Canada Day Weekend

Canada Day celebrations started with a parade in town.

Expectations were low. But we were pleasantly surprised...

There were horses, dogs, shriners in miniature cars and several familiar characters including Spongebob, Blue, Dora, Strawberry Shortcake and Elmo.

Even Mickey & Minnie came through in their carriage.

Oh. And big tractors.

This is a prairie town, after all.

But no parade would be complete without some candy scrambling!

Silas held tightly to his special bag - a gift from Smokey the Bear. And as per usual, his commentary of events was in full volume. His raspy voice could be heard calling out, "I see Elmo!" "I get da can-y!" "I see da big big truck!" He is generally entertaining for all people who are within earshot - which is quite a few considering his vocal range.

On Sunday we headed to Lake Metigoshe with some of the Harder family to enjoy a hot afternoon at the beach.

The kids bravely donned their life jackets and had no fears about jumping into the lake.

Even after Micah was bit by a turtle and had a bit of a panic attack, he still went back in. And that was actually the 2nd turtle incident that day. Erik got a nibble on his toe as well.

They don't call these the "Turtle Mountains" for nothing.

(Those are Smokey the Bear tattoos on Keziah's legs... just in case you were wondering :)

Silas loved the water.

We headed to the cabin for a BBQ supper. Here is the back view of the cabin where we drive in. This roof will be getting replaced very soon!

Here is some of the work that Erik completed on the cabin when he came to MB and left me as a single-mom for 3 weeks last September.

Here's the same view of the cabin taken about a year ago when renos had just started.

Crowded on the deck... and it was H-O-T.

Then it was time for the annual fireworks over the US side of Lake Metigoshe - celebrating the 4th of July. It's a highlight for everyone, but it takes forever for the sky to get dark enough for them. The kids were up until midnight that night.

Licorice "smile".

Josh.

The ever-animated Judah.

Kailyn - the boat-decorating co-ordinator.

And you all know this girl.

Not sure what the expression is for...

Besides these events, we celebrated Erik's 31st birthday, caught the Boissevain fireworks on the 1st, and did both the worship music and children's feature in church on Sunday morning. It was a FULL weekend!

July Celebrations

The July long weekend was full of celebrations. First there was Canada Day, of course. We took the kids into town to watch the fireworks and were quite impressed! In fact, they were possibly even slightly better than Abbotsford's since we didn't have to listen to cheesy music playing the whole time.

Then, Erik turned 30 on July 2nd. Despite it being a huge milestone birthday, the day was pretty low key - some of my family joined us and we enjoyed some of Erik's favourite foods - pulled-pork fajitas (too bad the Boissevain Co-op didn't have the ingredients for fresh salsa) and fruit pizza for dessert.

Here's a close-up of my fruit pizza masterpiece :) Maybe you'll remember his birthday post from 4 years ago when I made another birthday fruit pizza with Erik's name written in kiwis.

On July 3rd we went to Lake Metigoshe with my parents and my sister Nichole's family for a picnic supper and boat ride.

The kids braved the lake water and even swam all the way to the dock with Daddy's help.

Silas has been practicing his standing - he's still leaning against the cooler in this picture, but is getting more confident on his feet. He's finally taken a few steps all on his own just in the last few days.

Lake Metigoshe is a huge lake. A small corner of it is in Canada (which is where my parents' cabin is) but the majority of the lake is in the US (North Dakota). Every year they have a big fireworks show over the water during the July 4th weekend. Hundreds of boats gather out on the lake and wait for it to get dark. This was a first for our family - and definitely something that should become a yearly tradition!

Canadian & proud of it!

Boats gathering to watch the ski show that was taking place a few hours before the fireworks.

Grandpa got a bit of a break while Silas took the wheel.

Getting cozy in the boat.

Silas finally succumbed to sleep.

Waiting for it to get dark seemed to take forever! But the neat part was that all the surrounding cabins were setting off their own fireworks - so there was a bit of a "pre-show" to watch.

Erik snuggling with our niece, Kailyn.

Silas woke up just before the big show started and was totally mesmerized by the fireworks. It was amazing how many boats were out there! Definitely a memorable experience :)