Back in the Motherland aka Saskatchewan

I packed the kids up and went back to Saskatchewan this past weekend. We had a camping family reunion for my mom's side of the family. It was at a little lake called Chanté Lake, between Prince Albert and Duck Lake.
It was so nice to spend time with my mom's family. We have always been really close. One of the things I miss most about living nearby is spending every Sunday together. We used to go to my Grandparents farm on Sundays. We would eat, talk, play cards and spend time together. It's a tradition that I really think my kids miss out on. I'm glad that I got to enjoy some time with them all this weekend!

Here's my cousin Miss H. 

and here's another cousin, P.

We had beautiful beach weather. It was nice to sit on the beach chatting while we watched the kids play.

This pic of Mr. Q was taken by my sister-in-law Chantel. It reminds Matt and my brother Chris of Lord of the Flies. There was a big pile of sand at the beach the kids liked to play on/slide down/dig in. The munchkins had sand in every crevice imaginable by the end of each day...

Miss A. really liked playing on the boogey board

Miss C. tried surfing on hers, but it didn't quite work out for her. Maybe next year.

Mr. Q. had fun on his paddle boat voyage with Uncle Matt.

After the reunion we spent the night at my parents' house before coming back home. My parents have an elk ranch. We all piled in the back of Papa's farm truck and went to see the elk. Grandma brought a couple of pails of oats to entice them to come close by.

The kids didn't know what to think at first. I think they were a little nervous.

When we got out in the field with the bulls, and right beside the fence with the mama's and babies, my mom started banging the oats pail. The bull elk came running. The mama's and babies had to swim across a little pond to get to us, but they started towards us as soon as they heard her. The bull elk came right up to the truck and the mama's and babies got as close to us as they could.

My mom held out her hand to feed them, but I think the kids were a little too wiggly for their comfort level.

B is a lot more comfortable around them than my kids are.

The kids loved the baby elk. They even got to see the babies eat.

It was hard to get good pictures without hopping out and scaring the elk.

I finally got a cute picture of Miss C!! Yipppeeeee!

Sum-Sum-Summatime!!

I've been looking forward to summer for the last few weeks. This is how Miss C, Mr. Q and I decorated the front door before Miss A got home from her last day of school on Thursday. It was great because Matt got home early from work that day, so we were all able to start off summer together, Creamsicle style.

I taught my last Zumba class of the session Thursday night and was up until 1am doing laundry & packing. Friday morning, the kids and I hopped in the car and headed off to Saskatchewan for a camping/family reunion fun. Matt stayed behind to work. Hopefully next time, he'll be able to come along as well.

The reunion was held at a tiny lake, between Duck Lake and Prince Albert called Chanté Lake. It was lovely. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the first thing I noticed was the smell of prairie sage, poplar trees and a hint of lake. It reminded me of the smell at my grandparents farm, just across the South Saskatchewan River from where we were camping.
I will post more about our trip later. I'm so happy that summer is here!