Family Time

We had a busy morning around the house.  While I worked on laundry and cleaning up in the house, Lennard worked on getting the rest of the scratch coat onto the front entry.  It was hard work and by the time he got done he was definitely feeling it.  His arm was so sore!  I managed to get the lawns mowed while he was working on the house and then we all crashed after lunch for a much needed rest!

 

Emma and Ben decided that daddy needed some helpers.  I ended up washing Emma’s hands multiple times… and her shoes, when she decided that they needed to be ‘painted’.  Ben was just happy carting around tools!

After our late naps, we headed out to Mountain View and had dinner with my mom and dad and then headed to Waterton to play at the lake. 

  

We stopped at Cameron Falls.  I managed to get a couple pictures of them, though Emma was NOT going to let go of Lennard!  Ben was more than happy to hang out. 

 

They informed us that we needed to ‘climb a mountain’, but since it was later in the day we decided that the ‘hike’ to the overlook of Cameron Falls would have to work instead! 

We then had to head down to the lake to throw rocks.  Emma wasn’t content to stay on the shore and got soaked (Brrr!)  I really was there too, just always behind the camera… gotta work on that!  We finished off the evening by getting ice cream at the Barn Store and playing on the playground at the school in Mountain View.  It was a great way to spend the evening together.

Playing at Wally’s Beach

When Lennard got home from work we should have started working on the scratch coat, but we decided to go to the beach instead!  So much more fun!  Emma LOVED it and was in the water almost the entire time.  Ben… well, he took a little convincing.  He warmed up to it though and had fun digging in the sand.  We had a picnic dinner of ham sandwiches, carrot sticks and chips.  It was the perfect way to spend an evening. 

     

When we got home from the beach, Lennard got going on the scratch coat and got two sides done.

Getting Started

Lennard already fixed the siding that was broken on below the windows and so tonight was the start of the rock project.  We removed the siding (lots of it was broken from the hail) on the front entry and got the wire mesh stapled on and ready for the scratch coat to go on.

Kodiak Mountain Stone

We have gone back and forth a number of times as to what we should do with the exterior of our house.  The hail storm last year wrecked a bunch of the siding.  Lennard has always wanted to do stucco, but I am fine with the siding… especially when I look at the budget!  We finally decided to fix the pieces of siding that were broken and then put rock up along the bottom of the house and around the new entryway. 

Lennard got off work a half hour early, we loaded up the kids and headed in to Lethbridge.  Then came the ‘fun’ of trying to decide what kind of rock!  We finally decided on the color, but Lennard liked one profile and I liked another.  After a while, we made the decision… and picked the one I liked!  It took a while to get everything figured out and then loaded, so the kids were pretty tired of sitting around. 

We ended up having to have my parents come with their truck to put half the rock in their truck.  Each pallet was 1400 pounds! 

We took mom and dad out for dinner to say thanks for helping us out and then headed home.  By the time we got there, they had already unloaded their truck and then helped us unload ours.  This will definitely be a fun project!

High School Reunion and Family Campout

It has been a busy weekend.  Lennard and I dropped the kids off at about 4:30 with mom and dad at the airport and then headed back in to Town for my 20th high school reunion dinner.  It was a bit bizarre seeing some of the people I went to high school with… I was very glad for name tags!  We didn’t have as many people there as I had hoped, but it was nice to sit and visit with a few of them and have a good dinner. 

We ducked out at about 8:30 and headed out to the airport to take in a bit of my family campout that was happening at the same time!  The kids were having a blast with their cousins.  We got to visit for a bit, but then the kids were so overtired that we decided to put them to bed.  What a nightmare.  They screamed (literally) for 45 minutes!  By the time they finally gave up, Lennard and I were done.  We just went to bed and missed out on the card playing in the hangar.  (Darn it.) 

Mom made breakfast for everyone in the morning and then we headed in to Town for the parade.  I had to be on our reunion float, so Lennard took the kids to our usual spot while I hung out with my high school friends.  I was amazed how many people there were out for the parade!  I ran out of candy about 3/4 of the way through.  Lennard didn’t manage to get any pictures of the float as he was busy chasing kids. 

This picture was taken before a bunch more showed up… this is a few of us anyways!  I’m in the back row.

After the parade was done, we all headed back to the airport for lunch.  We had beef on a bun, corn on the cob, etc.  Yum.  Once again, the kids were overtired and so our ‘fun’ was cut short.  We missed out on the treasure hunt and visiting when we took the kids home for naps.  A little frustrating to miss out on family time, but the kids definitely needed to sleep!

My nephew, Will.  Such a cute boy!  Grandpa helping Emma draw something.

I didn’t get very many pictures, so I’m hoping to snag some off my sisters and then I can add more!

Claresholm Fly-In

We decided to drive to Claresholm and check out their fly-in this morning.  Mom and Dad flew in their plane and we met them there.  It was a good turn out and beautiful weather for most of the time.  The kids and Lennard ate breakfast (I wasn’t hungry) and then we checked out a bunch of the planes that had flown in.  The kids were totally intrigued with the helicopter that came in.  I ended up being the ‘tour guide’ for dad’s plane.  I happened to be standing there when people came around and asked questions.  At least I can answer a few more now that I’ve flown with Lennard clear across the country!  It was a good morning, though the kids were ‘interesting’ on the ride to and from Claresholm.  We were definitely ready for them to go down for naps!

The kids didn’t eat much… they were too interested in seeing all the planes coming in.

    

The breakfast set up and some of the planes.  There were lots more in other parts of the field.

       

Emma wasn’t too sure about going in the helicopter, but Ben was in 7th heaven!  He wanted us to close the door!  I’m sure he would have loved to go flying in it!

Back to Life... Back to Reality

I had to laugh when we got to the house yesterday after picking Lennard up from the airport.  I started singing, "Back to life..." and Lennard finished it.  We were thinking the same thing.  Boy, does it ever throw you to have a two week break from everything - kids, house, work, etc.  It's crazy how fast it all comes crashing in on you!  Not that it's all bad.  We're both glad to be home with our kids.  It's just a major change in a short time.  I forgot how LOUD my kids can be!  Emma has definitely been going through a whiny/demanding phase and it's hard to be patient when it's non-stop!  Ben hasn't been feeling great (just a cold), but they've both been extremely clingy.  I feel bad that we left them that long when I can't move and they are asking where I'm going, what I'm doing, when I'm going to be back, etc.  For the first few days after I got home, Emma kept asking where she was going to sleep.  Poor kids.  They had so much fun playing with their cousins, but I think it will be a while before I can leave them with anyone again.

We do have to give a HUGE thank you to my parents and my sisters, Shauna and Mindy for taking such good care of our kids while we were gone.  We couldn't have done it without them.  I wish that we'd been able to bring stuff back for everyone, but flying in a small airplane definitely limits the shopping!

The kids are more than happy that Lennard is home now too.  They weren't very happy that he had to go to work today and have asked me numerous times when he will be home.  I think we're going to have to spend a lot of family time together in the coming weeks to convince them that we aren't going anywhere without them (at least for now!).