Cole's 4th Birthday Party

Cole had a Shrek Birthday Party this year! We had 7 little boys at our house to help us celebrate. Thanks Grandma Ann for helping us make such a great Shrek cake! Some wrestling and rolling around before the games began!
Bubbles are always a great hit and what could be better than bubble chase!
Time for some soccer! I can't believe how much energy 7 little guys can have! I don't think they stopped moving during the whole party!

Escape the Dragon was another fun game we played where one boy dressed up as the dragon and had to chase the others who were pretending to be Shreks!
Donkey, Donkey, Shrek was a big hit - in other words Duck, Duck, Goose!
One of the games we played was called "Save the Swamp". It was like a water relay and the boys had to bring swamp water from one pail to another!
We made Green Shrek Slime for the boys to play with. Some of them were very unsure of this green blob of goo but by the end everyone got their hands dirty and had a great time creating!
Best of buds - Cole & Carter!

Jumping on the trampoline was a favourite activity, but it seemed to also involve wrestling!!!

This picture was taken while Cole's friends were singing Happy Birthday to him! He had this huge smile on his face the whole time - he was sooo excited!

Tinker Town

Summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to Tinker Town! We joined Tracey & the boys as well as Ryan & Sheryl and their crew there for the day on Wednesday! The kids had a great time as you can see from the pictures! We closed the place down staying all the way till 7:00.
Cole & Carter thought these crazy mirrors were the greatest and spent alot of time here giggling at themselves!
If you asked Cole what his favourite ride was he'd say the Superslide! We climbed up & down those stairs so many times it was better than a workout at Curves!
Two cool dudes cooling off by the fan!

Mackenzie & Noah were tall enough to go on the mini roller coaster by themselves! They loved it!
Hold on to your hair Mac!
Mackenzie & Noah's favourite ride was the Tilt -a- Whirl ( which also happened to be my favourite as well!) Later on during the day there was no line-up and they rode the whirl 4 times in a row!!!!
Tinkertown would not be complete without a train ride around the park!

Clear Lake

Our last stop on our summer holiday adventure was once again Clear Lake! It's funny when you go to the same place year after year the kids look forward to certain things and can't wait to do them again! Mackenzie spent two afternoons with the Junior Naturalist program where she learned about butterflies & mammals in the park. We also went to see the Bison out at Audy Lake. On our way we also saw 2 female moose! Posing for a picture at the wishing well!
Cole still loves his piggyback rides!
The playground was a favourite hang-out and we visited it every day! Mackenzie's favourite spot was the monkey bars!
Cole was so proud of himself that he could climb to the top of these monkey bars!
A little R & R at the camper with some good books!

Every year we also go on a hike at Ominik Marsh with our Marsh kit - which includes magnifying glasses, dip nets, a refernce book and a pan to put your treasures into! I think the kids feel like mini scientists because this seems to be one of their favourite things to do!
This year we caught 2 water bugs, leeches & minnows!
Time for a Smore!!

Matlock Beach Again

We headed off to Matlock Beach with the Dueck family once again - this time with our camper! We managed to have one nice day for the beach! Mackenzie & Ashton had a blast swimming in the water together and finding sand bars way out in the water! We also went to a Goldeye's game! The highlight for Cole was seeing Goldie and having him autograph his baseball cap after the game!
The baseball fans after the game!

Matthew & Charlie's Wedding

Our last wedding of the summer - Matthew & Charlie Sawatzky! Actually Matthew & Charlie were married last fall in France so this was more of a dinner, dance & celebration with their Canadian friends & family! Here we are the famous four - Matthew, Jaime, Robin & Jonathan! For those of you who don't have a clue what I'm talking about Jonathan & Matthew were our neighbours when we were kids. We practically did everything together and were inseperable! Matthew & Charlie
Show us your muscles boys! Cole with his buddies Grayson & Logan (Jonathan & Tracey's boys)

Big Whiteshell

Our next summer time adventure brought us to The Big Whiteshell with my family! The kids had a great time together playing on the beach, riding the quad, going fishing, tubing behind the boat, swimming and lots of giggles and fun! How low can you go? We even had some beach games including the Limbo!
And jumping contests!
The windsurfing board quickly turned into a surf board and a floating dock! Mackenzie & Zam as well as Uncle Bruce & Elroy spent lots of time in the water jumping and swimming off of the board!
All aboard - The Bruce Express is leaving the station and heading out into the great blue sea!

Cole going for a canoe ride with Uncle Bruce & Auntie Jaime! We discovered that our little fishing boat could actually pull a tube with the kids on it ! Mac & Zam had a great time riding the waves and bouncing along! Bruce even managed to get up using the wind surfer board as a water ski!

We think that all of the fish that live in the Big Whiteshell went on a vacation! We could not catch anything! Cole, Zam & Mackenzie had fun trying and Elroy went to every corner where fish are usually caught - but nothing!!!

Zico - also known as the bean - was a great entertainer during our visit! He was always making someone laugh! Did you catch anything in there Hizee? Catching minnows & frogs was another favourite pastime!
Zam & Mackenzie loved paddling around on the boogie boards!
Time for lunch - a wiener roast on the beach sounds great!
The paddleboat was a big hit - especially for Cole! He couldn't get enough of it! Needless to say Mom's legs were very tired by the end of the day!