Wreckin' good time

Why is it that boys love to destroy things? Mike and Sean spent the afternoon taking down the covered walkway on our place. Mike was having a lot of fun smashing. It was a lot of work, but it needed to be done. The covered walkway leaked and the wood was starting to rot in places. While they were hard at work, I went to town and picked up some KFC for dinner. Mike is out there wacking the vines now. He's having way too much fun.

Rusty Rain

I cannot believe how bad the natural rain water is around here. Look at the pictures to see the difference in the color of the water. Yuck! It's been raining so much and the kids will be leaving in 10 days. We are refilling the pool, so hopefully it gets used before the kids take off in August.

Here comes the rain again...

Well, I must have some insight into the weather in our area or so some people have told me. The entire time we were camping, which was almost 2 weeks, it only rained 2 times and at night only. It was so hot and it was nice to be at the lake cooling off. When we came home from camping the next day it rained and it's been rainy ever since. I am glad we had good weather while we were away, but we need the rain very badly. We don't want any forest fires like the summer of 2003. I remember leaving town to visit my friends that summer and you could see all the smoke from the fires just over the horizon. When I came back, everything was under control. Plus when it's hot like that for long perods of time, there is a ban on campfires and that's no fun camping with out a fire. I am glad it's cooling off, but I am hoping for some nice weather for my daughter who is going to an international Guide Camp this weekend in Parksville. She will be gone for an entire week at S.O.A.R. (Spirit of adventure rendevous) and I hope she has a good time. They get to do really cool stuff like...caving, snorkling, dragonboating, fencing, archery, and much more. She'll have a blast!

Back to work

Well my first day back to work was today and it wasn't all that bad. I could actually see my desk (usually it's totally covered in paper work when I'm away). I was able to catch up on my payables before lunch and it was nice to be in an airconditioned office all day. Sean came to my office for lunch.
Yesterday,we set up the swimming pool for the kids to enjoy. They took a dip in it this evening after dinner. We bought the pool last year during a heat wave, but our water is rusty and full of iron when you fill up a pool it looks like a mucky orange color, so we only filled it up once last year. I found some rust and iron remover that doesn't smell yucky, so we used a bit of that and it worked really well. The pump for the pool also removed the sediment that we have in the water, so it was perfect to swim in. Here's my family enjoying the pool.

Life size Jenga

As you can see in the pictures, the kids had a blast. They get very creative when they are together. Kels and Gary worked on the daily Newspaer called JBJB, which stands for all our last names and the real name of the newspaper was Java Break Java Break. They kept it top secret while they were in production. It was very cute and my sister took the first 2 issues home with her as a keepsake. When my sister's family left, we were all sad, but we have a lot of memories of the fun we had. The giggles from the kids were priceless and I am glad they get along so well. We miss them for sure and are not sure when we will see them again!

Camping pictures

Camping was awesome. We had 5 days with just my kids and hubby and then my parents came out with their boat and stayed for the weekend. My Uncle and cousin from Vernon showed up as well. My sister and her family came on the 2nd week of our camping trip. They showed up a day early and it was awesome. They stayed 4 days with us and we had a lot of fun. The kids and hubbies fished and had a great time. My hubby caught a huge fish right off the dock. This morning was sad when we said goodbye to my sister and her family. They are headed back home to the Lower Mainland. It was so hot today at the lake and everyone was gone, so we came home. Right now it is 38 celcius outside and 33 celcius in the house. I am glad to be home. 2 weeks is a bit too long for camping (at least for us). We have lots to do around the house before we have to go back to work on Monday. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Happy Canada Day and Stampede Weekend!

Kelsey made this plate and presented it to her teacher at the awards ceremony. It has a picture of the entire grade 7 class. Mrs. Gartrell is retiring from teaching. She was quite pleased with her gift.

Here's a funny picture of my dad. My mom took it while they were waiting for the parade.

Stampede parade pictures. My Mom was on the Guide float. My son's friends were on the WL Minor Fastball float.






It's hard to belive that it is already July. Time sure went fast these past few months, but I am not complaining. I am glad summer is here and we are looking forward to our camping trip.