Two weeks. That’s how long school has been out. We left our home bright and early the day after it was over to make our way east to visit Hubby’s Dad and step-mom and it was a beautiful drive! The littles were all excited and relatively well behaved for the 12 hours it took to get us there and then we slowed right down.

Canada Day we had a lazy morning (well, I did since I was shooed back to bed with a migraine) and the afternoon was spent playing in bouncy castles and face painting and park playing with a jumbo freezie to top it off. We ran into Hubby’s cousin whom we hadn’t seen since Smarty was just learning to walk, and it was nice meeting her husband and children as well!

Lots of fishing, lots of walking, lots of water time. We spent some time, just the immediate 6 of us, at Clear Lake our last day there. We stopped at the Chocolate Fox for ice cream, we walked through interpretive centres, we talked with park staff. We stuck out feet in the water and leaned about invasive species like the rusty crayfish.

We drove to Medicine Hat to visit our wonderful friend that we don’t get together with near enough, and have now been home for a week. And it has certainly not been a boring week. At least not for me. My children may have a differing opinion 😉

After letting them indulge most of Monday in doing nearly nothing productive, we quickly learned (or relearned… I think this is something I have discovered and rediscovered a few times) that littles need structure and responsibility to be happy. So they did some dishes. And put away clothes. And cut rhubarb. And set and cleared tables. After the initial “I don’t wanna do anything and you can’t make me” passed they have been relatively pleasant! They really are wonderful children. But they are still children.

So every day, after the set “quiet time” that is always built into our days, whomever isn’t actively napping gets to do dishes. Today changing the laundry was added. Simply because I had other work that I needed to do for school and since I have able bodied helpers around to pick up what I would “get around to” I am definitely going to utilize them. I have really been pleased that the grumbling has mostly stopped.

But course work is moving along for me; I think I have got the balance so far for school and family. The children have succeeded in completing their respective grade levels and will move forward in the autumn, and it feels as though summer is already moving way too fast. We have had a week at home, Sunday afternoon we head out for a family camp at Camp Kuriakos, then we are home for a week before we hit the mid-summer mark. August will pass just as quickly, I am sure.

I have loved taking so many pictures while we were visiting in Manitoba, and I am looking forward to taking more at camp next week and into August with more family visiting.