Canada Week 3

July 1st was Canada Day. Canada day celebrates the signing (July 1st, 1867) of the British North American Act which united 3 colonies into a single new country called Canada. We went to my parents church that morning. Since it was a long weekend, there were a lot of people missing, but still some familiar faces I had not seen in a long time. The pastor gave all the kids little Canadian flags. For supper we planned a wiener roast again. Even though it was extremely hot and humid, we had a wiener roast.

We love having fires. My little pyro girl!

Even though there really were no mosquitoes (which was extremely rare for Manitoba) we still kept Megan under the net as long as she was happy

We completed the meal with homemade fudgesicles. We did not even crack out the "knock zote" (pronouced k-nock) aka: mennonite marijuana aka: Sunflower Seeds! It is a staple food for around the fire

Even mommy found one of her favorites!

Ketchup Chips! Sweet and tangy goodness! One of my take home staples to be conserved as long as possible.

We had some more rain on monday with a good thunderstorm in the afternoon. Since Nana and Papa live in the country, going outside in our pajamas and boots is acceptable.

Katelyn spent some alone time with Grandma when I ran to town or went to Winnipeg with a friend.

Megan spent a lot of time on this blanket

We spent some time during the week revisiting the sprinkler park one last time, going to Great Grandpa's again to play with Sephira and making a last run to the store for treats to take home and for the long drive back.

Katelyn made a tent and Grandpa joined her under there. It was quite comical to see a blanket and hear them singing the ABC's.Auntie had to get under there too.

Canada Week 2

We stayed busy the last week in June. We had my grandpa Peters (my mom's dad) over for a steak barbecue on the 22nd.

MMMM! Beef, it's what's for dinner! He got to meet his 4th great grandchild.These are my sisters: Janesa on the left and Gina on the right.

Four generations on my mom's side.

Sunday, the 24th, we had kind of a late Father's day wiener roast with my mom's side of the family. She has two sisters and their kids and grandkids came down to my parents.This is my cousin's daughter, Sephira. She and Katelyn are 3 months apart and play really well with each other. This was their second meeting and they remembered each other. It helps when both parties are helping the kids remember by showing them pictures. This is my other cousin's son, Brody. Brody and Sephira are 1st cousins. My girls and these two are 2nd cousins. Walking back down the drivewayafter checking out the cows.

My Grandpa surrounded by all of his girls and one Great grandson. I only have 3 cousins on this side and all of them being girls. Girls run pretty thick in this family. My grandma has 3 girls, my mom and auntie Marilyn each had 3 girls. Now Candace (sitting) had Sephira, I had Katelyn. Stephanie snuck Brody in there and then I had Megan. These are the cousins that my girls will know, because there doesn't seem to be any cousins coming on either side of mine or Jason's family anytime soon.

Monday, my friends Lisa and Sarah met us at the Plum Coulee Beach. It's a man made little beach in town and yes, Plum Coulee is the name. I went to elementary school here. Which was kind of ironic we were there, because when we were packing up to leave. the whole elementary school came out to the little lake to watch the 8th graders row their cardboard box boats across it. It was quite comical to watch and nostalgic because we saw 3 teachers we all had when we were in elementary school.

The kids had fun and got some sun. Gina was nice enough to come with us and help me with Megan or taking Katelyn in the water too. I did venture into the chilly water as well, so I wasn't a total beach bum.

Me, Sarah, and Lisa. Our kids, Orrin(2), Katelyn(3), Claire (3 1/2) and Gracie (4). The girls are all little mini me's of their mothers.

My parents have an expansive lawn to mow and they mowed it a few times while we were there. My dad cleaned up what was mowed by raking it to the cows and his little shadow was right beside him helping.

And after some hard work in the sun, a bath and a Dairy Queen Dilly bar were in order. I was shocked to seeshe ate the WHOLE thing!

We spent the afternoon with some new friends in Thornhill. I had not seen my friend Renee Kreiser in a few years, so it was high time we caught up. Her girls and Katelyn got along quite well once everyone warmed up to each other.

The 28th was my 31st birthday and the first time in a long time that I got to celebrate with friends. I met a lot of my girlfriends from elementary and high school for supper. Some of these friends I've known since kindergarten and others since high school. They have gotten together once a month since we graduated. That's 13 yrs ago! Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of us, but someone did. After dinner, we went to Sarah's house for dessert and talked till 11:30pm! And it's a mommy only night, but I did have to take Megan. It was great to see a lot of them again.

The 29th, we went out for breakfast with my family before Gina flew back to Edmonton. I met Sarah, Nettie, Theresa and Charmaine at the Splash park in Morden after breakfast. It took Katelyn a while to get used to the sprinklers but she did eventually get a little bit wet. I love these parks because they are safer than the pool and easier for me with an infant and a preschooler. Sarah was champ and took Gracie and Katelyn through the rainbow since they didn't really want to go in by themselves.

Out of 5 mamas, we had 11 kids there! When we weren't getting wet, we were swinging and climbing on the playground.

Canada Trip Week 1

Well, a lot has happened in the last month. Right now, we are staying with my parents in good old Manitoba for 2-3 weeks, just me and the girls. Since Jason is at the academy and my cousin was getting married on the 23rd of June, my parents were very willing to pick the 3 of us up and drive us back to Canada. We did it in one day even with two small kids. We left on Father's day, the 17th. Katelyn was so easy as long as the movies kept rolling and we made some pit stops for potty breaks. Thankfully, no accidents occurred. Megan also did well. We did have to make more stops to feed her, but it was all good. We did stop in Dickenson, ND for lunch at McDonalds which allowed us all to get out and stretch our legs. We drove to Rugby, about 3 hrs from home, and decided just to keep on driving even if it was 7 pm. We got through the border without a hitch and drove through some rain. How the green and rain has just been so refreshing to my soul. It's been too long since I've been here in the summer. We did get home around10:30-45pm. So it did take us 15hrs, but that's not too bad.

Monday and Tuesday we rested up at home. By Wednesday I knew I needed to start seeing friends, because the weeks were going to go by way too fast. Wednesday I called my friend Lisa up and had a playdate with her 2 kids. Claire is 3 1/2 and Orrin 1 1/2. When I drove up in my parent car, I must have pressed the lock button and accidentally locked the girls in thecar! Thankfully it was a cooler day and didn't get too hot in the car. I borrowed Lisa's car and drove as fast as I dared to my parents to get the spare set. Thankfully, Megan stopped crying once I left and Katelyn was fine sitting there and it was only a few minutes to my parents. We've now showed her how to unlock the door should that happen again.

The girls had a great time playing together once they warmed up to each other. They headed out with milk in hand to feed the 2 kittens in the barn. Of course, being 3, they did get preoccupied on the trip there and back. The cats made a trip to the house and back to the barn, the milk was forgotten and a large puddle was found and they both came in sopping wet with flooded boots.

Thursday brought on some rain showers again.

Rain showers result in puddles and puddles draw kids.

We stopped in at my cousins, Brad & Val and their kids, Allison& Jordan. It is so weird for me to see these kids growing up, because in my mind, they will forever be 5 & 3 like they were in our wedding almost 9 years ago instead of the 14 and 12 they are now! Alli was just in love with baby Megan and Katelyn kept her hopping when they went out to play.

Friday, we went out to my friend Sarah's to play with her daughter, Gracie who is 4. Gracie has a cute little pony named Chocolate Chip.

Sarah was gracious enough to saddle up Chocolate Chip for a short ride up the driveway for the girls. Katelyn was a little apprehensive at first, but she held onto the horn and a hand and she was good to go. It has been a year since she was on my horse, so this was something she wasn't used to but she did great. The girls jumped on their trampoline, played in the sand box which resulted in Katelyn stepping on a nail in her heel. After 20 min on the phone to the hospital in Powell, checking if she had had a tetanus shot, they said she had and it was good for another 8 years. Whoo! What a relief. This trip was kind of becoming eventful everywhere we went.

Saturday was my cousin Corey's wedding to his bring Kendra. Sadly we didn't take any pictures but we did go for a Derksen Cousin photo. Everyone was there minus 1 family that left and one cousin who couldn't make it.