Their World, Aug 2014

August highlights:

• waffles for breakfast... with fresh whipped cream, local berries, and homemade caramel sauce
• finally getting our deck stained (most of it)
• having extra time with our cousins, while they waited for the visas for Sudan to come through
• introducing the kids to "Back to the Future", and using online instructions to build the Delorean  our of the Lego pieces we already have
• hosting my aunt Laveryne and my cousin's son, Brenda, for the weekend... and we CRAMMED that weekend full of as much fun and trips and tours and museums and sightseeing as humanly possible!
• the fact that my aunt brought my mom along as well!
• LOTS of swimming (!) thanks to wonderful friends with pools
• Elosie falling off the slide and suffering a concussion... our family's first head injury!
• a final farewell to our cousins (actually Peter's cousin and his family, whom we adore) before they finally left for Khartoum

It was a good month. Except for the concussion.

I decided to use a collage program (that I've had forever) for these images... and must've had some sort of compression setting on them... because they look like garbage.

But seeing as this post is almost 2 weeks late, I'm just going to leave them.

Pretend they were all taken with my phone... then it's not so terrible. *sigh*

Their World, July 2014

And I thought that June was busy!

In July we:

• hosted a Canada Day party for 22 people
• enjoyed the last bit of our time with Nana and Papa
• had a packed 8 day visit from my sister and her family (geocaching, ice cream shoppe, the Ottawa Beer Market, a tour of the Cold War Museum at the Diefenbunker, the Science Museum, POUTINE, the Museum of History & Children's Museum, the Mosaika light show on Parliament Hill, along with park visits, bike rides... see? PACKED.)
• watched LOTS of soccer... so sad that Argentina lost.
• travelled down to Rochester, NY, to visit the Strong's Museum of Play, see a movie, do some shopping (including the Lego Store!), visit the Rochester Science Museum, and hit up a Wegman's to drool over their selection of gluten free foods
• spent three fun-filled days with Peter's brother and his family at our sister-in-law's family farm/pond, located right next to one of NY beautiful state parks 

We also swam with friends, went to parks/splash pads, had fun rock climbing and racing through bouncing houses/slides at les Jeux de la Francophonie Canadienne, climbed fences to watch trains go by, and cheered Peter on (from a distance) as he ran a 26km Spartan Race. In addition to that, I managed to squeeze in a family session, a maternity session, a full-day wedding, and potentially a birth if baby decides to come before the end of the month. In the month that I told myself I'd take off. HA.

And my birthday is July 31st!

(I decided to limit this to images of only my four kids, without any of their cousins... otherwise this post would have 53 images. No joke.)





02.July.2014 - with Nana and Papa (Peter's parents)

07.July.2014 - family shot at the Diefenbunker

14.July.2014 - picnic on our way down to NY, swimming & sundaes

15.July.2014 - The Strong's Museum of Play, the Lego Store

16.July.2014 - hurricane simulator at the Rochester Science Centre... and a little girl feeling left out

18.July.2014 - a little evening hike in the state park

24.July.2014 - inflatable fun at les jeux de la francophonie

25.July.2014 - traaaaaaain!!

I have so many other images to share from this month, but this will have to suffice. Next in the circle is Annie. Please click through and see what she was up to in July.

Their World, June 2014

June was full. Two birthdays, our 14th wedding anniversary, hot enough weather to finally be in the water, finishing our homeschool year, hours spent at various parks, a visit from Nana and Papa, and a big Spartan Race at the end of the month.

02.June.2014 - Liam opening his birthday presents. Eloise pouting because they weren't for her. *Excuse Andrew's dirty face.

09.June.2014 - Swimming next door. Our neighbours (a retired couple) are so good to us. They've given us a key to their pool and even bring out snacks for the kids every time we go to swim. Spoiled!

18.June.2014 - Liam's Nerf part with friends. I invited two (of my) friends, which meant 13 kids. They had a blast running around the park with a stockpile of 100+ bullets.

22.June.2014 - Trying out the pool at our friends' new home (they're all in there, I promise).

23.June.2014 - End of year homeschool picnic at a nearby lake.

26.June.2014 - Eloise opening her gifts from Nana and Papa and her brothers. We celebrated her birthday a bit late this year, which totally offended her brothers, but she didn't know the difference. She's in love with the 12 vintage Care Bear toys found on Kijiji.

28.June.2014 - Family pictures, post-Spartan Race. I should've had the boys all wear their Spartan shirts and medals, but no one was in the mood for wardrobe changes at this point, in the 40C degree humidity.

Next in the circle is Anika.