YANIN!!!

Yanin came to visit last week!!!  Picked up just where we left off...except with a few little additions (like Isaac and Elliot)....they loved her immediately.

 Her favorite spot in the yard......nothing like (trying to!!) read a book in the hammock....

 Here we are off to our next favorite spot.......

 Here......

 She is a real shade baby while I am a sun baby......probably pretty good analogy of our relationship, yet, we love eachother anyways, no matter how different we are!!!

 We watched a little bit of the game chris organized on the Thursday night "Wreck it Ralph"!!!!

 Yanin tried her hand at checking out the BMX track.....she rocked it!!

 Here she is rocking it!!

 BMX track....CHECK!

 Next was paddleboarding.......

 She taught me a new stroke on the board that makes it so much easier.....

 After paddleboarding, we headed over to watch the game that Chris was playing in......well, all the boys were playing in.  Here he is giving some camper the 'what for'......

 I love that all three boys play the games......

 Elliot sat out in the golf cart near the end of the game.....Yanin joined him.

 Yanin also gave Isaac his first large Slurpee (he only gets smalls with me!!!)....but the biggest adventure of the day on Sat was filling up with gas and the tank over was gushing out gas at the bottom of its tank.  I went into the store, with big eyes, to where Yanin and the boys were picking out drinks and said "we gotta get outta here"......

 We were able to pay before they evacuated the store (sort of reminded me of the story of the airplane crash where people were trying to get their luggage before heading out the emergency exit.....WAIT!!  I KNOW we could blow up any minute, but can we pay for our slurpees?)

 Yes, he inhaled it like a pro.

 Elliot, my little opportunist, had Yanin buy him his most favorite 'mommy hates it' candy.  He was most pleased.

 Then it was back to the camp for a few hours before we had to leave again for the airport.  

Much excitement crammed into a span of a couple days.....time well spent with my oldest and dearest friend.

The Days are just Packed.....

A typical 'after-hours' shot of an evening in the program room; Chris counting points, while Isaac and Elliot find fun....this night, it was zipping isaac into the blueman suit, which according to Isaac, smelled just like corndogs.

 Mario in the background, Elliot in his 'too tight but I don't care' swim suit.......

 Chris explaining the rules to some game......please note Elliot far left......

 My little fish....this guy jumps in at every chance these days.....

 Best friends......

 He loves the inflatables...he climbs around the bottom of the pyramid.....

 Please note his hands....and face....its not a good day at camp, unless you are completely filthy.

 Rachel was back for the week.....its been quite the year for this girl....so it was nice to have her back home.

Not enough time spent.....

I have known these girls since our arrival here at camp back in 1999.  We have watched eachother find love, we have watched eachother have babies (not literally....no thankyou....although Kari would have no problem having anyone watch...its part of her charm), we have also walked beside eachother as a few babies have been lost.  We are not similar to eachother at all......but we share the love we have for this place, and we all love and search after God...and we laugh and are pretty vulgar with eachother alot, which is part of why we laugh so much.

It was the dream team down on the dock this week with all girl boat drivers, and the husbands as the dock staff.  We didn't see much of chris or andy this week based on their jobs, but chris came to our final bonfire on thursday night.  We had a babyshower for Trish on tuesday and one for Courtney on thursday.....Court was in the kitchen this week making the most amazing food for glutton-free/dairy free people.....JL made the drive to Ladysmith every morning this week to take her daughter to swimming lessons.....and Trish helped out where she could, but she is so close to giving birth, that everything is hard at this point.  We are all just so thrilled that she is about to have a baby after all the loss and invitro she and Ben have gone through.  So, there ends another teen camp.  Chris is still going strong...he lost his assistant yesturday because during the watermelon relay, Charlotte (for some reason), thought it would be funny to dress up in a Gorilla costume and run with the kids during the relay.....some kid saw the gorilla and decided (for some reason), thought it would be funny to hit the gorilla in the side of the head with a boat buoy, and gave her a concussion......another kid thought it would be funny to knock over, and crush some of the wooden portals that chris worked so hard on for the night game. So....the guy has a list the size of my arm of things to do, and its his day off today.  So, there we are....update.

2013

2012

Trish is finally having her baby!!!!!

And though she isn't due for another 4 weeks, we are all here now......so we celebrated her last night.  Here she is being dropped off by chris and laughing at the welcome we were giving her.

Prepping for the Big Top.....

It's amazing what this guy does to get ready for a special 'mug up' outside.

Here is Elliot playing catch with a staff member before they man the 'Angry Birds' game when the campers come out.

Chris sat down for a second by the fire with me......just for a second.  He looks happy, doesn't he.

In full swing.....it was all fun and games until one of our sweetest staff (the one Elliot has a crush on, but swears she is his enemy...), got a dart in the leg.  Yup, a dart.  All the way in......we still don't know who threw it, did she get in the way, did they just have aim like me?  She is back at camp this morning and ready to continue serving, amazing girl....dart and all.

For the campers who preferred to chill and not do the carnival games......

Charlotte, Chris's assistant this summer, had a tough day, and the dart threw her over the edge, she is such a sensitive soul....while chris is making jokes, trying to lighten the mood by saying things like "i missed the first time!!"....Charlotte glares at him and squaks "its too soon for jokes....".   She left to cry....I think she was just quite tired, this is a very program intensive camp, Chris has made it that way, and he also makes it hard on staff by not always sharing his vision, so its probably exhausting trying to keep up to him.  She is doing great though, Theatre Major at Trinity, she has her work cut out for her.

Here we are at Mug Up for the adults....its so great that they are back up here this week.  We are throwing a surprise baby shower for Trish tonight....I am going to go logo some baby wear for her sweet baby tonight!!  She is still a few weeks away, but we won't be all together again until next summer......

After mug up, I didn't want to go to bed, I wanted to hang out with friends, so we went to the lounge and the boys set themselves up in the hallway....happy as clams......

After hangout time, around 10:30, we went to say goodnight to Chris....he was happy to see us and roped us into counting the thousands of points that were racked up by the campers that day.....please note isaac and elliot in the background.....its after 11pm at this point, and they were still going strong.

A few summer randoms

Getting camp ready for summer has kicked my husband around more than usual this year.  Here is 'Hooks Pirate Ship' that my kids got the honor of having the maiden voyage on!!  My husband is one creative dude....he took an old row boat, built it up so that there is a 'below deck Jail!!'  That is where tinkerbell gets thrown into....Wendy also gets tied to the mast during the night game, and kids have to come find her......its pretty awesome what my husband can dream up....the campers LOVED the night game.....

 SO proud of him......its been too much this year, but he is holding steady and firm......

 One morning last week......

 Here he is prepping for a half hour of 'mugup' outside under the big top!  He rigged up a pully system, and it looks amazing in the dark.....

 Merryam, Camp summer nanny!!  She is 15, we shall see how we do....sweet girl, but 15.

 Candy loving soul, eating a banana to hopefully be allowed more candy.....sigh.

Folks are selling their house.....

Many years for them year.....so much change and transition in the last 20 year....we have all grown up quite a bit.....I still remember my dad taking me out to kelowna to help choose the house.  They figured it would help to cement my decision to follow them out there as a stubborn, independent 18 year old who was in 'love' with a boy who was not good for me.  Every day, I am thankful for following.  But now, the warm waters of Florida are calling to them.....and so this beautiful home, that has so much of my parents blood, sweat and tears into it...is ready to be set free.....and in turn, setting them free as well.

Happy Birthday Elliot!!! 7!!

Elliot has been counting down his birthday for weeks and weeks......so, guess who's face I saw at 5:58am this morning?  I made him go back to bed, but then he came back at 6:23am and says "how about now?  Can my birthday start now?"

SO.....I said yes, and got him ready out on the deck so as not to wake anyone up....as in, do NOT wake the babies!!!  I decided to take him for a canoe ride, but he had other ideas.....TUCK!!!  He sure took off running, I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't have keys.....but his day was made when he saw that a cabin had returned their tuck box with candy still INSIDE!!!

Yup, he had skittles and hot chocolate for breakfast.

 It was a beautiful morning with my 7 year old...... 

Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

Carrie and Jack and Ellie and mom were such an added bonus to this birthday weekend......It was a very busy few days.....this Ellie, so fun to see her growing up so much between visits.....such a sweet girl...

 We had a quick lunch at a little park with the kids before it was time to meet the masses for the traditional Forest Museum birthday.....Elliot loves this place.....so we all rode the train, the kids played with new water guns from grandma....rice krispie cake for everyone.....

 My mom, sister and Rachel helped to prep for a big taco salad dinner for anyone who dropped by......turned out there were many little ones who came by as well as some old friends who are here for the week with their kids......here was a quick shot of a few of who showed up for Elliots birthday Party....Nona took the pic....look at Isaac, he sure loves Ellie....I wish we got to spend more time with them.

 Happy Birthday Elliot.....you are seven now.  You love to go to Duncan with your dad, you love to sip on ice caps right beside him and walk through electronic stores......you still are fine to play on your own, but if someone is playing there with you, thats ok too.  You are a spirited kid, quick to laugh, but also still quick to cry....we sure love you, you complete our family.

Spending the evening with my sis.....

It began quite nicely, kids played on their own....mine came when called for dinner....hers starting squawking around 5:36pm....the witching hour I remember so clearly!!!!  Here is my sister just before she swung into action preparing this lovely gourmet meal of ginger beef, veggies stir fry and noodles!!!  I know the feeling well sis.......together we dreamed of drinking a gin and tonic out on my dock together in silence.....one week my lovely, one week!!!

 And while Carrie put Ellie into the bath, Jack and I played a terribly entertaining and hilarious game of "Guess what THIS is??!!" as we would sneak a corner of 'something' into the corner of the skype camera....I am sure he would have gone on for much longer than I had the stamina for...but man, that was a fun and unexpected way to spend the evening.  Love you guys....can't wait to see you next week!! xoxo