Mystery

What are these crazy kids doing?

Mud in the Desert

Somehow, in the desert wasteland of my backyard (we've had about 1/4" of rain in the last month) my boys found MUD.  Boys will be boys, I guess.  Hard to know if I should get them in trouble for their mess-making skills or laugh at their creativity.  In any case, I think they had a lot of fun!  Nothing that a sprinkler can't fix, especially on such a hot day.  When I checked the weather at 3, it said it was 35 but with the humidex it feels like 47.  I was expecting to see my dear hubby home a little early today because of the heat - he's going to be toast (almost literally) after a hot, hot day of framing. 

The guilty culprits

 I don't think he can claim innocence

 Another face full of evidence

 Cooling off and cleaning up!

A Week at Grundy

We returned home on Friday evening from a week camping at Grundy Lake with friends of ours.  We had absolutely lovely weather - a bit cooler than the scorcher days at home, (almost) no rain, and nice cool nights for sleeping.  The kids were big fans of camping and were quite upset at the idea of going home - I think they wanted to camp forever.  Unfortunately for them, camping forever is not an option.  We did some hiking, canoeing, fishing, crayfish hunting, biking, swimming at the beach, and of course campfires. 

The boys love to help their Daddy out with work around the campsite. 

Peter practices his firewood stacking

The kids all had fun playing together.  Both of our sites were quite grassy, with an area of sand which was perfect for the kids to play in.  The sand pits kept them happily occupied for hours!

Our section of the campground was quite empty, which was also great for the kids.  They had the freedom to go back and forth between our campsites without worrying too much about traffic, taking turns pushing each other in the wagon or riding their bikes. 

This picture is a little out of focus, but I think it's hilarious.  

He's got such a weird, crazed happy look on his face

 The kids on one of our hikes

 Family picture time

Peter and Aaron took turns being the leader, looking for the little yellow dots or arrows marking the path.  Nate for the most part was quite stubbornly independent, telling us to "go away" if we tried to hold his hand through the more difficult parts of the path.   

 Stopping for a quick snack break

 Aunt Dell came up from Wednesday to Thursday morning, and we managed to pack a good Grundy day in with some hiking, biking, swimming, and a campfire. 

 We did some crayfish hunting, which Aaron was particularly fond of.  He was so excited to try to catch them, but yet so upset when they got away! 

 All the boys in the creek searching for critters

 Somehow this little guy didn't fall in

 I think we might see this picture down the road a few years in a wedding slideshow perhaps?  Haha!  He was not very pleased when the crayfish pinched him

  But he quickly forgot he was angry at the little critter

 When we got back to the campsite, Mike boiled one crayfish and ate parts of it, like a mini lobster

Peter was surprisingly pleased to have the empty crayfish head on his finger

We brought about a dozen of them back to the campsite, and this Rubbermaid bin served as a temporary aquarium, very popular with the kids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Altogether, we had a great, relaxing week.  It was good to spend some time together as a family and to enjoy the great outdoors.  Goodbye, Grundy!  See you again sometime!

Fireworks!

Last night we took the kids for their first-ever fireworks display!  My family came over for the evening, and when dusk approached we drove to a nearby park and from there walked to Port to watch the Canada Day fireworks from the beach.  It started at 10 pm, which was a little late for them, but they had all had a nap in the afternoon and were excited to see the "firebombs".  I had to wake them all up this morning in order to get to VBS on time.