And the summer officially begins!!!

I am off to work, and Amy is off to play with my kids!!!  First stop breakfast at camp!

My Spaceman....

In staff meeting yesturday during introductions to this weeks Junior camp staff, my husband stated that I was his biggest cheerleader.  And though I am, I really do it with cautious reservation at the extent of work he does.  The last 3 weeks have been hours that no "body" can sustain for long.  He has the heavy load of creating a program that will blow kids away when they come for their week of camp but he's also had to do part of the job of maintenance again like his good old days.  People just revert automatically to him, but now they are no longer good old days because he hasn't taken a day off in 2 weeks because of all the projects that he'd been working double duty to finish.  7am to 11pm on average.  If he had slowed down at all, the projects that are going to make this summer amazing, wouldn't have gotten done. Like the lava forest (designed it, created it, but also had to do all the bark mulch runs to complete it and then rake it all out).....we saw him at bedtime.  The spaceship was made to create the magic that campers will see during their time at camp. Yes, he made a rocket.  

Sometimes the fairness of everything weighs us both down, mostly at night after he's exhausted and hasn't seen us or stopped, and I see him and get mad.....so much seems unequally weighted, I mean, the outdoor chapel has been ripped apart and in the twelfth hour, Chris has been "given permission" by the board to finish it.  They STARTED it months ago!!!! And now campers are arriving and it looks awful out there, and HE is ALLOWED to finish it?????  It's all just so offensive.  And so disrespectful of the work he is already doing for this place.  So, in closing my boys, you can see that your dad isn't in this blog a ton, and it's because he is doing the job of many.....and he is doing it for the Lord so he doesn't complain or ask for help very often because he feels called to do this work.  But your mom is completely protective and defensive of him as he works here.  I often feel ready to leave at a moments notice if it ever becomes too much.  And who knows when that day will come.  But this year has been a doozy.....and your dad is amazing.  

Elliot's rocks Chris's world ....

Elliot has taken it upon himself to encourage his dad the best way he knows how.... By sweet little 'Elliot notes'.  Here is his latest for his dad who worked til 2am last night:

And this was behind the note:

Awesome Elliot's weekend!!!

Elliot chose to go to grandmas house overnight while Isaac and I went to Victoria.  

He had had a nice day with his grandparents on Saturday - they took him on a little road trip to Bear Mountain for lunch (part of Gordons work day).  He had mac and cheese for lunch...he didn't like it...too cheesy (ah, my little money pit, sorry marg!). 

He said he had a nice time with his grandparents..... once home, he followed Chris around while he finished building the rocket and they went to Subway for dinner.... 

Run or Dye and checking out whales Part III

After run or dye, we headed back to our hotel near Fishermans wharf and had a shower (and a little nap), and headed down to the wharf for lunch.  This boy had mussels and I had fish tacos!!

Then we met up with our film crew for the afternoon. This is Dave and Justus.....as you can see, they loved Isaac.

Jackets on, ready to go.  Filming a quick spot for tourism Victoria ..." Mom and son go whale watching" .... 

My line was "watching his eyes light up when he saw his first whale"......Chris texted the following after I told him what my line was.  He knew it was for tourism Victoria, so he said hey, use this line enstead "The whales where ok. But at camp imadene his eyes really light up. Send your kids. We still have room"

Tons of whales!! Humpbacks started the trip off..... They are so huge!!  And we stayed mostly in US waters to see the orcas.  Lots of jumping and breaching, and whales that would just pop their heads out to look around. Those guys were called spy catchers because they do that to get the lay of the land, who is around, etc....

Isaac stood on the back of the boat at one point, and one orca swam along the back swim grid and launched out of the water super close and landed on it's back!!!! "Seeing his eyes LIGHT UP when he saw his first whale"... Was a super accurate line that I could now say with conviction!!!!

Whale tooth!  We had great guides who showed us some cool stuff. 

Carrie is back on a boat for a short trip up in Port Hardy for two weeks.  The pay is as good as her last four week trip, I couldn't have said no either!!

Really nice to spend some time with this guy..... We've known him for years and it's been fun watching him go from camp videographer to commercial and music video maker in an industry that is so big, but he's getting big alongside it. Very cool. 

Long drive home.... Stopping at our favorite restaurant for dynamite rolls. 

We were both wiped.  Good day. 

Run or Dye and checking out whales part II

Our before picture!!!!

This was our gift at Christmas to Laura and Ava. I wish I had gotten the tutu memo.... I was actually super jealous!!!

Run Isaac!!!!!

after shot....

All done!!!!

Nice to do, won't do it again. Glad Charlotte took my moms ticket.....it was a good morning.

Run or Dye and checking out whales!!! Part I

We dropped off Elliot on our way to Front Runners to pick up our "swag bag".....

Then firebrick oven pizza from Cook St village and went to check into the worldmark for the rest of the evening. 

The kid wanted to swim, so we did.  Too many tourists for canada day Lon weekend....We didn't last long.  

We walked along Fishermans Wharf and looked at all the float homes.....this guy had a black plastic rat on his shoulder....reminded me of Yanins daughter Kacey who dresses up her plastic black rats in dresses and has tea parties with them!!!

Prepping for Run or Dye!!

We had a great sleep..... I love the worldmark.  Thanks Susan and Mike!!

Friday.....

The boys LOVE their minecraft sweatshirts from auntie Carrie!! They wear them all the time!!  Its kinda 'creepy' to see them run towards you with them zipped up though.....be even creepier in the night game!!

Hair cuts!!!

Heading out to grandmas for the night.....

Searching for a surfboard!!

The yellow surfboard is a highlight of the swimming area for my boys.  As you can see from Wednesdays picture here, they play on it for hours together;

So when we arrived down on the water (with these two lovelies), and saw the surfboard was nowhere to be found.....

I grabbed these two lovelies to come with me in the boat to search the perimeter of the lake for it;

Natasha looks scared hey?  But it was actually Lisa who was scared of riding in boats, so this was big for her. (She's been scarred in the past by bad drivers...)

Success!!! Plus..... Though you can't see them, there was a family of otters playing around the board in the rocks!

Face timing with mom.

First she didn't answer Libby's call;

And then she did answer.  I think she gets tired of me correcting how she holds her phone....so I didn't say anything. 

Wednesday....

Kelly is cooking this week and she knows that I love the croissants and eggs breakfast.  This is what she gave me on my way to work today!  I passed along the cinnamon bun but I enjoyed everything else here!!!  What a sweet friend hey??

After work, I went to my happy place to see Elizabeth.  We think back to the days we would go for runs and long playdates....and now I have to book time to see her!  She is getting tougher to get into, I am having to book in advance.....but she makes me feel like I have pretty hands.  I tried to help her clean a little bit after as she was cleaning up her last massage and wax, but her place is quite spotless....she works so hard.  She was cleaning the waxing room and she tried to lure me in there for a bikini wax....and told her absolutly no way, I am a baby even with my eyebrows....so she jumps on that 'get in here, lets do your eye brows'....nope, I'm good.  So we actually got to sit down for a quick coffee before her next client.  I am so incredibly proud of what she's done and created at Monet Spa.....such a beautiful 'girl cave'.  And today my fingernails are pretty much the color of her walls here!!  Welcome summer!!!   

Evening fun...this is around 7:30pm...the boys play happily together on the surfboard.  Please please always love eachother like this......

Monday!! Train museum while mama worked!!

Such a good mom this girl....her kids just gravitate towards her.  Here they are at breakfast.....on monday morning while I was getting ready to go to work.

They had an interesting conversation at breakfast too, I can't remember what it was, but i must have found it interesting enough to take a picture.......

Texted to me while I was at work....look at Jack beaming at Elliot (or Ellie, not sure which!)

Just finished dancing to Frozen for us, and all was so good....until she went tearing down the hall and her pinky toe (or foot) caught the piano bench and spun her in the air and she landed on the ground.....poor girl!!!

Deep talks with dad......Brad explains everything to Jack...and Jack intently listens (or appears to!)

Please note what is happening in this picture......oh my goodness the things we do with our children hey?  The higher the phone was lifted, the wider her mouth would open....it was facinating!!!

Packing in the morning;  Ellie would put her clothes in the suitcase, Carrie would say thank you, Ellie would turn around, and carrie would toss out whatever Ellie had put in....classic.

It was great having them....Carrie hit the wall on monday night and I think was looking forward to get to her own bed as its alot of work visiting a new place with kids that young.....we are planning to see them again for Jacks 6ths birthday at the end of July......can't wait.  MORE beach time!

Brad and Carrie visit; First full day!!

I just love this picture.....Olaf on his first introduction to children!!  Jack looks pleased as punch to just be there, and Elliot looks like he is flipping the bird......

It was a really special day.....want to know why?  Because it was the last day of nobody on property until the fall!!  So we made FULL USE OF IT!!!  Elizabeth and her family came for the day too.....so here are 10 children playing happily on different things.  Pretty chill day in the sun.....

COUSIN TIME!!!  Jack is such a sweet kid, we had a really nice time having him in our space.

Here is Carrie and I with little tornado.....she is as cute as she is busy!!!  (So that makes her SUPER DUPER BUSY!!)

Jack and Jax played together a little bit and here they are sneaking up on Chris while he pretends to sleep, but jolt awake every few minutes and makes them jump out of their skin!  Funny....can you see Jax trying to cover his mouth so he doesn't give himself away?

And look who did all the cooking and became my favorite bro in law??  Anyone who arrives and cooks so I don't have to, is good in my books and is welcome anytime!!

Here is Ellie after dinner....she would just lay down for a minute to re-group, and get up and go again...so funny.  I wish she was more cuddly with me because I just wanted to squeeze her, but she would allow 'auntie' to hold her hand so she could go down the slide....over....and over.....

Bedtime stories......