Perfect Ending?

Off to church we go.  The kids were very excited to hear Opa preach again.

 Home again.  Do not be decieved.  There was so much tension and crankiness by this time.  The culprit?  Two different ordering styles at Tim Horton's 3 hours back on the trail.  Amazing isn't it?  How a wonderfully, relaxing week and vacation can become undone so quickly?
All because of selfishness, pride, petty annoyances?  Thankfully we persevered, agreed to take the picture and then start the clean up.  By the time a week rolled by   the sun went down  we all had some rest and the house looked sort of organized again, we could smile AT each other again.
Not that it's right but I'll admit it took a bit of time.
And we'll probably fight about it again if we ever have the same situation in Timmy's.

But I still love him and them dearly.

Back to that Beautiful Blue

After the first steep hill almost turned disastrous for Cara - I know we aren't to live a life of "what if's" but I was thanking the Lord will ALL my heart that Cara didn't hit a tree, get hit by another rider, scrape all her skin off her arms and legs, break a bone etc!! when she lost control on her way down the steep hill.  Thankfully, even though she screamed a terrified, helpless cry she somehow managed to hang on and stay up right till she collapsed in my arms, a shaky, crying little girl.  Us ladies stuck together for calmer paths till the rains came.

 And we saw the snake.  Anyone tell me what it is?  It slithered sideways in this S shape so that the name sidewinder came to mind but I have no idea.....and yes, it did cross my mind I have access to google. Call me lazy? edited:  I looked up sidewinders and this is def not one of those: 

• Crotalus cerastes, a venomous pit-viper species found in the southwestern United States - nope

 Did I mention gorgeous blue skies?????  I think they are SO majestic!  I would love to be someone who lays down in the grass and just watches the clouds blow by!

 We met up with the adventurers... maybe not a good idea when I started hearing stories about Cody's "acrobatics of the year" and some hearty off roading/ head over tea kettle-ing?  I always think it's better to hear about it than watch it.  :)  They were so excited to share the crazy things they had done but I was so thankful they were still all whole.

 And again.

 The blue skies disappeared behind the clouds and the rough and tough gang took to the muddy trails under pouring rain.  This bike didn't make it.  We abandoned it here and Steve happily did some cross country! One time he came around a corner and was 3 steps away from patting a deer on the nose.

 On the way home we picked up some ice cream cake for a belated Opa and Daddy birthday celebration.

 Another Uncle Billy story.

 Not to be forgotten... our handy dandy diy bikerack that got not a few curious looks :)

Feeling Warmer just looking at these Sunny pictures!!

I could live under a sunny sky like that....if it didn't already start snowing in September!

 We went walking instead of biking today...

 The next day was chilly and rainy so we ended up at the Bass Pro shop.  Could spend quite a long time looking at all their displays.

 Easiest way to get your deer :)  And yes, we did give them quarters to shoot in the rifle range but obviously we were a few quarters shy of getting the right feel for how to hold your gun :)

 The next day wasn't quite sunny yet but we did get out biking again.   We were delighted to see deer for real grazing right beside our path.

 Then we got to some cement barriers and do not use/ trespassers are responsible for their own risk signs.  After much consideration, deliberation and consultation we decided to just keep going and see what it was like.

 We discovered that the trail had been very damaged by the huge flood in the spring of 2013.  Thankfully there was a way around it and we just kept going.  We really wanted to complete this big loop.

 Everyone enjoyed zipping down this long pedestrian/bike ramp!

 The more we biked these paved paths the more we practised our "look ma, no hands" routines. Leah could bike for kms like this.

 Cam would go a LONG ways like this! Standing up with his hands out.

 Or like this....  No doubt about it, we all very much enjoyed these relaxing days of exploring and biking.

 Another one.

 A backyard fire and games for finishing the day.

And Since I'm on a Roll

Maybe our most relaxing family holiday yet.... a trip to Opa and Nana's...

See how happy we are to go?   Truth is we were all feeling a little van crazy and selfish and knarly.  But I'm still thankful for this picture!

 Our first day there we went for our first bike ride.  We made 15km the first day.  Quite the trek for Cara who only had started to ride two wheel a couple weeks before! Thankful for the gorgeous sky and paved paths.  And the best daddy ever.

 Boys will be boys..."Daddy, can you throw this one in for us??!??!"

 And then of course it would be expecting too much to take the path there AND back again.  It wouldn't have been so terrible if there wasn't a group of teens practicing being bad in the bushes and so were witness to our pushing, pulling, dragging etc our bikes over these rock piles :)  Worse yet? I didn't realize they were there till I had already made a scene.

 Such a BEAUTIFUL place to ride.

 First of many family pictures we all agreed to make.  Hooray!

 I don't know if he even realized it but it seemed so appropriate that Cody went against the arrow.

Days 3,4,5,6,7 to follow!

Once Upon a Time

(Because it's been a long time since I wrote anything here and even longer since these events took place...dedicated to the best father-in-law a girl could ever have)
Long ago, when the days were warm and dry and sunny, Mom and Dad came out for a vacation.  I'm not sure what part of them rested but it sure didn't happen any of the time they spent with us!!!

Steve and Dad rebuilt our very sad fence.  I was going to pressure wash it and stain it before fall..... apparently this is not an  everything turns out perfect - happily ever after story!

 Meanwhile Mom was inside working hard to start on getting rid of all that drywall dust.  (BTW, Mom is as fantastic a mother in law as Dad is FIL but she isn't the one giving hints about the blog's progress or...not progress so no dedication remarks to her! :)

 After going back to the farm for supper Opa cuddled up on the tramp with all the kids for an Uncle Billy story.  Opa's imagination is quite healthy and the kids delight in these stories.  He's been telling them for years!  I also just noticed that even the cat got in on it.  Gross! :)

 We also spent one sunny, gorgeous afternoon at the park with all the Westerners playing soccer,

 snuggling sick and feverish Cody,

 and carrying babies, keeping an eye on toddlers and enjoying eachother's company.

The bonus of doing this way after the fact is that I cut my storytelling down a few notches and the posts are a bit shorter.  You're welcome! :)

Served me well

for twenty five years.  Opa and Oma Stout gave it to me for my 10th birthday.  I still remember feeling so grown up when I first opened it!  I was sorely disappointed when the snooze button didn't work anymore and even switched it to the other night stand a couple of years ago seeing as Steve never needs the snooze button anyway.  But when I went to plug it in the other day and got this message I knew it was time to replace it :)

It lasted a long time but a good reminder that things don't last forever.