Letterboxing

Sunday we went to check on our letterbox that we had left in Fish Creek park, and to our surprise 14 different groups of people have visited our letterbox! We were so thrilled that so many had found it! A couple of people from Ontario had found it, as well as someone visiting from Texas as well as people from town or nearyby towns. We left a "hitchhiker" in our box, which is a travelling letterbox we picked up in Bend.
Letterboxing is so fun and has taken us so many places. I love to tell people about it. It is a wonderful activity for kids and really gets you out to some beautiful places in your area (or out of it if you prefer).

For more information check out http://www.letterboxing.org/ or http://www.atlasquest.com/ . We love it!!

Our trip to Alberta begins...

We arrived at my mom's late Thursday night, or rather very early Friday morning around 12:20am for us (but 1:20am for my mom) after a 14.5 hour drive. Actually the drive itself was only 13 hours, but we had to get out and stretch and play a couple times.

We spent most of Thursday and Friday recouping from our trip, reuniting with cousins, hanging out and deciding who was sleeping over with who at who's house.

Saturday morning we went to Millarville Farmers' Market. Mmmm fresh new potatoes!!

When we got home from the market the kids enjoyed playing in the little pools on the edge of the Sheep River in Okotoks. Ethan loved trying to catch the minnows

The other kids loved wading across the slow river

Samantha spent the day reading "Breaking Dawn".

As you can see she was a bit tired after going to the midnight release with her Auntie Christie (lucky for her because I didn't want to go.) After they got home she started reading for a few hours before she could finally read no more. She ended up finishing reading it on Saturday!
The park was great fun too.

Friday night my dad took the kids and I to "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" 3D.

The kids really enjoyed it and the effects were pretty cool. Of course the story line is a bit lame, but who cares?? IT'S 3D!! Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

I thought it was best for the 6-12 age group. Any younger would have a hard time keeping their glasses on and sitting still the length of the movie.

Ethan's a baseball star

Ethan finished up his baseball "season" the end of July. His coach told me Ethan was "a natural athlete" and that he should continue to play baseball.
Here he is at practice

The coach would turn the sprinklers on at the end of practice which EVERYBODY loved!!


Here are a couple pics and clips from his last game-

Here he is warming up- I think he looks like Kevin Youkilis with his bat way up in the air like that. Maybe he'll hit like him too!! Every kid loves to get geared up to be catcher!

Here he is-

Shooting the breeze with the opposite team at first base

Here's a close call

You'll have to crane your neck a bit to see this hit

It was really fun watching Ethan play this summer and I will have to get him into Little League in the spring.

Ethan's Birthday

Wow, do I ever have a lot to catch up on!!
First things first... Ethan's birthday...
I decided to have the party at a nearby park. It was a pretty toasty day, so the water was a big hit.

The water balloons were great fun

As were the "squishy ball" games
But best of all was... dunk your head in the water bucket!
I made it easy and had Dominoes deliver to the park (how lazy is that?)
And a Costco cake (super lazy!)

But Ethan didn't seem to mind and had a great birthday with his friends, and I had a completely stress free party and no clean up!! Whoo Hoo!

Here's the birthday song ...

Here's Ethan trying to blow out his candles