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Waskesiu Trip 2019: Monday

I’m not going to sugarcoat the night. It was a TOTAL disaster. Worse than any other night I can think of, honestly. We were up for hours in the night for reasons like “My bed is too small for me” (was a twin sized bed) and “my blankets are twisted.” I’m not joking. HOURS. So needless to say, everyone slept very little and the morning was rough. We decided to stay in for the morning, keep a low profile, and hopefully venture out in the afternoon.

It was a nice morning in. I worked on some knitting. Brady played guitar. Laela and Dekker coloured. Rowan and Solly built duplo. Wavy tried to open the wood burning stove and chewed on toys. (Don’t worry, I blocked her.)

It was pretty chill. We ate some snacks for lunch and set up for naps.

Except naps went just about the same as the night. SUCH a bust. And I assure you, it wasn’t because no one was tired. They were wiped. Overtired, in fact, but not having it. Wavy got maybe a half hour before all the ruckus woke her, and we couldn’t get her back to sleep. The others did eventually fall asleep, and as it tends to go, she was finally ready to sleep as everyone else was waking up. But then she couldn’t stay sleeping. It. Sucked.

We needed a change of scenery, so we risked public fatigue tantrums, and went to the grocery store for a couple of things. We came well prepared, food wise, but expected to buy a few things on site. We didn’t bring milk because of how much space it takes up, but they don’t have 4L jugs out here!! So it looks like we’ll be popping in for a 2L every day! We grabbed one of those, as well as a loaf of fresh bakery bread! We didn’t bring any bread, as we didn’t want it to squish in the van. So with our bread and milk, we headed back to our spot and made a delicious breakfast for supper! I feel like that really did everyone some good. We LOVE breakfast for supper! We al enjoyed scrambled eggs and bacon, cheese toast, and cherries. Everyone ate a ton of food and felt SO good afterwards! We were definitely ready for our evening visit to our beach. The kids have decided to name it either Thunder Pond or Lightening Lake, because of the ominous weather last night.

It was nice to get out with them, when everyone was feeling a bit better.

It was windier today, but it was GORGEOUS!

I decided to push my luck and push for a kid picture. Solly was SO tired and wanted to stay in the stroller, but I straight up bribed him. The promise of a cookie when we got back to our unit saved the day. Plus he said he would only do it if he was with Dekker. So, he was. And it kinda worked!

Until it didn’t, lol!

Wavy was unimpressed that I had set her down, but that split second still got one usable picture, lol! We regrouped and tried again. It was a pretty cute progression. Not polished at all, but cute 🙂

Finally Dekker said he was going to drop Wavy…

So we called it quits. But seriously, it couldn’t have gone much better. They did SO good.

Even on rough days, I am SO grateful for my family. Thank you Lord for these beautiful people!

Waskesiu Trip 2019: Sunday

We’re heeeeere! We made it to our destination a couple of hours before check-in, and our room was ready early! Woot! Here we were, expecting to ask for generosity in the way of them letting us unpack our fridge stuff a bit early, but rather, we could move right in! WIN!

There was a pretty off-putting moment when we actually got to the chalet though, when our van was virtually surrounded by spruce beetles and horseflies. It was so disgusting. Laela was fully curled up in her booster seat, crying. I felt about the same. See, here’s the thing. We have the BEST unit in the whole building! Its more secluded, with neighbours on only one side, and less worry for us to keep the kids super quiet. We have nicer furniture and newer appliances. And its SO clean. But because its all tucked away in the trees, the bugs are a DISASTER. Brady ended up driving to a further parking lot so we could actually exit our van without letting everything inside, and I RAN to the unit with the kids. We made it fun, actually. Laela was the most upset and afraid, so I grabbed her and carried her while I ran. I made up some silly song while I ran and she was giggling like crazy. When I set her down to unlock the door, I kept singing about how we had to keep moving so nothing would land on us. Her face flip flopped from concerned to silly back to concerned as she wiggled and jumped while I unlocked the door. I finally got us in and slammed the door behind us. Brady joined shortly afterwards and toured the place with everyone. At one point, there was a shriek from upstairs. Poor Rowan was petrified by the disgusting spruce beetle on his shoulder! GROSS!!! Those things are awful.

Brady took the hit and unloaded everything on his own while the rest of us stayed inside, safe from the bugs. He’d walk up to the door with his arms full, I’d whip the door open, he’d come in as fast as possible, I’d slam the door behind him, he’d set down what he’d brought in, and then promptly kill anything that had come in with him. *shivers* It was super gross. Those things were everywhere. Once it was done, we kind of wondered just how much we’d actually venture out this trip…

We made the most of it, though, and enjoyed the unpacking/settling in process. The kids cracked out the one small tub of actual toys we’d brought, and busied themselves with books and duplo. No one napped today, so it got pretty interesting pretty early. We decided on an early supper, a walk to the lake, and then a snack before bed to top everyone up. So we did just that! Brady bravely grilled up some hotdogs (mysteriously no bugs on our porch) and we ate our body weight in hotdogs, veggies, and chips.

Its amazing how much they can eat already, wow! But they LOVED supper, which always feels good to see 🙂 No complaints. But they wanted to get out and walk ASAP.

Our research told us that spruce beetles aren’t active in the evening, so we tested it out, and sure enough, almost none were to be found! Win! Still, we doused everyone in bug spray before our walk.

It was SUCH a nice walk. We walked over to our little side beach and threw rocks in the water. The big kids ran and played and the littler ones sat in the stroller and zoned a little. It began to spit a little, so we began to mosey on back. But guys, it was SO nice, we decided to actually stretch our walk a little! We found our way to a funny little playground geared towards much younger kids, but our whole crew was happy to be there. They played for a bit, but the rain really started to pick up and it was time to go back to our spot. I LOVED the walk in the rain. Its actually still raining 🙂

Once we were here and settled, the kids got into their jammies (or out of their wet clothes, anyway) and sat down for their bedtime snack. We’re not a family of snackers so this is a pretty good treat 🙂 Everyone got a pizza roll and a handful of cherries. It was a GOOD snack.

They all snuggled up, said their prayers, and went to bed fairly seamlessly, minus one who struggles the hardest without a nap. Probably not who’d you think 😉 But they’re all tucked in now,

and I’m exited to spend the evening with Brady, playing cards, eating snacks, and listening to the rain. I hope it continues through tomorrow!

Packing and Prepping

It has been a FULL day of packing for the lake! I thought I’d give you a breakdown of what we all bring along and set up for a trip such as this.

Before I tell you what we packed, I’ll tell you what I prepped.

In advance, I made three batches of pizza rolls and three batches of granola bars. I chopped up a ton of vegetables and pitted two pounds of cherries. That felt like an accomplishment all on its own!

Now to packing 🙂

Every single person in our family brought at least seven short sleeved shirts, two long sleeved shirts, two hoodies, jeans, two pairs of shorts, swimwear, sweats and sweat shorts, seven pairs of underwear and socks, a jacket, shoes, sandals, rubber boots, and a hat. Of course, the girls have some leggings, dresses, rompers, etc. as well. So that right there is a decent amount of stuff! I save myself a bunch of time by leaving everything on hangers and laying them in big industrial tubs. That way, I can just pull everything out and hang it up once we get to the lake, and there’s no folding and no mess. We easily got all five kids clothes into one big tub! Their stuffed toys fit in there, as well. Win! Brady and I have a similar packing list for clothing, obviously. We also bring our bedding, because we’re high maintenance like that. Besides our bedding, we’re bringing two fold-out mattresses, two sleeping bags, and a playpen for Waverly. Bringing those things makes it EASY for us to all comfortably fit. We could do this stay without the extras but this makes it so much more comfortable! And we’re already bringing basically everything we own, so why not?

Toiletries are big, too. Everyone brings a toothbrush, obviously, and we have a pretty wicked of “just in case” medicine, including all ages of Advil, Tylenol, and Benadryl. We have tons of bug spray, sun screen, and After-Bite. We have ample amounts of bandaids and all that goes with them. We’re *hopefully* ready for anything! On top of those things, we have obvious toiletries, like some makeup, hair stuff, moisturizer, etc. Just basics, though.

Kitchen stuff is always the biggest part of packing. We bring most of our own food, and while the kitchenette is “full,” it doesn’t always work for a group our size. So we have packed our biggest pot and biggest frying pan. We brought our own knives, and a big stack of paper plates and solo cups. We have a lot of groceries to pack and bring, but I actually feel pretty good about how little of that we can pack the day ahead of time! Makes me feel like a bit more of our food is “real food” this time around, haha! We do currently have chips, crackers, and a few other little things packed, but there’s much more to go! We’ll buy milk and bread there. No business trying to keep that much milk in a cooler, or to have our buns and bread get massacred in the van. We packed coffee, creamers, and filters. Because priorities. Travel mugs, too! Didn’t bring those last year, and definitely should have. We also bring black garbage bags, white garbage bags, grocery bags, ziploc bags, back clips, etc. It seems excessive but you’d be amazed at how much we use!

We brought a HUGE stack of coloring pages, courtesy of my mom, as well as workbooks, crayons, and pencil crayons. We still need to pack up the Duplo, some books, and some little Waverly toys. We packed Skip-Bo, Phase 10, and tile rummy. We downloaded some movies off of iTunes and Netflix as well, just in case of rainy days, which the forecast has promised to us 😉 We will be aaaaall entertained. Lucky for us, we’re not afraid of getting out in the rain either, and have some big water squirty toys that I hope we get the chance to crack out!

Currently, the laptop is backing up, so its at its best for our trip. Camera batteries are charged, all charger cables/bricks are on the list to pack tomorrow, and I even wiped just about all the pictures/videos off my phone. I am READY to make memories, and hopefully record a couple of them.

Quick! What am I forgetting?

Getting Ready!

Today was our day to get shopped up and stocked up for the lake! We added a couple of things, and neglected other things, but for the most part, stuff got done!

We started by dropping off out cans and bottles at a nearby recycling depot. It never brings in much, but its nice to have a little cash on hand. Then we headed into Saskatoon for haircuts! Brady needed a trim, and my side shave needed cleaning up. Dekker was overdue for a haircut, and Laela had finally decided she needed one, too. She’s been flip flopping between wanting to have hair “short like Dekker” and being Rapunzel. Both being solidly different avenues, I wasn’t in a rush to book her a cut. I figured she’d decide when the time came, and that was today! Meanwhile, Solly said he might want a haircut, but promised to cry and fight the whole time 😉 So we figured we’ll wait a bit longer. And Ro is still super happy with his long hair! Look at his cool “ice cream” bun today!

She was kind of the star of the show today, just because she’s only had one other haircut before, and she was SO excited. She begged to go first, and Dekker was fine with that, so she got her chance.

I showed Carlinna the picture Laela and I had chosen, and was right on board with us. Laela has said many times that she wanted hair like Dekker’s, but I had recently figured out that she only wanted short hair because the last time they got haircuts together, Carlinna had used the blowdryer to dust Dekker’s neck off, but hadn’t used it on her. Once that was clear, we could move forward and get her a cut she truly loved. And we did! Laela got her neck blown off with the dryer, and got her hair curled a little bit, even! All about the experience for her 😉 And she looked BEAUTIFUL at the end!! So much more like herself, somehow.

Dekker, too, was a total champ, cooperated beautifully through his haircut, and looks WAY more comfortable in his own skin. He feels fantastic when his hair is fresh. I have to remember that and take him in more often.

Brady and I went quickly, and then we all piled out of there. The promise of free puppies and espresso for misbehaved kids never showed up, either, so I think we passed! Woot!

We spent the rest of the morning and a few hours in the afternoon in ALL the grocery stores – Walmart, Superstore, and Costco. We bought just about everything we need for Waskesiu, though I’m SO disappointed at how picked over the fruit was! I was counting on BC cherries and they were nowhere to be found!!! Booooo! But thats ok. We always stop in Mville on our way to the lake for breakfast, so maybe I’ll stick my head in at Co-op and see what I can see 🙂 What we DID find is that our creamer comes in 2L jugs now, sooooo…

…thats a thing! Or, those are things, rather. Because we bought two.

We ate lunch in between, and listened to some new music that Brady and I need to learn. Did I mention we booked another coffeehouse gig? Because we diiiiid!

We finished the day off at Costco, and hauled in everything we needed, including a *gag* snowsuit for Laela *gag.* I’m both grossed out and happy that we have it over with. It feels wrong, though. SO wrong.

Now we’re home, and somewhat organized. Not at all packed. Not at ALL packed. But mostly caught up on laundry, and I have a master list going. Monster list. That seems more accurate. But tomorrow is our big packing day!!! Wish us luuuuuck!

Peaceful Mornings

We all slept really well last night. Brady went in to work this morning, and I took my time getting the kids up. As I approached their rooms, I heard all kinds of happy chatting and playing. That always lifts my heart. Its harder when I come to their rooms to find everyone fighting. Not this morning!

As has become customary for the kids and I, when we have no morning deadline, I take a good few minutes with each kid before we actually get up. Now that they’re older and tougher, I actually flop down on top of them in their beds in a squishy, funny kind of snuggle. I often start with Dekker, because if I don’t, he takes off and starts setting the table. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate his efforts, but I don’t want everyone to get snuggled besides him because he was working! So, Dekker first. We chatted about his night and our plans for the day. I eventually released him and headed over to Rowan’s bed. Dekker asked if he could go get the other kids up (forever responsible) and I said I wanted to snuggle Laela first. I OF COURSE snuggle Solly, too, but he’s in a crib so our snuggle is more of a long tickly hug before I change his diaper. Dekker said “On it!” and took off. I was mid-snuggle with Rowan at that point, and didn’t put much thought into what Dekker was “on.” He’s a good kid. I trust him. Figured he was off to set the table. When I freed Rowan and went to the other kids room, Dekker was dutifully laying on top of Laela. They were both laughing hysterically. It was SO funny! I laughed at them and said I’d take it from there. Dekker stumbled off Laela’s bed laughing, and before I could stop him, pulled Solly out of his crib, and they both took off towards the dining room. So Laela got double the snug, thanks to Dekker, and I snagged Solly shortly thereafter. By the time everyone was ready for breakfast, the table was completely set. Thank you, Dekker, for covering all the bases!

While the kids ate breakfast, I did some dishes, got some coffee, and added to my big packing list for Waskesiu. (Doesn’t anyone care whats on that list? I thought about at least doing a photo post of the pack…) The children were discussing the weather over their corn flakes, and the subject of rain came up. Its cloudy. Is rain coming? Did it rain last night? Maybe it tried. The kids started listing off reasons why they loved the rain.

Dekker loves tasting it.

Laela loves that it helps flowers grow, and she loves rainbows.

Rowan likes puddles and that birds come out afterwards.

Solly likes listening to the rain fall.

I told the kids I used to be scared of storms, and that as a child, we were caught in a downpour while camping in tents. I have a fond memory of my older brother going out in the middle of the night, in a rainstorm, in his underwear, to dig trenches around our tent. Something about that was so funny, though I obviously know now was a sacrifice, and an attempt to help his little sister calm the heck down. But it was actually a pivotal part in my not minding storms after all! Funny what memories stick.

Today is a day of breathing. Hanging out with some friends. Making some more lists. Drinking coffee. Picking up a purchase in Saskatoon. Watching the Bachelorette. Rest. Tomorrow is a bigger day! I’ll tell you all about it later 🙂

Some Rest for the Weary

These broken nights with Waverly are wearing on all of us. Today, while some of the cousins went out for a walk, my mom, sisters, and I hung back at the house to visit and let Wavy crawl around and relax. Poor little miss was fussing and crying on and off the entire morning, regardless of how much I held, rocked, fed, watered, set down, picked back up that I did. She was NOT having it. But I managed to hold her off until lunch, where she happily ate her body weight in macaroni and chicken nuggets. We left shortly after lunch and got everyone down for naps, myself included. My arms are tired from holding a fidgety little baby all morning – a baby who would wholeheartedly push to get away from me, and then cry when I set her down. Oy! I’m tired!

Brady took the big kids into the city for a quick work errand, and I’m laying in bed in the dark, resting, blogging, playing FreeCell, making a list for the lake, and getting names drawn for Christmas. I know, I know. Don’t hate me. I like to plan ahead. I’m super comfy, and loving the quiet.

I think I’ll watch some YouTube, and transfer some photos and videos off my phone. My poor iCloud hasn’t updated in forever and a day. Time to free that sucker up!

Keep sleeping, kids!!

Can I Have Some?

We got back from our AirB&B adventure yesterday and our entire family slept hard. Waverly still woke up once but she was an easy sell on going back to bed, which helped a lot. We all still woke up pretty bleary-eyed, but I think some of that is just summer vibes.

We got everyone out of bed and dressed, and over to my moms for a day spent with family, playing, eating, visiting, and generally relaxing. The kids ran circles around the house, the yard, and the people. How do they have so much energy?? Can I have some?

I cannot, haha! All I really have to share with you is that I am SO happy to be with family, and also SO tired!

Wavy has the right idea. This time, anyway. Wavy’s sleep has regressed HARD. It is LONG overdue to sleep train her, but with so few bedrooms, its pretty tricky. The sooner we can get her sleeping through, the sooner I’ll be less of a zombie and a better wife/mom/friend/person. The time will come 🙂

Mom’s 60th Birthday Extravaganza!

My mom turns 60 this summer!! Not until August, though. We jumped the gun a little 😉 But we could ALL get together now! So yesterday, we all congregated at a mansion in the river hills to celebrate our mother!!

It was SO lovely to be all together ❤️

Our group spent the day exploring the enormous AirBnB we had rented for the night. It was HUGE, with multiple dining rooms, sitting areas, a pool, a spiral staircase, etc. It was humorously dated, but it pretty much all worked. We knew it was a bit of a party house, so with it being a little banged up, we didn’t have to worry too much if anyone spilled their supper or dripped pool water on the floor. We used paper plates and ate simply but yummy. It was SUCH a good fit.

Except. It was HOT. The house had almost no window coverings, and on such a hot day, the sun heated the house up to about 30C and we could not get it cooled off! Finally, with the sun going down, the temperature went down enough that we could all sleep. Our kids had a pretty hard time falling asleep, in part because of the heat, and the excitement of sleepovers.

These two have never had a sleepover before!!

Solly was the first to cooperate with sleep…

Wavy was last :/

She ended up joining us adults for the evening, and was up until 12:30am. Oy. It was just too bright and hot for her to sleep, but she got there eventually 🙂 While the rest of the kids slept, the adults enjoyed a drink on the patio, and then spent a good hour or two eating taco nachos 🙂 Was SUCH a yummy evening!

Thank goodness, Wavy easily fell asleep when we did.

This morning was spent eating a yummy breakfast, packing up, and getting some last laps run around the basement. I only have pictures of a couple of our kids, but I was pretty smitten with how beautiful they were, even though they weren’t smiling in these ones.

Laela got a reeeaaally good snuggle in with the birthday girl…

…and then we headed home ❤️

It. Was. Awesome. SUCH a fun party for an AMAZING mom. A mom who will always be my mom, but who I’m also very grateful to call one of my closest friends. I love how our relationship has changed, and stayed the same.

You’re an incredibly important part of our life here, mom. We love you so much. Happy birthday party!! 😘

I’m Not Great in the Kitchen: My Cherry Dessert

I posted the other day about my lack of confidence in the kitchen. You guys were al really encouraging, and maybe it was lip service – maybe not – but you got excited with me about my granola bar victory. It sounds so silly to say, but it counted to me 🙂 Thanks for that.

So I thought I’d give you an example of something that flopped, but I made it again. My cherry dessert!

I’ll start by telling you, I used a recipe for cherry cheesecake “bars,” and they came out SO soupy and weird. I was pretty discouraged, but I was on the hook for bringing a dessert, so I was basically stuck with it. To be fair, the “event” I was providing dessert for was supper with my parents, so the pressure was pretty low. But still, as I mentioned in my past post, I get VERY discouraged if the food I make doesn’t turn out.

I remember scooping the dessert out into bowls, being pretty embarrassed at how it really hadn’t come together. I’m sure I apologized profusely as I served them out, like I usually do. My mom, being one of the most supportive people in my life, insisted I take the first bite. She was so confident that my creation was going to be delicious. I was less confident. I took that first bite, and…..

I bit down hard on a stupid CHERRY PIT!!!

I was SO mad. Had I seriously somehow purchased cherry pie filling with pits? Who would even sell that stuff? Or buy that stuff?! Completely ridiculous! I was furious.

Luckily, seconds later, everyone had dug in and no one else had gotten a pit. And besides that, everyone said it was delicious. I tentatively went for bite #2, and it really was good!

I’ve made them many times since then, and not even once have they actually been structured bars. It is always a “scoop” dessert. Its never pretty. But its always yummy!

Yay for a failure turned success!!

*****

Ha! In my attempt to find a picture of this dessert on a past blog, I found a post HERE about the first time I made and how discouraged I was even just in the process of making it. It was from FIVE YEARS AGO!!! I still think that way when I make food, but I like to think I’m a little braver now than I was 🙂

Dekker and Laela Go To Camp: How Did it Go?

Guys.

Dekker and Laela LOVED camp. Plain and simple. LOVED camp.

We got to camp a little bit before 7pm, and as we approached the big play structure, I saw Laela’s cabin leader. She saw us too, and suddenly Laela was running in our direction. Dekker was a few seconds behind her. Big hugs all around! They were SO happy.

And SO dirty. And SO exhausted. And SO SO HAPPY.

Dekker had a full five o’clock shadow of dirt on his face, and Laela’s was a bit more spread out, but she had basically the same amount. They were a bit scraped up, too, Laela on her knee and Dekker on his face from a fall off a swing. But they were both unconcerned, and just buzzing about their time. Both were tanned and messy and beautiful. They looked like camp should look.

We were able to visit with both of their cabin leaders. Both reassured us they weren’t homesick or sad or unhappy. Dekker had taken a good fall from the big swing, and had some good scratches by one of his eyes from his glasses, so he had a cry there, but it really didn’t affect his time.

Laela had been quite shy her first day, as I thought she might be, but she was still happy and polite and had a lot of fun. Laela herself told me she felt shy until another little girl sought her out and invited her to sit on her bunk bed. She liked that, and said she felt more comfortable after that.

They ate lots and played on the playground lots. They sang songs and shot archery. I feel like some of it went over their heads because it was all just brand new, and they’re young 🙂 But what they did know is that they were happy, and they wanted to go back!

The closing program was pretty cute, but our kids were SO tired, and didn’t participate much. Laela did some actions to the verse while sitting in her chair, but that was it. Dekker sat in his chair, staring, mouth half open, eyes half closed. He was ZONKED. Lol! But the whole camp was bustling, with kids dancing up at the front, in full camp mode. It felt just like it used to when I went as a kid. I loved it. So did they.

Family camp was running while Dekker and Laela’s camp was running, and I am SO appreciative of my friends keeping an eye out for my kids. I got a handful of texts along the way reassuring me that the kids were happy and hyper and having the time of their lives. That did my heart good. I know my kids are wonderful, and I know the staff at camp is wonderful, but never having been on the other side of it, I was a little apprehensive they would just be too nervous to let loose. I’m glad they settled in. And I was glad to have eyes on the inside 😉 Thank you, friends!

We got home after 9:00, which is WAY past EVERYONE’S bedtime! The littles ones were so close to breakdown mode but we kept it together and got bedtime rolling. There was no time for baths – those would have to wait for the morning, but I wiped the big kids down good and proper. They both stood there with their eyes closed, unmoving, as I wiped their faces.

“This feels sooooo good” Laela said.

Needless to say, our kids went to bed no sweat. They were SO overdone, but in the best way you can be overdone 🙂

We’re onto the next special family thing tomorrow – Sunday! So today is a day for unpacking, laundry…

Remind me why we bought him new shirts for summer…

and repacking. Except for all of us this time! Also, hopefully a smidge of rest and relaxation in there.

❤️ Thank you for the beautiful person who paid for our children to go to camp this year. What an enormous gift to them, and to us as parents. I’m so thrilled to be able to start their camp experience so young, and so are they. We couldn’t have done it this summer without you ❤️

The Daily Hailey

Life as I see it – babies, belly laughs, and burnt toast

Category: Uncategorized