‘Relaxing’ Weekend

We had thought about going away somewhere this weekend, but we hadn’t planned far enough in advance and most of the campgrounds around were fully booked because of the long weekend.  We both had to be back for Sunday anyways, so we decided that we would just camp at the airport again.  We loaded up the kids bikes and their little jeep and headed out.  My parents were still at the hangar, so they ate dinner with us.  The kids had fun running around and riding their bikes.  After my parents left, we made a fire and made s’mores.  Emma loved them a little too much and had marshmallow everywhere!  Bedtime was a test of patience… it was after 10:00 before they finally gave up and then Ben was up at 5:45am.  Not too happy about that aspect of our weekend! 

   

After breakfast, Lennard attempted to take the kids up flying, but the plane wouldn’t start!  We thought it was the battery, so Lennard pulled everything out to change the battery only to find out that that wasn’t the problem.  Dad finally came out and figured out what was going on, but I’m really hoping we don’t end up with something like that happening on our trip!  Yikes!  The kids got bored pretty quickly and I got tired of trying to come up with things to entertain them, so we made a quick trip in to town to the grocery store.  Lennard was still working on the plane with dad, so we made lunch for everyone and by then I was done.  We tried to get the kids down for naps, but they wouldn’t settle down, so Lennard took them home to sleep in their own beds!  I stayed at the trailer and had the quietest couple of hours that I’ve had in ages.  It was lovely!

We had thought about sleeping in the trailer again that night, but with the way the kids slept last night (or didn’t sleep), we decided to just pack up and go home.  I think it was a good decision all around, especially knowing that church was the next day and that is always a challenge in and of itself!

Les Miserables

We were excited to learn that Les Miserables was going to be at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary this summer and quickly bought tickets so we could go see it.  With all the flooding happening around Alberta, we weren’t sure whether we’d be able to get there or not, but thankfully the roads were open by then.  My mom watched the kids for us and we got to spend the whole afternoon/evening by ourselves!  I was shocked driving past High River how much water there still was everywhere, but even worse was the smell!  I can’t imagine how horrible it’s going to be for the people there to try to clean up all the destruction that has happened.  We had a few stops to make, one for Lennard’s work and then to the Pilot Supply store to pick up the last map we needed and the latest Flight Sup.  We then got to go out to the Olive Garden for dinner and ate WAY too much!  It was SO good though!  I was glad that we still had time to go wander around Bass Pro Shop before the show.  I felt a bit better after walking around!  The show was incredible.  We ended up sitting two seats ahead of my Aunt Marilyn and her family.  The drive home at 11:00 at night was hard, but definitely worth being able to see Les Mis on the stage.  (First time for Lennard and second time for me!)

Mommy’s Helper

Emma loves to help.  Sometimes it’s more ‘help’ than actual help, but tonight she was very proud to have peeled and sliced all the apples for our apple crisp.  It’s fun to see her learn and grow.  She is getting better at following directions and can run and get things for me now.  It’s crazy how fast she is growing up!

Father-Son Camp

Our ward put on a Father-Son Camp this weekend and Lennard was excited to take Ben to their first campout together.  Ben thought he was pretty cool going off by himself with daddy.  Emma, on the other hand, was NOT impressed!  She didn’t think it was very fair…  While they were off camping, Emma and I went on a ‘date’ with Grandpa Nichols to the Athens restaurant for dinner.  It was a nice way to spend the evening!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of us out together…

Gotta love Lennard’s tan lines…

Should Have Built an Ark?!

We have had some scary, crazy weather this week!  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday brought record amounts of rainfall in southern Alberta and many communities ended up in a state of emergency with people being evacuated and homes, businesses, cars, etc being destroyed.  There are highways that have pretty much disappeared in sections.

We have been VERY thankful that even though half of our roof is stripped of shingles right now that we haven't had any substantial damage to our home.  Tuesday night, Main Street was closed for a time and many businesses had to deal with flooding issues.  Wednesday night, I attended our RS 'Picnic' (in the church) that ended a bit early so everyone could get home okay, as the rain had started again and the clouds were pretty scary looking.  Then, on Thursday, all heck broke loose around Alberta and by 2:00 in the afternoon all the kids in Lethbridge were sent home from school so that they didn't end up being stranded there!

Lennard's dad arrived here on Wednesday and now we're not too sure how he is going to be getting home as most of the roads that he usually takes have been closed due to flooding, rock slides, etc.  Glad he already planned to be here for a few more days!  Hopefully, the rain will stop and they'll be able to clear some of the roads!

Here are a few pictures that have been posted on the internet showing some of the craziness:

Downtown Cardston!  

 Lethbridge

 

 Cameron Falls - Waterton

Crazy clouds!

High River residents being evacuated in a combine

 High River

Canmore

Stay and Play

Pretty much every single Tuesday and Thursday morning we have attended our local Stay and Play program.  It is a wonderful ‘out’ for me and the kids love playing with all the different toys and seeing other kids!  I have loved being able to get to know some of the other moms in the area and it definitely gives me a bit of a sanity break having a scheduled time to just play.  Having said all that… today was the last day of Stay and Play before the summer break.  (Not a happy thing for me!)  I will definitely miss going and the kids will miss Meagan, the program facilitator. 

Unfortunately, the weather was raining and cooler, so we weren’t able to have the pizza potluck outside.  Because of that, the room was PACKED with kids and parents!  I think I probably would have left early if I hadn’t already told the kids that there was going to be a picnic.  It was crazy! 

We will definitely look forward to when it starts again in September!
   
Emma was more than happy to get her picture taken with Meagan, while Ben wanted nothing to do with it… he really does love you, Meagan!

Busy Week

We have had a busy week... just no pictures to go with everything we've done!  My mom and dad have been away on an Alaskan cruise, so on Monday night we headed out to their place and stocked their fridge with some basics.  Lennard mowed the lawn and I cleaned a bit in the kitchen.  The kids had a blast just being able to run and explore.

Mom & Dad got home Tuesday morning at about 1:00am (crazy!).  We decided that we had to see them sooner rather than later, so we brought dinner out and ate with them while we heard all about their trip.  

Wednesday morning mom came to Lethbridge with me to get her van that had been having work done on it.  She graciously came with me while I did all my errands and then we got the van afterwards.  It worked out so nicely that I had help with the kids while I tried to find a few more clothes for our trip in July.  I got home just in time to head out and go Visiting Teaching.  Lennard mowed the lawn while I was out while the kids rode their bikes.  I wasn't too excited to try to figure out what to make for dinner, so when Lennard suggested we pick up Subway and have a picnic at the airport... I didn't say no!  I love being able to see my parents so often.  We had a quick dinner and then Lennard and I went flying!  We climbed up to 10,200 feet and called in to Edmonton and got the transponder checked out and thankfully it works! (It was just replaced).  One more thing checked off for the trip!

Thursday, I headed out to Mountain View (do you see a theme here?) to get an oil change on the van.  We couldn't stay long, but the kids had fun just the same.  I got back just in time to pick up my friend's two youngest kids (so she could attend a funeral) and we all headed down to Stay and Play.  They had fun playing with all the toys... and it made babysitting pretty easy!  When we got home, we had lunch and then the kids just played outside.  By about 2:00 they were all starting to get tired, so I put on a movie for them and we had some quiet time in the family room.  Once Mishel got her kids, I raced and got the hashbrown casserole put into the oven and got ready to go to the closing rugby party at the high school.  There weren't as many girls show up as they would have liked to have seen, but we should have been on the ball and done the dinner two weeks ago and not waited until exam week!  Oh well, it was still fun.  They had a great year.  Of course, just as we were finishing up, one of the girls asked if she could go flying with Lennard... and he said yes.  The other coach, Lloyd, then asked if Lennard would take his dad up flying too, so we raced home, got the kids in the house and he headed out to the airport to get the plane ready.  He had a blast (never fails!).  I was definitely ready to get some sleep though.  

Friday, we had a party to attend for Lennard's work in Lethbridge.  My mom & dad were staying out at the airport, so we dropped the kids off with them (we'd brought our trailer out earlier in the week as we are finally getting work done our our roof).  The weather was horrible and by the time Lennard got one lap around the go-cart track the rain came pouring in and they had to stop.  I was freezing and didn't really want to go mini-golfing in the rain, so we went in to the covered patio for the dinner.  There were a lot of people that didn't come, so it was pretty small, but the food was great and it was fun to visit with everyone.  We didn't end up golfing at all, but we have the tickets, so hopefully we can go in the future when the weather cooperates a bit more.  We made it back to the airport to find the kids asleep (thanks, Mom & Dad!).  We visited a bit and then headed to bed.

Morning came way too early, but we were up in plenty of time to help get the tables and chairs set up and ready for the fly-in.  We were glad to see blue sky and even though there was still some wind, we ended up with almost a dozen planes flying in and almost 100 people at the breakfast!  Lennard took a couple more people flying during the fly-in.  

We finally got most things cleaned up by around noon, raced to the store to pick up some cookies (I forgot to make a dessert), and head to our ward picnic as today is also Youth Days in our Stake!  I loved actually having a ward activity (they've been fairly scarce).  The kids had so much fun playing on the playground... and eating a little too.  By the time we left there, the kids were more than a little tired.  We put them straight to bed and thankfully they were asleep by the time the roofers came to work on the roof again!  They slept right through all the banging and pounding!  I even managed to get almost an hour nap in!  So needed!  Finally, to wrap the day up, I got to head to Raymond with my mom to attend my sister-in-law's baby shower!  Trisha is due in about 3 weeks (I think) and got a lot of really cute stuff.  I can't wait to meet their little man!

Sunday was Father's Day... though by Emma's reaction, you wouldn't think it was a good thing!  (I'll have to try to upload a video!)  Emma gave a talk in Primary on the Holy Ghost.  She did pretty good - with a lot of prompting!  The kids were extremely crazy during Sacrament meeting, although Ben fell asleep about half way through (miracle!).  I was very glad to head home.  They both fell asleep right away, so I had a bit of a break to try to get dinner ready.  We had Chinese food for dinner and then drove out to see my dad for about an hour.  It's been a busy week, but a good one!

What a BLAST!

At breakfast this morning we threw around some ideas of what we wanted to do today.  Before long, we had a plan and I had to race to get everything ready!  The weather was beautiful and so we headed out to the airport. 

As soon as we started pulling the plane out of the hangar, Ben started to vibrate with excitement!  We had brought their bikes out too, but he didn’t want anything to do with his… he wanted in the plane NOW!  We got him strapped in and put the headset on him and he immediately reached up and adjusted the mike.  He’s a pro already!  After a few adjustments – we had to prop him up a bit so he could see out easier – they took off and flew over the town.  Emma was not impressed that they left her behind and it took me a bit of convincing to ensure her that they would be back!  Pretty soon, they were back and Emma got her turn.  Both kids absolutely loved it and even got a chance to ‘fly’ the plane!  They were very proud to tell me all about holding on to the stick and making the airplane move.  I think we may have a couple more pilots in the family in the coming years!

   

Once the airplane was back in the hangar, we decided to have some fun and shoot off the rocket we’d bought earlier in the week.  We had been planning on going camping last night and shooting it off then, but a rainstorm swept through and we decided to forego the pleasure of being stuck in a trailer with kids that still haven’t figured out that their bunk beds are for sleeping in… not just playing!

We pulled out the launch pad, got the rocket ready and counted down.  To say that we had a blast (pun intended), would be an understatement!  The first rocket landed out in a farmer’s field that had Lennard chasing after it.  After some adjustments, the next rocket landed in the opposite direction in another farmer’s field!  (I laughed.)  At last, he got it just right and the rockets came right back to us.  It was so fun to see the kids (and Lennard’s) reactions to them blasting off.  We’re definitely going to have to do this activity again!  (Maybe the family campout in August?)

  

Once we had used all the engines up that we had, we packed everything up and headed home long enough for us to unload the bikes, pack up a picnic lunch and head out to Waterton!  We had decided that it was high time that we actually hike Bear’s Hump – since I was the only one that had… and I don’t remember the last time I did!  The kids both fell asleep on the way there, so we let them sleep and had our ‘picnic’ in the truck.  We finally woke Emma up, got some food in to her and headed up the trail.  To say that I am completely out of shape would probably be an understatement, so it was no wonder that I was dripping in sweat (sorry for the graphic picture) before long.  The kids were amazing though!  Ben was ahead of us most of the time and walked the entire way up by himself (other than some of the extra tall steps on those switchbacks).  Emma was content to walk beside me, though it meant I got a bit more of a workout trying to lift her up the stairs too!  We finally made it to the top and cooled off quickly with the crazy winds up top!  The kids loved all the chipmunks and were a bit startled when the chipmunks came right up on the bench beside them and tried to eat their cookies right out of their hands!  After a nice break up top, we headed back down.  Emma entertained us (and everyone else on the trail) by singing “I am a Child of God” at the top of her lungs.  She loved jumping down the steps, though my shoulder didn’t love it!  They made it almost the entire way down the trail too, until Ben semi-wiped out and wanted to be carried.  Pretty good for him to hike 98% of the way up and down!  Emma did the whole thing by herself! 

After loading up on water and taking a bathroom break, we drove up to Cameron Lake.  The kids had fun throwing rocks in the lake and Lennard and I just had fun sitting back and watching them.  It has truly been one of the best days!  It just makes me want to freeze these moments.  I don’t want to forget their excitement and enthusiasm for every little thing.  Looking at the flowers on the trail or finding that extra special rock!  I love feeling their arms wrapped around my neck and getting to smother them in kisses.  I am so incredibly blessed!

Rocket

On Monday night we were talking about the things we wanted to do this summer.  We talked about going camping out at the airport this weekend and then Lennard started talking about how much fun it would be to shoot off a rocket.  He had to go in to Lethbridge to attend the rugby awards ceremonies anyways, so we all piled into the van and headed to the model shop!  We picked out a rocket, got something to eat and dropped him off at the rugby field.  I had thought that I would go to Costco and pick up a few things that we needed, but the kids were so ‘done’ that I just headed home instead. 

Lennard opened the box up yesterday evening, but quickly realized that it would take a little more time than we had.  Finally, tonight, as I was getting dinner ready, Lennard decided it would be a good idea to assemble the rocket so that it would be ready for the weekend.  As you can see from the pictures, the kids were very excited to ‘help’!  He managed to get it all put together and now we’ll have to wait for the weekend to see if it actually works!

Primary Party

Emma came out of Primary on Sunday waving an invitation for a ‘party’!  She was more than a little excited and when the day finally came it was almost too much for her to handle.  We had gone to the temple the night before and she didn’t go to sleep for the babysitter, so she was up until 9:30.  Then, she didn’t sleep very long for her nap because I made the mistake of telling her that if she’d have a nap we would go to her party afterwards!  Oops!  Anyways, she was so over-tired that every little thing set her off.  They had a bunch of different stations for the kids to go to, but each time we had to change, she cried!  I’m sort of glad that I ended up staying with her so that no one else had to deal with all the tears.

There was a dress-up relay and a bean-bag toss (though she didn’t quite get the idea of staying behind the line to throw the bag).  There was also another relay with a plastic egg on a spoon, ‘writing’ letters to the missionaries in our ward, frisbee toss, and golfing.

Emma loved getting to paint her very own bird house, though they didn’t give them a whole lot of time to actually do it… seven minutes per station wasn’t nearly enough for the painting station!  She also loved the fish pond – especially when she got bubbles as a prize!

Emma and her friend, Vienna, goofing around while waiting for another station.  They finished the activity off with corn dogs, watermelon and juice boxes.  Emma wasn’t too sure about the corn dogs, she took one bite and that was it for her. 

For her very first primary activity it was a success in my books, even with all the off-and-on tears!

Checkin’ Off our Summer Bucket List!

It has been such a great Saturday!  We got up ‘nice and early’ – thanks for the 5:30 wake-up call, Ben (no sarcasm there), had a yummy breakfast and then decided that it was way too nice to not take the chance to go flying!  We dressed the kids quickly, dropped them off at our neighbors (thanks, Mishel!) and headed to the airport!  We only got about 45 minutes in the air as we had to be back by 10:00, but it was nice to get away by ourselves and for me to start learning some of the things I’m going to have to know for our flight to the Maritimes this summer! 

Lennard headed down to Babb with Kendall as soon as we got back to get a swing set that they had ordered and then, when he got home, we worked in the backyard for a while.  We got another garden box ready for planting (not planted yet, but hopefully this week!).  The weather was still nice, so Lennard couldn’t resist going back up flying.  He took another neighbor (Aaron) with him and they went out and around Waterton.  Not bad getting 1 1/2 hours of flying time today!

We decided that we would check off a couple of our bucket list items and took the kids in to Waterton for a picnic and playtime at the park.  What a good way to spend the evening.  The kids had a blast on the playground – so much that they didn’t eat much of anything, but I’m still counting that we at least tried to have a picnic!  (We will try again though). 

 

After playtime and the miniscule bites of food we managed to get into the kids, we headed down to throw some rocks into the lake.  We could have stayed here all evening and the kids would have been completely content.  It was a bit chilly by then, but they didn’t notice.

   

I feel so blessed when I look at these pictures.  Not only do we live in a beautiful part of the world, but I have the best little family ever!  I really can’t ask for anything more.