Jobs....friends....and night games.....

I went to Nanaimo this afternoon for a meeting about the analyst position I had some interest in....the meeting ended up being interesting, but on further thought, probably not the best idea to invest in as my kids are still a little too young for the amount of time it would need.  But I will probably revisit the company in a few years when the boys are a little older.  But lovely Rachel Christie took the boys to jumping jiminies and then to mcdonalds for another play....the boys had a good afternoon!!

On my way home, I was racing because i had some friends coming for the evening....and it turned out that dinner was being served at 5 and not 5:30, so i stopped to get dinner for us to eat at our house!  All our favs: melted brie with red pepper jelly on top! Crackers, fruit, bread, fresh corn on the cob....the boys rode bikes outside the kitchen window.....

Then the boys went down to the show and we attempted pickleball, and then rode the mine ride, hung out at thebeach for awhile and had a GOOD and exciting CHAT!  Then we took in a little bit of chapel, tried to help prep for the night game, but these girls somehow got the glow sticks to explode so i had to remove them from the program office.....newbies! sheesh!!  Glowy stuff got all over kims sweater!!  Looked kinda cool though.

I didn't get pictures tonight...but i love these girls and it was time well spent.  I haven't really had much 'branching' out of friends coming to visit this summer.  It's the first summer that we haven't gone away.....it's just been so good to be here....i don't want to leave and i want to love who is here.

We ended the evening with a bonfire......elliot came home closer to the beginning of the night game, cuddled with me a little bit while we all chatted, and then he went and tucked himself into bed while we were all still out at the fire.   This is how i found him when we finally came in...lights on, but he was out!!

 Isaac 'ran' in a little later {he doesn't stop, it is literally 11:59 right now, and only now is he passed out beside me....}....but here he is with his post night game bowl of mini wheats....just like his dad! {who is doing the exact same thing right now!!]

Thankful for friends and healthy kids and opportunities tonight......

Community Service at Senior Camp

It was a good day.....

Jim encouraged the campers at camp this week to give up one of their free time periods in the afternoon to join in on a community service project.  Out of just over 100 kids, 21 volunteered.....we were all pretty impressed with that.  What a great group of kids!

The day started out with a little business going on in the parking lot:  Elliot and Max in sales, Jax was the customer and Isaac was hired to FIND the acorns.....

 This afternoon Rach and I brough the boys a little early to Madelines house....she is a sweet old woman who is 87 years old and hasn't really been out of her house for a very long time...much less to tend her yard.....one of the local neighbors suggested we help her out.....here is a before shot.

 The boys worked on the driveway and got alot of the moss gone.....while we started,

out of nowhere, DOWNPOUR!!! 

 Ready to work!!

Chris found this 'Chicken of the Woods' growing in a tree near Madelines house.....

 He left....and came back with a knife!!!

 With the rain and the cold, it was time to send the boys home for popcorn and hot chocolate.....

 Part of the happy crew.....

 An after shot!!  Much better!!

 And here were the other half of the work party gang at Amanda's workplace : Community Services centre...they do so much good for the community and had much work around the building to do, so these guys weeded and washed all the windows!!

 Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

 Another after shot....you can walk through now!!

 Madeline among the kids......

 She was very happy with the work that happened that she gave the boys some chocolate and some cookies...which we will save for the next blog!!!  It was a sweet day.....I just love that they 17 year olds gave up their 'free time' afternoon time to work for somebody else.  I hope that when my boys are older, that they are thinking and willing to live that way too.....

Final Glow Party of the Summer....

As I sit hear listening to my clean kids sleeping {they had a bath before bed because they were sticky from ice cream at the glow party, and they smelled like feet....}...i am still wearing my pink headband and laughing at some of these pictures from tonight.....

It has really been the best summer.  And its always good to finish with Senior camp, because these kids are just up for anything!  Chris is so in his element, its amazing to watch this boy...this boy who appears to need no sleep and just goes forever.  However, his neck is sore and his range of motion is limited....he is in desperate need of an adjustment....so i have been stretching his neck out with a towel everyday....oh Tanya, why did you have to take holidays???

Tonight I let the kids stay up.....here are some shots from tonight;

The man of the hour.....the man behind the glow!!! 

 My sassy neighbor......ok, ok, who is also a friend. {haha rach....}

 Max and Isaac know exactly where to stand when the ice cream gets doled out!  Seriously...the campers come in, its dark, nobody knows what is going on, and before they figure it out, all the camp kids are already sitting in their corners eating their sundaes....its hilarious.  awesome flash hey? This was a very dark and glowy room!!

 These shots made me laugh.....meet Steph, on the far right...dashing like mad to get in...she will be staying with us ALL year.....which encouraged me accept her facebook friend request since i am quite stingy....;-)

 I envied Sarahs pants....alot.  Me with my piddly ribbon.  I was NOT planning on staying long, i was just going to bring the boys down and head back home...but i saw so many people not really having a great time, so i danced and wrapped pink ribbon headbands around girls i found who were feeling awkward and hopefully made them feel better.....

 Just chilling by the DJ......

 Elliot is CRAZY!!!!

 Quad ride home in the moonlight......

He gets his resourcefulness from me.....

The other day, Elliot runs into Chris's office and says 'hey dad, i need a piece of paper and a pen'

Chris obliges....

Elliot sits down and concentrates hard and writes out a little note and then runs off.

Turns out, he was told he would need a 'note' to have a second sno-cone at the beach day.

'Sure, no problem' he thinks....'they want a note....I'll get them a note'.

I wonder what flavor he chose for his second sno-cone...awesome.

He has had a great time being the little 'program assistant assistant.'

 

Here he is doing one of his favorite jobs; handing out the wrecking balls for Bob the Builder. 

Summer is almost over....5 more full days.....will really try to soak it in....literally tonight, both boys played bob the builder in the pouring rain with the 17 year olds....i hope they don't get pummeled this week with these big kids!! 

Last Saturday of the Summer.....

I need to wake up at 6am more, so i can take my own shots like this of my backyard......so i don't have to lift it from my friends instagrams!!  Tommorow!!!  Yes!! Tommorow!

I worked my last 'saturday' shift in the office this morning.....Chris was up and happily running out the door by 7:30am.....and the boys were in their bliss by being allowed to watch tv while we were working....til lunch!

After our 'shifts' were over, we checked out before camp lunch and headed to subway......and then to the chiro...here are the boys finding the shade on a suprisingly hot day!! {we are all now in the habit of wearing jeans and sweats....}

 A few stops for camp {mostly for candy!}, and we met the Burdges at Butchart for the 'end of summer' picnic/fireworks tradition!!  I laughed at chris...here he is AFTER the picnic....nice fly honey!

 Jenny and Trent just got back from a big trip down to Astoria...they brought their World War restored jeep down and did a history re-enactment 'museum' type display for people to come and see some of the history.....it sounded like a very cool trip....so this was Jenny for the first 1/2 hour of the picnic....showing us all the pictures!!!

 I have a very tired man here.....

 Happy 65th birthday Gordon!!  Or is it 56??!!  We will never know!!

 My nutty niece!!

 The clan......

 This was typical Oscar...beating up on his oldest cousin.....isaac loves it.

 Trent and I saved their spots on the grass for the fireworks while the kids were taken to the carousal for a ride before.  Marg and Gordon got to the gardens around 3 to lay out a tarp for prime seating!!!  So, Trent and I, who seem to be the only ones in this family who don't love the loud, crazy kids....so we stayed and chilled while the kids went off with most of the adults!!

The fireworks were great!  We were very spoiled, yet again, by the burdges today....entrance, picnic, and prime seating....it was a fantastic night!!

Don't be fooled....

He looks happy in this pictures....but only minutes earlier, he was crying hysterically and people from all over the camp, including the nurse, came running because they thought someone was dying!!  Nope...just elliot, over reacting.....here is the story:

Imagine it......it's almost 10pm and the 2nd last night game of the summer is about to start! 

 Legend Quest II is being explained to the kids in the chapel while elliot and isaac are getting their glow sticks taped onto their dark clothes because they are planing on running through the forest, tagging kids and being the ZAPS!!

 

Elliot needs another piece of tape for his glow stick, so of course he is going to try to rip it with his teeth {side note: his bottom front tooth has been a little precarious the last few days....}....so he goes to rip it, the tape thickness gets caught between his wiggly tooth and his solid one, he pulls the tape out (not realizing its a little wedged), and his tooth goes flying out into the sky tooth-tied-to-slammed-door style!!

 

I guess he realizes what has happened as the light hits the tiny tooth mid-air and its too much for his 6 year old brain to handle, so he does what he does best --- he screamed.

 

All staff stop, drop what they are doing and try to consol him {where, if you know this kid, often just makes it worse}.  So, at this time, Ashley had just left, I was on the couch as Isaac bursts through the door, panting, wheezing 'ma!! elliots crying!!'....thinking the worse, i grab my shoes and we hop on the quad as he finishes the story of elliot 'tape, tooth, lost, etc'.  By the time i get to the nurses station, he is sitting there red faced, visibly on deaths doorstep, clinging to his little cup with the baby tooth in it and a little gap where his tooth used to be before being rudely evicted by some tape meant for a glowstick, not a tooth. 

 

He tells me later that it was Eric who crawled around on the floor and found the tooth!!  And in the program room, that is a major feat consider the chaos that happens in there prior to a game!

 

He got a dollar under his pillow and just now walks in with it and proclaims that he is going to buy a Skylander ($10!), which leads us to a little money counting session and he recounting his dream to me where he is in the monopoly game and he had to slide down the slide and get off to go to Imadene.  He also asks if he can keep the toonie i had brought out for our little money session, and i say yes if he agrees to no screen at all today....he slides it back across the table to me, disgusted....no dice.

 

 

Booked for Aug 22nd......

Oh my busy wedding photographer friends.....I had to be 'booked' in since early July for this day....and it was a really.great.day.  Quick run down of our time spent together....this sweet sweet girl whom I have known since she was 14.

 The wind pushed us out pretty far.....we canoed out, shared a mars bar and some water and then i read a chapter of "radical" to her.....and then we worked like dogs trying to paddle against the wind back to shore......

 Isaac has been 'bored' today.....but he doesn't want to do much, so secretly between you and me, i am really working on promoting the whole 'bored' schtick!  I like that he gets bored.....its good for a boy to be bored.....funny how even kids who LIVE at camp, get bored.....but back to Ash and I -- we weren't bored......

 Our visit fell on 'beach day' for the campers, which meant sno-cones!!!

 And who knew this would be the last picture of little Elliot with that bottom middle tooth?!  More on that tommorow....but oh boy the night game held some drama for Elliot and his tooth tonight!!  Full, hilarious story tommorow....i promise...but right now i need to go to bed....full day at the office tommorow!!

But she had a nice and full day:

Chai on my couch.

Lunch on the dock.

Visit with Jim.

Canoeing with tuck and a great conversation {ash got in a preferred to sit backwards so she could face me!  I found it quite endearing....but she isn't the best 'back-paddler!!' ;-)}

Sno-cones on the beach.

Greek pasta dinner with Jim and Sarah.

She got a mani and pedi before heading home at 8.....

 

She just emailed....she is in bed now.

Guess it was a good day.

Monday - Teen 2......not a bad start!!

Took a staff member on a quad ride....she said it was something she really really wanted to do...so who was I to stand in the way of someones desires?? 

Chris was the best person to lead the adventure since he is like a human GPS!!  I decided to just ride on the back of his quad and let him lead, rather than taking 3 quads out......

 Here he is pointing out where the old road used to be before it was washed away!!!  He is a great driver...however, at one point in a rough part of the terrain, we got to a part of the hill where we were balanced precariously enough for me to wonder if i would die in the next second (you know, quads land on people and kill them you know!!)---but i also didn't know whether to jump or cling??!!  Ended up jumping off, but he stayed so calm.....it was a scary moment, but made me love him more knowing that he was so calm.

 We had done this a moment before!!!

 This guy is so amazing.....i am so proud of what he is accomplishing this summer....so proud of him!!  Its probably been the best summer of our marriage here during our 'camp career'......

 One thing doesn't belong hey??  I love that isaac is being carted around by David, the LIT......and elliot is waiting on my quad.....ps: its the motorbike on the far right that doesn't belong!!

 One our way to Amandas house--floatie suit and all!!!  They were going to swim and play while chris and i went to pick up the car at the mechanics.......

 We got a little diverted at these little pools and waterfalls on the way to town....so beautiful!! 

We just had to swim!!

 The pictures don't do it justice.....these are the shallow ones which were warmer...but there were deeper glacier type pools that we swam in, and it was SO fun!!!

Glow party tonight......kids played Stratego.....i chatted with random people and then lite a fire...not a huge turn out tonight.....but it was ryans birthday and he wanted one....so he got one!!!!