7 Years Old

Happy 7th Birthday to a very special boy!!!  Calum turned 7 last thursday and had a weekend full of celebrating!!

Thursday morning at school everyone sang happy birthday to him before they said the Lord's Prayer!! I took cupcakes in to share with his whole class at lunch time!!  That night he was treated to his favourite supper, Welsh Rarebit (or as he calls it, melted cheese on toast!!) and hot dogs!

The celebrating didn't stop there...Friday night Jared and I took just Calum to the city!  We went to Toys R Us where he picked out his own birthday present and then we went to Moxie's for supper! After supper we went mini golfing and then for ice cream!  We also stopped to see Grandpa Glen in Nobleford where he gave Calum a Rocket!!!  We got home rather late but it didn't stop Calum from opening the Lego set he picked out at the store!  Emry and Armin weren't asleep yet so he enlisted Emry's help in building his new set!  They got part of it built and then were up early the next morning building the rest!  Sunday we had a family dinner for him!! Myrna and I made pizza's and we all enjoyed visiting and playing! I attempted to make him an Avengers cake!! I layered rice krispie squares behind the cake and iced them in black icing, trying to mimic the silhouette of a city skyline!! I then put lego Avenger guys and a Jeep on the cake!!  It turned out okay!  I think he was happy with it!!

I am so thankful for this strong, tender hearted little boy!  I couldn't imagine life without him.  He still crawls into my lap for a cuddle and a kiss.  He sympathizes with others when they are hurt, he dances in public like no one is watching, he is eager to learn and uses his imagination to build some amazing things!! I look forward to what this year has in store for him!!

Run in With a Porcupine

Sometime yesterday afternoon Fender and Gibson came face to face with a porcupine!!! Armin is the one who noticed when he walked up to Fender, who was laying down sheepishly by our car! He called to me and said there was "someping" on Fender's nose!!! As I came closer I instantly knew what they had found!!  We had to go pick Emry up from volleyball practice so we couldn't do anything for the silly dogs until we got back.

I called Jared, who was still travelling home from his site inspection North of Brooks! He said we could try and pull them when he got home.  I decided to also call the vet to see what they thought we should do. With the amount of quills in Fender's snout he encouraged us to bring them in. So as soon as Jared got home we loaded up the two silly puppies into the van and as a family we drove to Nanton!! Jared did try to pull one of Gibson's and it broke off, so we were more than willing to take them to the vet!!!

Once at the vet he did a quick look over and then started with Gibson, who only had three quills, all in his nose!! He gave him a miniscule amount of sedative, right into the vein and waited for him to get drowsy.  He sure didn't take long!! His back end started to shake and ever so gingerly he went down!! Jared was right by the vets side helping in any way he could.  He loves that kind of stuff!!! The kids too were right in there watching and asking questions!!!

After Gibson was finished the vet and Jared got Fender sedated and minutes later they were pulling the 30 plus quills from Fenders face!! He had one quill pierce right through his nose.  When all the pulling was done and the reversal sedation was given to help wake the puppies up the vet went over to the computer to fill in his paperwork.  Calum pulled up a stool and sat beside him as he typed. The vet was so good and answered all of Calum's questions, even if they at times were silly questions!!  Once the puppies were up and moving and our $390 bill paid we took them home with hopes that they had learned their lesson!!!!

It was neat taking the kids and having them see firsthand the way a vet clinic works...Emry did say she wanted to be a vet after watching what they get to do, of course only if she didn't have to do any surgeries!!!!

Terry Fox Run

This year marked the 17th Annual Terry Fox Run at the Champion School. And as a school they have raised over $81,000!!! Wow, for our little school that is quite an accomplishment!!! The video they showed this year to help inspire the kids was only a minute long so Calum didn't tear up like last year, but when Mr. Jackson talked a little bit of the inspiration Terry Fox was to him he chocked up which caused Calum to get teary!! Such a tender hearted little boy!!! Emry had to write down things she would wish for this week if she had a genie. Two of her wishes were to be able to see her Grandpa Puzey again and the other was for cancer not to exist. Such a sweet girl!!

 I learned this year that Terry Fox ran 26 miles per day...I couldn't imagine doing that on two healthy legs!! I'm glad our school takes part in this every year and makes our children aware of what only one person can accomplish when they set their mind to it!!

Puzey Family Reunion

This past Saturday the boys and I headed to Calgary with grandma Puzey for the annual Puzey Family Reunion! Emry was invited to a birthday party that had been rescheduled for the 12th specifically for her, so we didn't think it would be right for her to miss it.  And Jared has been combining for a neighbour and decided he better stay home and wait for his call! The boys had a good time running around, drawing and playing with their older new found cousins!!  It was so nice to catch up with relatives we don't see often, one of Jared's cousins said it was good I came to an in law reunion without my husband, I  told her I didn't actually consider the Puzey's my inlaws so it wasn't hard at all!!  The afternoon consisted of yummy food, a slide show of photos from decades before, family pictures and to finish the day off, a slip and slide...Armin loved the slip and slide!!!  Calum hung out with three of Jared's cousins kids, they ranged in age from 15 to 17, but they played with him like it was a normal teenage thing to do, so nice of them to indulge in Calum's need to wrestle and horse around!!!

A lot of planning went into this day and it was so much appreciated! I love that we have built our home on the land that was originally homesteaded by a Puzey more than 100 years ago! It feels wonderful to be apart of such a rich heritage! I look forward to the many years to come on the original homestead of Frederick Puzey Sr.

The original Puzey homestead more than 100 years ago!

The orginal homesteaders, Frederick Puzey Sr. His wife Emily and son Frederick Jr.

David's parents Fred and Hannah

Fred and Hannah with their children Sheila, Sandra, David and DaVeeda

Labor Day Classic

This past Monday Calum got to go to a Football game with Grandpa Glen!! The Labor Day Classic, the battle of Alberta, the Stampeders versus the Eskimos!!! Calum was so excited up until about 10 minutes before the game started when he innocently asked Grandpa if they could go home!!! But once the game started and the big galoots began smashing into each other his interest was piqued!!! 

The excitement started Sunday night when we drove Calum up to Calgary to spend the night with grandpa! Dad heard Calum get up the next morning and wander around the house, he went on the balcony and watched the cars, he rummaged through the fridge and finally settled back into his bed and watched cartoons!!  They had breakfast and then picked up Jordan, the buddy Calum met when Dad took them to the Calgary Tower earlier in the summer, then together they took the C-Train to McMahon Stadium!  Dad brought Calum home later that night after the Stampeders trounced the Eskimos!! We asked Calum if he'd like to play football when he gets bigger, he replied with "No way, they push each other down!"  He would make a good defence man with how stocky he is!!!

It was a great day for Calum because he got to spend some one on one time with Grandpa Glen!!!

Crazy Cat Girl

Emry loves cats!! I don't think a day goes by without her holding at least one cat or kitten!  She is always desperate to have our main cat, the one who is actually allowed to come in our house, sleep with her at night!  We usually hear him growling at her, resulting in her tears and him running out of her room.  If he isn't forced to sleep with her we can either find him curled up on our bed or at the foot of Calum's bed!  He seems to love sleeping on Calum's bed, I think because he sleeps on the bottom bunk and cats love to be in something covered!  Calum had a sleep over at Grandpa Glen's Sunday night so he could go to the Labor Day Classic football game with him on Monday.  Since Calum's bed was empty we convinced Emry to sleep in it, a sort of sleep over with Armin!  What finally convinced her was us saying that Marshmallow would most likely sleep with her all night if she stayed in his bed, so she did.  When we checked on them before we went to bed what we found was not what we meant when we said Marshmallow would sleep with her all night in Calum's bed!  She totally had him pinned, though he wasn't trying to escape, but still he was pinned!!!

Yesterday we told her to walk over to the barn to feed the cats and call them as she walked because ALL of them were hanging around our front door!  I stepped off the front deck to see if the cats were following her and they were indeed!!!  ALL 15 big cats as well as 5 kittens, plus 3 she was holding!!  We have way too many cats, so if anyone knows anyone wanting some outside kitty's please do not hesitate to give them our number!!!  I wish I had my camera handy while she was walking!!  It was a perfect picture describing our crazy cat girl!!!

Camping

The last weekend of August we decided to take the kids camping!!  Our first getaway all summer!!  Between cows, and baling there wasn't another free opportunity!!  We planned to go to Waterton for a night and do a hike then head over Logan's Pass and camp in Whitefish for two nights!  The weather was perfect, though quite smokey, so smokey at times it seemed like it was overcast!

When we got to Waterton we walked around the town centre and had lunch at a yummy pizza place!  While we were waiting for our food on the patio we saw deer walking in the streets!  After lunch we headed to our campsite to set up for the night!  It was super windy, the tent next to us was caving in from the wind, we were pretty nervous about what our tent would do!  After setting up we drove up to Red Rock Canyon where we planned on going for a hike!  The hike we decided on was to Blackiston Falls, about a 2 mile easy climb to beautiful waterfalls.  The boys did great and even skipped and ran in spots!  The falls were beautiful, and the water was so crystal clear.  Right next to the falls was a tree growing right out of a rock!  It was amazing to see how it could grow and flourish in such a rocky spot.

This is the tree growing right out of a rock!

After our hike we checked out Red Rock Canyon and walked down the creek bed exploring and having fun!  The boys took their runners off while we were climbing through the creek bed and it was probably for the best since they both fell into the crisp, cool water after taking only a few steps!  In places the water was deep enough to wade into and Calum eagerly went for a little plunge!  The red rocks were so beautiful to look at especially with the glow from the setting sun!

After our hike it was time for supper so we ate at a cute little restaurant in the townsite.  It was such a nice, calm evening (or so we thought in the protection of the buildings!!) we sat on the patio again and enjoyed the beauty of what we could see of the mountains with all the smoke from forest fires in the air!  Getting back to our campsite we could see that something wasn't quite right with our tent, and upon further inspection we found that the two main poles had snapped in the wind.  Jared was able to splint the one that was broken worst while the other one we were able to snap it back into the metal casing.  Sleeping that night was rough...every time the wind blew Emry shot straight up and started to whimper.  She was sure the tent was going to come down.  Jared assured her it would be fine and this seemed to appease her fear enough to get a little bit of sleep.  Even with Jared's reassurance he still sat up every time the wind gusted and held the tent pole that was splinted in place.  It was nice when morning finally came and we could pack up and head out of the wind.  On our way out of the park we spotted a bear swimming so we stopped to watch it swim the length of the pond and jump out on the other side!! It was so cute watching him run off!!

Going over Logan's pass was fun, we stopped at the top where we ate our lunch and looked around, we could hardly see the mountains across the valley because it was so smokey!  On the drive down we stopped a couple of times and climbed on some rocks and looked at the river.  We did a little hike at the bottom called "The Trail of the Cedars", the cedar trees were gorgeous and huge (well huge for what we are used to!!)  There was a waterfall half way through the trail and at some point in time a rock had fallen and precariously landed on another rock just over the water.  The scenery was amazing!!

These are the roots from a cedar tree that had fallen over!

Getting to Whitefish we found our campsite and set up for the night!  The campsite was nestled right in the trees so we knew we would be safe from the wind!!  In the morning we got up and got ready to go to Columbia Falls Water Slides!!!  It was probably the coolest day so far but still perfect for water sliding!!  The smoke was very heavy so we hardly saw the sun, but it made for a quieter day with less line ups!!  We got there shortly after the park opened and we were the last ones to leave!! The kids had a blast and were able to go on every slide!  Calum even went down Geronimo, twice!!!!  It goes straight down and is really quite high!! He loved it!  It was cute watching Calum and Armin walk up to the slides together, Calum would either hold Armin's hand or walk with his arm around his shoulder!!  They really can be best pals!!  After sliding all day we were famished so we drove into Kalispell and ate at our favourite BBQ joint, Famous Dave's!!  We didn't get back to our campsite until after dark and the kids fell asleep almost instantly!!

There had been a bear in the campground the night before we got there, and I'm sure it visited the first night we were there too!! The campsite a couple down from us had a salsa jar and chips scattered all over in the night, I think from a curious bear searching for a midnight snack!!!  Jared woke up one morning to a baby deer right outside our tent, and we heard the constant chatter of the chipmunks in the trees all around us!  It was so quiet and so peaceful!!

On our way home we stopped at the giant coal truck in Sparwood!!  Armin was fascinated with how big it was!!

It was a perfect getaway, the kids got along for the most part, the car ride at times was pretty loud!  But it was exactly what we needed before getting back into the swing of school and routines!  The kids each got a t-shirt that says "Take a Hike" written over top of the state of Montana.  We thought it was fitting since we did do a hike in Montana!  Armin wore his to his first day of Kindergarten and told his teachers that it's his "Get Lost" t-shirt!!  I guess in the mind of a 4 year old it means the same thing!!