In July Grandpa F and Grandma L have birthdays. For Grandpa’s birthday we found a place to minigolf.
It was hot; after one round of 9 holes we were happy to find some air conditioning at D&K’s. We cooled off and still had our picnic outside.
Since August long weekend was available for L family camping this year, we were all together for mom’s birthday at Spruce Woods Provincial Park. More weekend pictures later.
Happy Birthday, we are blessed to have you in our lives.
Every day should be Auntie’s birthday party they are so much fun. I think the birthday girl had the beach in mind; hope she had fun at the aquatic centre, her niece and nephews sure did. We thought we were going to Splash Island water park, which was closed (terrible website), but ended up in a better place after all.
Yesterday when I was browsing the WarAmps website looking for a DRIVESAFE video to post on Facebook (apparently there are none), I watched a few PLAYSAFE videos. WarAmps is in the middle of a summer push about lawnmowers. I’ve watched these types of videos since I was a teenager, I’ve also been part of making a farm safety video. I have heard numerous kids and parents talk about learning to mow the lawn this summer. Recently a little girl ran up to our car as we were pulling into her yard, it freaked me out. When L was little he had nightmares about cars, I felt a little guilty that I had made him so afraid. Yesterday I remembered why; there is a lesson that the Loeppky children and now grandchildren have been learning since 1986…Whatever game you play PLAY SAFE!
There has been some work in the backyard this spring. I for one am very excited about the process of growing plants, the others may have only been thinking about their tastebuds.
The finished product is great, especially with some basil and 2 tomato plants gifted by a friend with a greener thumb then mine. When wet you can s
mell the cedar and unlike the eyesore that used to sit there, this raised bed is worth bragging about.
L and K also have their own mini gardens, built and designed by them.
Fairies
and elves are welcome here.
They are forecasting snow for Monday morning. So tonight we did a “springish” thing; we went to see the goslings. Apparently it has been two years since we visited Brookside Cemetery because K had no memory of being there before.
It is peaceful sitting by the water listening to a variety of bird calls, awing over tiny bundles of down, until a parent goose starts hissing in your direction. L & K were quite worried for awhile, wanting to go home. Apparently cranky geese are almost as tempting to torment as cranky cats for one member of our party who shall not be named.
Today I am writing because I am proud of my son. I was beginning to doubt whether he could be excited about more than just computer games. He likes to draw and build lego, but nothing really takes over his thoughts like his latest game. Even his drawings and lego creations are about computer characters. He has finally admitted that basketball and swimming lessons are fun, but he complains whenever he has to go to them. Today he came home from school asking if he could be part of the writer’s club, because he likes and is good at writing. To be part of writer’s club you need to be prepared, respectful, thoughtful, reflective and have a positive attitude, according to him he is all those things. The best part is that he was actually worried we might say no!
“After all,” Anne had said to Marilla once, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” Life at Green Gables was full of just such days, for Anne’s adventures and misadventures, like those of other people, did not all happen at once, but were sprinkled over the year, with long stretches of harmless, happy days between, filled with work and dreams and laughter and lessons.” Anne of Avonlea
According to the radio, yesterday was the International Day of Happiness. One interviewee dared to say that walking with the kids to school increases our physical well-being and therefore our happiness. L vehemently opposed this suggestion “walking will never make me happy”, complete with a frown and a stomp of his foot. His unfeeling mother replied “maybe we will have to walk longer then?”
I have been thinking of happiness this week and how to teach it to our children. There are have been tears over having to ride boyish bikes and not having new things. It seems that the person named “Others” always has new things.
Was it intentional that LM Montgomery used a broken treasure (that simple string of pearls) as an illustration of happiness?
Last weekend we invited Grandma and Grandpa F to spend 2 days and a night with us at Ingersoll Elms B&B. We met Friday afternoon for a tour at the Mint.
Although we didn’t see any pennies being made, there were many other different shapes, sizes and colours of coins to admire. The guide let L & K hold the largest coin the mint gift shop carries. It was pure silver with a diameter of 7.5cm(?), it was surprisingly heavy.
We also looked at “waffle coins” or the rejected coins that have been defaced, usually because of an imprinting error.
Afterwards we got some exercise trudging through the snow at the St Norbert Ruins. D&K had their family photos taken in the ruins this summer which brought up questions like where and what, since only L had been there before we checked it out.
The rest of the time was spent enjoying each other at the B&B, playing games and talking. We did indulge in some silliness and watched “The Gods must be Crazy”. We had hoped to watch it with L & K too but we ran out of time before bedtime. We will have to watch it some other time during family movie night.
It feels a little like fall today (in that the temperatures are plus something), so I will use that as an excuse to blog some of our fall events. After too much Thanksgiving feasting in Riding Mountain we went for a drive. It is all well and good to go down a shale slide,
but then you have to make your way up again.
Weekly events this year have included basketball practices and games for L. He is on a team of 8 years olds and they have come a long way from their first game. Most members of the team have a concept of playing defense now, L is a very good defensive player.
K is enjoying ballet/tap at the RWB. It is Saturday mornings so no sleep in days. In K’s grumbling words, she “only likes ballet once she is there not before”. We had our first class where the family could sit in and watch. K seems to have a good combination of physical mobility and sense of rhythm.
Halloween happened, K was feverish. but Mary Ingalls (with the golden locks) and an Enderman (monster from Minecraft) got their quota of candy.
Thanks to Aunty D there were pumpkins to carve.
A new nephew arrived to join the Loeppky clan, and I made a blanket for him.
His dark hair sure is a contrast against the platinum blonde of his parents’.
Now it is Advent. So far we are not behind in our Jesse tree ornaments, we are prepping for the church pageant, Christmas Eve services and the miracle of Christmas.
She’s 5, I can hardly believe it! She goes to school,
she rides her bike without training wheels,
she has tea parties,
and today, her birthday, she spent putting together her new lego set. Secretly I wasn’t sure how she would do. She was a natural and basically put it together herself. Of course there was an occasional “I can’t find a piece” or “I can’t get this tiny piece on this other tiny piece”, but her big brother still does that.
She’s not as big as she thinks she is, but she is a big girl.
