A Walk in the Woods

After watching both sessions of General Conference today, we were all a little stir crazy and went for a walk at Kedron Park. We've not been there since the housing development took over our old stomping grounds but we figured we'd find a way to get into the forest. In the end, it wasn't hard to enter but that will be a different story once all the houses are finished and they put up fences.
We discovered that a sturdier bridge had been put up across the creek and that there has been a team of paintballers hard at work building tunnels, treeforts and gates in the forest. There was a mini-city built in there.

Here is Austin emerging from the long tunnel.

Naomi and Gidget in the woods.

Here's a funny anecdote from our trek back to the car. Austin was in the lead but he announced that he was scared. "You go first, Emma", he said. How's that for the brave, big brother?

Fall Pickings

The plan for today was to have a Fall adventure! Once the first session of Conference was over, we went to Pingles for apple picking. We were surprised by the huge crowds there; we soon found out that they have Fall Fun Fair days on the weekend which means that some of the usual free activities weren't free today. We busied ourselves with picking apples, playing on the hay and then going and picking out some pumpkins. Once we returned home, Abigail and Austin painted pumpkins and then later in the evening, we made candy apples out of our freshly picked bounty. All in all, I'd say today was a success!

Cheese!

Freshly picked!

Shawn says that Ethan wouldn't be a typical 11-year old boy if he didn't make faces every time the camera was pointed in his direction!



Help! I've fallen in a patch of pumpkins and I can't get out!

Playing in the pumpkin patch.

Austin and Abigail with their painted pumpkins.

Follow the Prophet

Tonight for FHE we discussed the importance of following the prophet today. To illustrate the point, we talked about Samuel the Lamanite and how he stood on the wall preaching to the Nephites but they wouldn't listen to his words. While Samuel (aka Daddy) taught us gospel principles, we openly rebelled against his teachings. While the Nephites attempted to pierce Samuel using their bows and arrows, we used marshmallows. I know what you're thinking - sounds like fun. Well, you know what they say? It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye? Well, that almost happened, thanks to Ethan's aim! I'm sure this will be a memorable evening for everyone!

It's Not a Tea Party, It's a "P" Party!

To make learning more relevant to Austin, we decided to have a "P" party since P was the letter of the week this week. Forget the fact that Austin already knows the sound, letter and gesture for the letter P... really it was an excuse to have some family fun! It was nice to see Abigail get really excited and take charge of the decorations (we just won't tell her how many trees it took to make all that paper! LOL!)

While it may have been an odd combination of foods for dinner and dessert, you can't fault us on trying! Everything of which we partook, started with the letter P. We even used pink and purple cups for punch!

Berry Goodness

When we were at the beach on Tues., I asked Stephanie if she'd like to go berry picking with us on Friday. I really wanted to go back to Linton's farms in order to pick more berries and make strawberry freezer jam as that was one of the kids requests from when we went out 2 weeks ago. Stephanie was very enthusiastic to join us as she had never gone berry picking before. The kids couldn't believe it - this was her first time! The harvest was still great and the berries were plentiful. The kids are awesome pickers and Naomi watched Emma which helped a lot! Then we bought supplies at the market and went home and made one batch of jam (another first!) before she had to go to work. Jared had told me that my jam is "to die for" and he really wanted me to teach Stephanie how to make it. Little did he know that the recipe is right in the box of certo! I was more than happy to oblige though. Fun times! Now I can't wait for the raspberry picking!

Canada Day 4-day Long Weekend

Canada Day fell on a Tues. this year which meant that we were able to enjoy a super long weekend! The first leg of our Canada Day adventure involved trekking to Bancroft for Bancroft Branch Conference. We were able to enjoy the hospitality of Valerie and Glen at their cottage (affectionately known as the Davies cottage), as well as visit with the branch president and his wife, Dennis and Sarah Frasier (nee Rider). It's hard to believe that it's been a year since our last visit to the branch! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Bancroft and wished it didn't have to end so soon! We had another commitment back home that took us away shortly after we returned from the potluck after church. Abigail actually started to cry when we told her that it was time to go home. It's so beautiful at the cottage and the kids just love playing outdoors and enjoying the fun in the sun on the lake. Well, most of the time that is. Glen took us tubing and Ethan and Abigail were the first to try their hand at it. Ethan had only made one stipulation: Don't go too fast! Glen said he couldn't go much slower but you know how that feels when you're flying over the water in a plastic tube! Life is flying by you at a super speed! My favourite part was that Ethan kept yelling "Stop" and I kept giving him the thumbs up that everything looked okay. When we were talking about it a few days later, he said he kept yelling stop because Abigail said she couldn't hold on much longer. I said "That's funny because when I took your place in the tube, Abigail didn't have any problems at all!" I think he realized I had him at that point!

Once we returned home, it was off to Ajax for a farewell to the Misseri-Grant family, hosted by the LaFrance's. We arrived shortly before 7 and didn't leave until almost 11! Lori LaFrance had the great idea to have a "dessert bar" since the Grant's were desertin' us! Hence a nautical themed evening was born! Good thing that Susan has an affinity for lighthouses as we were able to borrow a few of them to decorate at Lori's. The evening was wonderful and I know that though Kim was overwhelmed by the showing of love and support from her family and friends, she loved the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone. The funny thing is that Kim and I delayed saying our goodbyes, promising ourselves that we'd see eachother before she left. She said that she couldn't leave Ontario until saying goodbye to me... I thought that was the sweetest thing. It feels like we keep delaying saying our final goodbye since we've gotten together a couple other times of late to squeeze in as much time as possible before we're an ocean apart.

As happy as I am for them to have this new beginning, it's hard to see the kids say goodbye. Most of them have been best friends since birth and it'll be hard for them to replace these friendships. Who am I kidding? They'll never be able to replace them!

Monday morning started off late due to sleeping in... that is until the phone rang and Nana called to say that Shannon was in labour! Contractions were already 5 to 7 min. apart so I knew that I had no time to spare to get going and get there! Since Shawn already had appointments in Richmond Hill, we were on our own to the farm! I pulled into Mom and Dad's before 11:30 am and was at Shannon's shortly after 12 noon. Her mom was already with her and she had just been checked by the midwife and found to be 2 cm dilated. Things were progressing well. Shannon laboured beautifully throughout the day and was joined by a real circle of sisters. By the time everyone arrived she had her mom Darla, her sister Tracey, her sisters-in-law Stephanie, Rachel and myself there. Nana as well as nieces Abigail, Emma, and Eden also joined the throng at one time or another. Jordan also played a very important role; Shannon needed his strength and was comforted by his presence. It was a beautiful experience and one that I was honoured to be a part of. While labour was an extremely intense experience for Shannon, she remarked within the hour after birth that she would do it the same way next time. I was so proud of her!

Shannon gathers strength from Jordan's touch


Presenting Kaelan Joseph Carmichael

Happy Canada Day, baby Kaelan!

After visiting with Jordan, Shannon and baby Kaelan on Canada Day, we headed off to Cobourg Beach to celebrate Canada's birthday! Traditionally we pack a picnic but this year we had an unexpected surprise -- and that's okay! This way we sampled the fare at the festival which was a nice treat! Jared, Stephanie and Buster joined us as well on the beach. They'd stayed overnight at Jordan's and spent the day with the new Carmichael family, helping take care of the newest member of the family. Very sweet!

Abigail's sand castle - that Emma and Buster were dying to walk through and destroy.

All in all, it was a busy Canada Day weekend!

Last Day of School

It appears there's no stopping the clock - school's out for the year and summer has officially arrived. I was talking with a friend yesterday who was genuinely surprised by my excitement over the arrival of summer holidays. He thought it would put a damper on my activities (and come to think of it, it may!) but it'll be so nice to sleep in in the mornings (Emma willing), and enjoy our time together swimming and playing all day. While we'll have a schedule of sorts, there will be lots of flexibility to be adventuresome too! I can hardly wait - but at the same time, I don't mind waiting a bit as I never want summer to end!

The kids posed for a "last day of school" pic! Seems like only yesterday that I took their "first day of school" pictures.

The end of a tradition of going to the park after school!

Sibling Love

Emma's unique style of blowing kisses!

As parents we love it when our children play together and love one another as friends. On Monday, Austin and Emma were doing just that. Austin snapped the top pics of Emma and he was sooo excited when he was able to get a picture of her blowing kisses. Then he raced her around in the doll stroller (which is probably her favourite toy - either to climb into or to put one of her babies in and push around). If you're wondering why his legs are bare, it's because he's only wearing underwear!

Sleeping Giggles

Austin hasn't quite been feeling himself this weekend. He didn't have any specific complaints; more a general malaise. He ended up falling asleep by 6 pm on the couch and then surprised us with giggles erupting from his dormant self. See for yourself!
Note: Just as I grabbed the camera, Emma smacked him in the head with a hard object. Poor guy! And he still managed to laugh for us!

Our Saturday Adventure

Ethan ended up going to the movies with his friends (and dad and siblings) on Friday night and then having a "double" sleepover with both boys. David had given Ethan a game set with chess, checkers, etc.. and the kids had entertained themselves with that for awhile. I like games that make you think.

On Sat. we decided to go berry picking and since David had never picked strawberries before, we invited him along. That was only the beginning of our adventure. Shawn had seen a sign for a berry farm north on Ritson so we went to check it out. As we arrived, we saw youth from the church who were competing in "The Amazing Race". Isn't timing everything? (Aside note: I had decided not to get all dolled up to go berry picking because who would I see anyways? Turns out the whole ward!!)

After we were paid for our berries, we let the kids loose in the play area. It was huge and had a variety of activities for the kids to keep themselves entertained. Shawn had gone off to pack the berries into the car... and was gone for a long time. When he came back his lips told the tale: he'd filled himself up on berries!


Shawn has been dying to go to Port Perry... again! I wanted to go to a children's carnival in Oshawa but we let the kids "vote". Port Perry won so we were off! As it turns out, it was the place to be as the town was hosting a Dragon Boat Festival. Another first! While we were checking out a couple of stores, the weather tried to rain on our parade, but the sky cleared up shortly. It was a beautiful day.

Here's a list of the "firsts" for David: strawberry picking, eating fudge, eating cheese curds, going to Port Perry, watching dragon boat races, having a sleep over, and watching some new movies he'd not seen before. He told the kids that whenever he comes over to our house, it's always exciting because he tries new things - last time it was a stir fry! His parents are originally from Colombia and are about to become Canadian citizens on July 1st! Woo-hoo!