Part One: Our Two Week Vacation - Skaha Lake (Penticton)

And in no particular order, here are some pictures from the first week of our family vacation, spent at Wright's Beach Camp in Penticton:

{Jon caught a tiny fish for the kids.}

{Auntie Candice and all of her nieces/nephews}

{I love this picture of these three.  They get along so well!}

{Grandpa's little girl.  She LOVED him this trip.  If she wasn't around me, she was with my Dad.}

{Ice cream cones every day for snack in the afternoon!  They were only $1.25 at the campground's store and had a couple dozen flavours to choose from - how can you resist!?!?!  Nathan was enjoying Chocolate Brownie}

{Matthew enjoying Shark Bite}

{Kayla enjoying Bubble Gum}

{Olivia never whined for her own, surprisingly enough!  A couple times I gave her the last bit of my cone.  Here she's enjoying Moose Tracks.}

{Nathan loved playing with Disney Princess figurines the whole week}

{Bath time!}

{Face painting by the campground staff!  Kayla's is a unicorn.}

{Matthew's is Thomas the Tank Engine}

{The kids built a different sand castle or 'pool' in the sand every day.}

{Jon was often found helping them.}

{Craft time!  To get the kids out of the sun for a little bit in the afternoon we tried to have some sort of craft or activity for them.  Here they were painting and then decorating their first initial.}

{Emma and Olivia.  Emma is five months older and likes to lead Olivia around.  "La La" is what she calls Olivia.  SO CUTE.}

{Nathan finally got brave enough to jump off of the dock!}

Tomorrow is a Beginning...

Tomorrow, Matthew and Kayla's first day of Kindergarten, is the beginning of a new "season" in my life.  For the next seventeen years, until June 2033, I will be parenting school-aged kids.  I don't feel old enough!

I'm excited for Matthew and Kayla.  They are more than ready for school, and Jon and I are excited for all of their imaginary friends to be exchanged for real ones.  (Side note:  Kayla told me that one of her friends is 81 and is going to die soon!).  They are lucky to have each other as they start this new season in their lives, too.  Everything is always easier when you have your best friend with you.

I'm not-so-excited for me.  Luckily, I am blessed to also have Nathan and Olivia, because I don't know what I would do if I had to send my only two children to school and be left with a quiet house.  It's time for Nathan and Olivia to forge a unique bond as they only have each other for a few days of the week.

Now, to make sure that I don't sleep in tomorrow!  

P.S.  I graduated high school in 2003...and Olivia will graduate thirty years later, in 2033.  That's kinda neat :)

Nathan is 34 months old!

There's nothing new to report on Nathan, except:

HE IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!

I'm not even sure how it all happened!  At the end of July and beginning of August I was starting to get really frustrated over his lack of remorse when he had an accident, so...I started "punishing" him.  Rather than just talking to him about what he did while I cleaned him up, I started showering him off with cold water to clean him up.  He did not like that!  I think it worked though, because just before we left for Penticton on August 13th he started telling us when he had to go to the bathroom and started going to the washroom himself.  SO AMAZING!  I was not looking forward to dealing with potty training while camping, but in the end, I didn't have to worry about it.  He had one accident in the entire two weeks we were camping.  Just one!  And since then, he's been perfect.  So exciting.  After every successful trip to the washroom he would say, "I'm getting big like Matthew and Kayla!  You don't have to call me baby Nathan anymore!"

Olivia is ONE!

Oh Olivia...you may be one year old now, but you will forever be my baby.  I can't believe one year has passed since you were born.  It's so unreal how big you have gotten and how much you have learned in just one year.

You weigh 21.8 lb and are xx" tall (gotta measure you still!).  You are very comfortably wearing 12-18 month clothes and are starting to outgrow your size 4 shoes.  You just got your sixth tooth on your birthday.

You do not like strangers.  You struggle being in the church nursery, often crying before I have even left the room!  You usually do manage to settle down now, which is nice for me.  Even though Nathan is there with you, you just want me.

I probably am your overall favourite, but you are always excited to see your Dad in the mornings or after work.

You have started to follow directions.  "Give Mommy a bite."  "Give Mommy your soother."  "Come here."  "Don't put that in your mouth."

You are really learning to walk quickly, although you are still bow-legged.

Your favourite thing to do is swim!  You are a fish.  You love it so much that I scoured the internet for hours, trying to figure out what swimming aids there are for one year olds of your weight.  There are not many!  I really wanted you to have a little bit of freedom while we are camping in Penticton and Gallagher Lake this summer, so I knew I had to find something quickly.  Believe it or not, Bed Bath and Beyond had the most selection, so I ordered four different aids for the 20-33lb range.  When they came, two looked far to big, so they were ruled out instantly.  We went swimming on your birthday as a family after your siblings' practice swim lessons and tested out the one I thought would work the best and it was fantastic.  You totally have independence, yet a ton of mobility.  Obviously we can't leave you on your own, but you now have freedom to swim where you want to go (and you do!  You actually kick and move your arms and swim places.  You're a natural!).

You are very communicative when it comes to letting me know when you are done eating.  For the most part, I let you take the lead in telling me when you don't want more to eat.  When you shake your head, "no" and purse your lips, it's very clear that you do not want to eat any more.  You are also really starting to communicate when you want something, grunting or squealing to make yourself heard.

You LOVE Kayla.  Kayla is always helping you out, especially when you want something.  Today alone she gave you a ride on her scooter and on the tricycle.  You were all smiles!

Olivia, it's so hard to believe that a year has gone by.  I can't believe that it was a year ago that you were brought into this world and we got to enjoy you while we busied ourselves getting ready for your very first camping trip at six days old, to Penticton.  And here we go again, busying ourselves in camping preparations and this time you're one.  It's going to be a whole lot different this year!

Nathan's Pretty Funny

Nathan (while I was ignoring him):  "Mom.  Mom.  Mom.  Mom.  Mom."

Jon:  "What buddy?"

Nathan:  "No, I want Mom.  Are you a girl?!?!?!"




Oh burn, Jon!

How We Spent BC Day

We started off the day by Jon running a couple errands early in the morning, and then when he came home I left with my Mom to go grocery shopping at Superstore.  Jon packed up the kids and headed to my parents' house and we met him there when we were done.

The kids had lunch of buns with hagelslaac (chocolate sprinkles) and fresh tomatoes from my parents' garden.  Nathan can easily eat 20 of them in one sitting!

The kids and Jon went swimming in the pool a couple times.  I joined them once, although am not nearly as fun as Jon is for them.

{Olivia LOVES the water.  When everyone else struggles to adjust to the water temperature, she doesn't care.  She just gets in with a smile on her face and plays instantly.}

After swimming the first time the kids came inside to do cutting/gluing (Matthew and Kayla) and play Barbies (Nathan) while Olivia napped.

When Olivia woke up she had a drink and snack, but then was left on her own for one minute too long...

...somebody opened the liquor cupboard even though they knew they weren't allowed to and started dropping bottles on the ground!  Thank goodness most were plastic!

...and somebody got angry when she got told "no" and everything was cleaned up.

The kids spent a lot of time on the tractor!

They drove it around until the battery died :)

Olivia figured out how to squeeze the horn.  Very annoying!

I had a turkey in the freezer that I wanted to get out and cooked up (to make room for harvesting the vegetables out of my parents' vegetable garden), so Jon cooked a "Christmas in August" dinner for us: turkey, twice-baked potatoes, coleslaw, and corn on the cob straight from the garden.  Matthew said that it was the "best meal ever."  The kids were helping themselves to turkey before they ran to the playground, stuffing it in their mouths.

Jumping on the trampoline after dinner, waiting for Grandpa to drive by on the lawn mower and give high fives.

On our way home we stopped to do a 'pick up'.  I bought these (used) for Kayla for $2.  She was pretty happy about it.  Nathan was a little jealous!  He loves princesses.

And just before bed Jon taught the kids how to play heads and tails.  

Jon:  "When it's in the air, say heads or tails."

Matthew & Kayla, as the coin is in the air:  "Heads or tails!"