It has been a wonderful summer! It has honestly been so relaxing and refreshing, it is crazy to think they go back to school next week! I am trying to soak up as much relaxation and sun as possible. We have really enjoyed the freedom from schedules and routines.
We have absolutely gotten our money's worth of the lake this summer! We go several times each week. We had an Anderson family get together which was so fun, but after a few hours we totally got rained out! A torrential downpour came out of nowhere and we were all forced to leave. It was still fun though.
We have had Garett and Jodi come with us some too. The kids all really love playing together.
And just today, we had fun at Pirate Day at the beach! We invited some friends from church to come with us, the Griegs, and it was fun to see so many other families from church. We saw the Hatch's, the Sommerfeldts, the Butlers, the Footes to name a few. They had a treasure hunt for the kids where they had to follow clues to the sand and then dig for a dollar store toy, they had crafts where they made pirate hats and pirate hooks, they had bouncy houses for the kids, and they had Dragon Boat rides. Olivia, surprisingly, did not like the boat rides! She said they were too tippy.
We LOVE the kayaks and paddle boards!
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| This was mine and Ben's first time. Ben fell in! I was so scared at first, but quickly got the hang of it! They are so fun. |
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| Izzy and Abbey |
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| I can't flip this! Here is Lily having a go and doing a great job! |
On the August long weekend, we went out to Long Island Lake with the Anderson clan and went boating and played on the beach there. Here is a shot of Holly and I with all our little kids. It was fun until the end when the tube went totally under! The little kids all were crying from it, but once we got to shore it was good. Thank goodness for lifejackets!
Izzy and Lily got to try out the Wakesled. It was perfect for them.
I decided to plant a garden this year. Ben built these little garden boxes for me. I planted zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and peas. It was honestly really fun to plant them and to watch them grow week by week. And of course, it is always fun to eat fresh veggies from the garden!
This was when there was the biggest, most noticeable change:
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| First of many harvests |
For a whole week we got to have Meila stay with us! It was so nice to have a baby around again. The girls were in total heaven with her here.
They loved taking her for walks everyday. Olivia was not very happy to give up the "baby seat" in the stroller, but quickly got over it. Poor Olivia, felt like she was being replaced as the baby! I gave her lots of extra hugs and attention. She was fine and back to herself after a couple of hours haha.
It was fun to have FIVE girls at the table. And to dig out and use our high chair again! We went out a lot with Meila when she was here and people very often asked us, "Are these all yours?" For once in our life we could actually answer, NO! Haha. Everyone loved Meila. She got lots of attention everywhere we went.
Janae and Rory and Brayden came up to visit with us for a few days while Meila was here. Maci, Scott, and Jade all came up to take care of Garett and Jodi's other 4 kids. We had everyone over for dinner those three nights, and it was great to be with everyone and let the kids play. On the last day we went on our annual trip to the Edmonton Trolley.
