Summer Trip (2)

.... well I see I totally forgot to come finish my trip report! So how will I ever remember what all we did at Ken’s! I’ll try and hit the highlights!

Kelly spent time in Riverton and then went flying all over the US for K-Tec. He did get in on a few fun things tho! One day we loaded up side x sides and dirt bikes and lots of food and snacks, then headed up to the Big Horn Mountains. We joined up with 2 other families and had a total blast! Ended the day washing off the dust in a mountain stream and sitting around the fire eating and talking. Lots of beautiful views up there including moose and sheep and their herders and cattle that live up in the mountains for the summer. The other fun thing Kelly got in on was stock tanking! We once again loaded up lots of snacks and got the tank hauled down to the river behind Ken’s. We all piled in (all 9 of us) and headed down the river. Some floated in tubes for a bit while the sun was still up. We picked up Ty half ways down making it a grand total of 10 people plus chairs and food! We just kept bobbing along enjoying the beautiful scenery! I think we floated for about 3 hours before getting to our stopping point. Heaving everything up the steep bank proved to be very amazing! It was basically straight up but managed to get the tank up and then rolled it down the railroad track a little ways then had to get it tied onto the top of Katy’s jeep. We also had to back in the chairs and 10 people into the jeep! There was lots of yelling and many laughs but we managed to all cram in and ride the 30 minutes home. 

Some other highlights: many hours of staining and sanding doors/trim for new offices, a bit of horse riding, many miles on golf carts/sidexside’s, floating or kayaking down the river, tie-dyeing shirts, park with friends, hot tubbing, looking for wild fires, Sunday spent along Shell Creek eating some amazing burgers and viewing the falls, also spent an afternoon and evening enjoying the Wild West town of Cody and taking in all things western! I’m sure I’m missing some wonderful things we did, but truly we had the best time ever! And was so nice to be there and not home by ourselves while Kelly was travelling! 

We finally headed for home at some point. Got back to the vehicle in Fargo, it started and no flat tires so that was good! Got it loaded down and the kids and I headed for home while Kelly went on another business trip. We got to the border the nice lady happily told us to go home and quarantine and we said we would. Lol. We never left the yard but I won’t say if anyone came to visit or not. So ya.... that’s how we spent 7 weeks of 2020 summer! 

Summer 2020 Trip (1)

 First off PTL for the dear Neche Border guard who let the kids into the US! It was our only option since Hudson’s passport expired after the Corona hit which means no flying for him at this point! Anyhow the kids and I drove across on our own and then headed to Fargo to wait for Kelly to get across and meet us. Our first adventure was getting Chick-fil-A and taking it to the cell phone parking lot at the airport where we watched the planes come and go. Once Kelly got to us we parked the Santa Fe at the airport and repacked everything into the pickup. 

 Our first stop was Des Moines for a K-Tec meeting. (Oh let me just say we were quite shocked at that we had to wear mask at so many places, quite different from the Northern country we had just come from!) Our hotel room was nice size so the kids and I just hung out there for the day in between running down to go swimming a few times. 

 Next destination was Lakin to visit Alex Danielle Mia Esma, but first we had to stop at Q39 for some good BBQ. Driving thro KS we realized we would be driving close to some old Rosenort friends and cousin of mine so we made a little detour and happily gave hugs to Merril Deeny and Annette was so good to see them again! And then was fun to run over and see my cousin Gina’s place and the grown up kids! Finally back in the road to Alex’s! Here are some of the highlights: 

•getting to go to Brian and Katie’s for supper, the kids had so much fun even tho we wondered if we would be taking someone to the ER yet after watching them play Indians with bows and arrows!🤣 Brian’s came to Alex’s another evening for supper, the kids swam and adults played marbles. 

•swimming

•some hay work

•ice cream at the park

•lots of talking

•going to the water park in Garden

It was a fun filled time!!

 Then off to Farwell to Wayne and Tiff’s! We were welcomed there with a clean walk (no chicken or turkey poop) so things started off great. But with that many kids under one roof... let’s just say we mopped the floor a few times! Oh but the fun! 

•climbing through hay stacks

•swimming in the stock tank and putting the slide in the back of the ranger... redneck fun

•trampoline park and shopping

•volleyball at Arlin’s

•feedlot

But mostly just hanging out a the house letting the kids play while we drank ice coffees or made more food! 

 After tearful goodbyes, we hit the road for Riverton, WY. We ended up in a traffic jam. A semi crashed about a mile ahead of us sending paper products scattered all across the the road. The truck ended up down at the bottom of the mountain and sadly I don’t think the driver made it out alive. But everyone was friendly on the road and walking around talking. So of course the kids made some friends and got a picture of themselves, a balloon, some picks from a guitar playing man and even got to play the guitar. Finally got going again and spent night in CO Springs, I think. The next day we got to the huge town of Jeffery City population 58. Its actually a deserted mining town it didn’t even look like 58 people lived there but maybe they lived out in the mountains. We toured the job site that Ken’s crew (Summit) is working at, and then we toured the town and checked out the huge gym that was never or barely used. On to Riverton for night. Kelly and the kids swam and I went to Walmart. Tried to decide if we should go to Ken’s the next day or wait a few days since they had been sick, finally decided to buy some food and go since we had the guest house to ourselves anyway. The drive from Riverton to Greybull is absolutely beautiful with the rushing river, tunnels, train track on the other side, rugged moutains, and green valleys! And then we were at the long awaited Lane 30 and 1/2! We unloaded the pickup and took over the guest house and Kelly headed back to Riverton for his week of meetings. 

 To be continued...

July Already

Where is summer going?! But I must say we’ve been living it up!! We have been hit with a heat wave here in good ol’ Manitoba! Upper 80’s and even in the 90’s a few days. The other day it was temps like that and 76% humidity! I almost thought I was back in the south! Lol! 

The last weekend of June we went camping at Falcon Lake with Mikey and Tiff. The weather was beautiful! Hot in the day and cooled off to about 70 at night. Georgia definitely had her moments, but I did notice she had 2 molars trying to come in so I’m hoping it was more that that caused the melt downs rather than lack of training! But do tell me how do you discipline at a camp ground?! The first night she barfed in the tent after a fit of crying and being mad about going to bed. Then around 2:30 decided she would not sleep in her playpen so put her between Kelly and I. I gave up trying to sleep like that and moved in between the boys. I didn’t get a lot of sleep that night. The second night I pushed her for miles in her stroller and then pulled her in the chariot for miles and finally drove around in the pickup before she finally gave into sleep! But we all slept wondrously! All that aside, we spent many hours on the boat and swimming! I think I’m ready to go again??? I better be cause we’re going again next weekend!

This last week is when it’s been so nice and warm. We went to Rosewood to Jason and Lynn’s on Monday for a pool party. The kids always have so much fun with their kids! They have 2 sets of twins plus 2 more! We had wings and homemade donuts for supper!

Tuesday we went to swim with Phyl in the pond. They’ve redone their pond and added a little sand beach. Between the paddle boat, dock, diving board, and rope swing there was no one bored! Almost like John’s Pond days, we were just missing the high dive to lay out on (and maybe the guys that always drove by?)!

Canada Day! We had no plans and Kelly was working so Sherilee and I decided we’d go to Russ’s pool and the guys could come whenever they were done work. Ended up inviting Evan’s and Barry’s too! Was a lot of fun and all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves enough that we could all have a good time! Grilled burgers for supper and had milkshakes later on. 

Thursday was us girls day at the pool. Melissa gets the pool one day a week and the rest of us get to join her. (Wanda, Tiff, Stacy, Tamara, and of course kiddos)
I ended up leaving the boys there and going home to finish up packing and cleaning up the house before we left for Kenora. A lot easier to do that when you’re the only one in the house! 

Another lovely day on today! Spent a lot of time in the lake with Gloria! The boys of course were thrilled to spend the day with Jessi. Going from playing at folks to back down at Steve’s to in the lake! And I’m sure that’s how it will be for the rest of the weekend! 

Poem

Some Days Are Hard

Woke up to yet ANOTHER day of WIND. And not just a breeze! And today to make it worse no sunshine! He, as in Old Mr. Sun has at least peaked out a few times since this morning, thank goodness! 

Georgia got 3 needles yesterday but managed to sleep all night so I had high hopes today would be a good day. Those hope were very quickly dashed. She has proved to be a bear and tiger all mixed into one! After throwing a complete fit over her nap (where she barfed all over her bed) she finally had an hour nap. I decided to let the boys do something fun. So got all the ingredients out for cookies and put the correct measuring tools in each ingredient and proceeded to let them make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. I had plans of relaxing on my chair while I hollered instructions to them. Well, Georgia woke up. And when I came down I noticed there was a lot of brown sugar on the kitchen floor so since the sweeper was plugged in right there I quickly swept that up. And then there was an egg dripping off the counter so cleaned that up. I turned around to get Georgia and she was up in the table eating, by the spoon full, strawberry jam! So in the end all 3 kids were in the tub with very strict orders of NO WATER ON THE FLOOR! 

After all the above life was really starting to feel quite overwhelming Georgia’s mood was NO better! So more orders that we were all going outside! That at least helped my mood! Planted a few flowers divided up a grass and put it into my whiskey barrels. The boys took Georgia to slide at Karen’s. Well really she ran over there on her own so they went to get her and ended up playing. After all that we went to check on the chickens. They’re still alive! And Georgia at least can laugh when she’s with them. Belly laughs. Hands over her mouth giggling. Hysterical laughs. And then fits of anger when being told she has to leave. 

Back inside I finally decided on Yorkshire Pizza for supper! Truly a life saver that everyone loves it! It’s so so easy! You don’t have to make a yeast dough and you don’t have to have canned biscuits on hand. Everyone helped clean up after supper! Bless them! And now everyone or at least kids will be in bed at 9:30 and tomorrow will be a new day!! 

Chickens

We have 4 chickens enjoying their new little home in the barn! It was fun getting the room ready. The boys had lots of fun painting the nesting boxes and ladder (for roosting)we built. We used leftover ‘sherbet green’ and dark teal blue. The little coop/room turned out quite cute if I do say so myself! Georgia is in love with these 2 legged ‘bock, bocks’ and was very unhappy that she couldn’t just move in with them! They didn’t seem to be quite so impressed with her for some reason! We need to get the screen door in yet then she can at least watch them. I think they should be laying eggs within the next couple weeks so that will be exciting. And we still want to get a few chicks to add to the bunch as well. Hoping to get some blue or green egg layers. But for right now we’ll let these 4 get to know their new home and see if we can keep them alive and safe from the dog!

A Rainy Day

At the moment I am being serenaded by a marching band. Drums (tea tupper and spatulas) and a whistling straw!  

Ok that is as far as I got! Couldn't think and Georgia has been a BEAR! Today is dreary, windy, cold, and rainy! Was perfect for sleeping in! My goals for the day are writing this, getting laundry done (Kelly was scrounging for clothes this morning), and get supper made for Russ. Sounds doable right?!

Last weekend Kelly went with Russ, Nelson, Mikey, and Nate to Edmonton to check out the Richy Brother's Auction. They rented a plane and flew to Hudson Bay, SK to pick up Nate and drop off Alisa and baby Jace. Then on to have their 'Man Party'. I think they enjoyed themselves! Wanda, Tamara, Tiff, Melissa, myself, and kiddos spent Saturday at Russ's pool. It was very relaxing! Did a lot of snacking and sitting in the hot tub! We did have a good supper of Sweet Onion Chicken Sandwiches and veggies. Then after supper Tamara called one of her friends to see if she would make coffee drinks for us! They tasted really good with our ice cream and raspberry sauce! Wanda also got a call that our chickens were ready to be picked up and must be picked up right away. What?! They said 2 weeks! She convinced them to keep them until Sunday. So the boys went home with her for night after the pool party and went along to pick up chickens in the morning. Now Wanda is keeping mine until we get the coop finished. 

Speaking of the coop. The walls are up. We'll have to insulate in fall. Now just need get a roost and some nesting boxes put up! This is a long weekend coming up, so hopefully it can all get done then! Our cat and dog still are not friends. The cat has started living at the neighbors. Their grandchildren love it have renamed it Cheetah. The boys still go over and get it sometimes, and she lives happily over here for a few days until Chocco gets too close and she has to leave again. We're hoping for some kittens soon, so hopefully we can convince Chocco to just ignore all cats! 

I planted some seeds in egg cartons, and they are starting to sprout! Now if it would just warm up for once so we could actually start planting things outside!! I do have perennials coming up, so that's exciting! I want to plant a little garden for the boys to work in. LOL! Also we want to plant some trees this year so.... I'm guessing flowers might be a little sparse this year! They're SO expensive up here! You can spend a few hundred dollars in know time just to have them last for 4 months! Maybe one day I'll get a greenhouse and can start more of my own. 

Well this seems really long and boring. I guess we've haven't been doing anything too exciting! The kids did go to a paramedic friends (Bonnie)place to play on her play structure one afternoon. Oh and I did start a rug project that I need to finish some day! We also booked for sure 2 or maybe 3 weekends of camping, so we're excited about that!

Ok hopefully next time there's more exciting things happening!

Shall I Try This Again?

WOW! 2014 was a long time ago! I’m not really sure why I’m doing this again, other than I would like to be able to go back one day and read what we all did with our life! So we’ll see how long I can keep up the writing!

At the moment we are living through ‘history in the making’ of the world pandemic of Covid19. I have currently not been inside of a store of any kind in 6 weeks! I quite like being at home, doing our thing but will be very happy when we can go do others things when/if we want! 

Kelly’s nephew Ben has been living with us for the last 3.5 weeks. His dad, Charlie, has also been here quite a bit. I love them dearly, but it does make more work and feels like my personal space is a bit overrun! But we’re glad we can help out! And the boys love having Ben to play with! He just turned 13 on Friday, so we hope to have a little party on Sunday. 

Projects we’ve been working on... 
• new floor in Georgia’s room. The carpet in there was absolutely disgusting. It wasn’t the greatest when we moved in and after having 3 babies barf on it, it was time to go! Kelly cut plywood into strips like wood flooring and nailed them down. I mixed up the 3 leftover white paints I had and painted it. I love how it turned out. Quite old fashioned looking. 
• cleaning out the shed. It was a disaster! The first thing was to get a load of wood stacked, which the the boys and I finally got done! Then some shelving built to hold stuff. A search for ALL the tools the boys have used over the last year or two. We still have a couple more days of work, but it’s getting there! 
Next project is fixing up a chicken coop in the barn. Also cleaning out the barn! 

Hudson has been putting miles on his bike. Loves helping with ‘fun’ projects like painting or washing things with a hose. Sawyer has been putting on the bike miles too. He also he witch that lives in the basement and informed me his witch was grumpy tonight cause it kept asking him what his name was. Georgia is a sweet firecracker. ‘When she was good she was so good but when she was bad she was terrible’ would aptly describe her. She LOVES the outdoors! Thanks goodness! She’s also starting to ‘talk’ a lot. Also copies lots of words.  

Well I think that’s enough for now especially since it’s 1:15 in the morning! But pandemic, so no having to get up and dressed for church!