~ Finally, the Day arrives... ~

(I don't know why the text and pictures are all wonky...that's not how it looked when I typed it up.....) Today we leave on our summer holiday. This has been a much anticipated trip for us all. I've been talking about it since Christmas, planning it for a couple months and organizing for it for over a week now. It's now 6am and I'm wide awake...and have been since 4:00. Tonnes to do still. My family is still sleeping, and I hope they all stay that way for a few more hours. Don't need to start this trip off with fighting. The van is actually all vaccumed out and ready for us to load it up, that's a major accomplishment for all of you that know me and the general condition of my van. We live in that vehicle and it shows. The laundry is all done and packed, the fridge needs to be loaded into the cooler, and then load up the kids. We're excited to get away, excited to swim everyday, excited to spend some quality time with our kids and show them something new in this world. Some of the items on my life list are to show my children as much of the world as I can. This is our first step, small, but a start.

A couple pictures to catch up on the last couple weeks...

We have a pool for our backyard. It holds a lot of water and has to be level. Brian spend a lot of time each year putting down planks of wood to even out the ground for the pool to go on. The kids were 'helping' and also checking out what has been living under that wood since last year when we did this. I love how Owen was holding on to his big brother so he wouldn't 'fall into the bugs'.

Canada Day - They are finally old enough to stay up late and watch the fireworks. The picture is a big blurry as it was 11:00 at night, the extra girls are our neighbors. They had such a great time together. It's the first time that Owen has seen fireworks. They were going off from our local Stampede Grounds, but they were high enough we could see them from our front lawn. So fun!

It has been so hot for a couple weeks now. The kids have spent a lot of time in the backyard, swimming in the pool or just sitting on the deck. It's usually cooler on the deck than in the house.

And finally....the littlest man in his own pool. He's a fan of splashing if you couldn't tell...

These are actually action shots....he's really going absolutely nuts splashing the water. And of course screaming in delight as he does it.




That's it....stay tuned to the blog for the progress of our trip. I hope to update the blog as computers are available. I'm off to get my run in before the troops wake up....16 pounds so far...just a pat on the back for me = )