Cottage bliss

Well, it's our annual trek to the cottage at Sioux Narrows, Lake of the Woods. We always look forward to this time at David's childhood stomping/sailing grounds and the time with Grandparents is a treat. Each year we go, loaded to the top of the van, not quite sure what we will get for weather when we are there. We have had months were it never got to 20 degrees (in August) and we didn't have enough warm clothes and hardly got into the water, and other times the weather was so variable we never knew what we would get from day to day. This time, we have had HOT days (30+)
most of the time we have been here. There has been wind and two or three days of rain. Sophia's been in the water as much as she can, two or three times a day. She's swimming like a pro and even LOVES jumping off the dock. She's even had the chance to tube and jump into the water from the speed boat! No fear that one! Jacob enjoys playing on the beach and loves wandering into the water to dig and play. He will come out to swim, but he is not as confident as his sister...at least not in a life jacket. It keeps him on his back too much and then he can't move around. His favorite thing to be in is his baby cousin's swim ring --a inflatable ring which has a seat so he can sit in it and his legs are free for kicking and moving. Boy can he get around in that! We've been in the speed boat, and had a day on Shadowfax (a beautiful sailing day --a treat for sure), played mini golf, hiked, visited two favorite places, caught crayfish, visited friends, had a birthday party, cooked hotdogs and smores on the beach fire and played in the bunkie. We've had a marvellous time and are sad that our time is coming to a close....








It is nearly impossible to get these two kids to sit still enough to get a nice picture of them together. This is as close as we got. It's still pretty darned cute.


Cousins!! Jacob (3.5) and Matthew (2.5)



Making Sophia into a sand mermaid.


The mermaid, playing with her very loose tooth. Yup, she finally lost it and the tooth fairy managed to find her here. Now she has a very gappy smile.






Pure joy. Jacob loves to be thrown around. Thankfully he is light enough to do it still.



Daddy and Sophia wake boarding out to Blueberry island (where there are no blueberries this year. Booo)



G'ma and her g'kids at Nestor Falls. Goofy kids.



Snapping turtle.


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She's 6!!

Six! It is incredible to both David and me that Sophia is now 6. There is a strange shift for us, somehow 6 is just that much more grown up. Somehow we have lost our little preschooler and now have a bone fide kid. She's not a baby any more. One way to know is her attitude...but that's another story entirely. But Sophia is growing into a lively, intelligent, loving and energetic young girl, and we are enjoying this stage in her development. She wants to help more, do more and be responsible for more. She is super excited about starting Grade 1 (yikes, and yikes!) and is eager to take on the challenges that are coming.

This year we celebrated her birthday at the Saskatchewan Science Center. It's a great way to party. They covered the entertainment (science experiments) with a science center employee (who was great!), provided the cake and all that is needed with that --including making ice cream with liquid nitrogen --, and they even made science themed goodie bags. all I had to do is pay and show up. This made my life easier as we were packing up for our month that cottage at this time as well.

If you ask Sophia was the best part of the party was she will easily answer that it was her Grandma and Grandpa surprising her at the party. She had NO idea that they were coming from Winnipeg just for her. She was so happy.

Sophia and her pals had a great time. They decorated a lab coat for her...












An experiment with alkaseltzer tablets and either water or vinegar (can't remember) under a film canister. The combination of the tablet and the liquid caused a build up of gas which then made the canister explode into the air. You can just see the canister off to the left of the lady in the second picture. The funniest moment is when the staff member asked the kids if the knew what the canister was....not one of them knew it to be a film canister. Speaks to the generational gap...no one uses film any more.







making lava laps with water (coloured), oil and salt. Very cool.




Feeling dry ice smoke.







Bubbles full of dry ice smoke. Very cool too!




Making goo or slime. Messy but the kids had a blast.



Sophia pouring in the ingredients for liquid nitrogen ice cream.







Adding the liquid nitrogen and then stirring like crazy.



Cake and ice cream


Presents! We ended up with five barbies.....sigh. What can you do! It was a great day! Thank you to everyone!



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Feeding the Geese

One of Sophia's final kindergarten field trips (yikes, I can not believe that the year is already over!) was to the Wascana Display ponds, where water of fowl of many varieties are kept so that people can enjoy them, and feed them. Most of the kids enjoyed the opportunity to feed the ducks, geese (many, many geese), and swans. There are a few who were a bit wary and scared of the geese (for which I can not blame them, nasty beasts) so wouldn't go near them. But not my children, not even the one who is basically the same size as some of those geese.







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A telling exchange

Jacob: "your eyes are blue?"

Daddy: "yes. your eyes are blue too."

J: "Boys eyes are blue?"

D: "No, anyone can have blue eyes. Sophia has blue eyes."

J: "Oh."

D: "Momma's eyes are hazel."

J: "Why?"

D: "That's how she was born."

J: "Momma was born?"

D: "Yes. Daddy was born too."

J: "Really?"

D: "Yes."

J: "Oh."

Things we NEVER thought we'd say:

These statements took place in the course of the afternoon and dinner time at our house. These are the things the "Parents" said to their children:

"Jacob, stop hitting yourself in the face with the knife"


"Give me back my eardrum."


"Do not play baseball with the hairbrush and bun"


"My fingers are sparkly now"


"This is the life we chose"


"The children tell me I have two card tricks: fart and spray"

(I am thinking that needs a little unpacking....S, J and David were playing cards. Apparently, David's card tricks weren't amusing enough for them. They truly enjoyed the sound of the cards shuffling together when a using the bridge technique (farting) and when David fountained the cards in a 52 pick up (spray). These two activities produced gales of laughter from the two youngest in the group. David was laughing at the laughing. I stayed in the kitchen. It was safer there. Sorry Grandma for the gratuitous use of "fart")

Next edition: strange things my children stay. Until then!

"Spring" time update

I say "Spring" because we still aren't convinced that it won't snow still. We've had quite a bit of rain (bah) and that is driving us all crazy. It's the wrong province for that much water to be falling out of the sky. Anyway, it is in theory spring here. In honour of the change in seasons and a renewed effort to blog, I present some photos and commentary from the past few months. I have given up trying to catch up on the long past blogs....they will just have to be a mystery, I suppose. It might be better for me to focus on the now instead. I might just be able to stay on top of that. Anyway, we've been busy around here. Lots going on for all....here is some evidence:








My St. Patrick's day beauty. The headband didn't survive, but the necklace did. A leprechaun visited Sophia's class and did a little chaos making here at home too. The day was finished off with green pancakes, cucumber and grapes. The kids had fun.














And swimming lessons have started again. This is an exciting time, as Sophia is in the last of the "preschool" classes --Whale-- before moving up into Swim Kids. In August (fingers crossed that she finishes whale) she will move up to Swim Kids 3. Swimming lessons have a new angle for Jacob this year...he is in the water by himself. THis is the first time for him. The first class was a little nerve wracking for me, he is too light, so when he gets into a bit deeper water, he can't keep his feet on the ground and ends up under the water. It hasn't discouraged him. I was in the water once, but he ends up not doing the things on his own. He is much better without me in the water. I am having a bit of a hard time letting go....I keep forgetting that the boy is almost 4 years old. It is time to let him be more independent. He's not a baby anymore, right? I am very proud of my little fish!




Just 'cuz they are so cute....





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Christmas 2011

yup, I am fully aware that it is March, and that I am extremely behind in posting anything relevant or even picture laden. We've had a busy couple of months and certain things inevitably fall to the way side. So here now, in March, I am updating the blog, starting with Christmas. This means that by the time I catch up to March it should be July and I will have entered the never ending circle of blog updates.

I digress...

This Christmas we traveled. We went to Maple Ridge for a week, and bookended that with Winnipeg. We decided to fly to Abbotsford from Winnipeg as it really was easier for us not to try to get three one way tickets (Regina to Abbotsford, Abbotsford to Winnipeg, and Winnipeg to Regina). So We went to the 'Peg, spent time with the family in the new house, and then stayed the night at the airport hotel (waaaaaay easier for an early morning flight!).




My sweet little Niece...she's cute, hey?



The girl cousins. Sophia and Jacob are both taken with Baby Rachel. so much so that when I asked Jacob for a kiss one day, he said "no" and I asked who he did kiss and he promptly and without hesitating said: "I kiss Baby Rachel" My response: "only Rachel?" Jacob: "Yes." Thankfully he's come around on the kissing Mommy front.



The tree that everyone helped decorate! What fun.

Then to Abbotsford and Maple Ridge for a Mantel family holiday. It was great fun to see Auntie Dea and Uncle Todd, especially at Christmas. We haven't all been together in BC for Christmas in a long time.




We discovered that Bear Creek Park has a mini train, and even better a daytime running Christmas train! Nana, Poppa, mommy, daddy, Sophia and Jacob all travelled out and had a ride. We even got to see Santa, who was very friendly, and treated the kids to a candy cane. Can't say enough about the train and the folks who work there. They made it very festive and joyful, going the extra mile in making little craft goodie bags for each kid and welcoming them to the train. It was fabulous.


The Gerhard contingent decided to take advantage of the closeness of the West Coast Express which is part of the public transit system. It is an honest to goodness train train which went from Maple Ridge to downtown Vancouver in about an hour and a quarter, stopping at regular stops to pick up folks. It is an inexpensive way to get downtown, especially when you can use your ticket for the skytrain and buses as well. Awesome.



We spent some time down at the waterfront, checking out the Plaza of Nations and the Woodwards Christmas windows (which are no longer at Woodwards, but they are in windows!).



From there we hopped a skytrain to one of the hotels downtown to check out a huge display of Gingerbread creations...done by professionals and students alike. This is the display created by my friend Jacquie's food class at Prince of Wales highschool. From here we hopped yet another skytrain and spent several hours at Scienceworld before heading back to Maple Ridge. It was a fabulous day!


Christmas aftermath....serious toy liberation.



And Christmas dinner...yum!

Then back to Winnipeg....



Wrangling the cousins for a Christmas morning photo...Thank you Uncle Alan and Auntie Chris for the great matching pajamas. This is about as good as we could get. It's a bit like wrangling cats, cats on catnip. Yeah...you get the point.


Gift openings


Daddy and Uncle Adam putting together Adam's Millenium Falcon lego kit with Jacob's help and supervision.



"See, see, I no too big."


Jacob as his cars...all lined up and ready to go.



The kids and I spent some time at the Manitoba Children's museum. This here is slide which is part of the Optical illusions section. It is not as big as it seems.



Before....




after.



The cousins about to embark on a sledding adventure.






Sophia and Jacob proud of what teamwork can accomplish....I complete line up of ALL of the cars in the house!



Jacob and the train trains.



We had a great holiday. Looking forward to whatever comes next year.
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