Correction

I need to make a correction about Ben’s deer. I though this was only the 2^nd one he’s gotten with a bow…it’s actually his 3^rd…sorry BenJ. It is the first buck he’s gotten, but there were 2 does.

Meat for the freezer!!!

I’m so excited because Ben got a deer when he was hunting last night!!! This holds a number of firsts for us:

*Ben’s first buck with his bow (he’s only gotten two others & they were does)

*The first time the kids have seen it before it’s skinned…and been able to watch Ben gut it (sorry if it sounds disgusting…but it’s reality…and I’m always fascinated…I loved biologyJ)

*It’s also the first time Ben has ever gotten a deer this early in the season. The earliest before was end of September or beginning of October. Usually he’s just rushing at the end of the season to get something in the freezer before the end of the season. I’m very excited because this means there’s a very real possibility of getting 2 this year! The meat from one deer only lasts us a couple of months…it would really nice to have enough to last us through the spring.

Anyways…a few pictures…one with the kids…

…and my handsome hubby & his first buck with a bow…I’m proud of you BenJ! I love you!

Summer 09 catch up

Well, are you sick of me yet? I hope you’re enjoying seeing some of our adventures from the last couple months. If you’ve had enough, that’s OK tooJ. I’m done for now…but I have a few more “catch up” posts coming…then hopefully back into the routine of itJ.

Ben's camping/quading trip

Ben went camping & quading with a good friend of his one weekend. They enjoyed making a “hillbilly hot tub” with a boiler, trailer & a big tarp.

They also had lots of fun quadding. Ben had the camera so I don’t have any pictures of the crazy things he didJ…but I love this picture he got of one of the guys!

Andrew...provincials...800m

My brother Drew ran the 800m at track & field provincials in June. We headed to Calgary on a very cold, slightly rainy day to watchJ.

Andrew finished 8^th in the province of Alberta!!!

I’m super proud of himJ.

Bergen Rocks

Just a note that these summer posts are in no particular order. I made a list of things I wanted to blog about & I’m just picking one at a time.

For the first time last summer (I think) there was a thing going on just out of Sundre called “Bergen Rocks”. A sculptor from Bergen arranged to have 5 or 6 sculptors from around the world come to Bergen for one month & make a sculpture on his property. They have it open to the public a lot of the time so we can go & see the first solid rock & the progression to the final sculpture. Last year I didn’t make it at all & was quite disappointed. This year I wanted to go at the beginning & again at the end so the kids could see the progression, but we only made it once. Now I’m really motivated to go more next yearJ.

Here are a couple of examples. The sculptor who did this one is from India...can't believe the intricacy!

Ireland...

I was really excited about going this year because one of the sculptors was from Kenya. If you know me…anything from Africa catches my attention! I have so many memories…and part of my heart is still there. The kids & I went on the second last day…it was soooo worth it! The sculptors were all just finishing up to put them on display the next day, but we got to talk to the Kenyan…he explained his sculpture to us & let me take a picture of him with the kids!

Chipping a little more rock away to prepare to display it permanently...

Gerard Oroo Motondi with the kids...

Gerard Motondi's sculpture is titled "Desire to be". Although he explained it to me, I'd rather use his words...so this is from the blog... "All people desire to be something which they are not, some in society will look up to leaders and desire to have what they have achieved while some who have achieved in leadership or business will look at those that lead simpler lives and covet their lifestyle.........we all desire something other than what we have or are."

I think it's so so true & really neat that he came up with a sculpture to show that! Check out the blog by the owner of the property...the one who started Bergen Rocks: http://www.mortonsculpting.blogspot.com/.

Butterflies!

I mentioned a long while back about how we got caterpillars & watched them change to butterflies, but I wanted to post some pictures of the funJ. Enjoy!

Building the butterfly house...

The finished product with the caterpillar "vials" inside...

Attaching the cocoons to the top of the cage...

Butterfly very close to coming out of it's cocoon. If you look closely, you can see a lot of details of the butterfly...

Newly born?hatched?emerged? butterfly beside it's empty cocoon. This is only minutes after it emerged...it won't fly for an hour or two until it's wings dry out...

One of our butterflies...

At night they would often group in clusters like this to sleep...

All 8 of our butterflies (out of 11 caterpillars we started with) eating in the cage...

We kept the butterflies for about a week, hoping that they would lay eggs so we could do the whole cycle again. We managed to get LOTS of eggs...which became LOTS of miniature little caterpillars...we managed to get about 10 of them to be decent sized caterpillars...but only 2 or 3 that were nearly full grown. Unfortunately, they ended up dying before making cocoons. It was a lot harder having to find our own food for them (the first batch came with fake food in their vials). We found leaves that they would eat & cleaned out the container every day, but something went wrong somewhere along the line I guess. Anyways...it was fun to see the tiny little eggs & the eyelash sized caterpillars & how fast they grew to full size. These are the caterpillars just after they've hatched...

One day when I was taking pictues, I decided to try & pick up one of the butterflies...I ended up with 4 on my hand at once...Benjamin & Manda wanted to try too (Kirby didn't want to...scared??...)...Benjamin was happy to pick up one or two...

Manda wanted as many as she could...

She ended up with 5 out of 8...

Release day...most of them didn't actually fly out on their own, the kids got to pick them up & put them on a flower...

Saying goodbye...

Manda was sad to have to let them go. After we released them all she chased them around the yard & caught some again:).

BC trip part 7...the end!

We left on Friday morning around 9…I was pretty proud of myself for getting away that early without BenJ. I haven’t been by my grandparents old farm (my dad’s parents) since they moved away from there (more than 10 years ago). I’ve always wanted to take the kids by there…so I figured I’d try this time. My mom had given me directions off the top of her head as best she could & we headed off. We drove around for a while, but couldn’t find it so I decided to leave it for this time. Next time I’ll be prepared & go on MapQuest with my parents ahead of time to figure out the roadsJ.

So often our trips to BC are so rushed that we don’t stop at all the fun places along the way. I was determined this time to make at least a couple of stops with the kids. We stopped in Sicamous…got ice cream (& cheese curds to bring home for Ben)…looked at the animals…and then went in to see the cows. If you’ve never been there, they have calves that kids can pet…the kids love it! Usually though, it’s hard to get the little calves to come close enough & the ones that are interested in coming close are a bit jumpy. The little ones were still pretty shy this time, but there was one of the older ones that came to the fence & let Benjamin pet him…then he was kind of sniffing at Benjamin’s shirt…the next thing I new, the calf was sucking on Benjamin’s shirt! At first I tried to stop him…very gross…but realized it was already dirty & the kids thought it was hilariousJ…so Benjamin & Kirby each took a turn letting him suck their shirt. Manda didn’t want to…smart girlJ…she did let him suck her fingers like the boys, but she much preferred the little calves...

It was pretty much the most “action” we’ve got out of the calves when we’ve been there & it was funJ. (Don’t worry…we went straight to the van…changed clothes…and washed hands…2x overJ.)

Our next stop was Revelstoke. I’ve always wanted to go to the train museum there…now the kids were all old enough to enjoy it…it was a blast! There was some history to begin with of how the railway is built…...then we got to go on a couple of train cars. One of the coolest things we found was a bathroom within a bedroom. This chair has 3 jobs: a chair, a toilet, & a sink! If you lift the seat of the chair…the toilet is underneath. If you lower the back of the chair, you’ll see the sink! I thought it was pretty coolJ. There was also an engine where we could peek in the window to see all the buttons & knobs. We were lucky enough to be there at a time when they had a conductor sitting there…so the kids got to go inside…talk to him…sit in the conductor’s chair…it was really neat. I was trying to get a picture of all 3 kids in front of the engine, but Kirby kept freaking out that it was going to run over him. A couple came by & offered to take one of all 4 of us…yay, I got to be in a pictureJ. We saw some more history (he's not real...wax I'm assuming...amazingly real!!!)…a kid’s play area…& the coolest thing ever was a train “simulator”. For $1 each, the kids each got 3 minutes to drive the train. They could pull the horn, brake, accelerate…and watch it all on a screen that showed them moving along. They had so much fun…well worth the $3! One last picture of the 3 of them before we headed out… The whole time we had been in the museum we heard trains going by…every 5-10 minutes. I thought a cool end to the trip & the pictures would be a picture of the kids next to the track (not too close) with a train going by…so we sat in the van & had a snack, waiting for the next train. Well, we waited for 15 or 20 minutes & none cameL. I gave up my hope of a picture & we headed out. Maybe 15 minutes down the road we passed a train. I thought about stopping, but knew it would have to be soon (I’ve had experience with passing trains, stopping to take a picture & it takes FOREVER for them to get there!) & I’d have to find a good spot. Lo & behold there was an open area with enough room to pull off the road…and a tunnel to boot! (God knows those simple desires of our hearts & cares about themJ.) We were disappointed to realize that the train wasn’t actually on the track that went in the tunnel, but it's still a cool picture!

BC trip part 6

The next morning we had one last thing to cram in before we left…cherry picking. I did it so much as a kid & wanted the kids to have the experience of picking cherries. It took us a bit longer than we planned to get out the door because the kids let me sleep in that morning…but eventually we got out. Gram went with us…we found an orchard & set outJ. It was a bit of a trick finding enough cherries low enough for the kids, but we managed to find 2 trees side by side. They had short sturdy ladders that had a big platform on top so the kids could stand there fairly easily. The kids loved it! I forgot how much cherries stain & wasn’t careful enough about what they wore that morning, but oh well…it’s a wonderful memory! We had a quick lunch at Gram & Gramps’, packed up the van, & headed to Enderby. Thank you so much for having us Gram & Gramps!!! We had a wonderful time!Another of my Mom’s sisters lives in Enderby (Rachael’s parents), who we’ve always been really close to. When I was about 9 we stayed with their family for an extended time (a month…maybe…I can’t remember exactly) while my parents went to New York for their missions training. Ever since we’ve had a special bond with them. Anyways…we got to their house mid afternoon. Benjamin was sooooooo excited to see them. Last time we saw them Uncle Wilf acted out the 3 billy goats gruff with him & he’s talked about it ever since. Wilf is a librarian & is amazing with kids. When we got there he set up a “contraption” he had made to sling shot little rubber toys. We turned the sprinkler on in between so the kids could get wet. They had a blast shooting the toys across the yard. After a DELICIOUS supper of real chicken burgers (I need that recipe Auntie Pearl!!!) we got swimsuits on & headed to the river. The river there is really slow moving & quite shallow…we floated down in tubes & air mattresses. The kids thought it was a hoot…despite Manda’s flip with Pearl into the waterJ. The kids were thrilled to have Uncle Wilf read them 2 bedtime stories…and another story the next morning before we left! They also had a hoot acting out the “Three Billy Goats Gruff” before breakfast. Thanks Uncle Wilf & Auntie Pearl for having us!!!