Camping Trip Not to be Remembered

Well, we were supposed to come home today from a quick 5 day camping trip with my sister and her family. We came home on Wednesday, just two days after we set up camp.

If you live in Ontario, particularly the southern part of Ontario, you know about the heatwave we are experiencing right now. Of course, heat is what you want when you go camping. It is summer after all. However, this heat wave has been, well, hot. And humid. Like 45 degrees with the humidity factored in there. That is 113 degrees Farenheit. Put that temperature in the middle of the forest, with not an ounce of air flow, unless you count the breeze from the wings of the zillions of deer flies and mosquitos, and you have a recipe of Time to Go Home wishes. And so that is exactly what we did two nights later. We went home. It helped that we were only just an hour away AND we felt very foolish for slugging it out just for the sake of our pride, when we knew full well that we have quite the backyard oasis that we would be coming home to.

Having said all this, we did manage to pack in some fun. The kids had a great time, despite losing about 5 pounds of blood from the thirsty bugs. Tuesday was definitely our best day, spending most of it at the beach. My sister and her hubby knew of a quiet, clean spot for us to enjoy the sand and water. Seeing as we were on Lake Eerie, this is hard to find. But we found it! I'd tell you where it is but then everyone will go there, especially once they experience the park beach. Blech!!!!

Lincoln figured out a way to keep cool. Just roll around in the sand:

Keziah and Conall are best of buds.  He is 9 months older than she is, but they play very, very well together.

Despite the heat, we did make a fire for the kids so they could enjoy their s'mores. As soon as they were in bed, the fire went out. We sure didn't need it!

One time, Kez and Conall were playing Hide and Seek. So funny to watch!!!!

The most blissful time was when they thought the other was counting. So they were both hiding. Of course I didn't correct them. Are you kidding me?! I got three pages read in my book during that time! :o)

Once we made the decision to go home, we threw everything in the trailer and truck and were "packed up" in about an hour or so. I have never been so excited to go home. We made plans for my sister to come over the next day to enjoy our backyard. Bug free. And that is exactly what we did. The next day was great, with lots of fun playing in the pool. We spent the whole afternoon in the pool. Well, that is, in between pee breaks, which seemed to be needed every 8 minutes. Oh well. Prefer that than in the pool!

Keziah got to know her uncle quite well. So well, that she needed a hug from him. Only to end with a big splashing match!

And this, my friends, is the way to relax! Forget the campsite in this weather! We are so thankful for our pool! Thanks, mom and dad, for putting the pool in way back in 1988!

So while the actual camping trip didn't live up to as much fun as we were hoping, we still made the best of it! I hope all of you experiencing this heat wave are doing okay and finding ways to keep cool. I know we will yearn for these days in the dead of winter. At least I will.

Weekend Fun!!

My mom has never been one who insists her kids are home every weekend or at Christmas or Thanksgiving. She has always understood that it is a balancing act between two sides of the families during the holidays. She loves it if we are there, but completely understands if we have chosen either the "other" side (husband's side) of the family to visit or to just stay nicely home with our own little family.

Knowing that it can be tough to hit both sets of families during holidays like Easter and Mother's Day, my mom set up a day in July which we have made Family Day. It works great as it doesn't conflict with Nathan's family like the other main holidays can. And so, one Saturday in July for the last number of years, we have gotten together as a family at my parents' cottage. Most of the family is there, and the cousins have great times together!

My mom and dad have 12 grandchildren, but one must count my dad as a child as well. If the grandchildren get riled up, we usually have to pull dad out of there first in order to get the kids calm. As is often the case, it is my dad who is the last one to calm down (he sure makes our kids look great as it is usually my mom still getting dad in trouble while our kids have all listened :o)

So you can imagine who started the water fight! :o) And size of child wasn't a factor here.

Once Opa was soaked, this mischievous stinker went around looking for someone else to get wet.

My parents' cottage is on a lake, which is man-made. The water level by this time is usually much lower but due to all the rain we've received, the water level was so high, hence the dock that looks like it's in the middle of the lake.

Watching all the fun in the lake!

I also went in the lake. My parents have had this cottage for 15 or so years and I cannot remember the last time I swam in that lake. You see, I am not a lake swimmer at all - unless I can see my feet. My mind goes crazy about all the fish and water life that may be swimming near me and I panic that a fish will nibble on my toes, which I think look like worms in the water. Please tell me I am not the only one like this! :o) But Saturday was h.o.t. and so I swam. For a few minutes. And I came out with all my toes intact.

It was a fun day!! We took up our trailer the night before which worked out well. By the time supper was done on Saturday, we were ready to head home. The beauty of the cottage is that it is only a 45 minute drive. Not far at all, but once you are there, you think you are up north on a holiday.

Thanks, mom and dad, for a great day!

Rides, Princesses and Ribs

Now how is that for a title, eh?! Quite the combination!

But I promised I would share what the rest of our Canada Day looked like. Well, after our 5 km run, we went home so that all of us the littles could take a nap. After our nap, my mom came by and headed out to the fair that was in town. And what fun we had there!! This was the first time for the kids. Well, we've been to a fair before, but this was the first time that it was actually enjoyed. Before, it was all too much for our darling sensitive-to-loud-sounds girl. This time, it took her a bit but once she got used to it, she was excited.

After walking through it, looking at the different rides and stuff, she found two rides she was comfortable with. A merry-go-round type with cars, and a train. We tried to convince her with this one, but it just was too scary for her because it went up and down :o)

But that's okay. She sure loved this one!!! And went on it twice!

Unfortunately for Lincoln, he was too small to go on this ride. Oh, how he would have loved it!

Good thing he could go on the train. He didn't quite know what to think of it, though.

Once the rides were done, we knew it would be safe for their stomachs to handle some cotton candy. Keziah knew what to do with it right away.

Lincoln on the other hand, had no clue what he was supposed to do with it. Nathan gave him a piece, which Lincoln promptly used to clean his nose and gave it back to Nathan!! Oh, we howled!!! It looked so funny! The poor guy thought it was a Kleenex :o)

But once we squished it up and shoved it into his mouth, he clued in very quickly as to where to put the next piece:

We left some room in our tummys for some yummy ribs and chicken:

There were times where Kez thought things were too loud, like when a band was playing and singing on stage:

As we were walking out, being done with the fair, Keziah saw something that made her run and stand by Oma. It was a person dressed up as a mouse. This poor girl.

 She absolutely detests anything dressed up in a costume. Thankfully she then saw something that nearly made her eyes fall out of her sockets. She saw a *princess*!!!! Do you know what that means to a little girl?! Keziah was in awe. Clearly she does not see the princess outfit as a costume, like the mouse. She was so thrilled!

Wow. What an end to an exciting day! Oh, wait!! That's not all! As if we hadn't enjoyed ourselves enough, my mom took us out to have an ice cream (it's a good thing we ran that 5 km earlier in the day!!).

And then, to top it all off, while eating her ice cream, her eyes lit up once more. What could it be?! Did the princess follow her to Dairy Queen? Nope. Not the princess this time. It was.........the minister!!! That's right, she couldn't believe she saw our minister at Dairy Queen. "You mean he doesn't live at church??!"

What an exciting day. Needless to say, we all slept very well that night!!

Hmmmmm....

Blogger is not allowing me to post pictures :o( I'll try again later. Can't do a blog post without pictures! Especially when it involves rides, cotton candy and a princess!!! Stay tuned!

Breathless

So this past Monday was our first summer statutory holiday. Aren't holidays great??! Time to sleep in, lounge around and enjoy the fact that there is no pressure to be anywhere. For work, that is.

Well, we don't do "sleeping in" here, so we thought "why not do a 5 km Canada Race down by the lake?". We weren't the only crazy ones with this idea. We were two out of 274 people that signed up for this race. We even convinced Nathan's cousin to join us!!

So, off we went, yanked the kids out of bed early and were down by the registration table for 8 am. We plunked the kids in the bike trailer/stroller and away we went. We had done it before, 3 years earlier. That means one kid lighter, as well as a smaller and lighter stroller.

But we did it! Pushing 60+ pounds, as well as the stroller, we completed it. My goal was to come in under 35 minutes. Secretly I was hoping for under 30 minutes, but I warned myself not to be too disappointed if that didn't happen.

I pushed the stroller the first half, and Nathan pushed it the second half. It worked well because you run 2.5 kilometers then turn around and come back. So Nathan was ahead of me. All I had to do was flip the stroller to face the other way and he took over.

Nathan completed the race in 28 minutes and 37 seconds. I completed it in 30:34. 34 seconds over my secret target time. Ho hum. I could blame the extra 34 seconds on the stroller, but I do believe that stroller kept me upright and going! Once it's rolling, I had to keep up with it or else it'd end in the lake!

A few days later we got everyone's results back. Just as I was pretty much reassured that my time of 30:34 wasn't too bad, I saw that a 79 year old man beat me. 79 years old, people!!!! That is 44 years my senior. There went my "Proud of you" balloon. Popped in an instant. Thankfully though, I kept looking down the list and immediately I felt better. You know why? Because I beat an 80 year old by 9 seconds. That's right!! Medal goes to me!!!

Nevertheless, even though I didn't quite make it under my secret time limit, I was glad for the challenge. Maybe next year?

And seeing as we were down by the lake, we though we'd check out the new pier. We felt we should be paying $100 for every step we took on that pier, knowing how much this pier has cost the city, and the drama that all went with it.

Before we left, we were given lots of free snacks and stuff. That sure kept Lincoln happy!

Well, all of this was done before 10:00 in the morning. That left the rest of the day for more fun! Keziah can't wait to tell you what she saw!!!

Maybe more time tomorrow to fill you in :o)

Canada Day!!!

Canada celebrated its 146th birthday on Monday. It's a good time to reflect on the country we live in, the blessings that come with it. It can be hard sometimes to think of the blessings, especially when you think of the leadership, or lack thereof. But then all you have to do is turn on the news to see how other countries are faring. That will make you thankful very quickly for the blessing of stability in our country, Canada.

While there are things that do not make me proud as a Canadian (eg. our country's stance on abortion), there are plenty of things that make me thankful for living in this country, calling it our home and native land. The one thing I am most thankful for is the fact that we are still allowed to worship God freely. While the government has tried to squash God out of the public systems etc., we are still free to worship our God through attending church on Sundays and sending our children to our own private schools. This is something we can so easily take for granted......until we hear of the persecution of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East or Asia. We have no idea what it is like to have that taken away from us. While it may seem unfair that we pay for public schooling through our taxes, as well as completely funding our own schools, that pales in comparison to what others go through, all to worship the one and only God. May God be with these people, who worship Him under these circumstances. And may God be with our country in the years to come, that we may continue to pray and worship Him in freedom.

From coast to coast to coast, our country is beautiful. Canada is diverse in its land and people. And I am proud to say I am Canadian.

Lastly, here are some fun facts about Canada, taken from different sources:

• our national icon is the beaver
• population: 32,057,701
• hockey and lacrosse are Canada's national sports
• canadians eat more mac'n'cheese than any other nation (blech!!!)
• our Trans-Canada Highway goes from Newfoundland to British Columbia, being 7821 km long (4860 miles)
• we say "sorry" for everything

Overall, we are very grateful we live in this country and pray that God will be with those governing it. May they remember Who is ultimately the Leader, that God's will be their focus, not their own.

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great holiday (we sure did.....blog post coming up). And seeing as I am posting this on tthe 4th of July, may all my American friends enjoy their country's holiday today!!

(*none of the pictures on here are my own, but taken from the internet).