Summer Happenings...

Where has the time gone. I don't even know where to begin. Since my last post we have been enjoying our summer and the kiddos have been keeping me busy. Especially Charles who is growing like a weed. At his recent immunization appointment he weighed in at a whopping 30.4 pounds. We call him tank around here because that is the best way to describe him and I can hardly believe he is 20 months old already! With so much to catch up on I figured I would just give a little glimpse into the past month...

At the start of July we had to say goodbye to some good friends. Our fellow American ex-pats Kelly, Harald, and their daughter Sudie were transferred to Calgary. Aniela is great friends with Sudie and still talks about missing her. During their move we had a chance to have Sudie over while the packers were busy at her house. It really gave the girls a chance to be together and play. We sure will miss them and are all to familiar with moving on to new places. With the ease of technology these days we will be sure to keep in touch.

Then the following week the circus came to Fort Mac. Aniela and Charles had never been and since Charlie was out of town I figured it would be a great thing to take the kiddos too. I could have done without the crowds. I think every person in Fort McMurray was there... but it was worth it. The kids loved the elephants, bears, acrobats, and death defying stunts. It was so fun watching their faces and reliving the circus through their eyes!

We continued our fun this past weekend by going camping to Gregoire Lake Provincial Park. It is only a 30 minute drive from us and since we haven't camped this year we thought it would be the perfect outing. The weather ended up cooperating and the kids loved being outdoors 24/7. I personally loved watching them play with what nature has to offer. It gives them a chance to use their imaginations in a different way. Charles especially was living it up because he is such an outdoors boy...just like his father. When we are at home he is always bringing us our shoes to go outside so this was the ideal situation for him. Aniela also was captivated by all the beautiful black and white butterflies that were willing to be caught. She even took a cup and made a bug home. On our walks to the lake or just around the site she would capture the butterflies and take care of them. It was neat to see her curious about bugs. I'm just glad she is over her bug phobia that she had at the beginning of the summer!

During this camping trip Charlie also wanted to try out his new sleeping hammock. I even laid in it for a bit and I must say I was surprised at how comfortable it was, although actually sleeping in it did not interest me. I quite enjoyed our awesome tent. The test run ended up being a success. Aniela even took a nap in it on our last day. All the fresh air must have gotten to her because she had no issues sleeping in the contraption. In fact she was sleeping so well we had to wake her up to check out of our site. With how well our weekend went we hope to get one more camping trip in before summers end.

As long as this beautiful weather continues we will be busy playing in it so you'll have to be patient with my lack of blog posts.