Author: Pam

We didn’t go camping this year but we did get away with friends to a camp.  Lowell was asked to give a series of 3 lectures on a topic of his choice at Star Lake Family Camp.  He spoke on the meaning of life as reflected on by several different philosophers.

While he was working I celebrated my birthday without cooking or cleaning.  I read, took in the scenery of the whiteshell, canoed at sunset with my family while listening to the loons.  L&K were playing with friends and supervised around the ever burning bonfire by a lady who loved burning things as much as they did.

Day 2; L&K had a little more input into how this day unfolded.  They were no longer interested in the surprises that M&D would dream up.  Since 2017 was free national park pass year we took the opportunity to visit Lower Fort Gary.  I had only been there once before, on a Grade 6 field trip.  Kira’s class had gone in the spring so she was very excited to show us around.  We enjoyed checking out the assortment of furs at the general store, learning about dyes for wool and what a tea bale looked like.

The second half of the day we spent in the Grand Beach area.  Again Lowell and I had only been there once before and couldn’t quite remember which beach our friends had taken us to.  Despite the rocky start we had a great time.  Apparently we were too busy having fun in the water to take photos.  L&K took their googles along.  The algae made the water too murky for lake bottom exploration, but they provide a welcome defence against splashes.

We didn’t get away camping by ourselves this year.  This made L&K quite sad.  The renovation project took longer then we anticipated, (perfection comes at a cost) and there were a few funerals that the church choir director needed to be at.  There were many other little things that maybe shouldn’t have mattered, but their accumulated effect was that we were too tired to undertake the planning and packing.  Instead we took 2 days to for some fun day trips.

Day 1 was a bike ride, not very exciting to L&K, although the KFC picnic in Assiniboine Park was a rare treat.  We took some time to explore the gardens and the playground.

We have previously biked to Assiniboine Park so we tried to go a little farther.  This was met with much grumbling and the whitetailed deer we spotted in the Assiniboine Forest did not compensate.  However the lure of an ice cream come at Sargent Sundae kept them going.

It couldn’t have been all bad, Lyndon was artistically inspired by the mallards in the pond. He took many photos so that he could draw them when he got home.  Unfortunately by the time we did get home he was too tired to be creative.

 

What would life be like if one didn’t have all kinds of ideas for making our new house great?  You may remember that in late winter and early spring we had plumbing and insulating done in our basement, we have since dry walled, and painted the exterior walls.  The next step in our Grand plan was to alter the side stairwell going down into the basement.  It involved removing a closet and a doorway, then levelling the floor and re-configuring the stairs. This summer Lowell undertook this part of the plan.

It takes awhile to make a customized staircase, especially when you use raw lumber.

Along the way Lowell needed to install a new screendoor, and weatherstrip the original door.  We decided to keep the original fir on the landing too, it remains to be seen whether all the work we put into it was worth the trouble.  Many hours of paint stripping and gap filling were required.

The new stairs go all the way into the basement.

I think the final results are stunning.  Lowell even made trim boards that replicate the originals in the house.

It seems that a person can’t keep up with each day never mind recording memories.  My apologizes for taking you back to summer when the snow is falling outside.  Lyndon and Kira have never really liked swimming lessons, but at our house it is a necessary evil.  Every year kids drown and I will do what I can so that doesn’t happen to our family.  FYI this knowledge does not make swimming lessons more enjoyable!

This year lessons were particularly bad for L.  Brainstorming for reasons led to the possibility that he has attended camp twice since his last lessons and disliked the cold water and the fear of jumping off slippery whiteshell rocks.  Lowell came up with a solution that did the trick – goggles.  They were a hit and both kids passed their levels.  Looking at the marks the goggles left, I’m not sure how they managed to wear them.

School has started and nothing has been posted about the summer events.  We really only started talking about summer once the wedding was over, so I guess it makes sense that we only relive the summer after the fun is over.

We went camping with the Friesen’s in the middle of July to time with I’s national conference.  It worked out very well, any later in the summer and we wouldn’t have been able to go rafting on the Roseau River.

Our guide was patient and entertaining.  He shared some history of the region, insight into the local flora and fauna and sang some French Voyageur songs with K.  Apparently by observing the swallows you can tell what the weather is bringing.

It was lots of fun and a first for many of us.  Another highlight of the campground was their 2 trampolines.  I am not sure that the springs were designed to withstand the stresses we put upon them, but they sure provided hours of fun.

It is hard to believe that we are into the second week of August, Manitoba summers really are just so short.  I guess we have been doing some summer type activities.

There was camping over July long weekend. The weather was beautiful; not too hot and only a little rain one night.

We watched the fireworks at Island Park in Portage La Prairie.  Some little people had more fun watching the sunset develop than the fireworks (it is hard to watch fireworks with sleeping eyes).

And let’s not forget that we picked 18 pails of saskatoons on Dad’s land this year.  There were more, but our enthusiasm was fading so we left some for the bears.

For Colleen’s Birthday we all headed to the zoo.  This was our first expedition as a family of 15.  Welcome here Baby N.

a wife thinks her husband can do anything, and the husband can; you get a lot of dust.

Now that the painting in the kid’s rooms, dining room, living room and den is finished it is time to think about the master bedroom.  The closet space is awkward.

While shopping for wardrobes at IKEA, wife commented how much cheaper and sturdier it would be if husband built it.  This conversation led to demolishing a whole wall.

We may have bought a house in need of some love in the form of a baseboard here or a few new windows, but here are some of the details that make us excited about our new place.

The Front Door

 

 

 

 

 

The Dining Room

The Den/Library