Our First 2-Day Beach Adventure!

This week my parents rented a cabin at a lake that is 1.25 hours away from here. They invited me to join them for a night while Rob was away at a conference.
1.25 hours only* seems like a long time:
1. when you're a kid and
2. when you're an adult with 2 teasing children and a fussing baby crammed into the backseat of a car and no other adult along for backup. I just kept throwing things into the back seat that would distract everyone for 10 minutes or so. By the time we got there, the car looked like it's own natural disaster!

We had a blast. It was super hot and muggy, but also cloudy and windy, so it was survivable. Micah thought the sand was awesome, as did the kids....and myself...and my dad. I love things that bring out the kid in everyone! (Check out Micah's latest face wound. The wall vent was the winner.)

Ellie was the official sand castle 'decorator', adding that feminine touch with pretty stones and shells:

And then suddenly, even though the water was frigid, our two budding fish were in the water, having a blast!

Micah preferred a much smaller body of water:

We somehow managed to sleep in our own sweat and woke up early the next morning (6:10, to be exact :) and had a good long snuggle with Bapa while watching cartoons. The only form of 'roughing it' in this kind of camping was the lack of air conditioning. :)

Cousins Regan and Drew joined us in the afternoon and we celebrated with ice cream!!

Micah's response to his first cone:

Highlight of our two-day trip? The kids first ever boat ride, thanks to my uncle Kurt! They were so pumped.

Later in the day we celebrated my mom's birthday and then I packed up and came home to find that my playpen was broken and had nowhere to put Micah for the night! Great neighbours helped to solve that problem. All in all I'd say our first 2-day beach adventure was a smashing success!!

*Okay. There are actually quite a few other things that make 1.25 hours seem long. Waiting in the walk-in clinic, waiting for someone to come home when they are 1.25 hours later than they said they'd be, waiting for your food at a restaurant when you can smell everyone else's...

What's one thing that makes 1.25 hours seem long to you??

Summer in the City

Okay, looks like I can manage to find time to blog after all! Last weekend our city had its annual summer kick-off event called 'Summer in the City'. Although we were planning on going Saturday, we took a sneak peak on Friday and couldn't resist getting Ellie and Josh each a pony ride. Ellie and I have been reading a chapter book series together called, "Pony Crazed Princess" which has ignited a passion in Ellie for all things pony, as you can tell by her face here:

So the next day we went back without Micah (who had tried to jump out of the tractor train ride the day before). We had an agreement with the kids that we weren't going to go on any rides that cost money, because they wanted to save up for Tinker Town, an amusement park not far from here. There was still PLENTY to do.

Here's Josh in the shades Ellie made him wear, enamoured with a street hockey game:

We obviously couldn't pass by the ponies without another smiley riding moment!

Josh thought it was just as cool, just in a more cowboyish way:

We spent quite a while at what was probably the best petting zoo I've ever been to.
All the animals were super tame and easy to interact with:

Our friends TJ and Amanda from Penner Pumpkins provided everyone with rubber duck water races:

Ellie won! (Rob and I raced, too. I lost and got a weird burning sensation in my chest. Perhaps I should exercise one day.)

Amanda is a seriously talented face painter!

While waiting for Josh to get his face painted, this guy came and gave Ellie a handshake. I thought for a moment she would either bawl or bolt, but she managed to stand her ground and give him a shaky smile...kinda scary, if you ask me!

Josh's turn!

Much to Ellie's delight, there was a huge board with buckets of paint for the kids to have free reign with:

Rob made friends with the Funny Loud Knife-Throwing Guy and got some juggling tips:

Ellie and Josh leaning on one another for moral support during the Knife-Throwing Guy's act:

Josh's version of looking at the camera and smiling:

Can't forget the good times to be had on the bouncy castle!

And Josh's highlight of the day - the bouncy slide. I totally thought he'd be timid. NOT a chance...the higher he bounced and flipped down that slide, the better! Look at the wild euphoria in those eyes:

Stay tuned for more summer hoopla!

(Next up - a visit to the cabin that my mom and dad are renting.

I'm going alone with the kids. It should be...interesting. Prayer always welcome. :)