As fall approaches, like tomorrow, here are some photos from the month of September as we enjoyed every last bit of warm weather Mother Nature would give us.
We thoroughly enjoyed Mike and Kathryn's pool this summer, especially since they installed a heater. The weather wasn't the best but the pool was always warm enough for a swim. The kids all improved so much in their confidence and abilities.
As we step into fall, we kick it off with Clay's birthday tomorrow. The boys have started music lessons, and Beavers while hockey starts on Saturday. Grace has started music lessons as well and is loving it. As for Fiona, she is starting to sleep in a big girl bed and will hopefully be transitioned over by the end of the weekend.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
September Long Weekend
On the September long weekend, we cruised up to the Calabogie area of Ontario and spent the weekend with the Taylor and Eberts families. Accomodations were provided courtesy of Al's family who have three cottages at the end of a long road.
During the weekend, we waterskied, swam, did a little fishing off the dock, and hung out by the campfire. The Moms and Dads also went late night swimming, when all the kids were off to bed. The air was cold but the water felt warm...for a few minutes anyways. Then we had to get back to the fire and warm up.
Al's stepdad has a two-seater float plane. He took Clay up for a ride to check out the area. There are a few aerial photos from his trip in the slide show.
Most impressive thing over the weekend: Al's Mom, who is turning 67 soon, waterskied. She had done it a couple time previously in her life but hadn't done it in ages. After a little of Clay's coersion, she put a wet suit on and went for a ski. She did awesome, as she is an extreme wind surfer by nature.
THE SKI MOMS
Here's an awesome photo of Melissa, me, Lorrie and Janet - the ladies and more importantly, Moms, who all skied over the weekend.
During the weekend, we waterskied, swam, did a little fishing off the dock, and hung out by the campfire. The Moms and Dads also went late night swimming, when all the kids were off to bed. The air was cold but the water felt warm...for a few minutes anyways. Then we had to get back to the fire and warm up.
Al's stepdad has a two-seater float plane. He took Clay up for a ride to check out the area. There are a few aerial photos from his trip in the slide show.
Most impressive thing over the weekend: Al's Mom, who is turning 67 soon, waterskied. She had done it a couple time previously in her life but hadn't done it in ages. After a little of Clay's coersion, she put a wet suit on and went for a ski. She did awesome, as she is an extreme wind surfer by nature.
THE SKI MOMSHere's an awesome photo of Melissa, me, Lorrie and Janet - the ladies and more importantly, Moms, who all skied over the weekend.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A Few More First Day Photos
We had to get a picture of everyone together.
Brodie with his teacher Mrs. Dempster.
Back to School
Here are some pics of the boys first days of school. Riley started on September first, while Brodie had his first day September 3rd. Riley is in Grade one and Brodie is in Senior Kindergarten. 
Riley coming off of the bus after his first day.
Brodie, just a little excited for school.
So far, the boys love school. Riley is taking a particular liking to his French Classes. As for Brodie, this is his comment after the first day of school: Senior kindergarten is awesome, but there is a lot more work and a lot less play time.
Riley coming off of the bus after his first day.Brodie, just a little excited for school.
So far, the boys love school. Riley is taking a particular liking to his French Classes. As for Brodie, this is his comment after the first day of school: Senior kindergarten is awesome, but there is a lot more work and a lot less play time.Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Great Camping Trip
Clay and I and the kids went camping for a week at Charleston Lake Provincial Park. So far, it's our favourite place to go camping and this year it did not disappoint. We had many friends join us throughout the week, but the Ebert's family camped with us the whole week. Things we did: the beach (every day), waterskiing, fishing, snorkeling (Clay and the other dads only), a little bit of kayaking, watched nature shows at the Ampitheatre, campfires and marshmallows...most of the standard camping things but super fun.
We also met some new friends, Doug and Shannon Howe, whose youngest daughter was in Kindergarten with Riley. One of the coolest parts of this camping trip was that our campsite, the Howe's and the Eberts' campsites were all in a row. There were trails running through the trees to the rear of our sites that led from one site to the others. So, the kids ran and played in the trees on the trails continuously and all of us parent watched over everyone's children. That was super cool for the kids.
Here are the pictures from the awesome week of camping at Charleston.
We also met some new friends, Doug and Shannon Howe, whose youngest daughter was in Kindergarten with Riley. One of the coolest parts of this camping trip was that our campsite, the Howe's and the Eberts' campsites were all in a row. There were trails running through the trees to the rear of our sites that led from one site to the others. So, the kids ran and played in the trees on the trails continuously and all of us parent watched over everyone's children. That was super cool for the kids.
Here are the pictures from the awesome week of camping at Charleston.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Prairie Vacation Week 3 - 8-16 Aug
Week 3 of our vacation started out with sausage-making. So, Clay, Martin and Greg got at it and pushed out about 60 lbs of sausage and put the homemade smoker to the test. The efforts of Clay, my Dad and Martin did not go to waste as the smoker work great and could smoke all 60 lbs at once. The next day we were treated to a visit from my Grandparents. This is always a treat because they are so much fun and have so much energy. And, when Grandma isn't listening, Grandpa pulls a few good jokes of the brain bank. When Grandma is listening, he still tells his colourful jokes but gets heck for them in Polish. It's all good for a few laughs.
At about the midway point of week 3, week headed back to the lake for a few more days. The weather could not have been better as the lake was like glass for three days straight. As a result of the beautiful water conditions and the promise of a whole can of rootbeer, Brodie decided to go waterskiing. Clay's Mom promised him that she would also ski if he skied (probably thinking he wouldn't do it). Anyhow, Brodie waterskied and loved it. And Grandma Susan, well she waterskied too and you'll have to find out from her if she loved it or not.
Clay also got the chance to play around on the air chair. It's another water toy that is towed behind a boat, while the rider is strapped to a "chair" or seat connected to a pole with a hydrofoil at the bottom. It's a challenging contraption, but Clay got the hang of it and sailed off the ski and out of the water. He also crashed a few times, but got better and better at it. Pictures of this thing are included in the slide show.
By Friday, we were back at the farm and hanging out with my family again. We visited my Grandparents again and had a wonderful time with them. Grandma treated us to supper and Grandpa treated us to more jokes and a few shots. We gots some good photos of them with the kids. It was great to see them and spend such great time with them.
Well, that was our trip. Lots went on and we saw lots of people. Here is the final slideshow of the big trip, week 3.
At about the midway point of week 3, week headed back to the lake for a few more days. The weather could not have been better as the lake was like glass for three days straight. As a result of the beautiful water conditions and the promise of a whole can of rootbeer, Brodie decided to go waterskiing. Clay's Mom promised him that she would also ski if he skied (probably thinking he wouldn't do it). Anyhow, Brodie waterskied and loved it. And Grandma Susan, well she waterskied too and you'll have to find out from her if she loved it or not.
Clay also got the chance to play around on the air chair. It's another water toy that is towed behind a boat, while the rider is strapped to a "chair" or seat connected to a pole with a hydrofoil at the bottom. It's a challenging contraption, but Clay got the hang of it and sailed off the ski and out of the water. He also crashed a few times, but got better and better at it. Pictures of this thing are included in the slide show.
By Friday, we were back at the farm and hanging out with my family again. We visited my Grandparents again and had a wonderful time with them. Grandma treated us to supper and Grandpa treated us to more jokes and a few shots. We gots some good photos of them with the kids. It was great to see them and spend such great time with them.
Well, that was our trip. Lots went on and we saw lots of people. Here is the final slideshow of the big trip, week 3.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Prairie Vacation Week 2 - 1-7 Aug
Week 2 of our vacation opened with the wedding of Olivier Houle and Dori Rainey on the first of August. It was a wonderful event, the bride was stunning, the families were both gracious hosts and I got to play the Top Gun Anthem on the Pipe Organ. Too cool. While in Edmonton, we stayed at Clay's cousin Michelle and Sean's house. Michelle was a wonderful host and let us have run of her home while she was not there. It was great to have an actual house to stay in and it was super convient for feeding the kids. We got to hang out a bit with Michelle on Sunday and had a really good visit with her.
On Monday, we were off to Calgary to visit the Strawsons. We also threw a day trip to Banff in there to go see the mountains. Although it was quite cloudy, the kids still got to see a few good views of the grandure of the mountains. Mike and Katie were wonderful hosts and Katie was quite the die-hard. At 7 months pregnant, she stayed up with us and even completed her pleasure craft liscence at about 1 am.
Finally, about mid-week, we headed back to Saskatchewan, to the farm where we could stay put for almost a week with no driving. The kids were getting pretty sick of driving after the 7 hour drive to Regina from Calgary, then hour and a half to the farm.
The farm was awesome. The first thing on our agenda was to visit "The Big Tree", which is a huge poplar tree in the middle of a field. It is surrounded by other trees, but somehow out grew the others over the years. The second thing on the agenda was to make sausage. And with that, my Dad, Clay and brother, gutted out and old fridge and turned it into an awesome smoker. Clay also helped my dad get his new little boat on the creek. So, we all got to take turns cruising around the creek. That pretty much ends our second week of holidays. Here are the photos during that period.
On Monday, we were off to Calgary to visit the Strawsons. We also threw a day trip to Banff in there to go see the mountains. Although it was quite cloudy, the kids still got to see a few good views of the grandure of the mountains. Mike and Katie were wonderful hosts and Katie was quite the die-hard. At 7 months pregnant, she stayed up with us and even completed her pleasure craft liscence at about 1 am.
Finally, about mid-week, we headed back to Saskatchewan, to the farm where we could stay put for almost a week with no driving. The kids were getting pretty sick of driving after the 7 hour drive to Regina from Calgary, then hour and a half to the farm.
The farm was awesome. The first thing on our agenda was to visit "The Big Tree", which is a huge poplar tree in the middle of a field. It is surrounded by other trees, but somehow out grew the others over the years. The second thing on the agenda was to make sausage. And with that, my Dad, Clay and brother, gutted out and old fridge and turned it into an awesome smoker. Clay also helped my dad get his new little boat on the creek. So, we all got to take turns cruising around the creek. That pretty much ends our second week of holidays. Here are the photos during that period.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Prairie Vacation Week 1 - 24-31 July
Well it's time to get blogging on our prairie vacation. We spend a little over three weeks there, so I'll break the trip up into three different post over the three different weeks.
In the first week, we arrived in Regina and stayed with my sister and her hubby for a couple nights. It was great to see our niece Emily, the wee turtle and see how much she has grown and what she is busy at. While we were there we went to a Roughrider game. They ended up losing to Edmonton but the action was still pretty good. The atmosphere in the stands was really great. Everyone is friends with everyone. We also survived the sweltering heat of the east side stands. We were beat on by a 32 degree sun the entire game. My sister was super prepared and brought tonnes of water and spray bottles to cool ourselves off with. Here are some photos of us after the game, all decked out in our green and whites.
The next day after the Rider game, we headed over to the Lake of the Prairies in Manitoba to visit Clay's parents and family. We had a big birthday party for Great Grandma Kotzer that day. We also took in the beach, waterskiing and the airchair for Clay. One of the best parts was seeing all of Clay's cousins from the Kotzer side of the family. We had such a great time with everyone!
We headed out to Edmonton by the end of the week, Friday 31 Aug. We made the long journey to Edmonton a two-day affair and stayed in Saskatoon to visit more of Clay's family. Once again, it was great to visit his Aunts and Uncles from the Cenaiko Clan. The kids also love playing with the Cenaiko cousins. We also got to meet Tatym, Clay's cousins daughter.
Finally, on Friday, we ended up in Edmonton, reunited with the RMC crew, did a rehearsal for the wedding and had a bit of fun. Here are the photo from the birthday, the lake, Saskatoon and the wedding rehearsal.
In the first week, we arrived in Regina and stayed with my sister and her hubby for a couple nights. It was great to see our niece Emily, the wee turtle and see how much she has grown and what she is busy at. While we were there we went to a Roughrider game. They ended up losing to Edmonton but the action was still pretty good. The atmosphere in the stands was really great. Everyone is friends with everyone. We also survived the sweltering heat of the east side stands. We were beat on by a 32 degree sun the entire game. My sister was super prepared and brought tonnes of water and spray bottles to cool ourselves off with. Here are some photos of us after the game, all decked out in our green and whites.
The next day after the Rider game, we headed over to the Lake of the Prairies in Manitoba to visit Clay's parents and family. We had a big birthday party for Great Grandma Kotzer that day. We also took in the beach, waterskiing and the airchair for Clay. One of the best parts was seeing all of Clay's cousins from the Kotzer side of the family. We had such a great time with everyone!
We headed out to Edmonton by the end of the week, Friday 31 Aug. We made the long journey to Edmonton a two-day affair and stayed in Saskatoon to visit more of Clay's family. Once again, it was great to visit his Aunts and Uncles from the Cenaiko Clan. The kids also love playing with the Cenaiko cousins. We also got to meet Tatym, Clay's cousins daughter.
Finally, on Friday, we ended up in Edmonton, reunited with the RMC crew, did a rehearsal for the wedding and had a bit of fun. Here are the photo from the birthday, the lake, Saskatoon and the wedding rehearsal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
