May long flood .. aka camping!!

A great time was had on May long weekend, albeit the weather!!  You just never know what the weather is going to be on May long but this year the forecast for a week straight pointed towards rain.  And not just showers, lots of rain!  I was almost contemplating suggesting foregoing the trip this year but I'm sure glad I didn't.  Just getting out of the city was a welcomed break.  The forecast turned out to be accurate, we did get a lot of rain.  So much rain that the kids had to put plastic bags in their rubber boots because within the first few hours of being at the campground, their boots were full of water and their socks were soaked!  My Mom recommended the plastic bags and it sure worked well!  We did get a lot of rain and it wasn't very warm but thankfully the fire ban was lifted and the fire kept us warm, when needed :)  And the tarps placed around and above the fire, also helped - Thanks to the guys for their handy tarp hanging skills!!  The kids still had a great weekend and we did too!  Poor Heidi was not at all keen on being outside and spent the majority of the 3 days in the trailer.  I'd open the door to check on her and she'd give me the stink eye, as if to say, "Are you kidding me??  I am not going out there."  I felt a little bad for her, she seemed cold and unhappy all weekend :(  But she made it through and hopefully she'll be happier on our warm, July camping trip!!  Our kids and the Streadwick kids ran the campground and in and out of our trailer and the Streadwick trailer.  The only casualty all weekend was a light above our dinette. Not sure the story there, but one of them was a little forceful with it!!  I had bought a bunch of dollar store crafts, which the girls spent a lot of time on!  The water was too rough and the weather too cold and rainy to take the boat out, which was disappointing but understandable!  And although it did rain a lot, it didn't rain all weekend!  The annual Saturday night appy night was delicious and the company was grand :)  We took a drive into Athabasca on Sunday, to escape the rain and have lunch.  The burgers and fries at the Burger Barn were delicious!!  Thanks to the Stecyk's, the Smith's, the Scott's and the Streadwicks for another great May long.  Fingers crossed for a sunnier weekend next year!!!

Girls trip to G.P.!!

On the 13th the Edmonton and Stony Plain Cameron ladies embarked on a road trip to Grande Prairie!!  The primary purpose for our visit was to meet Miss Aurora who was born at the beginning of April, to our niece Kourtney.  Of course we also were excited to visit many other relatives :)  We had a fabulous time! The kids had so much fun and loved playing with their cousins and meeting Aurora, who by the way, is the cutest baby ever!!  Kourtney is doing such a great job as a new mom :)  Here are a few pics from our road trip (which I hope is the first annual Cameron girls road trip!!):

Emerson, Kailey and Kerri loving on Aurora :)

So sweet, Em just loves babies!!

Kerri, Reese, Kourtney, Aurora and Kailey at the baby shower

Reese loves her new baby cousin!

So thankful we were able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Alstad, they hold a special place in my heart.

 

Let's see how much we can fit into one weekend ...

This weekend Blake's team was in the Beaumont lacrosse tournament.  They had a great tourney and we got to spend some time with the Stony Plain Cameron's, as Colby and Blake's teams played each other :)  On Saturday evening Blake headed to his game with the Mauro family, while Reese, Cal, my Mom and my Dad, my sister and I headed to the DOW Centennial Centre in  Fort Saskatchewan for Emerson's year end dance recital. Em's group performed two numbers and rocked that stage!! They did so well!  Emerson really enjoyed herself and wanted to stay to watch the older kids :)  We left after the second act and Cal and I took the girls to Red Robin's for a late dinner, before picking Blake up at Matteo's house.  Blake had fun with the Mauro's and enjoyed their dinner at Mongoli Grill!  He was very excited to tell us about the goal he scored in his lacrosse game that afternoon!!  Mother's Day we were up and out the door very early for the last game of the lacrosse tournament.  Mom and Dad met us for the game and afterward we all met at Boston Pizza for a nice Mother's Day lunch!  The rest of the day was fairly low key ... I even snuck in a nap ;)  I hope all the Mother's out there in blog land had a wonderful Mother's Day!!  Thank you to all who support me in this journey, I couldn't do it without you!  

xo

~Tracy

Em's year end dance recital - so proud of her and how much she has learned this year!

Happy 9th Birthday, Blake!!

On May 5th, Blake turned 9.  I am so glad he is not in the double digits yet ... my momma heart wouldn't have been able to handle it!  So now I have an entire year to prepare for the big 10th birthday ;)  Blake had a very busy birthday.  We weren't sure when we would host his birthday party, between baseball, hockey, swimming lessons, dance practice and a dance recital, lacrosse and a lacrosse tournament and soccer ... we didn't have a lot of free time!!  Fortunately, we have early dismissal Thursday's!!  Reese doesn't have school on Thursday's and Blake and Emerson are out at 11:51 am AND Blake's birthday was on a Thursday, so it all worked out although we were sad that a few of our family and friends couldn't make it.  We had the party the afternoon of the 5th and it went well!  I was so worried we'd be rained out but thankfully we weren't.  We had the party at the park and I think it might have been one of the best parties to date!  The kids played on the playground, ate lunch and cake and finished the afternoon off with a baseball game!  All Blake wanted to do for his birthday party was play baseball, so I'm glad we were able to grant that wish :)  Below are a few pics from our morning before school and from the party:

Opening gifts from Mom and Dad and Em and Reese

Nuggies for his sisters ;) (Reese didn't have school that morning, hence the pj's!)

Ready for school :)

Party in the park - the handsome birthday boy!

Just a bunch of monkeys, hangin' out!

Cake time!!

Most of the party crew :)

Batter up!

Eating lunch on the fire truck ;)

3 cuties, Ava, Reese and Nathan

Blake requested either a Jays cake or a Cubs cake ... DQ didn't have a Jays cake so Cubs it was :)

Opening presents

Waiting for their turn to bat!

Grandpa playing bat catcher, while Dad pitches it in!!

Em also loves a good game of ball!

 After the party at the park, we headed home for a quick dinner and Grandma's famous carrot cake before Blake headed to lacrosse and Reese and I headed to school for a Mother's Day tea.  Lindsay and the boys, Mom and Dad and Blake's buddy Dante joined us!

Some downtime before lacrosse!)

Blake's request ... hot dogs!!!

Cutie patooties!!

The final cake of the day :)

 Happy 9th birthday to our boy!  Blake, you make your Dad and I so proud every single day.  We love the young man you are growing into - kind, thoughtful, caring, driven, smart, funny and athletic! You stand up for your friends and aren't afraid to do so.  You have a strong sense of right and wrong and always try to do the right thing. You are a strong student, a wonderful big brother and a great friend!  Love you to the moon and back, our (not so) little man!

 

Adious April!

Well, April has come and gone ... These are the highlights of our month and what we've been up to :)

~ Blake's spent a lot of his free time on the lacrosse field!  I'm not sure if it's called a field or not, I think maybe it's called a court?!  Hmmm ... I better figure that out ;)  He plays box lacrosse (indoors) so maybe it's called a box?!  lol!  That just sounds weird, so probably not a box.  Anyways, he is in his 2nd year of lacrosse and this year moved up to Novice lacrosse (equivalent to Atom hockey).  He's loving it and it is definitely more of a challenge this year, as he is a first year Novice player.  He's happy to be on the same team as some of his friends and teammates from last year and excited that two of his hockey buddies have joined the sport and are on his team!  We're looking forward to the start of the regular season in May!
~ Choir is wrapping up soon.  I think Blake is ready for it to be over, as he's worried about missing baseball or lacrosse for the performance's he committed to ;)  The choir sang at the open house this month.  I really enjoyed watching him but after the performance I had to confirm that he was enjoying himself, as he had a very serious look on his face the entire time.  When I asked him if he had fun, his reply was, "Of course!"  So funny!  Mr. serious was serious about his choir performance ;)  The girls also had a role during the Open House, as they were invited to volunteer in the kinder classroom, answering questions from next year's kindergarten students!  They were so cute and very happy to take on this important role :)
~ Ukrainian Dance will be wrapping up early in May.  Emerson had her 2nd performance at St. Michael's long term care.  She did fabulous in both dances and we loved watching her group and the other groups as well!
~ Reese's class had a TWOS field trip.  I took the afternoon off work to join them and had fun spending 1 on 1 time with Reese, visiting the various areas of the science centre and laughing with Reese! 
~ Cal was invited to attend the Hockey Edmonton banquet, where he and his fellow First Shift coaches were recognized.  It was a lovely evening with friends!  Lindsay and Jeremy babysat for us and the kids had a blast with their Aunt, Uncle and cousins!
~ Blake was invited to play shinny and had fun!  We are really trying to give him a few months break from hockey but he sure had fun being on the ice again!!
~ Baseball practices began and Blake was VERY excited to start!  He loves baseball and was extremely excited to be on the same team as 4 of his classmates. 
~ Cal ran in the First Responders 1/2 marathon.  His cheer squad caught him around the 1/2 way mark for high fives! It was a cold, rainy day but Cal rocked it!!
~ At the end of the month, our Parent Council hosted our 2nd Annual Pasta Dinner and Silent Auction.  It was  a very successful evening, which was celebrated after wards at Brewster's!  Our school community and parent council is so awesome, I'm proud to be a part of it!
~ My parents will soon be home from their vacation and we can't wait!!

Those are a few of the highlights of our April!!  We're looking forward to May and Blake's 9th birthday celebrations, May long weekend camping and hopefully a sunny, warm Spring :)

Talk to 'ya all soon!!

xoxo
Tracy

AZ Love!!

 

 

approx 4 am ... little sleep that night for the Cameron family, so excited to fly to Phoenix!!

On the shuttle to the airport :)

#yeg to #yyz to #phx, 1 hr waiting for our Budget rental car, 1 hr drive to Buckeye and finally ... this.  #bliss 

adorable sisters :)

ready to head to the ball park!

hanging out with Grandpa :) at Peoria park for a Mariners vs Royals Spring Training baseball game! (Grandma, Uncle Ken, Auntie Brenda, Sam and Jen were also with us!)

fun in the sun :)

the girls with Grandma and Grandpa :)

the next day Cal, Blake, my Dad and Uncle Ken took in another ball game at Sloan Park (Cubs vs A's)

Blake and Grandpa at the Cubs game!

 

 

 

Breaking up our girls day of shopping with a lunch at Chick-fil-A ... yummmmmyyyy ;)

a roadtrip to Sedona for the day!  so cute to see Blake reading to Reese :)

a nice hike in Sedona.  beautiful scenery.

burning off some of that energy!

lots of time spent in the gorgeous pool :)

I could get used to this view :)

"Take my picture underwater, Mom!!" #littlefish

evening card games (no tv service, no iPads = good 'ol fashioned fun ... like the old days, we told the kids!!)

JUMP!!!! (and repeat ... over and over!!)

2nd stop at Target ... #ihearttarget

boarding our last plane in Calgary, almost home

twinsies ... reading sports mags and talking stats

bff's (most of the time!), sipping apple juice and coloring :)

I really didn't take that many photo's but those were some of the highlights!  We had a fabulous time and were so blessed to have a gorgeous house to stay in!!  A HUGE thank you to Sue and Randy, who own the house (I know they'll never read this but we are so grateful for the use of their gorgeous AZ home).  Thank you to my parents for visiting us and making our time extra special and thank you to my Aunt and Uncle for also visiting us and having fun with us all :)  We were also lucky enough to spend some time with the Donaghey's, thank you Sam and Jen for the yummy dinner and for letting the Cameron kids spend hours in your pool ;)  We also spent lots of time with just the five of us and we loved every moment - so grateful for this time away!!  The highlight of the trip for me, was just seeing how excited the kids were at every moment - we had people all around us on our first flight, smiling at their excitement!!  None of the kids remember their first flights, so it was all new to them and their joy was contagious ... even at 6 in the morning ;)  They're still talking about the trip and I am glad that they are all old enough that they will remember it forever, as will I!!  #heartfull

Hope you enjoyed the photo's!  ttys :)