Well, we didn't fall off the face of the earth...just had a busy summer!! I haven't done a thing with the blog since the 4th of July...wow, how summer has flown by! Here's a recap of what we did and where we've been.
We celebrated the 4th of July with a party at some friends of ours...Sherri and Mike Fischer. We had a great time. It was a very hot day and the kids were out in the sprinklers, used bubbles, silly string, water guns, sidewalk chalk, you name it. As the evening wore on we graduated to the font yard cul de sac where the kids played (yeah, about 20-25 kids), rode scooters, bikes, etc and then started "our" fireworks. Mike and co. put on about 1 1/2 hrs of fireworks, crackers, sparklers, etc. We finally had to leave at 10pm as our kids were becoming bushed to say the least. It was a great time and can't wait to do it again! Hint Hint!
The next weekend we had Ashley come over at 5am for some early babysitting as Ehren and I had a triathlon to do. It was a beautiful morning and the race was great...and we each cut off about 4" from last year! We were home by noonish and then here's what happened the rest of the summer...
After a quick shower and a load of laundry we packed up the van and took off to Canada. We had a good turn over as we did all this and were on the road by 2.40 to be exact. We drove about 3.5 hrs and stopped for the night. Had some great greasy Pizza hut for dinner and the kids swam for about and hour. The next day we drove to Regina (after an hour delay with a nail in the tire) and stayed with Ehren's Aunt and Uncle, Dean & Danita. On Tues. we stopped for lunch in Saskatoon and took in some time around campus. We visited the new Place Riel and the airplane room...Engineering, Biology, Geology, etc. The kids loved Biology and the airplane room in the Chem Building. By mid afternoon we were at our first destination...Shellbrook. While here we spent time at Sturgeon Lake, took a flight with Opa, spent a day visiting friends from Saskatoon area, dinner with Pork & Ann and a great evening of bbq with some old high school friends at cousin Tasje's house. We took a day to go to Battleford to visit Great Gramma and took in an afternoon at Fort Battleford. I'd say the favorite part of the fort was the attire the kids wore and the cannon they shot off (fake of course...but loud)! The weather was great this year...probably the best on record for our visit to SK. We even ran into a freak storm the last night we were there and in the midst of a tornado warning we slept in the basement! After a week in Shellbrook we then took the day trip to Alberta so see my family.
When we arrived in High River we were happy to see everyone...Lana & Samuel and kids were there. We got to meet another nephew for the first time...Gabriel. Cute as a button and as white and blue eyed as Lana...we're still wondering who fathered all these kids!! Good thing we can see some of Samuel's features!! :-) We did a couple days of shopping and spent a day with Ehren's brother's family, Blain & Grace. Had a great day with them at the park, eating ice cream and feasting on a salmon that weighs as much as my second child!! I'd have to say Blain had enough left over salmon that night for a couple more meals!! :-) It was wonderful! Deana & Jay arrived on a Sat. night and we had a big family picture taken Sun. morning...
Ehren flew back to CO to work after being gone two weeks. I got to stay with the kids and have more fun. Evan and Emily took in some golf at the junior course with Papa. Evan took quite a liking to the game and went a couple more times. I spent one day with my sisters at the Train Museum nearby...the girls were with Nana so Evan and I were on a date that day. It was quite enjoyable as he never gets bored of trains! I managed to get in 17 holes of golf...my record for any vacation! The kids spent countless hours running through the sprinkler and playing in the bounce house.
Ehren flew back home on the 30th, we celebrated my birthday a day early with a big dinner and a wonderful cake (made by the kids with help of Nana) and we started our drive home on sunday 31st. Home in good time on the 1st and Emily had a day at camp on the 2nd!
We had a couple days to get organized and then we welcomed Gramma on the 5th. She flew in right before dinner and we drove to Qualcomm. Ehren's office had a get together that afternoon and several of the guys in the office that belonged to a band(s) played in the courtyard. We were there for an hour or so...got to meet Paul from American Ninja Warrior (TV celeb...ask Ehren if you're interested) and then we took off for dinner.
Elaine decided to stay on EST (where she flew from) as this first weekend we had two more triathlons. The kids did one on sat. morning (Evan's first one)...so we had to be at the res at 6 am. The kids did great and it was so fun to watch. Evan was disappointed that he didn't have to bike further...but oh well! Now Sun. Elaine was put to the test. She was up at 4.30 to go with Ehren to his Half Ironman triathlon (1.2mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1mile run). I joined with the kids to watch him start at 7.30. It was a very hot day (96F) but the kids kept cool swimming in the res. We caught his transitions and no sweat...piece of cake to the full Ironman he did last Nov!! Didn't hurt me one bit! :-)
After we recouped from the weekend we spent the week with karate and swimming. We did lots of shopping, Elaine watched the kids a bit and I of course, worked one day. We took the second weekend to go to CO Springs. How we haven't gotten there in the 5 years we've been here...I don't know! Sat. we drove up and did Garden of the Gods and then went to Cave of the Winds. We stayed the night in a little cottage, kids swam, and we slept hard. Got up to catch our train up Pike's Peak! The red Cog Train ride was 1h5min. up, we spent 1/2 hr at 14, 110 ft, then took the 1hr 5min. back down. It was a nice train ride and it climbed quite steep at times! We left after a late lunch and hit the outlet mall in Castle Rock...dropped a few dollars there.
Ehren took monday off and he and I golfed and spent the afternoon running miscellaneous errands while Elaine watched the kids. Evan had a Popsicle social at his school this week and the girls had back to school night and then started school on the 18th. Very busy and exciting week! The last weekend Elaine was here we took a day to go to the Denver museum...took in an IMAX and visited a few areas of the museum.
Elaine had to leave a week ago...the same day as Evan's first day of school. So far the kids are all very happy with their new teachers and are excited to go to school...we'll see how long that lasts!
