What a summer!!

I've been absolutely too busy to post much this summer, so I'll try to do a quick re-cap :-)

~5 sisters and 1 brother visited (and lots of kids). I think at one point there were 17 people sleeping here.

~Mom was home for 8 weeks (that flew by way too quickly!) We went on a few outings, though we didn't get time for rafting -- next summer for sure! Oh, ......she bought a new car

~My birthday was celebrated with family. My big sis made me a delicious cake! Devin gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses and we went out for supper.

~Benjamin's pet hamster, Charley, died. She was only 4 months old. Very sad day :-( He later bought a new one, named Henry.

~Jessica participated in her first swim meet and did a great job!

~I made MANY decorated cakes -- busy summer for that!

~Luke left for 6 weeks of glider camp with the Air Cadets. He arrived home, a certified glider pilot! So proud of him!

~Jessica's birthday was celebrated a day early as she left for camp on her actual birthday. She went for 2 weeks to Air Cadet basic camp.

~Timothy left for 3 weeks of Air Cadet PE-RT camp (physical education) Had an awesome time. Came home 10 lbs heavier -- all muscle! Won the Award of Excellence.

~Many of Mom's family were in NL this summer, so we planned a mini-family reunion. Just wish ALL could have been here. So much fun and really neat to see the second-cousins having such a good time together. Wish we all lived closer together!

~We also planned a big party with the cousins and played some old-fashioned games such as sack races, three-legged races. What a laugh! Oh yeah, can't forget the candy toss!

~Devin took each of the kids (except Benjamin) on a canoe trip down the river. Benjamin's turn is comin!

~Benjamin and I visited several cemeteries in the area -- still looking for headstones of some of our ancestors.

~Lots of playground time, tennis with Mom, Devin and Timothy, Nintendo DS (Mom even bought her own!), hiking and swimming.

I think that about sums up our summer!

This coming week Devin and I are hoping to take our kids on some little day-trips around Newfoundland. There's so much of our province that we have not seen yet. Praying that it will be a relaxing time as we head into Fall and the new school year :-)