Where to start...

A break was most definitely needed.  Time to reflect and pray, time to sort out conflicting emotions and time to refocus on what was really important has been the center of my attention as of late.  A good book, dear friends, close family and our pastor all provided necessary and much needed insight.  And what have I learned?  God's grace is sufficient.  A good reminder and something to focus on in the upcoming months.

Time has been spent enjoying the last remaining bits of summer with our annual camping trip to St. Malo.  We had the most beautiful weather and were basically bug free except for one evening when we ate dinner in the trailer to avoid the wasps that seemed to think our fajitas were delightful.  We spent our days on the beach and our nights around a campfire under clear and starry skies.  It  was wonderful.

While we were gone, we learned that our second car was no longer worth fixing.  We knew the end was coming, but I had hoped to get another twelve to eighteen months of driving time out of her.  But after 12 years and 210,000 km, she had given her all and we donated her to Teen Challenge.  That meant that it was time to start looking for a new vehicle and we wound up getting a great deal on this spectacular thing:

The big girls spent a week in a ringette camp and have started gearing up for another season.  Both of them have been registered and will be on the same team this year.  With Greg coaching and myself managing, we are looking forward to another great year out on the ice!

Emily started grade 2 - can you even believe it???  I know I can't.  She has a wonderful class this year filled with great friends and the teacher that she was very much looking forward to having for the year.

Danica started kindergarten - holy cow how time flies!  She was a bit nervous to go but in the end had a great day and did wonderfully when I left her in the morning.  She has three Sunday School friends in her class this year so that is a great way to start things off.

We decided it was time to begin to teach the older girls about money and how it works so we started an allowance system.  I found some great chore templates online and the girls had fun coloring them in and personalizing them.  Their allowance is divided four ways - 10% to tithing, 30% to current spending, 30% to short term savings and the final 30% for long term savings.  The short term savings is going to be used for the things that they want but are more expensive then what they receive each week.  This is a great tool for teaching the value of a dollar and for saving up for what you want - something that is very hard to do in our credit frenzied society and something that we practice with great diligence.  The long term savings is going to be for university.  It might seem funny to have a four and six year old saving for school that is going to happen more then ten years from now, but children who have a financial interest in their own education tend to take that education more seriously and work harder.  Once they have saved a bit of money, I am going to take them down to our financial adviser and have them turn over their money to be put into their RESP fund.  The amount they are going to be contributing won't be much compared to what we contribute every month, but it will give them a sense of saving for something very big and important and make them feel like they are a part of the whole process.

Wisconsin Dells!!!

We have just returned from what was one of the best vacations we have had!  We spent over a week enjoying Wisconsin Dells with two other families.  We left on Sunday and headed to Minneapolis.  We took in the Mall of America where we did some shopping and enjoyed some of the rides the mall has to offer.  Then we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and enjoyed that too!  On Monday morning, we made the last leg of our journey to the Dells.  We got settled in, met up with our dear friends the Karsten family and then went and got the groceries that we were going to need to feed 15 people for the week.

Tuesday it was raining which turned out to be a good thing as it took the humidity down a few notches which made the rest of the week's weather amazing!  We decided to take a Duck tour Tuesday morning and enjoyed the scenery while we rode on a WWII Duck.  It was fun driving on land and then going right into the water!  Tuesday afternoon, the boys went golfing while the rest of us stayed behind at the house and had a scavenger hunt with the kids and just enjoyed being together again.

Wednesday we headed off to Noah's Ark water park.  The kids (young and old alike) had a blast on zip lines, lazy rivers and water slides galore!

Thursday we took in the outlet mall and the Deer park where you could walk through an open park and the deer come right up to you to eat out of your hands!  We had two hunters in our group so I can only imagine how hard it was for them to be feeding the dear...lol.

Friday we went to Mount Olympus and spent another full day on water slides, roller coasters and a bunch of other fun rides.

Saturday we sadly had to say goodbye to friends and headed to Fargo for the night and on Sunday we were home.  Definitely a place that we will go back to again!

Here is our week in pictures:

Peter and Jorja on the Duck tour.

Danica driving the Duck.

Mom, Peyton and Danica - it was so humid that day that Peyton's hair was really curly!

Cheryl and Havyn during a walk down the main strip of the Dells.

Emily taking on the zip line at Noah's Ark.

This was the perfect shot of Emily coming out of one of the slides!

Mom taking on the zip line.

Uncle Greg hanging on...

Peyton and Havyn.

Deer Park.

Taking a walk on the river walkway.

Mount Olympus

Rainbow Racer!

Emily, Auntie Cheryl and Mom on the raft ride.

Eating lunch - tailgate style.

Roller Coaster!

Mom, Auntie Cheryl and Jorja on a ride.

Uncle Peter all by himself...lol.

Best go cart track ever.

Peyton enjoying a popsicle.

And now a few videos from Noah's Ark:

Easter, Spring Concert and Camping

After a weekend shopping trip down to Albertville, I managed to find three matching dresses for Easter Sunday this year - no easy feat when you have three girls who are between the ages of 1 and 6.  They were so cute - definitely the find of my trip!

We spent an afternoon at the Museum of Man and Nature with the older girls.

Emily's school had their spring concert as well - I am always impressed at what a great job they do!

Our first camping trip of the season was to Lilac Resort and Campground.  We had the most beautiful weather.  Sunny and warm all weekend!  It was so nice to get out camping again!

And finally, poor Peyton received her first injury.  Thankfully it healed well and it didn't leave a scar.