The night before the holiday......

It's important to have moments.

It's important to be intentional.

I am trying to consistently do both....often a battle, but sometimes I am victorious!!

The night before I left for the states, we had a fire together, roasted some marshmallows....and this was the view I woke up to in the morning.....better than any sunrise, in my mind!!

 My dad, too, is having a few moments of his own in one of his favorite places in the world: Lake of the Woods!!  Fishing with his friend, building decks, laughing.....and he is wearing the pants I bought him a few years ago that he completly scoffed at, at the time, and now they are in every picture!!!!

There goes the life jacket.....and the tooth.

I go away for two nights....and my baby loses his first tooth (naturally!  Not yoinked out by a dentist while he is 'asleep')...AND he decides he has had enough of a lifejacket.

Little did i know what a relaxed time I have been having at the water with isaac swimming well and elliot paddling behind in his lifejacket.....

Well, life now looks like this: Isaac hanging out in a floaty chair encouraging elliot to swim to him, and elliot kicking, paddling, gasping, near drowning, to get to him.  I watch....

And i am terrified!!!!

He is proud.....

But he takes on water, sinks a little, gasps.....its so awful to watch and still put your brave and 'encouraging' face on, so that when he looks over, he sees "yay! you are DOING it!!" enstead of what is really flying through your head which is "HOLY CRAP DON'T DIE!!!!"......{sorry, for the rude language, it IS my blog after all, and that IS my true thought....}

And my sweet friend Rach came down from Nanaimo and stayed and played with the boys while i was off playing too...and as they slept in the tent trailer last night {isaac joined them after the night game and apparently came in so late, that Rach couldn't wait up for him and was asleep by the time he got there! haha}...but as elliot is lying there in the tent trailer, he 'twists and pulls' his little tooth out!!! 

He says proudly to me this aft when i got home, "i am not scared anymore of losing my teeth!'

The wolf you feed......

Hello Sweaty Armpits!!

Phase One Phone Interview...OVER!!! 

And i have the sweaty pits to show it!!

Holy Cow....that was brutal!  I could hardly hear the interviewers, and when i would give my answers, it was like a radio phone.....you know the kind, you say something and then they say something, but you can't hear their responses to your answers?  I made a joke one time and i have NO idea how it was received......ah well!  These sweaty armpits are heading down to the beach now!!!

Isaacs Cabin Leader.....just a little bio....

http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/navres/welcomeAboard_bienvenueABord/ourOrganization_notreOrganisation/commandTeam_equipeCommandement-eng.asp#commandersBio

He is Canada's Commander Navel reserve.

I hope he told them some great stories.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtn9qGtVAy4

Sometimes i get dragged .....

Trying out the Trailer!!

Isaacs last night in the cabin and I wanted to do something special with Elliot.   So, it was a beautiful night to try out the trailer......

You can see our beautiful trailer behind them....i put a little candle by the door.

 Elliot has the same look on his face when he concentrated as Chris does..........nice tongue Elliot.

 It was a gorgeous night.......

So...this was fun and all.  We had a nice time by the fire, and then Chris tucked us in and went home for a 'good' nights sleep.  Elliot and i cuddled up and read books for a little while and then we fell asleep......

Around midnight, the Mesachie peeps decided it was a good time to start the music...and they love their base!!  So...as much as i loved the thumping noise, i knew i wouldn't sleep anymore....so i crawled out of bed, gathered up Elliot, almost hit his head on the tiny tiny doorframe heading out and went home.

This morning, i woke up to Elliots face right in my face with a confused look on his face; "What am i doing at home mom?"

End of Juniors 2!!

Well....Max and Isaac came out of Juniors 2 unscathed!  Despite a higher than average amount of junk food and lack of fruits or veggies (because its their choice of what they put on their plate...hmph!)!!  Isaac is happy to be home, as I am to have him home.  Here are a few pictures from the week!

Yes....i was THAT mom....the lucky boy got 'mail' almost every day.  He got cherries one day, blueberries another....here is a shot of fresh pineapple and snap peas and a pokeman book taped to the back...the sweet boy says he inhaled the pineapple and peas!!  Love it!

 Lovely Jinny sent a sweet note to all the camp kids...and here is Elliots.....

I love the relay race!!  Everyone has an 'event'...isaac and max started for their cabin in the 3 legged race...carrying a 6 pack with floaties taped to it {there was a water event where one week near the beginning of the summer, it got dropped and sunk!!}....

 Someone caught me cheering them on!! 

 They were pretty inseperable this week....very sweet.

SO...the week is over and now new staff have arrived for Intermediate 2....here we go again.

Today: Office Worker, Tonight: ZAP!!

Thats right.....i worked in the office during this beautiful day (as i longed from my window to be at the beach!)...but tonight, I will be a ZAP in the night game: Legend Quest!

Elliot and i just finished the "SHOW" and we are waiting for the Night game to start.  Here i am blogging while he put his Camo jacket on and i am catching up on a blog...we will both be zaps tonight.

Here are a few pics from the last little while......

Gina and Christie take over Slip and Slide at Family Camp..... 

{Susan...these are the girls i am taking on my road trip to you next week!!!}

 ZUNGA!!!

 Biggest challenge these days is getting those training wheels off Elliots bike!!!!  Everyone around him has them off, yet that doesn't seem to motivate him!  He and Kadence really became nice friends this last week...nice to see them get a little older together each summer and become better friends.

 Can you tell that Gina thinks everything i say is hilarious?  Since she left, i have been feeling a little lost and a little sad.....not laughing as much.  I really miss her....it was such a nice 10 days having her here....nothing is off the table and only my sister can make me laugh like she can. 

I am very happy that she is coming to the states with me next week.....

 Oh Chris...showing off his antlers.....

 Roast beef dinner tonight......would have been awesome, but they burned the gravy and we could all smell is as soon as we poured it out.....arg!!

 Elliots Dining Attire......big chest, little bum.

 Pyramid Ski Fly by to open "The SHOW"

 The HOST!!!

 Isaac wanted to perform.....over 100 people...no big deal.

 INTRODUCING ELLIOT BURDGE EVERYONE!!!!

Has he no shame??

Almost time to go chase little campers through the forest and listen to them scream through the mine ride!!  Got to love life these days!!!

Isaac is back at camp......as a camper.

Isaac and Max are in cabin Zion together this week.  They have both chosen top bunks.  Today, while other parents put nerds or smarties in their kids 'mail', i chose to put a bag of cherries.  

i miss him.....but he appears to be having a good time.

 Here is Chris trying his hand at a new profession....Piano Moving?  

What do you think Dad?  Would you hire him?  Work smart not hard, right?

 The 6 year olds trying their hand at a new profession too....Lifeguarding.

 

The one nice thing about isaac being in camp, is that Elliot gets to do a few cool things on his own...one being tubing down the river this aft!  We have never done that with the kids, but Dave Yak and his family were visiting in the area, and they are good friends with Jeff and Gina....so we had some fun on the river.

Right now the house is all quiet....Chris is running Bob the Builder for the campers, Elliot is selling Demolition balls to the campers during the camp, Jeff is fixing his trailer, and Gina took her kids for a quad ride.  

They leave tommorow....its been nice having them here....but you can tell their kids are getting tired, but i love having Gina here...love love love.........

Last Day of Family Camp ....

Today felt like a perfect summer day.

Kids ran all over the place, all day....they had chapel with Christie this morning and then Isaac did Zunga and inflatables while elliot did the slip and slide with gina and christie ....

Mike and Laura and the kids stopped by around 4 and stayed til 10......

Russ and Michelle are taking their 2 days off this summer and will be staying in our tent trailer....2 days off ... ALL summer...bleh...the dark side of qwanoes days!!  Both Russ and Steve Geiger came up this afternoon and chris was just saying they look shell shocked....exhausted.....poor guys.

Beach party after dinner til 8....it was a beautiful night.  And then the kids left to be with christie while we went to chapel......lots of sun....lots of friends....i am NOT ready for this week to be over....but what a week.

Bonfire at the Burdges...

Just a quick upload before the day gets going tommorow...but family camp has been so timely.  It's funny the people you play with for just a few years, and you are crazy and stupid and hilarious....and then you all go off and have babies and grow up and sortof become 'no fun'.....and then you all come back together......

Tonights bonfire was reliving some of our 'really really fun days'....before we turned into parents.  And i loved every minute.....

Family Camp Snap Shot......Legendary Ice cream sandwiches.

Here they all are enjoying the legendary family camp ice cream sandwiches on BBQ night. 

I love that these camp kids congregate.....on their own.

And i love that Rach's iphone edits her pics like this and puts it up on facebook for me to steal.

ZUNGA!!!!

Yesturday was Isaacs first time off the Zunga! He is now hooked!!!

It's great having grandma here this week.....they are excited to show her stuff.....this aft was the Zunga!

 And LAUNCH!!!!!

 The boys especially love grandma being here around 3 every day.....you know....Tuck Time....here are Elliot and Grandma coming back from putting more money into her tuck account.

 Gaggles of boys just gather on the beach.....i love that....notice isaac with his fun dip......did you know they now come in triple packs?  with TWO sticks???!!  Kids these days are spoiled......we used to have to make our stick last for both flavors......

 Elliot in his happy place.....

 Grayson.......

 It was tough to zoom in, but there is our youngest....taking in the sun......

 In his own words, it was his "lucky day" as he got to buy the fuzzy blanket that he has been wanting for ages!!  He sorta looks like cookie monster with a boy head.

 And to finish off the blog.........look who was waiting for me to turn on the light?! 

Well...jokes on HIM! 

He is swimming down the toilet now!!!

Now its 'Diary of a winpy kid' with grandma and 2 tired boys......night game is tonight....isaac is waiting for the bell!