The Good Life: Summer (August – you were busy!)
Posted on September 20, 2017
by lifeonabramlake
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What a wirlwind of a month August was! We had a jam-packed calendar with family visits, my sister’s wedding and a wonderful visit with my parents.
August kicked off with a week-long visit from Darren (Blake’s brother) and his daughter, Ava all the way from Southern Ontario. Darren and Ava have been doing an annual summer trek to Sioux Lookout for the past three years and we are so happy and thankful that they chosoe to spend their vacation time with us!
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| The cousins swimming together. Henry started to gain much more confidence swimming in the water with his water wings! |
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| Enjoying some rare beach, sunbathing time with Auntie & Jupiter (the dog!) |
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| This is what most afternoons looked like. Darren & Blake, floating in the water with their beer 🙂 |
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| Darren tubing |
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| Auntie Meghan’s turn |
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| Blake |
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| Alice & I |
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| I told Blake and Darren to pose for me so I could send this to their Mom. This was Blake’s pose. Hahah |
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| Much better. |
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| Brothers. |
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| Early morning calm from the front window |
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| English River fishing trip with Darren, Ava, Henry, Alice, Hunter, Blake and I! |
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| Picnic time for the kiddos |
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| These guys. They were so good and keen to catch some fish to bring home. Alice, well, I just spent the whole morning trying to convince Alice not to jump off the rocks into the water haha |
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| Henry and Hunter – he’s so helpful and kind to our kids! |
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| Darren & Ava |
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| Helping Dad-Dad drive |
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| Snuggles & kisses |
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| Snuggling to keep warm on the boat ride home! |
Each year, when Darren comes to visit, Blake and Darren take the day to go for a full day of fishing and some much needed brother time. Last year, I was on my own with Alice (4mos), Henry (20 mos) and Ava. It was a bit stressful! This year, I was much smarter and hired a babysitter to come help! Between Kelsey-Ann and I, we had five kids with us for the morning. Lots of fun and much easier with a second pair of hands 🙂
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| Alice & Sailor at the park that we all biked to together |
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| Alice & I on the swing |
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| Ava, Henry, Brooks, Alice & Kelsey-Ann |
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| Our little crew! |
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| Eating fresh veggies from the garden |
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| Time for a swim and to lounge on the beach! |
Every year, during Darren and Ava’s visit, we hire a local float plane company to come pick us up in a float plane to take us to dinner at a fishing lodge up the lake. This year, we brought Henry along (Alice stayed home with our babysitter, Blythe as her bedtime is between 6:30-7pm). As always, it was a ton of fun to take the kids up on the float plane. It never gets old!
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| Waiting for the plane to come get us. Look at Blake passed out on the deck behind the kids. Worn out from a day of fishing! |
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| Ready for take-off. Henry, how excited are you!?!? |
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| Hilariously, Ava had had a busy day and fell fast asleep on the 20min flight over to the restaurant. |
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| A little rain never stopped anybody! |
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| At dinner! |
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| Henry with his giant ice cream sundae. We hardly ever have dessert to this was a HUGE treat. He was so excited! |
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| Digging right in…. |
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| Good to the last drop! |
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| While Darren was here, he and Blake built a pergola to keep our living room bright but cool in the summer! |
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| Neighbourhood biking |
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| We love living on a dead-end street. The kids are constantly on the road biking, playing hockey etc. |
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| Taking the littles out sailing with Blake and I |
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| The key to happiness is snacks. Lots of snacks. All the time. So many snacks! |
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| Saturday morning pancakes! Thanks Dad-Dad! |
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| Getting ready for a bike ride! |
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| Cutie |
After Darren & Ava’s visit, we launched right into Sioux Lookout’s famous Blueberry Festival – a 10 day-long event of activities about town. I had to work partly throughout the Festival, but we still managed to go to many events and hang out with Blueberry Bert, Henry’s favourite mascot 🙂
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| At the kick-off kids party! |
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| At Blueberry Bert’s birthday party. We unfortunately didn’t get to stick around for cake as the kids started losing it around lunchtime but we did get some facetime with Bert! |
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| Henry wasn’t so sure about the magic show haha |
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| So stoked! |
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| Our favourite Blueberry Fest event – float plane rides!!!! |
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| On the big Caravan, ready to go! |
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| Our little community, surrounded by lakes and trees! |
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| High-fives for Bert! |
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| Hugs too! |
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| Alice, was NOT as keen! |
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| I really didn’t want to leave Bert hanging 🙂 |
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| What a morning! Back home eating garden-fresh veggies for lunch |
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| Making a ‘nest’ with all of his library books 🙂 |
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| Back to the playground for a sunny-morning outing! |
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| Up early for the Rotary Pancake Breakfast! |
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| We were smart this year and brought our own blueberries and REAL maple syrup! |
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| The bike parade is Henry’s favourite event! |
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| Alice is still not so sure about Bert |
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| Henry, being judged at the Fire Hall. He made sure to do some tricks, including a ‘stoppie-hop’ |
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| Henry and I atop the fire truck getting ready for the parade to start |
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| Blake and I out on a date night on the sailboat, complete with a lovely bottle of Rose. Thanks Darren! |
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| A beauty evening at our beach |
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| Pre-bedtime swim |
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| What a gorgeous evening! |
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| Wake-up, wake-up Alice! |
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| Brushing their teeth together! |
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| Picking the perfect little tomatoes from our garden |
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Trying to multi-task – to jump on the trampoline? Or eat my carrot?! haha
Don’t worry, I didn’t let her do both at the same time 🙂 |
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| The beach is always action-packed in the summer! |
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| Hosting a summer BBQ for all of my MD colleagues. We took everyone out waterskiing! |
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| Alice watching the skiiers get ready |
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| Megan (aka Bacon)’s turn to go! |
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| Natalie & Baby G! |
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| Unfortunately, just as we were taking people out tubing and skiing, the weather started to pack it in… |
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| Thankfully, we still managed to get one of my senior OB colleagues out on the water before the rain and lightening came! |
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| Moving the party inside… |
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| The babies get priority seating! |
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| Food chaos! |
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| At the end of the night, it finally cleared up enough to have a nice fire on the beach. A great way to end the night with friends. |
Next up, after a stint of OB call, we headed down South for a quick trip to Guelph to celebrate my sister’s wedding! It unfortunately was a short trip as I had to get back to work, but it was lovely to see family and of course be present to wish my sister, and her new bride, Carrie well. Congratulations again to you two!
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| On the 4.5hr drive to Thunder Bay |
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| Watching Pingu |
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| At the Thunder Bay airport. Alice was NOT happy when the security man took away her fleece to scan it! |
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| Finally made it to Guelph. Here we are with my sister’s backyard chickens! |
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| Baseball practice the day of the wedding |
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All dressed up and ready for the backyard wedding!
A huge thank you to my Mom who sewed Alice and her cousin, Rosie’s dresses. They were beautiful. |
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| Backyard pot-luck before the service |
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| Leah and Carrie getting hitched! |
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| Leah and I |
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| It was a beautiful wedding. Leah pulled everything off without a hitch. I think I was more stressed than she was 🙂 |
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| Uncle Blake and my niece Rosalie in her evening gown 🙂 |
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| Taking the kids to the park the next day in Guelph |
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| We then headed over to Dundas, to see my Nana (Harriet) whom Alice is named after (Alice Harriet) |
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| Playing with the Hot Wheels at Nana’s in Dundas |
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| Heading over to the Cactus Festival that was happening across the way from my Nana’s condo in Dundas. There was a whole carnival set up! We all went after dinner, even my Nana, who was able to see the kids jump around in the bouncy castle and have fun on the giant slide. |
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The next day at Dundas’ ‘Driving Park’, a lovely green space with a great splash pad.
It was perfect for a very hot and sunny day. |
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| Having a picnic at the park with my parents, Leah’s family and Nana. |
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| All of the cousins |
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| Heading home 😦 |
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| After our flight to Thunder Bay from Toronto, Blake had to do some work in Thunder Bay at his properties, so Henry, Alice & I went to have lunch at a local diner. It was a bit chaotic, but we (mainly, I!) managed to survive! The kids were super tired and the only way I could convince Henry to sit and eat was to put Pingu in front of him. Parenting fail or maybe, a win!? 🙂 |
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| Alice eating a napkin, because, why not!? haha |
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| YAY! THEY ARE FINALLY ASLEEP! On the drive home from Thunder Bay |
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| Back at home, Henry was super excited to see his GIANT zucchini that he grew! |
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| Biking in the forest near our house |
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| Taking a rest |
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| Fresh carrots from our garden! |
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| Fish fry at the neighbour’s house |
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| Lol Alice & Sailor – best buddies 🙂 |
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| Henry had an accident at daycare, so he came home in one of his daycare buddies’ leggings… He was rocking them 🙂 |
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I had them all ready for bed, with jammies and all. It was such a beautiful night though, so we went down to the beach.
And then of course, they ended up in the water in their jammies, which meant they eventually just went for an evening skinny dip 🙂 |
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| Evening swim |
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| Round 2 of jammies – saying goodnight to Ada |
At the end of August, we were super excited to host my Mom and Dad for a 10 day-long visit. It is always so lovely to see them. It’s one of the best things about being a parent – seeing the joy on your kid’s face when the play with their grandparents while watching the relationship between your child and your parents grow. I love it. I also much appreciated all the help around the house. My freezer and tupperware drawer has never been so organized!
While my Mom and Dad were here, Blake and I took off for a week-long canoe-trip, just the two of us to Quetico Provincial Park. More on that to come. It was a much needed getaway and the kids loved the time with their grandparents. We are so lucky!
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| Having a picnic dinner on the deck |
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| Visiting the local stable |
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| Biking on the Cedar Bay trails |
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| Having a rest with Grampie |
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| Snack time! |
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| Reading at the local coffeeshop |
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| Alice has finally grown long enough to reach the ground on her bike. She is slowly starting to figure this biking thing out! |
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| Good thing she’s so strong! Henry, convincing Alice to push him around 🙂 |
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| Garden carrots on the front step with Grampie |
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| While my Mom & Dad were here, Henry and I wen to the dentist. Henry had been before, but this was his first ‘real’ cleaning. He was SO, SO good. I was shocked. Then he sat patiently beside me while I had my cleaning done. It went way better than I had anticipated! |
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| Our annual family dinner at Foxy’s to celebrate my Mom’s birthday. |
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| Enjoying an amazing feast prepared by Meghan for my friend Megan (aka Bacon)’s birthday |
As we say goodbye to summer, I cannot even comprehend that Alice is now a year and a half and will be starting daycare soon! How time flies. I no longer have any babies in the house. What a weird feeling but it’s so busy with two crazy toddlers that I barely notice 🙂 haha
Now it’s back to full-time work for me and daycare for the kids. Summer 2017, that’s a wrap!
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