Last Day of Summer Holiday

Steve doesn't take too many days off for fun so I was excited for him when he was invited to hike Yak Peak with a friend.

 Good company; amazing, stunning views no matter which way you turned!

 

Now, we weren't going to come up with anything that stellar with those of us remaining at home but we (Krista and I) thought we would try something we could all conquer.  I haven't hiked Teapot since I was probably as young as Leah!

 

But first a stop for Leah.

 A treat.  Usually her Mom just kind of eyes it up and chops some off the bottom.  A disaster waiting to happen for the rest of the kids...it was going to take more patience than they had to wait looking in from the outside. 

 So we went flying around the store to pick up some meat and buns for lunch.  At one point I came out of an aisle just as another man approached it.  He kindly waited for me and then started to enter only to have 4 little ducks pop out one after another behind Mama duck.  I heard him mutter, "what is this, a parade?!?!"

Any way we all made it up.  As you can see, Leah had somewhat of a drastic change :)  And my kids are still no more normal than the last 17 times I've tried to take a group picture.

 Opa and Nana, we could see where you stayed on the left hand side and the lake on the right!!!  That was special for us!

 Lots of fun having cousins that substitute as mostly friends and sometimes enemies.

 They don't run out of energy too quickly!

 See, told you!!

 

We ended the day all together again and ate a picnic supper at the park and put the canoe in the slough with friends. Gotta love how a having a canoe nearby all of a sudden has all the kids sitting down (in it) and gobbling down their supper so the canoe rides can begin. 

 

A fantastic way to end a wonderful summer!!

Did you know... (Edited)

 the average Canadian kids supposedly get for their teeth is $4 a tooth?!!  What kind of ridiculousness is that?  Anyway, this sweet pea is pleased to announce he is one tooth poorer (and no pennies richer - what a cheapskate I am, huh?)
He is also one of the rough and tumbler kids we have and so he is full of scrapes from running into a wall stud in the basement by Uncle Brian and Auntie Leanne's new house.  It was an oucher but not the cause for the tooth to come out. 

Another thing about Cam that we really want to remember when he's 16 is the fact that the summer he was 6 he wore his shorts above his belly button and his socks to his knees.  While he doesn't look overly excited here the truth is he is happiest when his socks are as high as physically possible.  He knows it's become a bit of a joke but he does not care.  Just give me "long socks!!"

A little while ago Krista said to me, "I bet when you look at Cam you're actually happy the school doesn't have shorts for uniform."  We laughed at it then.

Last week we got dressed for school supply day and I suggested to the kids they put on a pair of pants.  (I don't expect you to understand this if you're not from my area)

Cam went and put on a pair of jeans and his new runners and then came up to me a sad little guy.  "I look FUNNY in pants!!!!"

I laughed so hard, because little buddy, you do not look funny in pants although you might feel funny in them.  You, my dear special little guy look FUNNY in shorts!!

 

This morning I remembered something I just had to add to this post.  Last week he got to sleepover at Les & Krista's and it happened to be haircut night.  He was more than happy to have his hair cut by a real haircut lady instead of his mother.  When she commented how much hair he had on his neck for her to shave off, he cheerfully informed her, "you can do my knees too, if you want!"  I think Laura and Krista just about lost it.  Just picture it, back up and look from a distance. With his socks pulled up that high, the knees are the only thing showing.  The constant tugging the socks higher has probably worn all the rest of his leg hair right off! :)  Aw Cam, you're the best!

Who's going to have more fun?!?!

Yesterday morning in church I turned to Cody and whispered, "you can't go to kindergarten, you're TOO wiggly!"

He looked at me and ferociously semi-whispered back, "I still have to LEARN!!"

Not sure how this will turn out, will Cody enjoy kindergarten more than his teachers will enjoy his being there?!?

This is the same boy who, when I suggested he should stay home so I wouldn't be lonely, said, "you won't be lonely, you'll have peace and quiet for lunch time, no games, no quiet contests, no noisy kids!!" 

Keeping It Real

So, by now you know I've been trying to fill this summer with special memories.  Last night I had the great idea to keep the kids up later and watch the harvest moon come over the mountains. I didn't think it would be too late of a night and thought it would be a fun thing to add to the memory bank.  I also imagined it could be a tad bit romantic and so I took a couple of blankets along so we could all sit on the top of the van on some lonely, dark road and Steve and I could steal some smooches while the kids were mesmerized by the moon and the being allowed on the van.

 

INSTEAD:

 

As we left the driveway Steve and I kind of asked each other where we thought we were going and Steve came up with the idea of a elementary school playground close enough by, but far enough in the country to leave behind a whole bunch of street lights.  So far, so good.

 

We were nearly there when Leah let out the distressed cry, "MY GLASSES!!"  Now, this makes me irritated enough on Sunday mornings, for example, but now, when we didn't have a ton of extra time to spare??  Her Daddy offered to go back with her and get them...and my great plans were finished with that.

 

Unfortunately I cannot say that I was good about it at all.

 

These three kids stayed with me (Sam was at a sleepover) and we set up our blankets on the school field.  We were warm, we were comfortable, some of us were more than comfortable....uh HELLO Cam??!!

 

 

In between watching every vehicle that came by on the main road beside us (far enough away not to bother us) to see if it was Papa and Leah coming back yet, we saw an incredible display of the moon come up...by ourselves.

 

I got amazing pictures of it a) because I really know how to take pictures  b) because even my best efforts to take pictures without a tripod were thwarted by the children hanging on my arms as they fretted about Steve and Leah missing out.

But the night wasn't completely ruined yet and when Steve and Leah did come back we ran to the van hopped in and asked Steve if we could race further east and find a spot closer to the mountains where we could watch the moon come up all over again.

Too bad for the communication channels, Leah was in the front seat so I took Sam's booster in the very back. Also Odyssey was in the throes of Bart Rathbone eating Mrs. Washinton's Sunday cheesecake.  In other words there was no talking to Steve.

After he'd driven past the next school field I was picturing and turned left instead of right like I was thinking, I yelled loud enough for them to hear me up front and got the Odyssey story turned off.  He told me that he was thinking a school field further east and I told him what I was thinking and he turned around to go with my idea of parking on the side of Annis Road.

And here is where things really went south.

He pulled up to the front of the little pullout and when I hopped out of the van.  I decided based on where the moon came up at the last field, the van was a little too far ahead and the moon was going to come up right behind the big power poles there.  Steve warned the kids to get back in the van and backed up just as I requested.  Then we got them on the roof and I tried to dodge the many vehicles racing past to get a picture of them.

All the while Cam wailed about how he was scared of the van tipping over and Steve was instructing me to put him back in the van.... and I was ignoring him.

Crying kid....fix it.....sound familiar to any of the Overduin adults present the other night????!!!!

The tension sky rocketed right there and in between Steve's just wanting the crying to stop and my wanting it to stop and keep everyone on top of the van plus directly going against what Steve asked me to do...well, let's just say the air was decidedly a lot chillier all of a sudden.

And every romantic notion I had pictured vanished into thin air.

Cam did eventually stop crying but the moon took about 35 more minutes to come up, Cara decided she didn't want to watch and fell asleep on my lap, Leah and Cam had more fun waving at ALL the cars and semis whizzing by and trying to make them honk.  So much for a dark, quiet road.

And to top it all off, the moon came up right behind the power tower... we would probably been better off where Steve had first stopped.

So, learn from me, when trying to plan something memorable and romantic with the kids, expect it to fail.  And don't worry, I won't be surprised when you don't send your daughters to me for a lesson in submission. :(

ps.  I just googled harvest moon and apparently the northern hemisphere's harvest moon isn't until Sept 19 - 20.  Ah well, it probably will rain next month :)

A Lifer

Growing up with parents who had a keen interest in "hunting" for birds... hunting as in seeking them out to observe in the binoculars, not hunting as in pow pow... we had some lingo that went along with it.  A lifer was a first time bird, one you had never seen before and went straight to the bird list to mark it off as an accomplishment, including the date and the migratory path the bird was currently flying.  Just kidding.  Sort of. 

 

Anyway, Mt. Cheam was a first timer for me.  Hard to believe seeing as I lived in it's shadow most of my life but I was looking forward to making a little mental mark and being able to say I had done it. 

Of course, I was also really looking forward to seeing the spectacular views and taking in the valley from the lofty mountain top!

It was a cloudy day but it started out decently bright and chipper and the kids were bubbling with energy and excitement.  Also I was filled with the optimistic hoping that the clouds would burn away as we climbed.

 We saw only one bear.

 Then the clouds started to roll in making this one cliff look like the end of the earth and the beginning to nowhere.  Too bad my photography skills just couldn't do it justice.  It was one of the last cool things we saw.

 The wind started blowing and the clouds closed around us.  We spent 5 shivering minutes on the top.  It was very cold, very windy and started getting very wet.  We had a little snack and bee lined it back for the parking lot.

 

My courageous crew!

But the hike itself was not terribly difficult and I would love to do it again on a sunny day. Maybe one day we'll go and see all the way to the island? :)

Going Senile at 30 +

So, this week I went out, came back, checked the phone and saw a phone number from Ontario.  A little while later the phone rang again with the same Ontario number and I says to meself, "Self, everyone that's going to call you from Ontario is already right in your backyard 'HURRAYYYY!!!' so don't you go answering that call and getting an earful about some amazing vacation that you won which of course you didn't win and is just an attempt to scam you of every penny you're dumb enough to part with!"

So I pushed mute.

Today the phone rang again and when it said Ontario again I thought, "maybe it's one of Steve's sweet aunts needing to connect with someone and so you better answer it."

NEVER ONCE DID I THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE ONTARIO NUMBER MIGHT BE THE CELL PHONE NUMBER OF MY BROTHER & SIS - IN LAW THAT I HAVEN'T YET HAD A CHANCE TO SEE, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH THEY'RE IN MY BACKYARD (figuratively speaking) IF I DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE THEY'RE GOING TO ASSUME I'M STILL NOT HOME AND WON'T COME OVER!!!!!!!!!!!1

Oh brother.

I think I'm losing it.

More Stockpiling

Went to the lake with Opa and Nana today.

 Went in our regular clothes because who in their right mind takes swimming shorts/suits to the beach when it's warm and sunny?!?!?!  Cody quickly ended up with two -toned shorts.  Don't worry!  The sun dried them up in no time at all :S  I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking but it didn't seem quite as sunny and warm when I planned it all out...

 Thankfully there was lots of dock space, a net and two yogurt buckets to fill.  First catch of the day garners quite an interested crowd.

 How many can Opa scoop at a time?

 And if you're going to lay down you might as well make it comfortable!!

 Love them both!

 I begged to have everyone sit down with Opa and Nana and had them all set up great only to discover the camera battery would not cooperate.  Thankfully 20 min. later both camera and crowd agreed so we could at least get a photo of them all together :)

Precious, beautiful times.