O, Canada! O, Raymond!

As per tradition, we heading down to Raymond for Canada Day after the kids got out of school. Of course, this year was particularly important: it is 20 years from the time Kyler graduated high school!

On our leisurely way, we stopped at a park in Red Deer

We've stopped here before, and the kids always love it. 

Especially the musical part. 

We also stopped at the Okotoks Glacier Erratic. 

This huge rock actually came all the way from Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper!

The littles rocks came from there, too. 

While in Raymond, we took a jaunt into Cardston. 

Kyler and Calista went to the temple, 

While I took the boys to the playground and spraypark. 

Everyone enjoyed their afternoon!

Is it Canada Day without fireworks?

We watched the (Smith Family) fireworks from the little lake just outside Raymond. It made for some beautiful reflections, and much easier traffic. 100% recommend. 

For Canada Day itself, we obviously went to the parade.

Kyler was actually on a float throwing candy, which means I was "alone" with these yahoos. And the entire rest of Kyler's family and all of Raymond.

Kyler was unaware, but I had a plan for him.

Involving this water gun.

As he approached and threw us candy, I prepared and shot him! No pics, because he was hiding and I was shooting. Sorry.

The afternoon was spent with friends and family and at the Raymond Canada Day Fair.

Bouncy houses! Was it worth being in the heat? Probably.

This year, we had our Rasmussen family gettogether on July 2nd.

Blasphemy! Just kidding. 

Spending time with family means being silly in all sorts of ways.

I love starting the summer with Canada Day and a trip to see family.

It's nice to have some time to just relax. 

Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Grade 6 Graduate

My beautiful girl is officially done with elementary school and had her Grade 6 Grad. 

She is smart, strong, funny, talented, and ready to start junior high.

Calista received her "Diploma de Excelencia Académica / Certificate of Excellence" from the Spanish Embassy for completing Grade 6 in the ISA Bilingual Program. We're proud of her!

Calista volunteered to give a speech and did fabulous! She seemed so calm and collected, even if she admitted afterwards her legs were shaking! She was nervous but not afraid: she knew she could do it because she's given talks in church.

Getting her certificate from the representative of the Spanish Embassy.

We're pretty proud of this kiddo!

Calista has thrived and come into her own. She auditioned for the talent show at school and was the closing act. 

She was nervous but did great (a common theme).

And her friends were pretty proud of her, too!

Her favorite part of grade 6 was being with her friends, while taking the PATs were her least favorite part (although she rocked them!).

Calista is looking forward to being in junior high. She's kind of scared but it's going to be fun.

Also, note to event planners: black frosting is never a good idea! 😂

Caleb is 7!

Caleb's birthday was pretty quiet because we weren't feeling all that great, but we still got cinnamon pizza! Yum!

He had wanted a birthday party, but it just didn't happen because of our health. 

Sorry, bud. Maybe next year...

Still, he got presents.

Lego is always a hit,

and who doesn't love pterodactyl wings?

Another highlight of the presents were the wiggly slugs.

Caleb received two, but he graciously told Calista she could have one. What a loving boy he is.

Happy birthday, dear Caleb!

Maybe next year you'll blow out your candle on the first try. Maybe.

Incisor Drama

Caleb has lost his first tooth, and in pure Caleb fashion, it was dramatic.

Caleb was eating a banana after school when he suddenly started crying. "My tooth cracked! Owwweee!" He was INCONSOLABLE. 

I quickly assessed the situation and informed him his tooth was not cracked, but loose. Really, really loose. This helped him a little, although Caleb informed me that it hurt to eat and so he wouldn't. And he wanted to show his friends it's loose, so he wouldn't be able eat until he sees them, anyway.

I tried to logic him into letting me pull it (it'll hurt less once it's out, he'll get hungry and grumpy if he doesn't eat for a day, we were having chocolate chip pancakes for dinner, his friends could still see the gap...) but Caleb was adamant.

Kyler got home and tried the exact same logic with the exact same result. However, Kyler and I decided to pull the parent card and just pull it anyway. 

After it was pulled, Caleb was pleased to discover it did hurt a lot less, he could eat pancakes, and also  realized the tooth fairy will come, hopefully bringing money and chocolate (?).

To quote Kyler, silly wonderful child.

A Bespectacled Calista!

A bit ago, Calista told me the board at school was blurry. It had been very nearly a year since her last eye appointment, so over Spring Break, I took all the kids to get their eyes checked. 

The boys came back within normal parameters, 

(and so got to play video games for a bit)

but Calista came back as needing a prescription. So we checked out the displays and she picked out her favorite.

By the time Spring Break was over, her new glasses were ready!

Looking pretty adorable, don't you think?

Spring Break 2023

Spring Break is a weird time in Edmonton. It's still often cold and doesn't really feel like spring, so we sometimes have to get creative about what we will do with our time.

Of course, there's the taking-care-of-business parts. Eye exams, doctor's appointments. (More on that later!) I sure know how to make Spring Break exciting!

But there is also the fun times.

We went to the library, obviously. I love going to the library, and so do my kiddos. 

What's not to love?

We also headed downtown to meet Kyler for lunch and walk around the Legislature. 

It was actually probably warmer than you might think. 

The kiddos loved wandering on the grounds, especially walking in circles around the Centennial/eternal flame. 

Silly children.

We went to the zoo. We especially loved the lynx, farm animals, 

seeing Lucy the elephant, 

and playing on the whale bones!

The hopeful goat at the zoo did not get any food from us. Sorry!

And, in order for it to feel a little like spring, we went to the Muttart Conservatory. 

The Muttart is a great place to be when our plants haven't quite woken up yet.

Kyler came with us, which means... a picture of ME with the kids. 

Haha. 

And Kyler with them, too. 

And! Calista made a goal to play prelude on piano at church once a month, starting in March. 

We are super proud of her for having the courage to play, especially because she didn't wait for the hymns to be perfect before playing them. Sometimes if a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly you do it anyway while you learn to do it better.

Happy Spring Break, even from Edmonton!