Ol' MacDonalds Resort

This past week was our annual Ol' MacDonalds camping trip!!  When we arrived on Monday, the kids wanted to see the animals right away!  My Mom and Dad were already parked and set up, so Mom took them to the animals.  Lindsay and Jeremy and the boys arrived not long after we did.  

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.  Tuesday was slightly overcast and not really beach weather, so we took advantage of the weather and did the activities around the campground - train ride, tractor/wagon ride, swing ride and playing at the park and campsite!  Jeremy was super brave and took Connor, Blake and Reese into Stettler for a few things, in the afternoon!  Both Cal and Mom had work to do on Tuesday and were away for most of the day.  Mom in Barrhead on Co-op business and Cal in Stettler and Drumheller.  Day 2 and 3 were in the upper 20's  to lower 30's and were spent at the beach!!  Day 3, we also snuck in a pedal car ride before hitting the beach and said goodbye to the Stecyk's, as they continued on to Drumheller to finish up their camping vacation!  

The beach at Ol' MacDonals is so nice - the sand is raked daily, there's no rocks in the lake, the lake is very shallow and you can walk out forever!  The kids had so much fun in the water!  Grandpa entertained them for hours - tossing them up in to the air and swimming with them!  Over and over and over again!!  They were thrilled :)  I also found it great to go for a swim and play in the water for awhile, it was a much needed reprieve from the heat!!  A few sandcastles were built, Blake played lacrosse with his teammate and then a little baseball game at the diamonds.  We did some biking and the kids did a lot of biking!  Blake and Em joined Cal for the first 5k of one of his runs!  Some friends pulled in to the campground on Thursday evening, so Cal and I joined them at their campfire Thursday night.  A couple of them are Cal's fellow NP'ers and so they met early Friday morning for a workout and #OMC (old man coffee) ... insider lingo that I get to be partial to as I share a bed with an NP'er ... lol!!!  It was a great 5 days and needless to say, the kids didn't want to leave on Friday morning and were asking, "When are we coming back??"  I think we could easily spend 7 days at Ol' MacDonalds!  

Thanks for another great trip to Ol' MacDonalds, Mom, Dad, Lindsay, Jeremy and boys :)

'Smith' cousins

Grandma and Grandpa are the best :)

A tough ride for Blake!!

our water babies :)

Reese loved the rope swing!

waitin' on a train!

True North Strong and Free!

Happy Canada Day, my friends!!  I hope you took some time to celebrate our beautiful, free country :)  Our family spent the majority of the day at the legislature grounds.  Cal headed to the grounds bright and early for his NP workout, which he then followed up with a 15 K race ... can you say rockstar?!  The kids and I dragged our butts out of bed and sped down to catch Cal cross the finish line!!  We then enjoyed a pancake breakfast and all the fun that is Canada Day on the AB Legislature Grounds!!  It was a fabulous morning and afternoon.  We headed home so Cal could change and soak his sore muscles and then went to my parents house in Stony Plain for a BBQ.  It was a fabulous day :)

Posing with Cal @ the finish line!

Proud lil' Canadians!!

Watching the ceremonies on the stairs of the Legislature

Enjoying the CBC Kids performances!

Photo booth fun :)

1st Annual Stecyk Beach Day

Today was the inaugural event!!  We headed to Summerside Beach Club in the morning and spent an awesome, hot day on the beach with my family, Jeremy's family and Jeremy and Lindsay's friends.  The beach club is so nice, the water and beach are very, very clean and our water babies absolutely love spending time there :)  After the adults were swimmed and beached out (because, really, do kids ever really get swimmed and beached out?!), we all headed over to Jeremy and Lindsay's for a BBQ.  Thank you so much Lindsay and Jeremy for hosting us, we had a blast!!

Blake and Cal playing football

Uncle Jeremy was a shark ;)

My studdly husband :)

Sand castle building!

Quick snack before Cal and Blake took a beach time out for 3 on 3 ;)

Paddle boat ride with Linds, Em and Reese

Love this selfie and my girls :)

 

Talent Show/Games Day/Last Day of School!!

Bring on summer!!!  And if someone would please talk to my children and MAKE THEM SLEEP IN ... that would be great, thanks ;)

The talent show was amazing ... until Reese lost interest!  Thankfully she lost interest AFTER Blake and Ryan's performance was over.  It was a bit on the long side, I can see why she lost interest!!  Blake and Ryan did great and I was so very proud of both of them.  Being a person who does not like speaking in front of a crowd, I was very proud of Blake and somewhat surprised that he really felt like it was no big deal to get up in front of the entire school and 'perform.'  But at his age, I probably felt the same way!! 

Blake and Ryan - ready for their comedy routine at the Ecole Bisop Savaryn Talent Show!

Games Day was HOT.  Like scorching hot.  But fun!!  I already forget the name of the station I ran but basically the students had to hold a ball between their hips and race to a finish line.  They started with a squishy dodge ball and then moved on to tennis balls, soccer balls, basketballs, etc.  It was fun and they even tried balancing the ball between their foreheads and chins, etc.  The entire school was split up in to teams, with a mixture of grades on each team.  Each team was led by a YL (youth leader - grade 5 or 6 student).  The teams all had animal names (the Cheetahs, Lions, etc.).  They all made team signs and came up with team chants!  It was so much fun and the kids all really enjoyed themselves.  The YL program in our school is so strong and it is so great to see the older grades working together with the younger grades and being really great role models.  The teams rotated through the stations and we all enjoyed a BBQ hot lunch, funded by the School Council. Cal took the day off and picked Em up at noon and I spent the day in the hot sun!

Games Day fun at Ecole Bishop Savaryn!!

The last day of school for Emerson was a Thursday and Blake's last day was a 1/2 day on Friday.  After school on Friday we had our 2nd annual DQ celebration!!  Lunch and ice cream with friends to celebrate another great school year :)

Em's 1st and last day of kindergarten :)

Blake's 1st and last day of grade 2 :)

Last morning walk to Bishop Savaryn - until September!!

Always the best of times with the best of friends :)  So blessed with our school family!!

Blake's report card is only on line now, they don't get a printed copy unless you request it and I forgot to write a note in his agenda.  So it took me a few days to check on line!!  But when I finally checked, his report card was great :)  He's reading above his grade level in both French and English and seems to excel in Math and Religion!  He needs to work on putting his thoughts on to paper.  Mme Melissa says he is a very deep thinker (we know this, he has been a deep thinker since the day he was born, I swear we could see that when he was just a little baby!!).  When given a writing assignment he uses a large majority of his time thinking about what he is going to write about and then has little time left to put it down on paper!!  His teacher said he is definitely thinking, not daydreaming or off task, just putting a lot of thought into his assignment :)  That's our boy!!  We're proud of his report card and we're going to journal this summer to keep the writing/pencil to paper process going.  And of course he'll be reading!  He still loves his Geronimo Stilton books but has also found a new Hardy Boys series and Cal found a kids baseball series that Blake is also reading and loving.  He's joined the Summer Reading Challenge at the local library, which is a lot of fun.

Could not have said it better!

I am so happy to be officially on summer vacation.  It will take awhile to slow the kids down, as it has been go-go-go for so long!!  Emerson, most especially, takes some time to unwind!  She'll be asking me every 10 minutes, "What are we doing today, Mom?"  "What are we doing tomorrow, Mom?"  lol!  She'll be checking what time it is, asking if it is morning, afternoon or evening.  So we'll take some time to get away from 'clock watching' and all the scheduling!  Our summer plans involve camping, play dates, library visits, biking, park time, a pj day or two and attending the green shack program at our local park and bike camp.  In the first few weeks of July I am going to sit down with the kids and compile a 'summer bucket list' :)  

Talk to you soon!!

~Tracy 

Playdates, field trips and parties!

Okay, it's mid-June and this month has already been jam-packed!!!  The kids have all been on play dates this week, I've accompanied Blake on a field trip to John Jantzen Nature Centre, Em's had a Teddy Bear Picnic at school, a Father's Day fun night with her class and their Dads and a school 'beach' day!  Oh, Em also had a birthday party at Galaxyland and Blake and his friend Ryan (together with their moms) put together a comedy routine and auditioned for the school talent show!!  Annnd 3 on 3 began today :)  It's been fun y'all!  But July is just around the corner and we're racing for the finish line!!!  Talk to you soon :)

John Jantzen field trip

Lacrosse Wind-Up

This weekend wrapped up Blake's 1st Lacrosse season!  He had a great time and fell in love with yet another sport ;)  Blake learned so much and picked up the game quite quickly.  He was a force to be reckoned with out there!!  He wants to play next year, so we'll see how he does moving up a level!  The next level is a lot quicker but I'm sure he'll be up to the challenge!  We ended the season with a tournament at the East Soccer Centre and lunch with the team on Sunday afternoon.  We've all enjoyed the lacrosse season, Cal and I really enjoyed watching and learning the game and as happens in team sports, the siblings also make friends and the girls made a few great lacrosse friends who they'll miss!  We'll try to plan some play dates with our lacrosse friends over the summer :)

Year end tournament photo and medal and cake at the lunch party :)

Hula-Hoop-A-Thon!!

On Friday Blake and Emerson's school had a hula-hoop-a-thon with all funds raised going towards the Boys and Girls Club of Edmonton.  When the memo first came home, I thought this sounded silly and I wondered why they didn't just do a good 'ol Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation!  I was wrong.  This event was AWESOME!!  The teachers and youth leader's did an amazing job, planning a super fun and well-organized afternoon of hula'ing!!!  Each grade had to hula to a certain number of songs (preschool - grade 1, 1 song; grade 2, 2 songs, etc.).  The crowd got involved doing the wave, starting a congo line and a whistle blew after ever $100 raised, while a YL ran around with a sign depicting the amount raised!  It was so much fun, I'm glad we went to watch and ... participate ... yes, I was called up to hula!! lol! Turns out hula-hooping with an adult hoop is much easier than hula'ing with a dollar store hula hoop!!!  Now best of all, our school raised nearly $8,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Edmonton!!!  Way to go, Ecole Bishop Savaryn School!!

Blake in the middle (orange t, no hat)!

Goofing around ;)

Congo line!!

Girls turn, lead by one of Blake's classmates :)