Ice Puddles

I have childhood memories of frosty spring mornings when we would find thin layers of ice-covered puddles on the drive-way. And I also remember the satisfying feeling of being the first one to crunch it down with your rubber boot. On the prairies it was more likely puddles of melted snow that would re-freeze overnight to create miniature skating rinks around the yard. Here, it's torrential February rains that are followed by a couple of frosty nights (that feel strangely like the return of winter).

Yesterday morning as we were trudging through the daily routine of packing our backpacks and gathering coats and mitts and lunch bags, I suggested that there might be some ice puddles outside that needed crunching. All three kids were out the door pretty quick after that. And they were rewarded with dozens of nice crunchy puddles.

Silas got in some bonus ice-crunching action after the older kids were dropped off at school.

And even though the puddles were turning less crunchy and more muddy with each passing minute, I decided that a little extra laundry wouldn't be the end of the world.

After all, we do live on a farm.

Mud puddles and dirty little boys are simply par for the course.

Gramps & Gran

This blog has been sadly neglected in recent weeks... But that usually means one thing.

I'm busy doing other things!

We hosted my parents from Manitoba here on the farm for about 2 weeks and we had a really great time. I was a little apprehensive about sharing our 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom, half-a-house with guests, but it went much better than I expected. We gave the parents our "master" bedroom, while Erik and I slept on a couple of mattresses on the floor in the kids room (thankfully their room is so big!)

It was fun to show our parents the acreage for the first time. It's a pretty significant upgrade from the townhouse...

Erik happened to be doing renovations in our shop, so my dad pitched in and helped. He was also found helping Erik's dad put in fence posts around the yard. We had to maximize on the free labour I guess.

Meanwhile, my mom and I went shopping and made soups and pies at home - with a little help from Silas here and there. The weather was even decent enough to enjoy a weiner roast and s'mores for supper one evening.

On the weekend my parents treated us to a hotel stay in Bellingham. We shopped and ate and swam.

(backwards swim trunks...)

My mom enjoyed her new ipad.

When the rest of us weren't hogging it.


And some of us rested...

(I tried to take the "deedee" out of his mouth while he slept but his teeth were clamped right down on it.)


While we were down there we decided to drive to Deception Pass.

Dad and Erik contemplating the tall, tall trees...


Thankfully the wind and the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy a walk along the beach.


We got our fill of stone-throwing and rock-climbing...

And when we were done playing, the kids (Erik included) hiked back to the car with pockets full of colourful "one-of-a-kind" beach rocks.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a great visit!

Hello Sun

It feels like spring here these days.

So on Friday after school we had a family snack-time on the trampoline.






Followed by some jumping, of course.

This kid loves to move.





But, as with any trampoline-jumping excursion, it always seems to end in tears.