Fernie Day 1 and 2

At the end of June we headed to Fernie, British Columbia to meet up with Mom and Dad Pitcher, Reed and Steph and Drew and Brittany for a family reunion.  On the way there we stopped at a lake to stretch.  It was SO windy and cold.  The lake was covered in white caps and our shoes were covered in mud after a short walk down the beach.

This statue by the lake tells me that strong winds are the norm around there:

Also on the way there we stopped at Frank Slide.  We walked around outside and read about the rock slide.  Conner standing in front of Turtle Mountain and the slide area:

We made it to Fernie that evening and got settled into our chalet:

The next day we went to church and then we went to a park to enjoy the sunshine and each other's company:

Alan, Steph, Conner and Reed P. swinging:

Alan, Reed, Drew, Micah, Reed and Dad on this spinning wheel thing:

Brooklyn and Brittany swinging:

Alan, Conner and Brooklyn playing on the train:

Alan on a saucer swing:

Brooklyn and I on a saucer swing:

Brooklyn riding a spring bike:

Group picture on the train:

Playing games that evening:

 

Looking up pictures or videos:

End of School

Conner was happy to be done with school.  He worked really hard on his reading this year and caught up to his grade level - yay Conner!  Conner with his teacher, Mrs. Brown:

Alan with his teacher Mrs. Doucette.  Alan did well this year but he did find it a little harder to stay organized.  They definitely expect more of 4th graders!  Alan was very ready to be done:

Micah on 2 wheels!

Micah was excited to try to ride his bike without training wheels.  We took them off at the beginning of June and I ran behind him holding his seat for a while.  Luckily the road we live on is a one way loop so there isn't much traffic.  After a few times around he started going by himself.  Go Micah!:

After that he constantly wanted to be outside on his bike.  It didn't take him very long to get confident with braking and turning and starting by himself.

 

He was so proud of himself (and we were too)!:

Memorial Day trip

For Memorial Day we headed over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bassett.  On Sunday we all went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Walker.  When we got to their place we pointed out the electric fence that surrounds their garden and warned the kids not to touch it.  So within 5 minutes all 4 of them are huddled around the fence, daring each other to touch it, throwing twigs and grass at it and leaning things against it. 

It was one of those moments when you realize that your kids just have to learn it the hard way.  I'm pretty sure Alan and Conner ended up touching it and I'm not sure about Micah and Brooklyn.  Someday I might use this story in a talk (not sure exactly what point I would make...) 

The next day we helped get rid of a Russian Olive tree that was growing too close to the yard.  First we chopped off the branches and then we started digging our the roots.  Then we started chopping the roots with an ax:

Everyone wanted a turn:

 

Then we hooked the truck up to it and pulled it out.  There it goes!:

Hauling it off:

My kids love riding in the back of the truck:

Micah found this bone at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's place.  He informed me that it was a t-rex finger bone.  Either that or a sheep bone.  Definitely one of the two:

Checking on the bone collection in the tree:

figuring out the rope swing:



Micah's shoes got stuck in the mud, so he just stepped out of them and kept going:

Conner to the rescue!  He pulled Micah's shoes out:

Brooklyn found a worm:

Towards the end of the day Alan and Conner came running up to the house and said that Micah and Brooklyn were stuck in the mud.  Then they changed that to "well, they are really muddy".  Come to find out they were definitely not stuck, they were thoroughly enjoying their mud bath:

"Hey Micah, let me help you, it looks like you missed a spot"

I couldn't believe how muddy they were.  So we took them back and hosed them off in the yard and then sent them in to take a shower.

They thought it was pretty funny until they realized that they had to stand there until they were basically mud free and the hose water didn't get any warmer:

After their shower, helping Grandma make cookies:

Grandma singing and playing the guitar:

Brooklyn fell asleep right before we headed home:

It was a fun weekend!