What we've been up to...

BBQ at Steve & Nic's
to celebrate Steve's status of legally living in the states now!

Camping at Lake Shannon

For the first time, Steve took Emily, Marie & Joel on the annual 4-day church camp-out at Lake Shannon. This is roughing it all the way... they drive for a couple hours, take boats across the lake, and create their own campsite out in the middle of nowhere. The fathers take turns making meals and they do a lot of fishing, tubing and campfires. They had fun but the kids came home very sun-burnt and VERY crabby from lack of sleep.

Kayak Point

While the guys and older kids were away at Lake Shanon, I had a marvellous quiet couple of days at home. I even read a book just for fun! (haven't done that since I got married, because I'm not disciplined enough to not let it get in the way of my work :). One day Bobby & Jenn & I took the younger kids to Kayak Point.

We managed to fit everyone in Jenn's van!

Luke & Holly played so nicely together!

Tea Party for Hannah's Birthday

Marie & Holly went to a tea party at Hannah's house, and then stayed for a sleepover. This was Holly's first sleepover! I thought she was a little bit young but she did pretty well. The tea party was so neat, with all the girls dressed up like princesses, and pretty decorating. Shalom and her sisters made all kinds of sandwiches and snacks. Unfortunately some of my pictures were corrupted on the memory card :(

Getting the girls "dolled up" for the party

Amadea is almost always smiling... what a sweetie! Jenna won't sit still for 2 seconds which makes it difficult to get a picture of the two of them with my slow camera.

Vacation Bible School

Our kids go to VBS every year at First Baptist Church. They absolutely love it and we have gotten to know many of the people there; it's encouraging to meet other Christians not within your own circles who are very godly, loving people. They are the most skillful motivators of children that I have ever seen :)

They learn a good portion of scripture, play a lot of group games, and have a parent night on Friday evening. This year they had a zip line going from the top of the balcony to the front of the sanctuary, a reward for anyone who brought friends to VBS. I thought the disclaimer you had to sign ahead of time was not just a formality... wow, they really gave them a crazy ride!

The Cenex BBQ

This is a yearly event which we always look forward to, and I also took no pictures of that. They had more entertainment this year; the usual band, and also face painting, pony rides, free T-shirts & toys, sky-divers, and of course an amazing meal with steak and salmon.

Some ridiculously hot weather!

And I was probably the only one who is loving it! (We did turn on the A/C for two days when it was in the mid/high 90s. Most days it cools down at night and our house is well-insulated so it stays cool in the day, to the point that some days my kids walk around the house draped in afghans, even though it's in the 80s outside :) ) One day we went to McDonalds to eat and play because I didn't feel like cooking and it was so much cooler there.

At the risk of over-doing it, here's some more pics of Jenna (they change so fast at that age!). She is almost a year now, and has 6 teeth already.

Hailey stayed over for the day. She was a very good little girl; a bit overwhelmed with so many kids around her though.

Clear Lake Beach is free this year (YAY!!!) due to budget cutbacks, if you can believe it. (I'm thinking, why did they ever charge admission in the first place if it saves money to have fewer employees and not charge???) We hope to visit it quite often since it's only a few minutes from our place.

Our latest visitor, the flu

First Joel, then Holly, then Marie, then Emily. Jenna has not gotten it and I hope she doesn't. It was a crazy one with high fevers, headaches and some throwing up and runs.

The 4th!

Wow, what a busy and fun-filled long weekend! Steve had his regular every-other-Friday off, so he also got Thursday off for the 4th. On Thursday we went to a new park (did I mention Steve loves checking out new places?) Rocky Point, which is a navy beach. It was beautiful, expansive, mostly unpopulated, and Steve enjoyed watching all the navy jets and helicopters flying overhead.


The waves were bigger than we are used to. I don't know how those kids managed to swim in that water; it was frigid!!

Marie found this driftwood that looks like a prosthetic hand

Mmmmmm, yummy sand!

Jenna thought that putting her hat on is a funny game... every time I put it on she took it off. It's hard to put sunscreen in her hair.

Our church picnic was filled with the usual fun stuff... a potluck lunch, desert contest, volleyball, kids' games, and LOTS of water fights that always start with water balloons and guns and end up with 5-gallon bucket-fuls.

The entries in the desert contest were amazing!

The blue container is a kitty-litter box done by Cassi (who until recently worked at a vet office :), quite ingenious and also quite disgusting!

The nest is Emily's

Laura's very well done hamburger

Marie's postcard

Michelle's bonfire/marshmallow roast cake below was the winner; I thought it was the best by far.

(On Sunday Tim & Sarah's baby Liam, below, was baptized by Uncle Don)

We went to Chris & Bobby's park-like place in the evening.

Joel & Sandy are good friends

After spending the evening at Chris & Bobby's, we went to Dave's house to watch the city's fireworks display right behind his place. Since we haven't gone to city displays in quite a few years, the kids were very impressed. Emily clicked away and I think she got almost every single one on her camera :)