LUCY!!

 We did something crazy and something we said we would never do again! We bought a Dog! She is beyond adorable and we are so excited to have a bigger, hopefully smarter Dog! We named her Lucy and she is a German Shepherd crossed with a Border Collie. 

BUDDIES

 Kansas and Wade have just become the best of buds lately. Sometimes I feel bad for Wade that he doesn’t have a brother, but then I watch him and Kansas play transformers or animals for hours and think, nah he’s more then OK! Macie was always willing to play boy games with him, as she is growing out of it a little Kansas has just come up right behind to take her place so he always has someone to play with. 

Back to School

 It’s been 5 1/2 months since our kids have been in school because of the coronavirus. They have been missing friends terribly and Mom has been missing some structure to her life and her one on one time with Kansas. So when School was a go for September mostly everyone everywhere was incredibly excited. There are some fears and some worries. The older kids (Grades 4-12) have to wear Masks. The kids have to sanitize a lot and the have to stay in cohorts, which means not as much interaction as a whole school, more just with your individual Grade and even classroom. Even though it’s going to be a little crazy I’m happy they are back and life is somewhat getting back to normal, although we still have a long way to go. 

Garden goodness

 This spring we went out to Glenwood, rented some fancy machines and got our first garden going in Glenwood. We didn’t have irrigation set up yet and we were not weeding it is much as we should have, but for our first year and the lack of time of work we actually put into it we got a pretty good haul. We are hoping to having an even greater haul next year. 

OUCH!

 Macie was in the backyard yesterday running laps (we do this almost everyday to burn some energy) when she went to jump over the fire pit. Instead of gracefully jumping over it she ended up falling and hitting her arms and chest right on the fire pit. She completely knocked the wind out of her and could barley breath and her arms got badly scraped. It was definitely a scary moment for Mom and she felt pretty crappy the rest of the night, but after a good long sleep in Moms bed she felt a lot better the next morning. 

Macie’s mishap

 Macie’s everyday chore is unloading the dishwasher. The other day she had a mishap and dropped a kids plastic plate on the floor and broke it. She thought she was going to get in big trouble so she took it downstairs and hot glue gunned it back together. So yesterday I was pulling out plates for supper and noticed this funny look plate with a crack in it and was like “what the heck?” Since Macie is the only one who knows how to use the hot glue gun and her chore is putting away the dishes I put two and two together and realized what happened. Confronting her about it was kind of fun and she had a pretty good explanation about what happened. 

Macie’s story. Umm yeah it fell and I was like umm is Mom going to notice, yeah I think she will notice so I hot glue gunned it back together and yeah it’s fixed so!?! 

It was to adorable to get upset about and just had to have a good laugh. 

Summer Fun

 Today we took a trip to Calgary to get ready for back to school. Well maybe. Covid is still frightening the weak minded folks in leadership. Anyway, the kids wanted to buy themselves some toys. Dad found some laser tag equipment and ask the kids if they wanted to buy some guns and he would buy some as well and then we could shoot each other all summer long. The kids were in so we. Bought 4 guns. 

We ate dinner at one of our favourites “Olive Garden” and got full on bread sticks as usual and had to bring the entrees home as left overs. 

After we got home the kids were so excited to shoot their lasers that we had to play a few rounds. We all had a blast. Dad needs to buy a bunch of AAA batteries to keep these Guns shooting. 

What a fun family purchase. The kids were so cute with their plans to shoot dad. 

Wade you go this way and I’ll go that way. 

Good summer fun. 

Kansas turns 3

I’ve never seen a kid so excited about their Birthday! This year if it was ever someone’s Birthday she would always says it was her Birthday! So when it was finally her Birthday  we had to make sure we celebrated lots this year and make her feel extra special. We started by letting her open presents a day early so she had some time to play with them. Then that night we taped balloons, a banner and some treats to her door so when she woke up the next morning she would be so surprised, and she was and she loved it! Then we ended the day with cupcakes and some more presents from Grandma. I think she had a wonderful Birthday and was a pretty happy girl getting spoiled!

Summer Camping Part 2

We decided to head to Glenwood to camp a few nights and Hit up the Waterton Reservoir and water our garden.

First night we got to add fresh veggies to our tinfoil dinners. Carrots, beets and onions. 

Yumm yummy. 

Grandma came out and helped weed the garden back as it was out of control. 

Magrath Days

Due to Covid the pioneer days were very limited. We arrived back from our big camping trip on Saturday. But managed to get all unpacked, lawn mowed, groceries purchase, and laundry done in time to hit up the fireworks and live band at the main Magrath entrance near the grain elevators. 

The live band were locals called Highway 62. They were awesome. Did a bunch of cover songs and one original. We loved it. Siting there with family, listening to music in the heat of summer prepping for fireworks is what summer is about. 

The fireworks were well done and enjoyed. 

Summer Camping part 1

We spent a week in Cypress Hills in the Elkwater town. It was amazing. All around was grassy hills and plains, then you can start to see the hill rise above the rest of the land, covered  with dark ever greens.  Truly an amazing site. 

We biked, hiked, and hit the lake. The views were amazing. The weather was perfect.

Our campsite was in a perfect location close to the lake, playground, General store and hiking trail heads. 

Our little family hiked a huge black diamond path the second day and. Did awesome. We made a small stop at the horseshoe canyon look out to view the vast prairies. 

What amazing sites. It kind of felt like Cold Lake with the bush and pines, but very different when it comes to elevation. Cypress Hills are true to their name. 

There was a little BMX bike track and the kids quite enjoyed ridding on it in the evenings. Even Kansas on her strider bike. She was cute with her positive self talk. She would say as she came to the hard part“ you can do it Kans” “you got this Kans”

On Thursday we needed a break from the heat and hiking so we went on a trip. We travelled to Maple Creek Saskatchewan where we found this quant little toy shop call cowtown toys and candy. 

Kids loved it we ended up spending a bit too much money there but came away with some neat stuff. 

Then we headed back to Alberta and stopped at Dunmore’s Dugout. Kids got to let loose and play laser tag, jump on tramps, climbing wall and bumper cars. Since Kansas was a little too little to do laser tag and bumper cars dad took her on a go kart which went really fast around and around and made Kansas a bit dizzy. Wade needs to practice laser tag 

First he had his gun pointed the wrong way and shot himself. Second he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. When he and Macie played 25-0 for Macie. We all laughed even Wade. The good news is there is no where but up from here. 

We continued on to Medicine Hat and went to the biggest Tee Pee. 

Saturday we packed up and were ready for home. 

We loved Cypress Hills