oh Canada!

We just returned home from Canada where David's family has been camping for four generations now. We had lovely weather... warm enough to swim during the day but cool at night to snuggle down in your sleeping bag.  David drove to Canada towing our boat and I flew up two days later with the boys.  

I had been raining when we arrived at camp.  

The first thing Bennett did was go stomp through a few puddles.  

Ethan all smiles one morning when we woke up to a chilly day and needed our warm clothes.  

I was super excited to see Bennett sport his flannel:)

We found a Canadian ball for Bennett and he couldn't have been a happier camper.  

The boy loves balls!

After a super chilly night, David started a fire for us to warm up. 

One of my favorite things was Ethan picking me "flowers" every day.  Don't worry, he would get the root and all!  I wore my flowers in my hair all week.  

This year the mosquitoes and the deer flies were terrible!!!  I kept myself and the boys covered in deet and I am fairly certain I will smell like deet for the remainder of the summer.  But hey...it worked.

Fishing was pretty good this year!  David caught the largest perch he has ever caught.  We someone 

managed to not get a picture of it:(  Ethan and I got new fishing poles...mine was pretty awesome.  

We picnicked on Big Island.  Bennett read Brown Bear to ward away the bears!

David and I snuck away one night to have a date night on our boat.  The sky and clouds gorgeous in Canada.  I found myself always looking up.

Things weren't too rough...I'm pretty sure David didn't get to watch his favorite show at night when he was a little boy.  One of Ethan's favorite memories this year was waking up to be surprised to see his cousins in his bed.  Cousin sleepovers while camping is kinda a big deal to a 4 year old!

Poor Baby Bennett had to sport his life jacket a lot last week!  He did great though.  We had to make sure to take the key out of the boat so he wouldn't drive it away!

We ate at Wheelers which has pancakes, french toast, and maple sausage on the menu.  My sugar loving baby loved his pancakes and was all smiles.  His momma was all smiles after a treat of hot coffee!!!

Babies first s'more!

One borrowed snorkel from a kind cousin and who knew Ethan could snorkel? 

 Guess we need to buy one...

Someone was so sad to leave and misses his cousins!  We all drove home and I was amazed at how well the boys did during our 20 hour car trip.  We split it up into two days and I came prepared with new toys from a local toystore.  I guess they were also worn out from a week of outdoor life!

Oh Canada...

Notice the lack of posts lately?  Well, we have spent two weeks of the month of July away from our home.  We had our hardwood floors refinished and had be out of the house for one week.  We were lucky to have great family to let us stay with them and cook for us and watch Ethan while we worked.  A major thank you to Jessica and Stephen!  Oh and Maddie and Callie who taught Ethan how to say "rella" for Cindarella {Callie style of course}and walk in high heels {don't tell David}.  After moving everything downstairs out and back in again after a good scrub, David and I both agree it was worth every second.  We are pleased with how the floors turned out. 

The second week we spent a week in Canada camping alongside two lakes.  David's family has been going to this particular camp site for 4 generations now that Ethan and his cousins have gone.  A week without running water, toilets, electricity, and cell phones is quite the change of pace than what we are all used to.  However, I must say at night when the kids are all finally sleeping, I loved sitting around talking, eating, playing games with everyone.  No text messages interupting...everyone needs a little disconnect sometimes to connect I think.

ethan at the airport at 4am ready to head home

Ethan was quite the adorable fisherman.  Spiderman fishing pole and all, he had quite the mean cast.  David and I couldn't get over how excited he was to go fishing with his "pole" as he called it and hold the fish to toss them back into the water.  He through more rocks than I can count and loved the water.

We are home again and getting settled before more changes come our way.  Our bear cub is now a big two year old and heading off to dayschool this fall.  We are also in the midst of changing nannies so a prayer for this change would be appreciated.