wigs for kids donation

Jillian did a hair donation about a year and a half go for Locks of Love (see pics HERE).  She has been growing it out again ever since that haircut and wanted to do it again.  Sure enough Leah wanted to donate her hair as well.  We have been measuring regularly (need at least 10 inches to donate) and we hit that mark recently so off we went to get that hair chopped.  I was quite impressed, both girls did this with a very happy heart, no regrets or worried about their hair being shorter...Leah just said "it doesn't matter, it will grow back, and now another little girl can have some hair" (talk about making this mommy's heart melt!).

Here they are before, during and after...

three big kids

I took this picture of the kids together as Kyle was about to blow out the candles on his birthday cupcakes (as in birthday cupcakes take 3 after his Friday night school friend sleepover and Sunday night church youth group pool party!). 

I looked at this picture afterwards and couldn't believe how big all the kids look here, how did this happen?  I feel like they were all just babies yesterday.

12 years

This amazing boy is twelve years old now!  I can hardly believe it.

Kyle you are a great big brother, you are smart and funny, you are always willing to help, you make us so proud every day and I'm a much better person because I get to be your Mom.  Happy Birthday!!!

summer day camp

It's that time of year for the kids to head off to summer camp.  Kyle has been going to this particular camp since he was 4 years old.  Last year was Leah's first year so she was a bit nervous.  But this year she was ready to go, along with Kyle and Jillian.

All three of them had a fantastic day...swimming in the lake, hiking in the woods, roasting marshmallows, and making new friends.  Oh yeah and I enjoyed having a free day to do some shopping, run some errands and to an appt I have been putting off due to lack of time.

Crafts, cookouts and camoflage...the kids had a fun filled week at camp.  Kyle did orienteering, kayaking, archery and enjoyed the water trampoline.  Jillian went canoeing, climbed the rock wall to the top and tried archery.  Leah loved doing crafts, went canoeing and visited the leprechaun houses in the forest.

camping!

Long ago, before kids, Jeff introduced me to camping.  I hadn't done it growing up other than a few girl guide camps here and there.  We used to have so much fun the two of us, exploring lots of fun areas, doing long bike rides, late walks on the beach...ah those were the days.  Then we had Kyle and decided camping would be fun with kids.  And it was, with one kid.  Along came Jillian and we tried camping a couple of times for very, very short trips and we (moreso me) decided it was far too much work with a toddler/preschooler.  So the camp stuff stayed in the very back of our basement storage closet for years and years.

 Now we have 3 big kids, no more babies or toddlers so we decided to give it a try.  First we had to buy a family sized tent (and thankfully we went with a quick setup tent, I love it).  We packed the van to the very top (and I do mean jam packed) and headed on the road.  We decided to go to Pinery, one of our favourite campgrounds with a beautiful beach and lots of great trails.

The camping trip was a success, everyone had fun (despite some rain), and the kids are ready to go for another.  We learned a few things:

1. we MUST have a campsite near the bathrooms because Leah's bathroom trips keep me busy
2. we should bring more games when there is rain in the forecast (playing rushour was great but got old after a little while)
3. cooking food over the fire is a pain, I think we'll stick to our propane stove and grill for meals and just use the fire for marshmallows
4. the camp store always runs out of milk by mid-afternoon so buy it early in the day

The kids had so much fun exploring the campsite...they each had a fort and a "tri-fort meeting area" along with rules and responsibilities...Kyle is the official bug catcher, all caterpillar sightings are to be reported to Jillian and strangly Leah is the treasurer (not sure why they need one?)

CANOEING

My activity of choice during the camping trip.  Jeff and I used to canoe on this river every summer when visiting the Pinery either as campers or daytrippers.  It's a very easy canoe ride with lots of pretty water lillies.  The kids did great in the canoe, Kyle & Jillian both helped with the rowing.  We went out for quite a while all 5 of us in the canoe, then came back and dropped the boys off so the girls could do a short canoe ride together.

FISHING

The kids really wanted to try fishing so Jeff picked up some gear before our trip.  Kyle & Jillian really enjoyed the fishing (Leah got bored after a short time).  I was very impressed with Kyle & Jillian getting their hands dirty.  When I squirmed a bit at the sight of moving worms, Jillian stepped in, grabbed those worms, ripped a piece off and put it on the hook without so much as blinking an eye.  That's my adventurous girl!  Jillian caught a fish and Kyle caught three!

HIKING

BEACH

the beach at the Pinery is beautiful...sandbanks and clear blue water

is there anything more entertaining than a big hole on the beach?  I don't think so

Sunset at the beach - I love taking beach pictures, and even better is when we are there at sunset.

Summer vacation so far

Day one: went to see Monsters University movie

Day two: family day trip to see the Tall Ships with Nana

Day three: Happy Canada Day...Canada Day pancakes, block party in the morning at church, fireworks at a local park

I think the summer is off to a good start so far.  Next up, family camping trip!