Week-end Wanderings

 

Our sweet little niece Kathryn turned 10 and invited us all out for a party at Writing-on-Stone.  Who could resist?

 

 

It was the most perfect of all fall days.  Gloriously hot, not a breath of wind, lots of sand to be dug in and buried in and water to cool off in.

 

Ya, I made all the kids do a jumping picture.  Love these.

 

Nolan was a sport and let all the kids bury him in the giant hole he dug.  He was trapped and had no way out as Barrett repeatedly hit him on the head with a shovel.

 

 

 The boys found a mud pit, it made them real men. 

 

 

The whole gang. 

An Ordinary Day

Barrett made 421 messes before 9 am and I arranged my day to drive Nolan and his classmates to the corn maze only to find out that I wasn't needed. Then Spencer forgot to take out the trash, I had to chase down the garbage truck with arms full of trash while wearing my pink house coat and curlers in my hair.

I called it a day and headed to the park where other ladies were waiting, who without me having to speak a word knew the ups and downs of mothering.

I think little boys riding bikes into the sunset makes life look perfect.

P.S. it's a commonly known fact that I like to exaggerate. It was only 123 messes and I don't own a pink house coat.

A break

I still have more picture to share from our summer but I thought I would take a break and add happenings in our lives.

1. I have seriously been loving this glorious fall. We've been out exploring all the time. Taking the boy on walks and bike rides. Letting him work off all that energy on something other then destroying anything and everything within arms reach or anything that can be reached with the aid of a chair, stool or toy.  Basically nothing is off limits.  So we walk, ride or stroll; I'd rather follow the boy around enjoying the beautiful day, then clean up his messes.

2.  I wish I had beautiful flowers like my mom.  Hers are these masses pots of overflowing leaves and color and beauty.  Mine are shrivel specs of something with potential if only someone would lovely water them, feed them nutrients and whispers words of encouragement. Some day.

3. I went for about 18 months without ever getting my hair cut.  I have lots of reasons why, not any good ones.  About a year ago I stumbled on a hairdresser who cuts my hair like a dream.  Still every 6 weeks I have to force myself not to cancel the appt.

4. Jarom is starting indoor soccer and drum lessons  I'm excited to watch him play. This is his first year of indoor.  He comes home daily and gives me a run down of all the recess happens on the soccer field and the awesome goals and assists he made.  When he talks he does it with such pride in his voice, echoing the word of his grade 3 teacher who help him realize he's an athlete.

5. Spencer is designing a house in the little spare time he has.  It's busy.  He's busy.  Last week he trotted off to Winnipeg for a conference and got to visit his old work pals.  He also got a private tour of the Human Right Museum.  Seemed like a good trip.  I think he would move back there given the chance, we've never discussed it, I think he knows I wouldn't. 

Last one on the list

22. Writing - on- Stone - almost every summer the Court's gather at Writing-on-Stone for a family reunion, to my kids big disappointment it didn't happen this year, but we still wanted to visit this place.

 We barely squeaked it in, going labor day - the day before school started, but it was a beautiful day and the kids had fun jumping from Hoodoo to Hoodoo. Barrett even did a great job keeping up to the big boys and our friends the Nesoms.

 

The day was the perfect end to a much enjoyed summer!

Almost Done

20. "The Fort" @ Fort Macleod - Interesting how we have lived by The Fort and passed it countless times, but never stopped to explore.  Our Winnipeg friends came and this was on their list of thing to do so we tagged along.

Nolan was chosen to inspect the horses and the Officers.  

 

I particularly loved the maple leaf they somehow stencil into the horses rump.  I asked how they did it, but they wouldn't reveal their secrets.

 

 

The NWMP musical ride was fascinating. The horses and Officers did some fancy tricks. 

 

 

 

Shot of the crew.

 

Barrett loved these Billy Goats - wonder if we can talk grandpa into getting some?

 

21. Sleep in the tree house - Check!

 

22. Going to the sun road - Took care of this goal on our way home from Whitefish.  We weren't really in a hurry to get home and back to real life, so we explored a couple of stops along the way.  Barrett loved the waterfalls and yelled "wadder" every time we passed one.

 

 

Rachel and Paul spotted us from the road and joined in the fun.  Nikki (or Cookie, as Barrett loves to call him) posed for some pictures. 

 

16 - 19

16. Learn to Wake board - another no go.  The boys tried hard, but one board was too big while another too small.  Next Year.  We did however have tons of other water fun.



Barrett loved the tube, we were all worried he'd be scared, but he thought it was wonderful.

 



Grandpa got a kayak this year that we all took a turn paddling around the Talley Lake.

 

Jake and Nolan gearing up for one of many dumps in the lake.

Knee boarding for Jarom and Nolan.

 



17. Slurpees - many many many were consumed

18. Glow stick Swim - Seriously cool to watch.  The kids swam and jumped and dove while adorn with glow sticks.  Making this one a yearly tradition.

 

19. 3 on 3 basketball - check out this post for details.

the list continues

13 & 15 - BMX Track/Bike track - I got confused and wrote it twice.  Check out this post for details

 14 - Bonfires - We had a lot of bonfires this year, down at the tree house.  It's the perfect place, sheltered from real life.  We discovered a new thing this year in regards to our smores - different kinds of chocolate, we tried a lot of different bars and decided that Reese peanut butter cups were one of our favs and mint aero was a no go. Nothing is as tasty as a wiener roasted on a perfect summer night.

Rock Climbing

11. Rock Climbing - When the whole Strate family was in Whitefish, Spencer, Nolan and Jake took off to Eureka to do their first ever out door rock climbing.  It was a huge hit.  Nolan who up until now has resisted rock climbing, embraced the outdoors and discovered a love of rock climbing.  

 

 

Jarom sadly couldn't make to the outdoor rock climbing due to an infection in his leg, but he and Spencer went to the U of L wall to do some rock climbing later on.

 

12. Waterfights - No pics. The cousins had a great water balloon fight.  Best of all was Meggie and Grandma sabotaging the boys and hitting them with tons of water balloons from the safety of the tree house.  Nolan, Jake and Jarom stood in stunned silence while be pummeled by balloons.

Summer list

9. Geocaching - Visit this post. It's been a fun summer to do our beginner caching. We are up to 31 finds and there were only a few we couldn't find. On one of our outings Jarom locked us out of the van and Spencer had to come rescue us. The kicker of the whole thing was that we couldn't even find that cache.

10. Hiking
SCOUT CAMP

 

I love the tired look on Nolan's face.

Camp was good for these boys, they did a hard long hike, they built their own shelters to sleep in and had man tests. Nolan fared well.   

Nolan had to give a talk on scout camp so I'll let you read his thoughts on camp.

 

 

Scout Camp

Hello, I was asked to speak to you about our 2012 Scout Camp. Our camp started on the 16^th we all met up at the Jerry Potts building at 8am and drove to the Crowsnest Pass. When we arrived at the point where our hike in to camp was to begin Bro. Summerfelt dropped us off to hike 5 km to our camp site. After we arrived we had to unload Bro. Summerfelt’s truck with all of our cooking stuff and essentials needed for camping.

We also had to build our shelters where we would have to sleep for the two nights of our camp. Just like how we had to build our shelters to protect us from things that may harm us on our camp, we have to build a strong foundation in Christ  to protect us from temptations that can lead us away from the gospel.

 In Helaman 5:12 its says.     

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

Friday, after having breakfast we went on a 28 km hike to Grizzly Lake. On our hike we had to overcome rushing streams that were in our path, we had to hike up steep hills and walk for what seemed like endless amounts of time, it seemed like we would never get to the lake.

President Monson said:  We live in a troubled world, a world of many challenges. We are here on this earth to deal with our individual challenges to the best of our ability, to learn from them, and to overcome them. Endure to the end we must, for our goal is eternal life in the presence of our Father in Heaven. He loves us and wants nothing more than for us to succeed in this goal. He will help us and bless us as we call upon Him in our prayers, as we study His words, and as we obey His commandments. Therein is found safety; therein is found peace.        

Just as our goal was to make it to lake, we have an eternal goal here on earth, to live with Heavenly Father again.   From our difficult hike I learned that I can’t give up when I’m so close to my destination, when hard things happen to me I will try has hard as I can to get through it, because I know that just like we eventually made it to the lake, I want to make it back to my Heavenly Father.

 

VENTURE CAMP 



 

There was a lack of men available to go on venture camp, so Spencer stepped up even though he had just gone on scout camp with Nolan; he went so these boys could go.

Nolan went too, seemed only fair.

 

This hike was long and hard and these boys didn't think they could make it.  They hiked forever to reach a lake they thought was their destination only to find they had to walk 6 kms more.  Their leader was awesome as they hiked the last 6 kms and taught them they weren't hiking any longer they were building men. 

 

I so loved that they learned they could do hard things.  I loved they were pushed to the breaking point and came out victorious.  I love that Nolan is blessed with leaders who notice a teaching moment and teach the boys.  "Building Men" has become our family mantra.

 

Summer Fun 2012 - Continues

6. Bowling - In the middle of July our friends from Winnipeg came for a visit.  Jody was one of my good friends and Jayden was Jarom's best buddy.  During the visit one afternoon we took the boys bowling.  It was a delightful way to spend time with these two boys.  

 

 

7. Visit the Parliament building - this was a no go.  No one wanted to do it but me and we never made our way up to Edmonton.

 

8. Swimming - It was a glorious summer for swimming, filled with nice hot hot days

 

 

Jumping from the trampoline into the pool provided hours of entertainment. 

 

Barrett loved the warm water and his puddle jumper allowing him freedom to float around in the water.

 

These kids had the greatest time together.