Camping Fun

We have been doing quite a bit of camping this summer thanks to the lovely weather here in the Yukon!  I have even left Matt behind in Faro when he was on call for a weekend while the boys and I went to the lake with friends.  You have to enjoy the good weather while it lasts- sorry Matt!   :)

Less than a month until school starts up here, so we will be spending as much time as possible out in the camper!  Then camping will turn to camping-hunting in the fall which the boys are really looking forward to.

Lounging in the sun with friends.

Brothers!

Some friends flying over!

What a herd of kids!

Cavan and I leaping from the dock into Frenchman Lake.

Hunter jumping for the noodle!

Hunter heading out to sea!

Summer silliness!

Matt's Fantastically Awesome Day

Thursday was Matt's day.

It started right when he got to work in the morning and got word that he was the number one candidate for the permanent nursing position in Faro!  We have been in Faro for over five years and for four of those years he worked a permanent travel position that was based in Faro.  He could be shipped out to any community to work with very little notice.  It was hard on all of us with him being away and us not being able to plan far in advance for trips or even a weekend camping.  Then for one year, he worked the Faro position while the regular nurse took a year off and in the end she gave up her position and Matt applied for it.  A great way to start out the day!

Later that afternoon Matt got a call from the liquor store saying there was a parcel there for him.  Odd.  He stopped in after work and there was an entire case of gluten free beer that a friend had ordered in as a gift for Matt quite some time back!  He had quite the grin on his face when he walked through the door with the case clinking in his arms.  (Mario- you are the best!)

And to finish off his day, his Landcruiser passed the mechanical inspection and is now registered and licensed to drive on the road!  He has been tinkering on it since last year when it didn't pass inspection.  My husband, the non-mechanically inclined guy, has been teaching himself through manuals and youtube and apparently it has worked!  He installed a lot of parts that I am sure he would be happy to tell you all about in great detail.

Congratulations Matt!

Afternoon Lego Challenge

It has been a rainy day today and late this afternoon I was looking for an idea to keep the kids from driving me crazy.  I told the boys they had to build a lego castle for a competition and the winner would get a prize!  They were all in and Matt and I even had to get in on the competition.

Almost all of our lego has come to us second hand and we have a huge rubbermaid overflowing!  I am looking at a better storage system because I am sure the collection is only going to grow. 

The boys put all their creative energy into building and about an hour and a half later the judging began!  Each person had to describe their creation and why they thought theirs was the best.  Then we each had to pick something that we really liked about each others castle and share it.

Today, we were all declared winners (even though I totally rocked the challenge and left the kids and husband in the dust) and everyone got a sucker as a prize.

Lego building/bin hiding

Hunter and his "Castle Under Attack" complete with canons and dragons.

Cavan with his "Bridge Castle with Computer Shop."

I rocked the competition with my "Super Guarded Super Walled No Entry Trap Door Castle"

Matt was late to the competition and missed out on a lot of good building pieces.  But he was still able to come up with his "Fortress of Solitude" that had impressive guns to take out attackers.

How my ankle broke my stomach

Ten weeks ago Advil became my best friend.  Broken ankle?  Advil = candy.

And I was taking it right up to week nine.  Not a lot by that point.  Usually just a couple in the evening when it was sore.

But around the middle of week eight, I started to get sick.  Fever, chills, nausea, stomach and back pain.  Part of this was happening while on my trip around the Yukon with my friends and I just thought it was exhaustion. 

Nope.  Looks like the advil use has probably hurt my stomach and maybe even caused an ulcer.  I am hoping to see the doctor this week about it.  Husband hooked me up with some medication to help coat my stomach, but I am still in pain.

After I had my gastric sleeve surgery, my stomach became incredible sensitive.  I really should have stopped the advil use much earlier on or found something else to take for the pain and inflammation, but my stomach wasn't hurting at all right up until the end.  The fevers have been making me miserable at night and it is hard to sleep.  The stomach pain makes me wary of food and uncomfortable.  I hope I can get this fixed up and that there has been no long term damage done to my stomach.

But on a good note!  My ankle is really doing well.  I am walking quite a bit now each day and while I can feel it with every single step, it isn't painful.  I still have to stick to solid surfaces so I don't have the side to side movement in my ankle which is painful.  Today I walked 6.5km and felt great when I was done!

Birthday, Canada Day, and Camping Days

I came back to Faro in the middle of my two week vacation so I could celebrate Hunter's sixth birthday. 

Lego cake was requested and I did my best last minute attempt (I really need to learn how to do fondant) and he had a couple of friends over to help him celebrate.  And to make the birthday even better, he lost his second tooth that afternoon!  I got to reef this one out too.  The tooth fairy was held up by bad weather (read:  mama left town that evening and dad forgot), but Hunter was very understanding and happy when she did make a visit the second night.

A fugly, yet delicious cake!

Second tooth gone!

Six years ago....

I made it home from my trip just in time to take part in the Canada Day festivities in Faro.  There was the parade, loud and full of candy, that the kids loved.  Afterwards there was a steak supper with games and prizes.  Our town does events like this incredibly well!

The Parade is coming!!

What a patriotic little bunch!

After just one night back in my own bed, my family headed back out camping with some friends for a couple of nights.  We were close to home, just heading 60km from town to Drury Creek Campground on Little Salmon Lake.  The bugs were bad at times, but thankfully the wind provided relief along with pretty much bathing in deet.

One of the campers had his 5th birthday out there!  Pinata fun!

A very tired Hunter was begging me to go to sleep at 4 in the afternoon.  He made it to 7:30.

Full on exhaustion!  No worries about sunlight keeping these boys up late- they play much too hard!

Garden Growing!

Two weeks away and my garden is flourishing thanks to the heat and a fantastic husband who remembered to water it.

Most everything was planted straight from seed just over five weeks ago and I am sure they are already bigger than things were this same time last year.  My potato plants are especially large!

Vole killing moved past traps and whacking with shovels to poison.  Yep, poison.  I am a bit over protective of my carrots and peas.

Does anyone know anything about growing spinach?  Mine is starting to flower.  Is that what it is supposed to do?

I have a few tomato, cabbage, peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower plants that were started and given to me.  I hope they produce this year too even though they are out in the beds instead of being in a greenhouse.

This week I need to start thinning the carrots, lettuce and peas.  Exciting! 

Beets, leeks, swiss chard, lettuce and some carrots down these lines.

Heaps of carrots and peas!

Spinach, green beans, and green onion.

Just some of the potatoes!