Back to School

It's official, my kids all go to school! I love my kids dearly, but this was an exciting day for all of us, 3 kids getting on the bus at once for the first time! I have never seen a child so excited about school as Jeziah. I asked him if he wanted to me to come to school to meet him when he got off the bus, he said "NO". Then he asked me, "are you going to cry", I said "No, but would you like me to". His answer was "NO" He absolutely loves school and all that comes with it. We were talking of taking a road trip next week and asked him if he wanted to come with us, or stay behind to go to school. He was really torn, because he doesn't want to miss school, but he also didn't want to miss the opportunity to play in a swimming pool for a couple of days. In the end he chose the pool. I enjoy the quiet days at home (when I'm at home...lol...)

Another favorite shot

Come, rest & relax!
(For some reason I can only upload 5 pictures at a time, so this one didn't make it in the last post.)

Some Favorite Shots

Doesn't this just want to make you find some good watermelon to eat!?!

Farmer Girl Toes. Pedicures...what is that?

More Summer Snapshots

Summer would not be summer without bonfires.

Buffalo Point

James, Henry & Jeziah checking out the marina at Buffalo Point.

The sun setting at Lake Minnewasta campground.

As a kid I spent a lot of summers on alfalfa fields around the country side. Dad still does custom baling, funny how some things don't change! I still enjoy the smell of fresh alfalfa that's been cut and baled. We are grateful that our cows will be well fed this winter!

Miscellaneous Summer Memories

Thought I'd better finish posting some of the summer pictures before it's too much in the past.

Jeziah got a guitar for Christmas last year. For the longest time it was out of commission because a string broke. Well, it's working again, and I can't listen to it for too long in the house, so I send him outside. But I think this is the way it should be...picking tunes outside on the veranda! He makes up his own songs, or tries to copy other players, but he claims he can only play for so long because then his guitar is full of songs. Not sure yet how he deletes his songs to start over...the minds of kids!

The kids found this abandoned calf in the far corner of the pasture. Turns out the mother had twins and didn't want one. We agreed that if they nursed it back to health and fed it every day until it could eat on it's own, they could have the money for it when it came time to sell it. They were doing so well, and the calf was like a dog, it followed them everywhere. It really was kind of cute. Unfortunately, this guy lost his life to wildlife one night. One report says coyote, another wolf. Who knows, but we do know it was a sad day at our home! Actually, it was a sad week at our home, we lost 2 cows that week as well. The kids did get to keep the insurance money, but it didn't amount to as much as if they'd been able to keep it, but I think they also learned a lesson...we can't always have our way, no matter how much we plan.

Our dog Lacy had pups...AGAIN! These critters were born at the beginning of June, and we had them all gone by the beginning of August. There were 11 of them!! We will now no longer have this thrill...

Henry's sister Tina and her husband Les headed to Africa in June and came back with this cutie. His name is David and he's our newest nephew!

High Valley In Concert

These boys from La Crete, AB are appearing in concert at the MacGregor Collegiate on Tuesday,September 9th @ 7:30 p.m. Admission is "by donation" with all proceeds going to the MacGregor Multi Plex building project. You can read more about High Valley on their website www.highvalley.ca They are stopping in MacGregor on their way back from the Canadian Country Music Awards in Winnipeg. They have opened for Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Reba McIntire and do a lot with Paul Brandt. Their music is described as organic country with faith based lyrics. If you're in the area, do come check it out!

Camping - Part 2

In August we spent some time in Morden at Lake Minnewasta. We spent time with Uncle Rudy & Aunt Verna, beached at the lake one day, and spent an afternoon at the water park in Winkler.

Dexter & Raquel love the water slides. I had forgot to bring Jeziah a life jacket, he may have enjoyed it more had he had that option. In the 3 hours we were there, Dexter never took a break once!
Henry had just as much fun! Don't you just love his bright green swimming trunks!! That's what he gets for forgetting his at home! It was our joke of the trip!

Jeziah loves to play in the water too! I'm good with the camera and keeping the lawn chair or bleach blanket down!

Our last outing was to Miller's, and we spent the time with Darcy & Kim. It's funny how much the kids miss each other, and were all counting the days until they could be together. They had a blast using the pool and making new friends.

While at Miller's, I supposedly aged again. I celebrated in style with the best party goers around!

Summer Camping - Part 1

We have enjoyed another summer of making memories at the campground! We went out a total of 6 times for a total of 22 nights in the camper. Here are a few highlights from each trip.

My family camped at Stephenfield again, and we inivited Mom's family to join us again. Uncle Rudy was too sick to be with us but the rest of us plus a few extras were all there. Sunday after supper we had a down pour, we had tried to cover the food as much as possible before we made a run for it. Kim's dessert still ended up with water in it. But it didn't go to waste, Cynthia enjoyed every bite!

Henry's family camped at Buffalo Point this year. It was a miserable weekend, cool, wet & windy. The sun did come out on Sunday, but it was very windy. We found this beach which was sheltered from the wind, but the horseflies were horrible.

Kim & I spent the week at Spruce Woods again. We were joined by more people as the week went along. It was the first hot week of the summer and we enjoyed it to the fullest! We beached every day but one. Rayleen LOVED the water!

Mom & Dad, Tim & Janet, and Brad & Mel joined us for parts of the week. On the weekend there were a total of 15 kids 11 and under, and only 2 were boys!!

Take me out to the ball game...

The first week in August, the oldest two kids were at camp, and so we just had Jeziah at home. Henry & I did a date night to Brandon, and spontaneously decided to go home via Neepawa for ice cream. It's so fun to be able to be adventurous again! While we were on that excrusion, we got a phone call from Brad & Mel asking if we wanted to go to a Goldeye's game two nights later. Wow, another date night opportunity in the same week! I can't remember the last time we went out with friends and no kids! Anyhoo, we took them up on the offer, not because we are baseball fans, but because it was a great excuse to hang out with friends, and it was easy to find a sitter for just Jeziah! It was a gorgeous night to be at the ball park, the only draw back was that it went over time! We left before it was over so we could have something to eat before midnight!

If you look closely, you will see the ball just behind the batter's behind. (It's been a few weeks, I can't even remember who they were playing...lol...)

This pitcher was for the Goldeye's, he was hilarious to watch as he wound up.

A hot air balloon flew over at the beginning of the game, great entertainment for the camera enthusiast!

The setting sun gave more interesting pictures to take, yeah, I was trying to stay entertained!

You think these guys are bored?

Mennonite Heritage Museum

On our way home from the family campout at Buffalo Point, we stopped in at the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Steinbach. I had often talked of taking the kids, but it's a long drive for a walk in a museum, so now was a great time as we were passing through. Raquel really wanted to stop, and in the end, we couldn't get over how much all three kids enjoyed the museum. We all enjoyed reading about our heritage and learning more about who the Mennonites were and are. They spent some money in the general store and we had some food at the restaurant. Henry & I had the "faspa", a fresh bun, New Bothwell cheese, bowl of soup, fresh ruhbarb jam and ruhbarb platz. Yum, yum!