what they are doing, drive an hour and a half and come help us out!

Here we are loading our broken trailer onto Dad's trailer


Atleast Dad got to stop at his favorite store


And of course there was lots of extra help


Once they get everything taken apart they discover they have the wrong size leaf spring, and of course it's Saturday night and everyone is closed by this point. So the project was postponed til later in the week. And now that the little trailer has two beautiful new leaf springs, we don't have any weekends available til end of July when we're planning to go on our holiday to Alberta. So I guess we won't get a test run after all. But we were sure thankful to have this all happen so close to home and not while in Alberta!

Part Two: Father's Day

Nathan celebrated his First Father's Day as a Father of Three
The boys and I made a clever little scavenger hunt for Nath to find his present.
They love scavenger hunts now, I should really make them up for the boys to do during the week.

We had my family over for a yummy brunch to celebrate Father's Day
Here are all the boys enjoying some of "Dad's" Goody Rings

Part III: Emma's new skill

Emma loves to stand and to walk while holding onto your fingers.
She also pulled herself up to standing at the coffee table last week
Though she's still not quite crawling, she can definitely make forward progress

Part IV: Swimming

We've been to our favorite swimming hole (aka Uncle J and Auntie T's) during the heat wave last week. Uncle J did a good job of tiring the boys out. Even Emma enjoyed cooling of in the water.

Part V: A Busy Weekend

Nath's cousin Steve got married this past weekend to Kim
Nath and I got to enjoy a kidless evening, including a meal that I didn't have to rush through to pick up a crying baby. It was really nice.

the next morning a bunch of the family got together for a brunch

That same morning, the boys had their soccer wind up.

Soccer cupcakes for the wind up


They got Tim Hortons Soccer balls and medals

That evening we had a birthday party for Emma's little friend Annika. She turned One this weekend! And I had the priviledge of making her birthday cake.

The little slice of watermelon was her smash cake.

The beautiful Birthday Girl!
I can't believe you're One already!

Thanks to Annika's Uncle Doug for the great pictures.

Just another Monday night

Oh wait, no it wasn't! Do you wanna guess where Nath and I went last night? Does this picture help you figure it out?

Are you as clueless as me? I wouldn't have been able to figure it out before last night.

Well we went to the Coldplay concert last night. I mean I'm not totally clueless, I know who they are and can recognize a couple of their songs but I'm not their number one fan. Nath really likes them, so we went It was a good show, and I was impressed with their musical abilities. The lead vocalist, was also a great pianist.

Here are a couple of shots from the concert, but they are not great because they are from Nath's blackberry and we were at the absolute top of the arena, you couldn't sit any higher than us. But still not bad seats.

Cool laser show which reminded of school portraits from junior high.

Notice how we are eye level with the top of the Canadian flag. Ya we were really high up.
And that thing that looks like a large light bulb hanging from the ceiling was actually a screen that they projected the video feed onto. It was pretty cool.

This was the song Yellow song, when they released gigantic yellow ballons from the ceiling, that were filled with confetti.
(We were close enough to wave to the guys throwing the balloons from rafters)

So we enjoyed our evening out, and didn't worry about the kids thanks to two very capable babysitters (thanks again E&R)!

Soccer

Part of the reason that we've been so busy lately is that our boys are playing mini-soccer this year, which takes up two evenings a week.

The boys are really enjoying playing soccer and I'm having a lot of fun watching them. They are so cute in their little jerseys. And not all kids are as into it as others. Last week my brother brought Rex along to watch the boys. A puppy along side a baby was quite the distraction for the girls on the team. There were a couple of girls that I don't think even went onto the field at all because they were so busy playing with the puppy and then cooing at Emma.


Thankfully my brother also brought his camera and got a few great shots

The handsome Assisstant Coach Nathan

Cabin Getaway

Summer has finally arrived and we are busier than ever. I think (I hope) things will slow down after June, but the last month has really flown by.

We enjoyed a weekend at the cabin with Nath'a fam where we had a good balance of working hard and relaxation. Just look at this picture below and notice how your blood pressure drops a few points. That's the view from the kitchen. My dream kitchen, with more counter space and storage than you know what to do with. I could make some seriously good food in that kitchen.

Because of course being at the cabin means:

Eating good food, and treats you don't usually have.
Like Mocha chocolate chip cheesecake...

And chips...

Being in the bush...
(and tick checks)

Reconnecting with cousins...

Having fires...

And reconnecting with Aunts and Uncles...

(Emma sitting with Uncle E for the first time)

GF Getaway

We headed to Grand Forks for one night after being in Winkler for a little family getaway. We spent a night at the Lakeview Inn and Suites, which was nice because it was cheap (coupons here :-) and close to shopping. It was nice having the 2-room suite so Nath and I could watch a movie after the boys finally fell asleep. The boys had fun splashing in the pool, Emma was not thrilled about swimming but endured it one afternoon. We did a little shopping, I found everything I wanted on my list including the cutest little rashguard with swim shorts for Emma for $7! But the highlight was definitley finding the Sherlock Forest Playground. It was an incredible playground that the boys spent a couple of hours in, and we easily could have stayed longer. So many fun things for them to explore and it was just huge. It had a toddler area as well. We would highly recommend checking it out, it was a bit of a drive but it it's close to Cabela's if you're stopping there.



Luke- ready for the water!

Emma sittin in her whale

Swimming with Daddy

Approaching the park

There were these cool swings

Emma loved swinging and would giggle everytime she got close to me.

This is from the toddler area looking towards the front.

Mommy and Emma in a tower

In the pirate ship.
It was so windy it looks like they are actually on water.

A tire swing, you don't really see these on playgrounds anymore.