the week of Hrdlicka's!!

Following bike camp, the Hrdlicka's and Cameron's headed to Miquelon Lake for a weekend of camping!!!  We had a great week with the Hrdlicka's an's d I really think they should move closer and we should spend every week together.  lol ;)  

During the week of bike camp, Emerson and Presley had a sleepover at Presley's nana's house and Nicholas slept over at our house.  They all had fun and as expected ... the boys caught more zzzz's than the girls ;)  The fun continued at Miquelon Lake! The kids had fun biking, playing baseball, playing at the park and around the campsite and enjoying a few of the park programs.  The adults had fun adult time once the kids were in bed and enjoyed relaxing and visiting!  The weekend was over far too quickly!

Nicholas and Blake on their sleepover at our house!

Some of the small amount of sleeping that Emerson and Presley did on their sleepover ;)

The youngest Hrdlicka and the youngest Cameron - 2 adorable kiddo's!!

Blake, Emerson and Presley, taking in a park program about 'Critters'

Chasing butterflies!

Checking on her spider :)

Carson and his Dad, checking out their catch!

Watching a movie, keeping out of the rain

fireside selfie!

Watercolor painting at the interpretive centre!

Friends for life :)

Pedalheads Bike Camp!

Reese on 2 wheels!!

This week was bike camp week!!  The kids were extremely excited!!  They sure love bike camp!  This week was extra-special because my nephew Connor and our friends the Hrdlicka's were also in bike camp!  This is Blake's 4th year in bike camp, Em's 3rd and Reese's 2nd.

By day 2 Reese was on 2 wheels!!  Cal and Em took her out 2-wheeling the week before and she did pretty good so we were 110% sure that she'd be fully on 2 wheels within the first 2 days of bike camp :)  

Emerson had a blast!  She was so proud to go on a few trail rides and learn hand signals!  She was hesitant about riding her bike at the beginning of the summer but after the week at Ol MacDonalds and a lot of biking with Grandpa and Dad, she was doing great and excited for bike camp!  Nicholas was in her class and they had a lot of fun together!

Blake went on a lot of long distance rides, riding to the Muttart one day!  He has advanced to road riding and learned the rules of the road.  He had a great time and learned a lot and now thinks he should be riding on the road, when we go on family bike rides ;)

Another great week of summer camp, thanks to Pedalheads!  Hopefully we'll be able to fit this camp into our summer, in 2016!

Day 1: Group warm-up, gorgeous day!

Face painting on the last day :)

Connor did so great!!

Hrdlicka's and Cameron's: L to R, Nicholas, Blake, Emerson, Presley and Reese (Carson is actually behind Presley!!)

SK Road Trip

On Friday morning we loaded into the mini-van and headed for Saskatoon, SK!  We had to make a pit stop along the way as I had a phone interview for a position with AHS - more on that if/when I am the successful candidate ;)  We made the pit stop in Vegreville.  The kids and Cal ran into Walmart to buy Cal a pair of swim trunks and look around, while I interviewed from the van!!  When I was done we stopped at Timmie's and then the World's Largest Pysanka! 

The kids enjoyed seeing the egg and we took a quick photo before racing back to the van!  The rest of the trip was uneventful, the kids are such great travellers!  We arrived at our hotel in Saskatoon around 3 pm and quickly headed to the pool!  We don't stay in very many hotels, in fact this was only our 2nd hotel stay as a family of 5, and so the kids were anxious to try out the pool and water slide!!  After a nice swim we went to the Keg for dinner and came back to hotel to visit the Stecyk's for a few minutes before bedtime!

Saturday morning brought another swim, this time with the Stecyk's.  Then a movie in bed after showers, changing into our wedding clothes and we were off to Drake for my cousin Brynn's wedding!  It was a gorgeous ceremony, beautiful dresses and colors, gorgeous farm yard location.  In between the ceremony and reception we visited at my parents trailer.  The reception was great, the girls had fun dancing and it was great to see most of my cousins and my Grandma Marg.  The kids haven't seen their Great Grandma in awhile, so it was really nice to visit with her and we are lucky that she will be visiting here at the beginning of September!  It was a late night, we got back to the hotel just after midnight.  Blake fought falling asleep the entire drive home, just so he could say he stayed up past midnight ;)

We left pretty early on Sunday morning and arrived back in Edmonton just in time for Blake's 3 on 3 hockey game.  It was a fun weekend and we send big thanks to my parents for the use of their hotel points!!

It's hard to believe July is 1/2 over.  We've had such a great summer break up until this point and have so much more summer fun planned!!  

Talk to you soon,

Tracy 

World's largest Pysanka!

Blake and Cal teamed up to create a tsumani in the hotel pool, lol!

Little fish!

Movie and pretzel time :)

Brittany + Brynn

How cute are these 3?!  Reese and Emerson with their cousin, Connor!

Great Grandma Marg with Reese, Blake and Em

We clean up nicely :)

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