Well, I guess hiking is the topic of this posting, for the most part. We do a lot of it here, as there are so many places to walk. Here are some shots of some past hikes we've been on lately:

(oh, by the way - turns out that some/many of the photos don't actually enlarge when you click on them. My apologies. Sometimes they do, though.)

Here are the girls playing nicely together in the kitchen. They're so sweet.

We went to a family pot luck dinner at the Parent Link (that's the name for the government - subsidized drop in center for kids and parents. Sadie and I go on Tuesdays sometimes.) This is Sherrie participating in one of the games.

Oh - this one should be in the hiking photos. Its the girls at our secret spot - a tiny pond they like to slide and skate around on.

This is Doug. He's a welder and a blacksmith, who's helping me make a new parang (look it up.) He's an amazing artist and creator who's being very generous with his time and facilities. I'll be sure and put up photos of the finished thing once it's done.

This is neat - it's one of our many weenie/marshmallow roasts by the river, but you'll notice that neither person is from our family! We were having one with Erin's friend the other day (that's her in the pink) and our next door neighbours walked by! So we invited them too - it was a nice party.

Not tons today, but the next week is sure to get some good shots - Amy and Erin will be marching in the Christmas parade, the festival of lights is this weekend, and I'm sure I'll find some other stuff to shoot.

Take care, talk to you soon.

Not much to say this time - I'll just show you some pictures.

By the way everyone, just so you know (as I know some of you out there arent the most computer savvy) you can click on any photo to make it bigger.

Enjoy:

Erin and Amy being sworn into Brownies and Sparks. (I think it's not called 'being sworn in' but I don't know the GG terminology)

Sunday Morning

And I'm just sitting in the living room having a coffee. No photos to put up this time, just thought I'd touch base with anyone out there reading. Does anyone read this? Is anyone out there? Comment if you are, please - I'd love to know if anyone reads this thing.

Here is what's going on so far this week:

• The snow's gone and it's quite nice out - beautiful autumn weather, with the nice smells and the lovely temperature.
• Amy and Erin went to 'Witches in the Woods' camp with the Brownies/Sparks yesterday. They had a great time, but a long long day. They were exhausted when they got back. Sherrie and Sadie went to join them at the campfire at 7pm and then they got home at 8:30 and went straight to bed.
• Sadie's got a bit of a cold, but not serious.
• Sherrie's going away today (Sunday) to Edmonton for a whole week! It'll just be me and the girls until Saturday.
• Everything else is chugging along. Sadie's learning her colours in French and Erin is now in gymnastics with Amy. Sadie goes to gymnastics too, on Wednesday mornings.

I think that's it for now. Take care.

Winter's Here!

It's only mid October and it's comin' down hard! Though I am well aware that we're supposed to expect this living where we are living, the locals assure me that it's not supposed to happen this early. Sigh.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. Stayed in most of the time, playing games, decorating pumpkins, doing crafts, watching movies and relaxing. The turkey dinner was great (both nights) but the highlight for me was Sherrie's pumpkin cheesecake. MMMMMMM!

The river's getting very cold now. That's ice that Z's running on. This was taken this morning.

This is what the van looks like when we travel. Z likes to sit up on the seats with the girls.

I got a new filling.

This is a photo of Sadie on her first day of school! She's going to French preschool every Thursday.

And we already had our first field trip too. We went to one of the kids' homes and they got to ride on some horses and have trailer rides, hot chocolate and such. It was fun!

The News

Well, we had some lovely warm weather the past few days - up to thirty today!

Here are some shots from the past little while:

This was taken today - it's of Z and his best friend, Zeiss, playing in the river. They really wear each other out. It's great when they meet up while on a walk. Z's sleeping really hard right now.

This was taken on Monday night in the basement of the Anglican church. It's the Brownies and Sparks meeting. Can you see Amy and Erin? neither can I but they're there somewhere. The funny thing is that Sadie is in plain view and she's not even enrolled! They let her hang out and do the songs and games and stuff too. We usually go run errands for a while when we're waiting for the girls to finish. Hardly anyone has a uniform yet - they're on order.

On the weekend I was making raviolli and Erin decided to give me a hand. The result was a bountiful portion of cheese- filled kids' sized raviollis that she happily shared with her sisters. They loved it! It was really fun, like playing with play dough. I highly recommend doing it with your kids. (Ours was pretty good too - it had beef, onions and blue cheese filling)

Amy's in gymnastics now - She absolutely loves it. Sadie starts in October. Erin would rather do figure skating again this year, so that's where she'll be.

And here are some videos!:

This is Paul being goofy after the girls dressed him up. What a ham!

Sadie at our friends' place

Z fetching while Sadie plays in the sand. This was taken YESTERDAY!! September 22nd! What a beautiful day it was.

More has been going on - I was the guest speaker at the girls' school last Friday and am now a celebrity to a whole bunch of little kids. After the assembly I led Erin's class in painting a mural.

I'll be going in again because Amy's class is kind of jealous.

Sadie's going to Preschool tomorrow! She's been enrolled in one day a week at the French preschool. I'll be sure and take a few shots to post here.

Well, that's all for now - I'm going to get more frequent at posting soon, so stay tuned!

Dog News

Well, Z is a man no more. His 'procedure' was done two days ago. It's tough on our exercise routine because I can't take him swimming, which means I can't take him anywhere by the river, where we usually go every day at least once. We still manage to get out, though - chase the ball in the park, that sort of thing. This being a small town, the Vet (that's her - sorry, don't know her name but she was fine with me posting the photo) knows Z's mom and really seems to care about him.

As promised, here's the photo of the finished dog house. Nice huh? I'm hoping he'll get good use out of the veranda, but so far he prefers the grass.

Back to School...

And back to the routines. Erin seems to be enjoying going for full days, and Sadie and I have been okay on our own for the afternoons. Here's the news:

Amy and Erin on the first day of school, about to go to the bus. It's so much easier without snowpants et al....

In an effort to get Sadie and Erin to enjoy burgers more, I had them make tiny ones with me and we used small dinner rolls. Sherrie and Amy cut the cheese into cute shapes using cookie cutters too - clever idea Sherrie!

Amy had a very nice eighth birthday party. It was at the park by our house, and lots of kids from around the area came, as well as a few from her class.

One of the things we've been doing a lot of is going down to the river to swim and play. The mud is a big hit with the kids!

The girls in Dunvegan, on the way to Grand Prarie. Beautiful scenery. For more information on Dunvegan, click here: Dunvegan, Alberta

Oh yeah - We finally have a lawn! We had the sod put in shortly after returning to Peace River. It's taken very well and is the most lush green lawn around. We're so proud.

Erin got her ears pierced too! She was so brave.

This is the only photo of the doghouse I have right now - I'll be sure to put up a photo of the finished house once I get one. It's quite big and ready for the cold weather - Thanks for the free cedar Jake! It has four inch studs, fiberglass insulation in the ceiling and walls, styrofoam in the floor, Cedar shingles and a heat lamp in the second room. Sheesh!