Caterpillars and Ladybugs!

Yesterday, the boys and I were doing some clean up around the yard. We were all busy sweeping the driveway (Well...Mesele and I were sweeping, but I'm not so sure Abinet ever really caught on to the concept) when Mesele yelled out, "MOM...What's that?"

He had just found a black and yellow caterpillar in his pile of dirt. I love these little things, so I convinced him to pick it up. Mesele loved it but Abinet refused to even touch it! He would just look from a distance.
























The only thing that Abinet was brave enough to touch was a ladybug. Thank goodness there are LOTS around our place because I think quite a few went to ladybug heaven after he was done playing with them!

Even when the ladybug would fly away, Abinet would run after it still trying to catch it in the air!

It was so cute to watch these little guys with their "pets" and like any boys.....once they were done with them, they squished them!

I think I need a girl!

Trying Out The New Waterslide!

Remember the other day when it was so hot outside? That would be before the torrential downpour we got yesterday. Well, we couldn't stay cool in the house and being outside wasn't a whole lot better.

Then I remembered that I had this waterslide that hadn't been opened yet. It was a gift from the staff at Osler School.

We quickly put it all together, filled it up with COLD water and then the fun began!

Abinet and Mesele were going non-stop on this slide! Even though the water was cold, they would just grin and go for another ride.


Mesele loved to take a big run to get as much speed as possible. Then he would go down the

slide and make as big a splash as he possibly could. He's all about doing things BIG!


Abinet, on the other hand, tried to take a big run but he would always stop right before the slide. He'd do a little jump and usually his tummy would get stuck on the slide and he would hang there for a few seconds. It was so cute!!







These two little monkeys love everything and they especially love water! Thanks for the great gift! The boys will use it LOTS and even I will be using it to try and cool off and little bit!

Fishin' At Jan Lake

On Thursday, we left with Brent's family to go to Jan Lake for the weekend. There were 15 of us in all and we all had a really good time.

Everyday we would head out in the boat to see if we could catch any fish. Mesele was so excited, but I wasn't sure if he would understand that he might not catch a fish. Well... I was wrong. Not only did this little man catch one fish, he caught THREE! He would even hold them when everyone wanted to take a lot of pictures.










Abinet didn't have the same luck with catching fish. He would only let his hook down about three feet and then he would yank it back up again. I was so happy that he did so well in the boat. I thought that he would stay out in the boat for a couple hours and then want to come home, but he was content to fish all day long with the rest of us.













As for the rest of us.....well, we all caught quite a few fish (except for Mom, Abinet and Brielle) and had a lot of fun hanging out together.


Thanks for the weekend mom and dad! We really enjoyed our time there!

Brave Little Water Bugs!

I am assuming that you are all getting tired of seeing pictures of our time in BC, so I will show just a few more and then I wil be done.

I just love this picture of Mesele and Abinet. They were soaking up the sun while sitting on the rocks with a beautiful mountain and lake behind them! How perfect is that!?!?












One day we were trying to get Abinet brave enough to jump in the water. He would do the countdown and then come up with about 5 different excuses about why he wasn't quite ready to jump in yet. We just had to be a little patient in the water and eventually he would jump to us. What a little CUTIE!






Mesele was another brave guy. He would jump off a log that was about 3 feet off the water and he didn't want anyone there to catch him. On this particular jump, he's looking at the rest of us and saying, "I'M BRAVE!"

I was so glad that both boys loved the water so much. It was a little colder than pool water, and even though their teeth were chattering, they still wanted to play and jump in!

What can I say except, THEY'RE BRAVE!

Doing What We Love!

The very best thing about going to the Duncan Lake, way out in the middle of nowhere (okay, not quite that bad....) is for the water skiing!

Every year when we camp, it seems like we get this beautiful big lake all to ourselves. You won't see other boats very often, so we can always find some glassy water (not ripples, right mom?!?) to ski on.






I'm glad that both Brent and I like to ski. We just hop in the boat with my dad and take off. For two weeks we can ski as much as we like. Sometimes we can get a bit too carried away and we get a little bit sore! (or is that just me?)








This year we had Mesele and he really wanted to learn how to waterski. He had to wait until his cast came off and then he could try.

Sure enough, once that cast was off, he was ready to go. Even though he never quite stood up on the water, he did hang on and bounce along on his bum for quite a ways!

It won't be long before this little man will be skiing like mommy and daddy!!

No More Cast for Mesele!

If you asked Mesele what one of the highlights of our trip was for him, I'm sure he would say, "CAST OFF!"
After our first week oc camping, we went to Kaslo and saw a doctor who didn't help us at all. Brent and I left that doctor and decided that after a few more days he would cut Mesele's cast off himself. (sorry if some of you don't like that idea, but ummm...... yeah, sorry.)

Mesele was one happy boy as that cast came off and he could see his arm again! Now he would be able to play in the lake and we wouldn't have to put a plastic bag over his arm or tell him to keep his arm up, etc.









Here, Brent is just washing some of the goop off Mesele's arm and I'm sure you can tell by the smile on Mesele's face just how happy he is to be rid of that cast!










After getting the cast off, both boys wanted to try out their boxing skills. They put of the gloves and took some shots at daddy.

I think we just might have some future boxers!









Notice how Abinet needs to have his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He was concentrating so hard on getting just the perfect shot!

So Much To Do!

There were many things at camp that kept us all entertained. To Mesele and Abinet's delight, there was a quad that my parents brought up. Of course, my boys would go around to everyone and ask for a quad ride. In this picture, they managed to get Grandma to give them a "fast" ride!






My sister also came and camped with us for a few days. Once all the cousins were together, they ran around pretty much non-stop all day long.

In this picture, Grandma decided to give them a treat. She pulled out a bucket of ice cream and a bunch of spoons and let them all just go at it. YUMMY!!






On this trip, we found out the Mesele loves to go fishing. A couple of times, he got to go fishing with Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle Ken. Even though he didn't catch anything, he seemed to really enjoy the experience.

I'm sure that Mesele will love going to Jan Lake in a couple weeks. He will be able to fish ALL day long and hopefully he will be able to snag a fish or two!




Abinet isn't really a fisherman. Infact, he doesn't like fish at all! We tried to get him to stand in the water and let the little minnows nibble his toes, but he didn't like that idea very much. When a little minnow would get close, he would kick at it so it couldn't get too close!

He was content to just stand on the shore and see how far he could throw "big" rocks. What a little sweetheart!

Enjoy your day! I will be back to blog again on Monday!

We Love To Go Boating!

While we are camping at the lake, we love to spend a lot of time out on the water. Mesele and Abinet loved Grandpa's boat. To them, it was a "big boat" and they like anything that it big. They also love to go FAST, so needless to say, Grandpa's boat was a big hit for them! They had so many "firsts" on this holiday and they seemed to just love everything that we did.

Brent and I also brought along a little dingy for the boys to play in. This one wasn't big or fast like Grandpa's boat, but they enjoyed going for rides in this one too!






The third "boat" was a piece of driftwood that my mom and dad found. It was big enough for two people, so Brent took Mesele for a ride. They went quite a ways out onto the lake and picked up all kinds of driftwood to clean up the lake a little bit for us. It was so cute to watch. Mesele would be on the hunt, and as soon as he saw a piece of wood, he would make sure daddy would steer the raft so he could go and get his wood!

Day Two of Our Holiday.....

On our second day of driving, Brent and I were trying to tell Abinet and Mesele that we would be driving onto a BIG boat and going on the water. They couldn't figure this out at all! Abinet's little eyebrows would go down and he would look at me and say, "daddy drivin' on da water?" When we got on the ferry, they had so much fun looking at the water, waving to the other ferry and making funny faces!




After the ferry, we drive a skinny little road called the "goat trail." We always hope to see some wildlife while we are on this road, and this year we got to see a black bear! Abinet was the only one who couldn't see it because he sits too low in his carseat, but Mesele was lovin it!









A little further down that same road, we stopped at one of many waterfalls. We filled up water bottles, and Brent let the boys step in the water. Mesele just about lost a flip flop and Abinet cried at the initial shock of the cold water! Oh well, it was another memory!!


Later on that day, we pulled into our campsite in Meadow Creek where we would spend the next two weeks. I'll keep on posting more pictures of the holiday tomorrow!

Have a wonderful day!!

We're Back From Our Holiday!

We made it back safely from our first family vacation! We had such a good time and I have a lot of pictures to share with you. Let's start at the beginning when we first left.....


We left home on July 26th (i think) and started a long day of driving. The boys did so well in the van. They talked A LOT, watched a movie or two and entertained Brent and I
with thier silly talk and games.

We decided to stop in Drumheller to let the boys see some dinosaurs! I wish you could have seen how big their eyes were. Everytime they saw one, they would scream and point! We took them to the GIANT T-rex and we climbed inside. They had so much fun looking at the paintings inside and seeing the big bones. These little guys just loved seeing all the dinosaurs!!


Stay tuned for more pictures and stories from our holidays!

By the way......It's soooooo good to be home!