Elliot wipes out on his bike ....

I was watching the game intro when I suddenly felt hungry since I missed dinner.  I got up and started walking towards the door when Rachel stopped me and said Elliot just wiped out on his bike across the property.  So, enstead of walking home, I ran.  I found him in the bathtub with water running on the worst road rash I had ever seen him have.  Poor thing started crying when I came running into the room to find him .... I felt awful ... he has been getting hurt quite a bit these days.  He had bad guy facepaint all done up, and was riding his bike waiting for the game to start when his front wheel caught on a rock and twisted his handlebars so sharp that he flew off the bike and the bike landed on him!


So, I scrubbed as best I could but there was still so much gravel in his wound that I went and got Marika to help me dress it so that it wouldn't get infected.  I was going to bring him down to the nurse, but after all the scrubbing, I knew it wouldn't be fun to get him down there.  Thankfully we have a sweet nurse friend who is up for the week.  Marika has known Elliot since he was born, and he said she could come into the bathroom .... she and Daniel are leaving next week for Asia and traveling around for 4 months!  The current plan (in my mind and not so sure about Chris - but he has already said he would go back to Thailand before Mexico)....so the current plan is to meet them in Bali in December .... fun hey?  Anyways ... she came and cleaned and dressed his wounds....

She also gave him WAY more pain meds than I would have lol .... so here he is happily skipping around a few hours later ....

Butchart Gardens 2018

It has been a few years since we went to the gardens with this gang .... but they go every year and invited us to come this week.  When I balked at going because of how late it is and how tired Chris always is, they were happy to just take the boys!  In the end, Chris wanted to go too and nobody would let me stay home ... so off we went!  We had a sleep on the beach at Bamberton on the way down and that seemed to be enough to keep everyone (adults) going!


Gordon put a toonie into each of our hands and, like little kids, we all went and picked our animal and waited for the carousal to start!  Todays goal: making memories which I think was a success.


Of course he chooses the reindeer ... boy in red!


Chris's cat made me laugh ... look at what is in it's mouth!


Listening to the band ....


Waiting for the fireworks ....


The fireworks were fun ... I am glad we went .... we have some really sweet family ... good to spend some time with just them ....

Dads sends Isaac a knife and Mittens finds her spot...

My dad got my kid started on this whole whittling kick! And Isaac is going to town!  Shavings are everywhere, even in our bed!!  He was pretty excited to get my dads knife and this note in the mail yesterday ... I don't think he even put the knife down once the package was open!


And on Monday while I was at work, the boys emptied their bedroom and dismantled the bunk beds so that Elliot wouldn't have to be under isaacs bed anymore .... lol, I guess he had had enough!  I took this picture as I left for work early this morning, Mittens .... in her new spot, close to the boy she loves, but not TOO close :-)

Two bad guys in dads evening game ....

Not sure why their faces are blue, but Isaac was stuck in a tree for most of the game and elliot said everyone was cheating.  But they are good sports. 

Nathan’s memorial

Isaacs oldest friend Noah’s stepdad commited suicide a few weeks back and I thought Noah would appreciate having his buddy with him on this day. 

They pretty much were just boys. They played while the adults talked and cried. Isaac got real good at throwing blackberries into Noah’s mouth. 

I’m glad he went.

Isaac picks blackberries and makes his own jam!

He dragged Elliot and I out the blackberries last night and once we got home, he had enough to make a big jar of blackberry jam!!

We also were able to catch a shot of the family of 4 who live on the property .... so sweet

Wildside family camp

We set up a sweet hammock triangle ..... it became our favourite spot this last week!  We could watch the kids swim and also just relax and chat with each other ....

Elliot walking Izzy around and trying to get her to sleep.  

Pretty cute .... we love being part of the village that gets to watch these kids grow. 

Rappelling with Isaac 2018

Well, this kid 'encouraged' me to sign up for the Rappelling option when the options came out for family campers when we arrived last weekend .... I was hesitant, and for no real reason ... I am not scared or nervous, I know Jon and his crew run a safe, tight ship, I just would prefer hammock time! But alas - off we went!!



Imadene Swag ....


He went before me .... just marched up there, got tied in ....


and boom ... straight down the mountain face ....


Our sweet friend Jon taking a shot to send Chris .... it was so fun to watch him and mel this week ... I never get to spend this much time in their space, so that was a kick.  Wildside is so lucky to have these 2 at the helm ....


Off I went to meet Isaac at the bottom ... it was super fun, I laughed most of the way down .....


Because Jon said most of us were "bright enough", we were allowed to make our way down the mountain to the water to meet the group there.  Normally, everyone would have to wait at the base of the rappel until everyone was done ... and since Isaac had done this before, he knew the way!


So, my boy led me down to the water .... and we swam and washed all the mud off and watched the rest of the group rappel down from the water .... it was glorious!


Seriously, such a highlight of a day with my boy ... so proud of him.

Wildside family camp 2

It was a sweet and slow week around these parts (for the most part ... aside from going in for work, and a little 'sister issue' that we ended up working out half way through the week)....it was a great week at Wildside.


These two were at camp together this week...apparently they had crappy cabin mates ... so that was too bad, but I guess we all have to learn to deal with tough people, start them young?


Carrie got a pile of tube rides with her boy when we came over to visit .... so funny.


The office is never closed .... except for important things.


Ellie living her best life ... she really chilled out and started to enjoy her time here.


Sis worked very hard on this big project ... barn doors over the equipment shelves ... I need to get back over there and take some pictures of the final product with all the paint on!  They were beautifully built!


I was super proud of her ... she just has a ton of skill ....

Elliot inquired about a job at Roblox

Well, I love his gumption. Elliot wrote to Roblox as he thinks it’s a place he’d like to work in the future. 

Family camp mainsite

So it’s family camp and everyone is pretty engaged ... here is Carrie playing soccer with Jack and Ellie ....

Chris setting up beach party for the afternoon.....