How is it even remotely possible that my last post was done in April??? It's halfway through August and looking back we have been quite busy over the past few months. So here comes a lengthy recap:April: The biggest news here was the 2nd birthday of our not so little boy. Where did the time go? William celebrated with a small family BBQ and a visit with the little guy down the street (who is just a few weeks younger than William). There were lots of presents, cake...you get the picture. The biggest highlights for William: his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday card (which, FYI, takes months to stop working) and his two mini sticks. He spent the whole evening of his birthday playing hockey and when he woke up the next morning the first thing he asked to do was "play hockey". Things haven't diminished much since then, so Aaron and I have had some talks about opening a new bank account to fund what we are pretty sure will be years and years of winters spent in the arena.
In May we surprised the kids and took them to Heritage Park for a day with Thomas the Train. It was quite windy and colder than we would have liked, but the kids were so happy. William hardly noticed the cold (Maria did and made sure we knew it too). The kids had a great time, but I think the real highlight of their day came later when they were each given a helium balloon at the Ford dealership when we stopped to pick up Aaron's new truck on the way home.We also managed to get our garden built up and leveled this year, and despite the cold and excessive amounts of rain got the garden in. Then it was time to sit back and wait to see just how much of what we planted would take.
In June we deceided to try our hand at camping as a family. As I am a rather miserable tenter (I'll admit it) we decided to rent a trailer. The reason for this was two fold: to determine whether or not the kids enjoyed camping enough to make a trailer a worthwhile investment, and to determine what features are "must haves" for us as a family, both now and in the future. (FYI: this worked and we are in the process of looking for a trailer of our own now). We took our first camping trip to Lumby, BC (with a couple overnight stops in Golden). This trip allowed us to try camping while still visiting with family that we hadn't seen in quite some time. Maria also got her first taste of "thrill rides" at the Midway for Lumby days and she seemed to have a blast. Disneyland, here we come (in a few years...anyway). The kids were happy to spend time with their cousins, Benjamin and Scott, as well as Grandma Betke.
Then, just to make sure we were busy enough we headed to Edmonton (one day after returning from camping) to celebrate Aaron's Nana's 95th birthday. The kids were good, and seemed to have a good time, but I can honestly say that they were quite traveled out after that trip. At least they had some good times with their second cousins.
July: So after a very busy June we decided to take some down time in July and stuck close to home. We used weekends to take the kids to the zoo and Calaway park, as well as taking time to work on the yard. Maria and William are quite the little gardeners and are very happy (as are we) with our garden yield this year. We have been experiencing a rather continuous streak of warm weather (mid to high 20s) this year and the garden is readily making up for it's late start. We have also discovered, once again, that William takes after his namesake, as is evidenced in the picture to the left. The boy will wear boots with any outfit (granted Grandpa Willie's trademark was cowboy boots with shorts at the beach...but you get the idea). 
That brings us to the first half of August and our second camping trip. This trip was for just the four of us and by the end of it Maria and William were having such a good time they didn't want to go home. Aaron and I rediscovered our love of Williamson Lake campground in Revelstoke, BC. Camping (with spacious sites), lake, beach, fishing, canoe rentals and high 20s daily = amazing family vacation. Maria got her first go at fishing and was with Daddy when he caught his first fish this year (which she promptly made him throw back). We spent two days at the beach; Maria in the water, William playing in the sand...and Mommy managing to finish one book and half of another. I'm pretty sure camping just took a flying leap to the head of our yearly vacation plans. So yes we will be buying a trailer, and yes we will be looking to share some of our future camping trips with friends and family. So enjoy the pictures and I will try to have another update much sooner than this last one (no promises though...with the weather being so nice I spend very little time in front of the screen on my days off).
