Kindergarten!!!

Well, I finally made it ... 3 kids in school! Gabe started Kindergarten this year and is loving it! He is usually a little apprehensive to go in the classroom and I am told to stay by the door for a few minutes but once he's in and indoor shoes on he is good to go. They go to the gym right away so basically life could not be any better! The gym is his second favourite place at school, the first being the playground. He is almost as tall as his teacher, Ms. Woo, a very petite lady. She tells me that he is doing great and everytime she needs to leave the room he politely says "I'll be in charge!". He has a tendency to gravitate towards the most haywire kids around him and his new friend in class is a little boy with a mohawk - to which his father's response was "of course he is". He loves telling us about his day at dinner time when Daddy is there - I am not allowed to hear about it until then. It's a good start which makes my life so much easier!

Faith's Dance Recital

Here are some pictures of Faith in her dance costumes this year. The first one is her acro and the second was her ballet. She had awesome performances this year and nailed all her limbers (hand stands into back bends and then back up again). I love her ballet teacher (I danced with her when I was younger) and she choreographs beautiful ballet routines and of course I thought Faith was the brightest star (could be a bit biased though!).

Frogging in Hammond

The favourite past time of this summer has been hunting for frogs in the ditches on our street. As well, they head out in the back field to catch snakes and for the first time a vole (kinda like a mouse). Raph picked up a fish tank he had at his parent's house and brought it home for them to put all their wonderful catches in. They are only allowed to keep the frogs or various other creatures overnight and then let them go the next day. Currently, there are 7 frogs in the tank. They have actually become quite good at catching frogs, hence the large amount at the moment.

Raph is actually the biggest kid out of all of them. He had scratched up legs all summer from all the blackberry bushes he "had to" forage through to get the frogs. He's a pretty cool Dad in their eyes!

Kettle River Trip, July, 2009

Our big camping trip this year was again to the Kettle River, although this time we found the best spot EVER. It was free and right beside the river. No packing up beach stuff and hiking from camp to the river. Also, it was close to where Raph hunts every year in November so he was able to do some scouting and take the kids on quad rides - which is one of their most favourite activities. Here are some pics from the trip ... Faith was practicing her quad driving skills.

This is the main reason I love camping at the Kettle River - hot sun and lounging in the water. Next year I will purchase a better floaty that has a drink holder!

It was Declan's 7th Birthday while we were away so I packed cupcakes for everyone. He waited for a long time to turn 7. All his friends' birthdays are at least 4 months earlier and so it becomes a long wait for his turn!

Our Maggie. Her and Buck (didn't get a picture of him this time) had a whole bunch of kids to throw the buoy for them in the water - hours of fun!

We bagged Gabe's cast for about the first 2 days and then I couldn't stand the smell anymore so I just let him get it wet. Needless to say when we got home to get the cast off there was a bunch of sand in it!

In Declan's hand is a little lizard I found floating in the water. They made a home for it in a bin for about a day and then let it go. Notice Blake making arm farts - this is apparently a right of passage for 7 year olds and a noise that we heard from Declan all the way up to Rock Creek (yes, it is a 6 hour drive). And when he wasn't making the noise his hand was in his armpit ready to make the noise at any given time!

I am standing in camp taking a picture of the beach. It was the best spot EVER. There was also a back eddy in the river at this spot so you would just float around in circles for hours.

This is our trailer and the men playing horseshoes. The only downside was the amount of horseflies, wasps and mosquitos - but then it just gave Raph something to do - the death count was quite high!

This is Amanda Deakin, Gabe's future wife possibly ... or at least it seemed to be heading in that direction ...

Our beautiful Faith.

It got a little hot in the trailer.

The bed that Faith and Declan are in was made by Raph to accommodate all 3 kids but the Gaber can be a bit of a wild card so after 2 nights he got his own bed.

The Gaber with his ladies - Kate and Amanda.