Manitoba Christmas

It's been almost a week since we returned from our Christmas adventure to the prairies of Manitoba.  The sunny winter wonderland felt like a distant memory this week as we trudged back to school in our rubber boots through ankle-deep rain puddles under endless gray skies...

A road trip is never without some drama and adventure, and, believe me, this trip didn't disappoint!  We drove through the States this time - 3 days of driving and 2 nights in hotels.  Here's a brief synopsis of how the whole trip went down:

Day 1 - People are in good health and good spirits.  Roads are great and we're excited for Christmas.

Night 1 - (Coeur D'Alene, Idaho) Silas starts throwing up in the night.  I wake up feeling achy and feverish.  And so the sickness begins...

Day 2 - Silas and I hang out in the back seat together doing a lot of sleeping.  Silas starts having a major throw-up just as we're pulling into a rest stop and Erik manages to pull him out of his car seat and out of the van before the spewing begins.  We consider it a major success that we only have to change his shirt.

Night 2 - (Billings, Montana) We stay in a super cheap hotel with a waterslide - kids who are feeling slightly under the weather magically perk up and make multiple trips up and down the slide.  1 hour later things start going downhill as sickness kicks in once again.

Day 3 - Keziah wakes up puking.  I feel achy and disgusting. Micah and Silas aren't doing so hot either.  Amazingly, Erik is in optimal health and I'm praying it stays that way as I have no intention of doing any driving.  After a rough morning of travel, we make a stop in frigid Bismark, North Dakota to stock up on drugs and puke buckets.  Around 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve we finally make it to my parents house.  

We were pretty wiped.

The first few days the kids and I still felt pretty sick.  There was a lot of coughing and sneezing and nose-running and tylenol-taking.  The puking subsided for the most part other than Boxing Day when it was time for a family picture.  While the rest of the Harder family was waiting for us outside in the -27 cold, Silas and Micah decided to simultaneously puke (only one made it to the toilet) and then proceed to whine and cry loudly while we dressed them and dragged them outside for the quick photo session.  (My apologies to the rest of the family for how bad that picture is going to turn out...)

But even though we may have infected half of the family with our "plague", we hope they were still happy to see us...?? (insert sheepish smile).  

We were definitely happy to see them.

Boxing Day was the one day that we were all together - so that was the time for presents and Christmas festivities.  Erik & I haven't participated in a Manitoba Christmas since Keziah was a newborn, so it had been awhile.

 Auntie Laura reading a Christmas story to Keziah.

Apple was well-represented at the Harder Christmas.  There were plenty of ipads, ipods and iphones to go around...  though Granny was smart to ban them on Boxing Day :)

Men actually did dishes.
For real.

We met our niece Amelia for the first time - she was born right after we left Manitoba the last time.  What a cutie :)

A highlight of the Harder christmas is the program (a.k.a. talent show) put on by the kids.

 There was some guitar-playing.

And the always classic recorder.

Micah's talent was showing off some artwork.

While Liam's talent was lip-syncing to Gangnam Style with his back-up dancers...

While I lounged indoors, blowing my nose and reading books - content to enjoy the snow and sunshine through the big picture windows - Erik had endless energy to be outside.  He took several trips to Lake Adam with our kids and the other cousins to do some skating and sledding.

Silas tried single-blade skates for the first time and loved it.

Grandpa and the boys on the toboggan hill.

After being happily cooped up in the house for the first week, Erik finally convinced me to come along for one last skate on New Year's Eve.  It was cold.  And my skates were too tight.
Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Keziah and I lasted about 10 minutes on the ice and then we put our boots back on and drank hot chocolate by the wood stove.  Thank goodness for warming huts :)

Erik's highlight was probably the last day when he went snowmobiling with my Dad.  It warmed up to about -8 that day (heat wave!) and he had a blast.

Finally it was time to say good-bye and head back home.  After 12 days of holidaying, we were all Christmas-ed out.

Family Photos

Signs that summer is in full swing:

- kids are staying up as late as the sun and waking up lazy in the morning

- mealtimes and naptimes seem to happen randomly throughout the day with no set schedule

- grocery store trips include stocking up on KD and alphagetti for all those at-home lunches

- and I haven't posted on my blog since the beginning of the month...

Yes.  Summer is here.

And though we're missing our Manitoba summers a little bit, we're also enjoying our first full summer on the farm.  And we got to host some Manitoba-folk at our place this past week.  My sister and her friend came out to Abbotsford for a photography workshop and we really enjoyed having them.  They came away from their workshop with some renewed inspiration and we got to be the beneficiaries.  The last evening they were here we headed out to the pasture for a quick photo shoot.  Experience has taught me that my kids have a limited window of enjoyment for this type of thing but they actually did pretty well.  

We lucked out by getting a sunny, warm evening (we wanted the sun setting behind us for the pasture pictures) and we also had some nice tall grass out there that would've been sadly missing if we hadn't sent our cows away for the last few months.  

And while the 2 professionals took pictures, I - the unprofessional - took pictures of them taking pictures...

Erik was a good sport too.  After a long, hot day at work I made him go out and use the tractor to move one of the old garden bathtubs and then haul the hose all the way out to the pasture to pressure-wash it.  

And he also did a good job being the sail holder-upper.

And I think he would agree that the effort is worth it when you get adorable shots like this one...

I'm a big fan of the family shots in the pasture.  I love the light and the muted colours.  I'm envisioning this photo gracing the walls of my home...

Then we headed to the lawn for a more classic family pose.  I love Silas' grin in this one :)

If this is just a sampling of the rest of the photos, I can't wait to see them all!

If anyone in the Winnipeg area is looking for some great photographers, check out Erin and Melanie's work.  They've also joined forces to create Hello Love Photography for engagement and wedding photos.

After the family photos were finished, the unprofessional (a.k.a. me) got to take a turn behind the fancy lens for a moment to capture a photo of the photographers.  Thank you girls for a great week and for such beautiful family pictures!

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!

The Sunday of Summer

Our time in Manitoba is rapidly coming to a close and we've been trying to pack in all the summer fun that we've left until the last minute. Trips to the lake have been more frequent and each time my mom and I convince ourselves that all the prep work and clean-up is worth it!

It doesn't take much convincing when you enjoy an evening like this one at Lake William with a few cousins:

Unfortunately in the haste and chaos of leaving the house with 3 whiny kids, my mom and I forgot the bag that contained the plates. But, hey, it's "camping" right?

So, we made do.

I even convinced the kids that the flap in the paper bag was the hot dog holder.

They totally bought it.

Oh - and to explain the bandage on Micah's arm -- it was still bothering him a bit after he hurt it at camp. I had visions of us coming home with another casted arm like last year. But we kept an eye on it and the tensor seemed to help. He hasn't complained about it in a few days so I think we're out of the woods.

In Micah's words, he probably just "spranged it".

When Erik asked who Micah's favourite Manitoba cousin was a few weeks ago, he surprised us by announcing that it was Olivia. They do play together quite well...

Maddy patiently worked on her mission to befriend Silas. And her secret to success?

Rocks.

(My camera kept focusing on the sand in the photos, so I decided to go with it and have some fun with iphoto edits...)

Silas and Judah.

Then a couple of days later, my mom and I packed up the kids and hopped in the van once again. This time for a day trip to Clear Lake (Riding Mtn National Park). Brad & Nichole were camping up there for a few days and I hadn't been to Clear Lake in ages (my favourite camping location growing up).

The kids had a blast at the beach.

Silas had a great time right up until the moment this happened:

And then I was even able to transfer him to this:

Overall, a great day was had at Clear Lake - though we all agreed, it was too short!

Another thing on our must-do-before-we-leave-Manitoba list was to take one more ride in Grandpa's pontoon boat.

So, last night, that's what we did.

We even stopped mid-lake so that Erik and the kids could jump in for a swim.

And practice some new swimming moves...

To me, August will always feel like the "Sunday" of summer. You know -- the second half of the weekend where you're already thinking about going back to work or school (who I am kidding, I haven't gone to a job or a school in years... but I definitely still look forward to the weekend!) In the same way, August marks the shifting of that entire-summer-stretched-out-before-me feeling into the only-a-few-more-weeks-until-this-all-comes-to-an-end feeling.

Thankfully there are plenty more good things to look forward to.