Campin' Happy

YIKES! My last post was about hockey?!?!?!? Sorry for being silent for so long…

(Although, since our team made it to the STANLEY CUP FINALS hockey wasn’t really all that long ago for us…but a lot has happened so here ‘goes…)

CAMPING HAPPY!! As per our 2006 Christmas letter, last summer we (we’ll mostly Mark) had a love/hate relationship with camping. We finally agreed to re-caulk the top of our ’75 Bonair, give it a coat of special “rubber-like” paint that’s supposed fill cracks, and hope for dryer weather while camping this summer. Then Mark suggested that we pick up a used awning (that actually worked) and life would be good again (for at least another summer). BUT as he was setting it up, and fighting with this and that, a reliving previous unpleasant experiences, he decided to do some surfing to see what was available.

Well, long story short, we are now camping happy in a ’97 Coleman Sun Ridge. It comes complete with a 12 foot box plus a 2 foot storage compartment at the front, 2 King beds plus a table and couch that fold down, and a full screened add-a-room. Tonnes of space for people and stuff! All this, AND you don’t have to stuff grocery bags in the holes to keep out mosquitoes, and you even don’t have to do a dance on the roof to squish it down enough to close the clamps! And, best of all, it has a one-piece roof, that is guaranteed never to leak!!! (Oh, and did I mention we kept looking over our shoulder as we drove home, expecting the police to pull us over and charge us with “theft?” It was a deal that simply could not be passed up.) Many exclamation marks; we have been blessed again!!!

WE (STILL) LOVE THE SENS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we all stayed up late to watch the game (actually the boys have stayed up to watch all of the final round games).

Yes, we made posters and covered our walls with

GO SENS GO!!!

Yes, we had flags on the house and stickers on the van.

Yes, we all put on our Sens caps, shirts and jerseys.

Yes, we all cheered, clapped, shouted, and bit our nails.

And, yes, we shed a few tears when it didn’t end the way we had hoped (well, some of us did…)

BUT we still love the Sens, will wear our shirts proudly and if they weren’t arriving at the airport right when the boys have to play soccer we’d be there to welcome them home and thank them for a great year along with 1000’s of other fans.

WE (STILL) LOVE THE SENS!!!!!!!!!

On Spring...and kids...and frogs

It has been a glorious week. Our thermometer has tipped close to 30 and the flower beds have sprung to life with purple violets and grape hyacinths, pink and red tulips and of course the sunny yellow dandelions! Shannon has fallen in love with picking flowers and routinely brings me bouquets for my table (usually with Omoe's guiding hand). Since May is MY month, celebrating Mother's Day, my birthday, and our anniversary, I'm happy to oblige and accept them graciously...even the dandelions!

But yesterday, the children discovered an even greater love.

We were outside reading, and Devin suddenly stopped and said, "I can't concentrate with those crickets making all that noise!" "They're not crickets" I told him. "Those are frogs, living in our pond."

Needless to say reading was over and we quickly switched to science mode. We ventured over to the pond (which we had instructed them to stay away from...until now) to discover "spring."

They soon realized that many buckets were needed, shoes were tossed, pants were changed to shorts and the fun began. Cries of "I got one!" "AAAK! He's trying to jump out!" "Oh no, my foot is stuck in the mud" "Here's another one!" filled the air for hours. In the end they had captured 12 hopping friends, and quit only because it was lunch time!

But of course they couldn’t come in for lunch as they were. On went the garden hose, out came the Sunlight soap and everyone had a great time soaking each other (aka cleaning up). It has been catch, mud, clean, repeat, ever since!

I thank God for piles of dirty laundry, for it means my children are well clothed, and are having a GREAT time! (I also thank Him for automatic washing machines!)

(And yes, I did catch it all on film for a great scrapbooking page, but since we haven’t entered the world of digital photography you’ll just have to wait for the film to be developed !)