New babysitter!

A few months ago I spoke to our neighbour because I was pretty sure her son and daughter were nearing or in their teens!  And they are ... so between the two of them, we're keeping them busy this summer!!  Their son is mowing our grass while we're away and their daughter is watering my flowers and we had her babysit on Friday night!  She is only 11 years old (turns 12 in January) but she has her babysitters course and is eager to babysit!  It's nice that her parents are just behind us, just in case.  She came over at 5:30.  Cal and I went for a drink and appy's and then to a movie.  In the morning the kids said she was great and she even brought a backpack full of crafts to do with the kids!  Emerson and Reese made 3 different crafts and thought it was so cool that she brought all the supplies with her ;)  Blake chose not to participate in the crafts - I think he felt a bit awkward with her!!  He is nearly as tall as her and only 3 years older ... lol!  He said he just watched his hockey videos on the iPad and read.  He even put himself to bed, said he didn't need her help!  I found this amusing!!  But I am very glad that the kids all had a great evening with her and we will definitely be scheduling her a lot more ... especially once the Oilers season starts and we get our tickets!!  Yay for a new babysitter, who lives within walking distance :)

~Tracy

Long Lake Provincial Park

We headed to Long Lake on July 30th for an extra long weekend of fun with my parents and family friends, the Scott's.  The weather was good for the most part, we had some rain and some wind.  The kids were so excited to be out on the lake on Grandma and Grandpa's boat and had a blast tubing!!  Grandpa pulled them around and around and around again!!  They could stay out there for hours!  They got pretty brave with the 'bumps' and twists and turns and gave me a near heart attack ;)  This was Reese's 1st time on the tube but you wouldn't know it!  Cal even jumped on for a few rides!!  Blake tried water skiing and got up for a few seconds, one time!  He was a champ and very brave!!  The water was getting a bit rough and there was quite a few boats on the lake, which makes it hard to teach someone to water ski.  My Dad and I also got a ski in, which was great!!  Next time I will slalom!  I wasn't sure how much time I'd spend helping Blake and didn't want to wear myself out - it's pretty crazy how in my teen's I could spend all day water skiing and not feel a muscle ... now I ski for a few minutes and my back and arm muscles are screaming!!  Good sign that I should maybe get back into shape ;)  Anyways, Blake wants to try skiing again this summer so hopefully we can get to the lake with my Mom and Dad before school starts.  Emerson would also like to try water skiing!  We also took the kids fishing, which they always enjoy.  No bites this time but Em and Blake are getting good at casting!  Reese's casts are a tad wild ... she almost hooked Grandma on one cast!!  Besides spending time on the boat, we spent some time on the beach and Blake, Cal and Grandpa played catch!  It was great long weekend and we're glad we chose Long Lake, it's an awesome campground!

~Tracy