Sunday, July 24, 2016

Summer Camp

Each year kids everywhere go to summer camp.  Overnight camp, day camp, sports camp, art camp, French camp... all kinds of camps.  If I mention any kind of camp to my girls they react like it would be the worst thing in the world.  I try to explain that most kids actually want to go to camp, that they usually have tons of fun at camp, there are lots of things to do and other kids to play with etc. etc. But no, at this time these girls are not interested in leaving their mom and dad for any part of the day or night and pretty much freak out if I mention signing them up for anything.  I have no idea if this is normal or not but I'm rolling with it because despite the media's spin that moms rejoice about their kids leaving for camp or going back to school, I actually love having my girls home with me.  We don't home-school but we definitely home-summer! 


Who needs summer camp when you have friends with a pool and a dad who's practicing for the Olympic kid throwing event!






And we can't forget the Olympic freestyle pool jumping event.  I wonder if there's a camp for that? The competition was intense and there was no clear winner but the smiles were golden!













If there was a camp that had a counsellor who served up kids slushie mudslides then my kids would be first in line! We could call it Camp Shylo.  The girls already have their bags packed and are ready to move in!







The dad celebrated his birthday at Camp Shylo.  Now this is the our kind of camp...a family and friends and good times kinda camp. Sign us up.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Summer Highlights

Our summer days are clipping along at a record pace so I'm just going to take a minute to highlight a few of the moments we've been enjoying.  

1. Snowbirds air show right here in our town!  The pilots of these planes walk a fine line between brave and crazy.  Seriously though. Aviator glasses and jumpsuits.  Makes a girl search for Top Gun on Netflix.



2. Canada Parks Day.  The water bomber plane was open for tours and the pilots were on hand to answer all our questions.  Since the fire fighting season has been slow this summer I asked if they'd be willing to take us for a ride.  The answer was pretty much a big no with an attempt to make us feel better by explaining that sitting in the back of a water bomber is rough, uncomfortable and loud.  We may not  have gotten to go for a ride but this photo made the front page of our local paper!



3. Annual Tie Dye Event. Tie Dying has worked its way into a summer tradition for these girls.  After a couple years of dying shirts we switched it up this year and made some super colorful towels. We always do this outside on the rocks because I have no idea how it could be done inside without serious anxiety attacks for the moms.  Other than some help twisting the elastics, these kid are professionals.





4. Beach Days. Days at the beach are a staple for a healthy summer diet. Sun, sand and water keeps little bodies busy for hours.  This particular beach doesn't have any cell service which means no texts, no posting, and no groups of people catching Pokemon.  Instead there is conversation, book reading, castle building, sand surfing, hand standing and the sound of children calling, "watch me! watch me!"







5. Laughs With Friends.  One of the benefits of living in your home town is that dear friends come back to visit their families and I get to reap the benefit of their visits.  We share the same hometown, we were university roommates a lifetime ago and now we live about three thousand km apart. Any time I get with this girl and her fam is a treasure...





Stay tuned.  There's still more summer to come.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Yurting With Friends

I can very distinctly recall being a teenager growing up in this small town and thinking, "this place is so boring, there is nothing to do in this town!" My teenage brain thought that the grass was greener somewhere else.  I though that city life seemed so exciting. So many things to see and do.  I had big plans to travel the world, to be the CEO of some billion dollar company and have a vacation home in Florida all by the ripe old age of 30.  Because when you're a teenager 30 is like really old.

Obviously those dreams didn't quite pan out for me but after four years of university in the city I returned to this small town with new, more mature, twenty-two year old eyes and for the past twenty years I've been finding something to do in this small town.  And the summer in this town will rival any Florida vacation home.

Let's start with our lakefront yurt property where we spent a week making some pretty awesome memories with some really awesome friends.









Despite some unseasonably cool temperatures, a bit of rain, and a windy day there was nothing but good times happening.  The girls negotiated a dish washing contract with the dads that resulted in four girls washing all the dishes over the week for the low, low price of ten bucks a piece! Now that agreement was just a win-win for all involved.






This group of kids never complained about the weather.  And I never heard the word bored.  They built forts and made up games.  They created dances and made unique crafts that they each presented to the moms.  The moms had to judge and decide which craft they liked best based on a set criteria that the girls had developed. I kid you not.  They really did.   These girls have been friends since birth.  Each one is unique with their own interests and personalities and when they get together they never seem to be short on ideas of things to do.

When they weren't busy negotiating their pay for washing dishes or presenting their crafting talents these girls jumped off the rocks and swam their hearts out.  A little rain and cool weather didn't slow them down one bit.





There are many, many things to do in our small town.  But I have to say, doing these things with good friends just makes it all the more fun.  Good friends are the kind you don't have to entertain.  The kind where you don't always have to talk, you can sit beside each other and read a book, you can hop in a canoe and go for a paddle or jump on a bike and go for a ride.    







Everything is more fun with these ladies around...

 

Our yurting time is over for now but we've been go, go, going ever since.  I feel like my time with my girls right now is precious.  Before I know it, these girls will be teenagers.  And maybe they will mope around and say that this town is boring and there's nothing to do and they won't think its fun to ride bikes with their mom or they won't jump in the lake because they just washed their hair or whatever excuse teenagers make up to compensate for their insecurities.  I'm going to make as many memories as I possibly can with my girls this summer, just as we always do, and I will store these memories in a safe place just in case I need them to carry me though the teen years!