I also love the fact that when we searched we decided to get one that has a full length storage locker at the front it adds another 2 feet of inside space too so in that extra space we have an L shaped seating area and a coffee table with storage under brilliant.

This time the pull ups are packed i am not forgetting them again, setting the alarm to wake up at 2am then 6am just in case was hard work. At home Holly goes without and is mostly dry, well in the past 3 weeks we have had one accident so i think we are getting the hang of it. Also have to pack clothes and cool box of food. We take a huge cool box that can keep ice frozen for 5 days, and a smaller one that we just put bits in that then becomes the picnic hamper. Oh and need to buy some coolers too I dont drink much but i do love a nice cool alcoholic drink of an evening when camping

I just bought one of those ice cream maker ball thingy’s today they are on offer at Canadian tire, i only hope its as good fun as it looks.

The hard thing about this camping trip is we havent decided when we are coming home, we are booked in for 4 nights 2 at spruce grove campsite in Fairmont and 2 at a campsite in Wasa lake then we shall see if we do another night or 2 or not. So I have packed dog food in little baggies to last til Sat as i figure with hubby back to work on Mon we will want to be back for Sat evening.

Well i shall try and write before we go but who knows, its stampede on sunday yippee

11.45 came all too quick and it was time to go to school, it’s not often I drive but  I felt like I needed to today. Got to school and had my last chat with all the parents, we have all been such a good group of friends that i wish the classes did not get mixed up each year. I have never seen my ds so sad to leave school he usually loves going but is just as happy to come home, today he insisted on staying behind to say good bye and giving hugs to his teacher. We truely have felt blessed to have this teacher for our child.

Well by 5pm the extra kids were gone so it was time for my least favourite job backing the car up to the trailer :(, Ok it was not too bad this time, I am sure if we had to reverse on the flat it would be easier but ours has a steep uphill to do.   Got to the campsite thinking that because we had arrived on Thurs evening there would be plenty of pitches how wrong we were, the site we go to, our favoutite has a first come first served rule, the sign said campsite full. Oh no!!!!!

We drove round loop c just in case no luck, dh said what shall we do panicking i said let’s try loop b our usual loop it was not looking good then we saw it an empty pitch yippee :) 

Un hooked the trailer then dh did a quick drive round just in case there were any other better pitches to be had, no we had the last one on the whole campsite hurray.

Set up quickly as it was late almost 8pm and we had not eaten our tea yet, fortunatly  it takes less than 20 mins to set up including leveling the pup. Then dh cooked some brats on the bbq outside whilst i made beds and put clothes away in the hanging closet.

Next oh dear was no pull ups dd is not 100% dry yet so i decide to set the alarm and get her up every 4 hours to pee, we are next to a pit toilet so no need to sort our toilet out.

Friday we  did a few geocaches and had a big walk round a lake where by we let the kids build a wind shelter with driftwood which was good fun then we had our picnic and a very friendly chip monk came to visit us. I have never seen a wild  animal so tame, we did not feed him figuring that if he scavenged our crumbs after then that was natural He must have stayed with us for a good half an hour moving from rock to rock in front of us and chattering to us, it almost seemed like he was having a conversation with us lol, he would pop back in his little hole  when another group of walkers came by but as soon as they had gone he popped straight back up. Even when we gave Islay (our Labrador) a drink and snack he was fine it was only when Islay got some energy back and noticed the Chip monk (who we called Alvin) that he popped back into his hole and did not come back but that was fine we had stayed longer than we intended just watching our little friend.

On our way back to our camp we stopped for an ice cream float at the next camp site on to ours both share a little store and the ice creams are yummy.

That evening we went to watch the show our campsite runs an ampitheatre with shows over the week end. We love going and as they are free although they put donation boxes out at the end. What we do is only donate on our last night not that we are ‘tight’, but that we would rather put a note in on the last show than a few coins each night.

Sataurday, we went to Kananaskis village to see what that was all about, well it’s tiny but very pretty and of course we had to have an ice cream.  Did some geo caches which the kids really love although at one point the kids and dh left me in the car to nap whilst they did a cache, I am so not used to getting up in the night anymore

The evening show was all about aquatic bugs, I love the fact the shows are entertaining as well as informative, they usually have people from the audience to do parts although it depends on what they need and if you get there early enough to get choosen.Last year the biggest job any of us had was to hold the clicker to count how many people came to the show. This time they asked Holly if she would like a part (why oh why did we leave the camera behind), so Holly became a little mayfly larvae complete with black costume. She had to go on stage when they called for the mayfly and do some moves they had taught her to show how the mayfly move she looked so cute and had a big beaming smile on her face. All the evening she kept asking if we were proud of her aww.

Next day was spent doing a couple of walks that were started from our campsite and at one stage we did a walk around a small lake, Islay has now decided she likes water, we had thought we have the only lab who does not like water but she seems better maybe it was an age thing and she was too young last year?? I think the only time we used the car that day was to drive to the next campsite for an ice cream fix.

That evening we went to the show again this time all about mountain goats, and sheep. Guess were the camera was yep back at the trailer guess what we have another actor in the family, this time the parts were for adults only. Nope not me dh looked beautiful in his wooly coat as a mountain goat. I had wondered why he kept reading his lines but he really got into his role jumping all over the stage he was so funny, who knows maybe a career change lol

Monday was home time and apart from the fact we got home and unpacked about 5 mins before a thunder storm it was uneventful. So i guess that’s it for now.

Well we ended up staying until 4pm!! With my hubby joining us for a few hours long enough for him to watch my daughter whilst i walked over the road to pick up my son and his friend(who i look after for a bit after school) and go back to the beach. It was a beautiful day and i thought i learned a lesson…make sure you coat your chest in sunscreen too. I got a sun burn dd has nothing.

Sataurday was the town parade another lovely day and i remembered to put lotion on my chest but forgot my back and i was wearing a strappy dress lol still the kids were covered and were fine, why  is it as mothers we put our kids and often our hubby’s first but neglect ourselves?

It’s now the last few day’s of school and so i am going to get hubby to help me put the trailer tent up in the back yard so we can pack to go camping on Thursday or Friday. I think if our parking pad at the back was level i could attempt it myself buy it’s not and let’s say i have a height problem.

So in the next few day’s i will be cleaning the house after all gotta leave a clean house when you go away lol, and packing clothes and trying to figure out where to put everything in the pup. This is only our second trip so we still write lists and no doubt will still forget stuff last time i remembered the pancake mix, a bowl and measuring jug but forgot to take my griddle duh!!We did try to buy all the groceries for camping yesterday but dh is on call and got called out half way round superstore and as  i had left my cards at home we just bought what we had and hubby will go back on either wed or Thurs after work to finish the shop at least that way it will all be fresh right?

Well it’s 7am so i guess i better get the kids up as it’s a school day for Lewis at least for a few more days.

Thursday afternoon i spent hours making about 50-60 banana and chocolate chip muffins as my contribution to the big event, all the teacher had asked was that we bring either a dessert or a salad. She was providing get ready beef on the bun, condiments, baked beans, pop corn for the kiddies and breakfast for the kids on Sat morning.

Friday came and I took Lewis to school, quickly dropped dd off at pre school and went back to Lewis’s school to begin the task of making baked beans to the teacher’s recipie gone HUGE with the help of one other mum. We make enough baked beans to fill 4 large crock pots with the stuff!!! WOW!!Then we started shredding beef the teacher had slept at school the previous night so she could watch over her beef all 6 large roasts of it, as you can imagine every teacher in the school seemed to find us and say oh that smells so good and yet we were trying to be so good and not nibble lol

Had to go and pick Holly up from school then back to shred more beef and tidy up, fortunatly Friday is hot dog day at school so Holly got a hot dog for being so good. Home for a bit then back at school to pick Lewis up, loaded the car up then left dh with the kids so i could go back early to help set up apparantly we are expecting over 80 parents and family members, (class has 22 kids). Only one other mum showed up to help but thats fine we get set up ok, just

At 5pm everyone starts arriving mums, dads, kids, brothers, sisters grandparents too, dh arrived with the kids, i love the fact that Holly can be involved in things with school helps make her excited about september and kindy.

Some how almost 100 people are fed there’s not much food left though apart from beans!!!

The kids did some presentations for us and had some playtime in the gym, then parents start to leave apart from the one’s who are stopping over as volunteer’s (dh is stopping over, Holly and i go home at 8.30pm).

I wish i could say i rested and enjoyed myself but Holly had a sleep over with mum and the alarm clock was calling us at 6am!! So we were back at school for 7am to start brekkie, bacon, eggs, sausage and pancakes.

Fortunaltly the people who had said they were coming back for brekkie didn’t so there was about 30-40 of us although it felt like we had cooked enough bacon and stuff for the whole town lol

Dh left after brekkie as he had to help demolish a local hall so the kids and i stayed with a few parents til 11.30 to clean and tidy the school for monday. I have to say that the kids were very well behaved but then i did not stop over night it took a bit to calm them down i am told. As each child left the teacher gave them a goodie back full of candies like they needed hyping up any more :)

I wish i could say that we went home to rest but we went home for an hour and then joined dh as rubble clearer’s at the demolition on the local hall.

We had planned to go camping but changed our minds due to the weather, even though the pop up tent gives us plenty of room camping in torrents of rain just is not fun. So instead hubby did some more work on the basement it’s a very slow project, but the bathroom is almost ready for plaster board and the plumbing is 90% done yippee!!

Hopefully this week or next hubby will go and get some plasterboard to start that job, we are just having a bathroom and a utility cupboard down there the rest will be open plan so that if we have visitors there will be a sofa bed for them and bathroom but otherwise we can use it for our leisure area. Although i  am looking forward to it being done i wonder where all the stuff will go that is currently down there, we still need to build a garage which would take care of most of the stuff aka tools, tool boxes, etc.

Holly had a birthday party on Sunday at the cinema to see Kung Fu Panda, I had told Lewis that we would pay for him and us to watch it as it looked like a good first movie and neither of the kids had been to the movies before, it was really funny although Holly was a bit scared in places, but there are a few good movies coming out soon so we finally get to use our gift vouchers we got for christmas to see a movie.

Well i would love to say the sun is shinning and is here to stay but the sun is shinning and the rain is on its way lol

Well yesterday i went for coffee with a friend, another Mum from pre school  I look after her children I have been doing it for about 4 months now and I love it her girls (age 4 almost 5 and 7yr old) get on amazing with Lewis and Holly. I had worried so much that Lewis would get left out being the only boy but the 4 of them get on so well. My friend only works part time so on the day’s i don’t have the girls my kids ask for them which is kind of sweet.

My friend seems happy too as even though her 4 yr old tags along if i have jobs to do we also do other fun stuff together, during the day i only have her 4 yr old and Holly so i can, we go swimming, to see Barney, feet painting and so many things.We want to go to Ruckers, and shakers but i think we will wait til i can take all 4 kids to play fair, and shakers is brilliant  but about 30-45 mins away and very intensive with lots to do(lazer tag, indoor soft play,climbing wall, go carts, water bomb wars a and a gazillion of those redemption games) so i think i will get my friend to go with me. I have coupons to  pay for one get one in free so it should be good fun, just need money for tokens for all those games lol

I cant wait for the rain to stop so we can go for picnics on the beach with them and by our selves we love the beach and it’s one of the reasons why we picked this neighbourhood although we loved Calgary we just could not decide on a particular area which made house hunting hard but we had researched this area before we left England and knew lots about the school and how good it is. So when we could not decide where in Calgary to live this made sence to look at our original area.

Talking of school’s can you beleive Holly has only 6 sessions of school left with the 6th one being a party at the beach, scary

Lewis has 13 and a half days not counting today but in that time he has school house days where school will be taught as though it was a long time ago cant remember the exact time period but he is supposed to wear a button shirt and take lunch in a tin or something crazy, he also has sports day, a sleepover at school, a party at a gym club in town for all grade ones, a party at the swimming pool for his class oh and report cards too i guess

To be honest i am looking forward to school being out so i can just enjoy my kids, and have a break from the school routine, until school starts back the day after Lewis’s birthday. Then i guess i will have a kindergartener and a grade 2′er wow!!

Holly is coughing again, I am so frustrated this year it seems as though her cough has never totally gone it clears for a week maybe two with inhalers then comes back. I hope she does not end up being diagnosed with asthma but i guess we shall deal with it if she does.

We have cancelled our camping trip for the weekend as it is supposed to rain all weekend and going to Callaway park in the rain does not appeal, we had not told the kids we were going so at least they will not be upset, I sure wish we would have summer.

Talking of summer i can hardly beleive that in 3 short weeks ds will have finnished grade one, yikkes it’s gone quick he has done well and i am proud of the progress he has made and the friend’s he has.

Yum, going to try a Nigella lawson recipie that we saw on t.v at the weekend its called donut eggy bread and sounded and looked delish.

What have we been doing … err well i was going to say nothing but we must have.

For the long weekend we decided to go out in the trailer tent for our maiden voyage as it were, most people go to camp backyard for the first trip but because we are confident in our abilities etc we went a bit further. Big mistake going out on a long weekend even though hubby had the Friday off work the first campsite had lots of spaces but soo many people had put chairs and the like in the way to keep pitches for their friends that there was no where for us The second site was the same.

After much stropping on hubby’s part we decided to try a last campsite before coming home again, luckily we got a pitch as it was empty so Etherington Creek campsite it was. It was very very basic with just pit toilets and pump water you had to boil to drink but we had a tray of 24 water bottles so we were fine. The trailer tent was as good as we hoped nice and comfy and big enough for us all to sprawl in we had lots of toys packed and plenty of food so it was a good first trip camping of 2008, next trip will probably be in June and i think we are going to the campsite at Calaway park  you can get a deal with a nights camping plus one nights stay for $79 +gst, normal family admission costs $70+gst so its a good deal. We are hoping to get out every 2 weeks in the summer just to make the most of it.

I love camping although i do hate pit toilets so i hope to find lots of nice sites with flush ones.

Well i guess i should go and check on Holly as she is playing out in the sun yeah i hope this means summer is here.

Its amazing the fun you can have throwing a soft toy, my two kids plus the two girls i look after spent ages throwing a cuddly between the 4 of them and scoring points if they hit each other, i was in stitches watching them and of course this meant i could have my morning CPO fix without getting a mum can i have???? Then i made the rule that if the computer got hit that was a point to the other side which pretty quickly fixed the problem of stray throws.

Still feeling pretty upset about being scammed on Kijiji, but the good thing is we never lost any money to the guy so thats good, the right car will be out there and in the mean time the kids and i get more excersise which is never a bad thing.

We are supposed to be sorting out booking a campsite for june but i am a bit wary about booking the site without knowing we have a tow vehicle for our trailer tent, still positive thoughts and everything will come into place.

Well off to pick up ds from school i guess its been such a quick day today, at least supper is in the slow cooker finger crossed it tastes alright as i have never made meatballs before.

I cant beleive that on May 21st it will be 2 years since we emigrated from the beautiful English lakes. Sometimes I really miss it especially when I have been chatting to friends from back home, my friend was telling me all about the lambs in the fields behind her house of all the things to miss a lamb lol

We decided to emigrate because we did not like the way the UK was going and also Simon had always wanted to move to Canada especially after coming out with the British army. I finally gave in and we looked into it, especially after hearing about how Canada was desperate for trades, we went to an Emigrate show and spoke to a few people from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We found out that we probably had enough points to come to Canada but it would not be cheap or easy but what the…lets give it a go.

Well Simon came out in Sept 05, landed at Calgary airport on Sunday and had a job interview on the Monday he was offered the job but would not accept it til he had passed his exam to work in Canada. Well his he passed and they kept the job open for him til we came in the May. When we landed I had never been to Canada before and the kids had never flown before Yikkes and we had a 9 hour flight and all the mess that comes with emmigrating and customs.

The kids were absolute stars that day considering how strange it must have been, they really were amazing and made me proud. At that time ds was 4 and dd had just turned 3 at the start of May.

Looking back its been hard adjusting and in some ways we are still adjusting but we love it the school ds is in is really good and he enjoys school so much he has lots of friends, dd starts kindergarten this year which will be strange for me but she can’t wait to go.

Well I will do some more later.