Those Autumn Afternoons

So, as usual, I’m about a season behind in the blog! With -35+ temperatures at home (without the windchill!) as our new normal, I sure am missing those sunny fall days. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much a of Fall this year, as by Halloween, we were burried in a foot of snow already. It had taken us all by surprise and we hadn’t even cleaned up the leaves, nor pulled out the boat by the time the snow fell. Not only did the snow come early, but it stayed for good as we fast-tracked into 8 months of winter in Sioux Lookout. I think it was a first for me to help Blake take out the boat in our snow gear on an iced boat ramp! Hopefully we’ll be better prepared for next year 🙂

Fall days at our beach – you’ll see behind Alice that our sailboat is sinking. Not an uncommon scenario. It almost always happens when Blake is away in Thunder Bay! Maybe it’s time for a fiberglass sailboat instead of a leaking wooden one from the 1960s?!

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A rare day off at the library with Alice!

The only maple tree on our property.

Happy Fall Ada!

A cucumber snack straight from our garden .

A weekend adventure to ‘Johnny’s Trails’ at Cedar Bay to visit John and the crew building trail.

Tireless energy from these guys to develop a huge trail network for fatbiking and mountain biking in our community.

This. What I love about September the most!

A neighbourhood car race for the kiddos!

The beauty of living at a dead-end road in a rural place.

Thanks to my colleague Michelle who gifted us these beautiful eggs! Henry and Alice eat 4-5 eggs together each day, so we are grateful when we can get our hands on some fresh ones.

Bedtime, pensive snuggles with Auntie. We are so luck to have her nearby!

I snapped this as I walked in the door late from work. The kids were in their jammies reading their bedtime stories with Dad-Dad. I am so lucky to have an amazing partner to pick up the slack at home when I’m at work.

Hahah – #MomLife

Getting home from an overnight ER shift. It’s awesome because I get a full day with the kids, put them to bed, then go to work while they sleep. They’re up as I get home and are none the wiser!

A sleepyhead Alice.

Taking Sailor’s babies for a walk.

Evening dip.

Bathroom selfies 🙂

Finally enough hair for a ponytail!

A Fall season wouldn’t be complete without puddle jumping in our MEC rainsuits!

Trampolining in our front yard.

Rubber boots and garden carrots.

Sunny September strolls.

At the Hub.

Making a ‘parking lot’. He’s particular that one, just like his Dad 🙂

Ada?! Hahahah

When Henry is up early and I’m trying to get ready for work… sometimes a little YouTube mountain biking/skiing is necessary

Bedtime reading. Every night.

One of our last bike rides to the local park for the summer/fall. We are so lucky that our town received funding for a new playground this year. It has brought joy to so many families in our community.

Henry and Blake on the climber.

After biking to the playground, we of course must bike to the Pelican Shop to have some lunch!

Biking to the Pelican Shop. It’s amazing how far Henry can bike (without training wheels) all on his own. It’s about 3km from our house to the Pelican Shop and he did it without any trouble. He also biked all the way to daycare with Dad one morning, a distance of 4.3km. I was so impressed.

Henry and Dad biking, Alice reading in the Chariot.

Stopping to read a book.

Saturdays with Uncle Johnny

In the treefort with Auntie Meghan

Road hockey with the neighbours!

All dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner at our place.

Finally a picture where they are both looking!

Snuggles with Uncle Johnny.

We hosted our friends for Thanksgiving. We tried to set the kids up with Paw Patrol so that we could eat, unfortunately, Alice wouldn’t have much to do with it 🙂 Ah well, it was worth a shot!

Thanksgiving crew!

A typical toddler scenario 🙂

A night out at the Legion to watch Uncle Johnny’s band play

Taking the kids skating for the first time. We had the ice all to ourselves!

Ahhh. Those early morning views. It never gets old and I am blessed every day to enjoy them in silence and solitude.

A chilly afternoon climb in the tree fort.

Giving Sailor a lift

Toddler adventuring

Besties.

Lining up his crew for the school bus.

Reading on her own with her bottle.

Trying to keep up with her brother!

Catching butterflies.

Harvesting the last of the carrots in the garden.

A picnic lunch.

Alice – finally showing some interest in biking!

At playgroup with Alice & Henry (in the background)

At home going down the slide to our beach.

Hanging onto those beach days.

Mornings!

Henry getting his haircut

My beautiful boy.

Getting ready for bed.

Reading to his sister.

At KinderGym!

Solo-parenting & grocery shopping with two toddlers!

Saying hi to the neighbourhood scarecrows

Our neighbours are the BEST! They have the most amazing seasonal blow-up displays that endlessly entertain our kids 🙂

Picking Alice up from daycare

An early morning with Henry. YouTube mountain biking for him, coffee & a book for me.

Our first snowfall brought a TON of snow. Here were are back at it for the ski season. Alice has gear, but prefers to read in her Chariot instead.

Not keen on putting her ski stuff on just yet!

Off he goes!

That smile! He loves skiing SO MUCH!

Watching ski movies with Dad.

They definitely test my patience, but boy are they cute 🙂

Alice & Ada in the car 🙂

A rare photo of Alice in her ski gear. She usually lasts for about 5 seconds… hahah

She enjoys the sled better.

For Henry’s birthday, Blake built him an indoor bike park in our garage so that he can bike year-round!

Henry’s 2!

Zucchini chocolate cake as requested by Henry.

We blew up 30 balloons and made a balloon pit that the kids could slide into 🙂

All the kiddos trying out Henry’s climbing wall.

The cutest belly in the world 🙂 .

Birthday party chaos!

Hahah, nice moustache Henry!

Simon on the ‘swing’

Putting all his friends to bed after the birthday party shennanigans

Nap time!

Halloween! Unfortunately, Princess Lei, Chewbaka and Luke Skywalker couldn’t get out to go trick or treating due to the cold and snow. Hopefully next year!

We didn’t even get to carve our pumpkins because they froze to the deck before Halloween!

Reading together.

Bedtime snuggles with Dad.

This is how much Alice loves to be outside skiing!

Life is only better with icicles.

Night skiing!!

Apres-dinner skiing.

Jumps!

Eating snow.

We had a huge dump of snow so Blake piled it up high so Henry could have a ramp to increase his speed down the hill!!

These cuties enjoying snowy mornings together!