camping

So we tried camping again. And it was great! Seriously, lots of fun, except for a few little things... Like while I had to hold on to David so that he wouldn't run off the edge of a cliff into a waterfall, Libby fell down and scraped her knee at the exact same time that Cadie got bit by a dog. Corey decided last minute that he wouldn't be joining us as he had to work, so I was a little apprehensive about setting up the tent all by myself - I shouldn't have been - Libby was such a good helper - she stood on her tiptoes and held up the poles so I could put them into the holes. She also babysat david whenever I took Cadie to the washroom (David still has a fascination with putting things -including his hands- in toilets) But I have to say the best part about camping was my PJ's. My warm comfy-cozy one-piece jammies that look exactly like an infant's sleeper - with feet. I thought they would keep me warm, and I love them - so I wore them. The kids were asleep one night when our rain fly blew off our tent in a crazy gust of wind - I ran out to save it from blowing away as I could tell a big storm was on it's way -well, I better preface this with earlier that day, 20 shirtless, built, rugged young guys pitched their tents next to mine. Turned out to be an entire army unit from England. So my rain fly blows off and I ran out to retrieve it in my sleeper and a whole army of good-looking (but mildly rude) men watched me flail around and wrestle it to the ground and then clumsily try to re-attach it to my tent in gale force wind. Guess you had to be there. But they sure thought it was funny. I was so proud of the girls though - Libby and Cadie both did the bear's hump hike (and I did it with a 28 pound David wrapped on my back) we did red rock canyon

and cameron lake, too. We had fun on the paddle boats and trying to catch gophers. (They did actually catch one in a butterfly net for a split second before it ran out)

David fell asleep in his camp chair he was so tired - I let the kids stay up late to see the stars - they'd never even seen stars before this!! But they of course still woke up at 6:00 the next morning...

David's highlight of the trip was throwing rocks into everything - the river, the lake, the waterfall, over cliffs, over steps, onto gophers and chipmunks- who surprisingly kept coming back for more... What a fun summer - I can't believe it's almost half way over!

So I'm blogging this simply because the house is still in showing mode and I don't want to drag out the scrapbooks from boxes in the basement but I want to remember this. We've been having crazy tons of fun lately - I had a great time at YW's camp - and my family did survive without me! We just got back from Lethbridge - and this feels like the bazillionth trip this summer without a DVD player - the kids are getting so good at amusing themselves in the van. However, today was an exception. We had gone swimming at the new swimming pool in Raymond and they all fell asleep on the 20 min drive back to lethbridge. This is bad because a short nap like that just makes them more grumpy and complicates bed times later one. So at 8:30 on the way back to calgary they are still awake and whining like crazy "I'm hungry" being the loudest. So I did what any good mom would do - I made up a game called "eating food." We had to guess two different kinds of food and then smoosh them together and pretend to eat them. We had so much fun until Corey decided to turn off his whine-drowner (Ipod) and join in. His first mix was steak with cottage cheese. When Libby was trying to guess "what comes from a cow" she guessed milk and corey said "no, a kind of meat" Libby laughed her head off and almost crying she was laughing so hard "who ever heard of a cow making meat!"

auntie paula's wedding!

My sister got herself married to the most wonderful man who has a wonderful daughter - I'm so happy to have a bigger, better family! My darling girls got to be flower girls- they were pretty excited, and did a great job. I wish you could see their hair better - Chelsea did such a great job, everyone thought it was professional. My husband was the wedding photographer and he did a wonderful job, too! Check out www.momentsmadevisible.com for more of his work! So, don't you want to hear more about my darling girls? Well, I lost David again the other day - only to find him in his playpen - Libby had hoisted him in and he was sitting in her lap, resting his head on her shoulder as she read him books. What a sweet big sister! She often asks me if she can be the one to buckle him into his stroller/car seat, etc, if she can serve him his meal, or if she can tuck him into bed at night. I hope he doesn't grow up thinking she's his mom! I've been so busy the last few months getting the house ready to sell and then keeping it spotless for showings that I've been neglecting my children. They have been watching way too many movies and I put most of the toys away months ago so they don't have much to entertain themselves with. Unfortunately, this has led to some behaviour malfunctions... Libby has always been very creative - she can make up games faster than I can shut them down. Yesterday she made up a game called "poop in the house." This involved finding rocks outside and "pooping" them into the house. (Pooping being throwing) Like at my piano. Not a happy mom. So I sent them outside to play and even started filling up the pool (Pool being inflatable dinghy) but got distracted by a lawn that needed mowing - turn back around to Libby spraying the hose through the neighbours open family room window. At the loss of the hose and the impending time out, she screamed at me "I hate you, you're a stupid idiot, you're a bad mom." Wow. I thought this kind of stuff happened once your kids are teenagers? Then when we were making "sorry cookies" for the neighbours she yelled at Cadie "I hate you, you're a stupid idiot, you're a bad sister." Poor Cadie loves her sister she was so sad she cried and I'm so bad, I actually put tobasco sauce on her tongue. It was the only thing that would get through to her, but Corey told me that's kid torture and not to do it again. Ahh, one of these days I will find a currency that works with that girl!