In Which Summer Flies By

So Zach graduated this year, by himself. He is quite a dashing young man with his black hair and all. We threw him a grad party; pizza, chocolate cake and baseball. It doesn't really get better than that. My mom came out, all the while wondering if Aunty Rosalie would die while she was here.

The end of June we took the bestest ever camping trip way up north (same old, same old) with Rennie & Bren and their family and Ster. It was truly the best. We had hot hot days. One evening while I was showering in the dark the fireflies flitted overhead and the loons song echoed around me. We had a bear in our camp; a young-ish black bear that was interested in old food and not us. Bren and I sang campfire songs loudly to it and bravely chased it away with a stick!

A week later Pat took the youth boys camping at the same spot, rain and cold the whole time. Then Wyatt and I hitched a ride with Jason and Miranda and their four kids and we did another camping adventure with them. We had such a good time. They were good sports, for sure, never having so much as tented before. It was a real deep dive from the safe shore for them. They said they loved it. And that's what counts.

And then. Hold your breath. We went camping again. To the same lake, this time with Arlen & Jodi, Bri, Justyn & Nicole, Chris n Mik. It was so great!! Our 'regular' spot was taken so we took a much smaller space around the corner and pitched our tents in rather close proximity to each other! But it turned out great! Some highlights from this trip were watching a bear swim from one island to another, eating wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries (there is simply nothing that beats wild fresh berries), the large fish jumping at night (hmm, where are Colby and Zach anyway?!), and bootin' it outta there when the skies were fair and lovely because of a storm coming. And were we ever glad. We got some cute little cabins in town that night and when the winds came up and the lightning flashed one old tree landed on our cabin. We were glad we weren't in our tents.

We had so many meals around our own little campfire at home, as well. We watered garden. We hosted teachers prep. We worked and played, fished and picnicked. Mowed the yard and went swimming.

The last week before school started Alex spent the week with Pat's mom (and some of that time with us), Grandpa Esau hurt his back again and no one else was home to pick up the scattered pieces except us and we spent every day at school or shopping for school. It was truly a three in one deal. But we managed. And even kept a bit of humor intact.

And just like that it's fall. The nights are cold and it gets dark so soon. Colby and Zach are both enrolled in grade 10 online which has proven to be a little larger than I had imagined. Wyatt is in grade one. Some days my head spins. But most days we are so joyful and grateful to be where we're at; frying pancakes early in the morning, picking huge bowls of ripe tomatoes and peppers, canning up apple sauce, juggling calls with public school teachers and all.