Summer part 2

We had a busy summer! It seemed that every weekend was booked solid with multiple outings. When we got home from Noisy we had to get busy readying the 4H calves for the fair, catch up on the farm, and organize the yard. As busy as things were we still managed to fit in a lot of fun for August. We got a few more camping trips in, some time on the boat, and lots of beach days. These are just a few of our highlights!

 

 The girls worked with their calves just about every day in August. They were busy washing them and walking them around the yard so that they would be ready to show at the fair.

 

We camped at Bruce and Linda's on the river one weekend. It was a lot of fun, the Derksen's joined us, as did grandma and grandpa Olund. It is always such a fun place to camp, close to home but still feels like a vacation. The kids love fishing for suckers, catching frogs, and swimming in the river.

 

We attended a beautiful farm wedding on the riverbank. The bride planted sunflowers along the corn field, which provided the most beautiful decorations for the outdoor wedding. It was a great ceremony preformed by Daniel and a fun reception filled with visiting and dancing!

  

The annual Martin's BBQ was also a lot of fun! My kids always look forward to the fun games and the swim in the pool. It's so nice to see how much they enjoy hanging out with their extended family. I feel so blessed to have so much family in our lives and so many people loving on and praying for us!  

 Pretty sure you can still tell who the Martins sisters are, lol, but nice to see they tried to be silly :)

  

 

 We managed to sneak into a dairy tour this year. The kids enjoyed touring the robots at Blackwell farms as well as the processing plant. It was so much fun, and they really do make AMAZING chocolate milk!! In the top picture the kids decided that their hair nets made excellent Santa beards. We also were able to look at the Kennedy's new facility and visit with other farmers. I love these farm tours, not only do they provide a great chance to socialize, but they also provide a way for us to see how other farms do things and get ideas for changes we can make to improve our farm.

  

It's only a few days before the fair, time to give the calves a hair cut and get them ready to look beautiful for the fair! 

 This was day one of our week long camping trip at the IPE. The kids had to get the stalls decorated and ready for the calves to move in. They were also given a set of guidelines for stall duty expectations. It was great to watch the kids do so well and work so hard.

 

Michael and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary in a cramped campground at the IPE. As crazy as it was, we actually had a lot fun. We'd planned for Chinese take out, but apparently Armstrong's restaurant closes on Tuesday so a trip to Askew's and the BBQ saved the celebration! I feel so blessed to do life with Michael. He is the most amazing man and wonderful father. I love that he is the perfect role model for our son, and the perfect example for our girls on how a husband should treat his wife. It seems crazy to think that 13 years have passed already! I am so looking forward to seeing how God will grow us in the coming years. 

Show day at the IPE means being up before the sun. The big kids were up by 3:30 to wash the animals and the PeeWees came in around 5:30 to clean the stalls and look after the animals while the older ones went for breakfast. My kids absolutely loved showing and it was so fun to watch how the older kids stepped in and helped prep their calves for them. We had no idea that so much went into showing calves! Washing, clipping, and even makeup goes on before the show! 

 

Cheyanne did a great job showing her calf Trophy. She won 4th place for showmanship and finished 5th for confirmation. 

Emmersen also enjoyed showing her calf and came a long way over the summer. She went from dropping the halter and running when her calf would act out to holding on, digging her heels in, and getting her calf back under control without giving up. I was so proud of her! She placed 7th for showmanship and 4th for confirmation.

 

Mason can't wait to be a part of 4H! He just wanted to spend all his time in the barn with the calves. He was busy sweeping and helping as much as he could, Bella on the other hand, enjoyed being the one free to hang out around the fair with grandma Olund. Cheyanne did a little interview with the Morning Star and was on the front page with Emmersen and baby Paxton riding Trophy. Mason also managed to get a cameo in the paper as the photographer snapped a shot of him busily sweeping the barns. 

 

 After 4H duties were done we were free to take in the rodeo. We went twice this year and the kids loved it. Mason fell asleep half way the first time, but he made it through the second one. My favourite part of the rodeo is the horse blankets and coffee half way through!

 The kids had these amazing balloon creatures made for them. Emme had a giant squid, Bella a mermaid, Cheyanne a flying unicorn, and Mason chose Batman.

 This was our first year with ride bracelets. The kids saved up and bought their own. They had a blast! It was a ton of fun watching them take on the rides. They all pushed themselves this year taking on some pretty scary rides. Mason even attempted the octopus, but had to have them stop it as he was too scared to finish, lol. I managed to get Tyson to try the zipper with me, but he wasn't too impressed with me, afterwards he told me I owed him big time, lol.

  

Bella was our prize winning photographer at the IPE. She took third place for her lovely sunflower photo. 

The kids also spent evenings fishing for suckers at the dairy hole with daddy. They loved spending special time with him, and he enjoyed it just as much, even if it did take away from the actual salmon fishing, lol.We are blessed to live in the most beautiful spot! How lucky is it to say we can work, play, and relax in our own back yard!

 

Mason was so proud of his new bedroom set that I just had to include this photo. He has graduated to the top bunk now, and is pretty excited to be a big boy with Optimus Prime protecting him while he sleeps ;)

Bella also completed a big girl milestone this summer. While we were at Noisy Creek she learned to ride a two wheeler. It's a tradition in our house to get taken out for a three layered ice cream cone once you complete this milestone. As you can tell, Bella was awfully excited her cone!

Michael and I completed our first half marathon this year. It was such a fun experience and the most beautiful run I have ever completed! We did the Kelowna Wine Country Destination half marathon. It started at the Vibrant Vine winery and finished at the Delta Grand. It was cool to be able to see the finish line from the start, but it was also a little terrifying to see how far we had to go, lol.

We finished! Both of us making our goals. I finished at 1:54:44 and Michael was 1:41:32. Michael finished 4th/40 in his age group, and  27/300 for gender and 39/1160 overall. I finished 16th/140 for my age group and 86/860 for gender, and 172/1160 overall! I was pretty excited for my placings!

After the run there was a wine tasting and festival. It was a lot of fun with a live band and some great wineries represented. When we were done, we had a quick shower in Okanagan lake and hopped in the car for a drive to Abbotsford to take in our cousin's wedding.

Michael was just a tad sore after the run, lol. The car ride may not have been the best idea when you run a half marathon with little to no training! But, he still danced the evening away with me at the wedding, so I would have to say he did a pretty good job!

As excited as we were to take in Meagan and Braden's special day, we were also awfully excited to finally meet our beautiful niece Nadine! What a precious bundle she is!!

Our summer was rounded out with an impromptu fishing trip to Hope. Michael and Daniel took Cheyanne and Dexter with them to fish for sockeye on the Fraser river. In their 24 hour trip they had a lot of fun and came home with 8 salmon each! Cheyanne and Dexter came home with all kinds of exciting stories about exploring and playing with the fish guts, lol.

Summer was an awesome season. We packed so much fun into the two months we had and I am sad that it's over and time to get back into routine. In some ways though, I am looking forward to fall. It will be nice to enjoy cooler evenings and the beautiful scenery changes. I am also excited to watch Bella learn this year and slightly nervous to take on being organized enough to homeschool three children at the same time. I think it's time to make some pumpkin pie and enjoy the odd "deadly" pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks  ;) to get into joy of fall!

Summer....went by too fast, but full of memories! ~part 1

Summer! It is always one of my favourite times of year. It's not the sunshine or the beach (although that's pretty awesome!) but it's the way our outside life slows down. It is busy in a different kind of way then the rest of the year. It is family busy. It is filled with time where we just cocoon in and savor our time together. We become more intentional with both planned and spontaneous outings. We spend our days just a little differently then rest of the year. From going to the beach, camping, staying up late, floating down the river, fishing, and pretty much anything in between.

 This was Bella's first trip to camp. She went for PeeWee camp, a one nighter stay. She had a blast and came home wanting to go back next year for longer!

 

 

Cheyanne and Emmersen both went to Gardom Lake for the week. We dropped them off and they were in different cabins. Each had a few friends that were going with them and the girls couldn't have been more excited to go. 

 

While Cheyanne and Emmersen were away we enjoyed Canada Day Enderby style. We all went out for pancake breakfast served by the awesome Lion's club, watched the parade complete with an epic water fight with the firemen, visited friends at their cabin, and finished the day off with a family BBQ at a friends house. It was a lot of fun, and pancake breakfast felt incredibly easy with only two kids to keep track of, lol, but we couldn't help missing Cheyanne and Emme in all the festivities.  

A week later it was time to pick up our grubby little children. One of the two was significantly dirtier then the other! Any guesses which one that would be ;)

 

This summer we also got to reconnect with some extended family members that we haven't seen since Emmersen was a baby. It was a lot of fun catching up and getting to know them again.  We had a BBQ at grandma and grandpa Olund's place with Barb and Dwayne and there son Wyatt, as well as Uncle Graham and Aunty Peggy. It was a blast and it's always fun to hang out with people who enjoy teasing mom as much as we do ;)

  

Summer just wouldn't feel complete without our annual trip to Noisy! It is my favourite place to camp. I always feel like I could move there for the summer and feel perfectly happy! 

The kids and I had a lot of fun paddle boarding this year. Sometimes I would take one of them for a cruise around the lake, other times we would tie the boards together and I would take all four for a trip around the shoreline, looking for fish, and turtles. It was such a peaceful little get away!

We had a ton of kids with us this year! At this particular time we had 15 kids and 3 adults piled into the boat to go for a little swim in the deep. I believe that at our larges total there was 22 kids between 6 families. It was a lot of fun, hanging out with different people and enjoying campfires together.

Mason has become a little mini Michael. He is always watching for what daddy is doing and follows suit. If dad has no shirt, he has no shirt, if dad's sitting by the lake, so is he.

Many evenings were spent watching Michael and Damon race their cars around the loop. Mason liked being able to start the race with his sparklers.

 

Cheyanne and Emmeresen spent their first night in the tent. They loved it, and I can see a cleaner trailer in the future, lol. 2 down, 2 to go!! The only hiccup came with a big storm in the middle of the night where the winds were blowing the tent so hard that we had to drop it and haul the girls and their stuff inside. I think next time we will need to be setting up some better wind breakers! 

 

We got most of the kids to try water skiing. Not everyone loved it, lol, and there were a few tears, but most kids tried it. Even Mason went for a spin, but, he forgot to let go when he fell and managed to look a bit like a fish at the end of the hook for awhile!

 

Our last day picture. It doesn't seem to matter how long we stay, I am always sad to leave! This year was nice because as busy as Michael was he drove back and forth every day so we were able to see him. It was such a blessing for the kids and I! It made his days a little more hectic but it was worth it to get the extra family time in!

When we got home from Noisy we had 150 girl guides come to the farm for a tour of how a dairy farm is run. The Girl Guides had what they call their SOAR week in Enderby and there were 2500 girl guides camped in the ball park. It was a pretty awesome event! As one of their activities they came to the farm. Michael did a great job hosting them all and it was a blast to tell them about what we do, why we do it, and to show them what it takes to run a farm. 

Paddle boarding down the river with the kids was another fun activity we did this summer. It was a blast to float from our place to Trinity while snacking and resting along the way. We even had a mandatory rest time while we floated. Mason took it to the next level by squeezing in a nap on the water! It was a nice relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

A trip to the waterslides finished off our July. It was a blast, minus the fact that Michael lost control and traumatized Mason on the first slide of the day, lol. The last picture is Michael and Mason flying down the slide! It took a lot of convincing to get that boy back on the slides, but we did finally get him to try a few more times and he slowly warmed up to the idea that sliding could be fun :)