Ashley Lake

 Right after picking the kids up from school, we headed straight to Ashley Lake! We stayed for 10 days with my parents and the Fox family, and for some of the time the Nielson family as well. I love when the kids have lots of cousins to play with! The weather this summer was very rainy, so we made the most of all the nice days at the lake, and headed into town for the rainier, cooler ones. 

We got there pretty late on Friday night, so the next morning we jumped right into activities! Leo and Mabel couldn't wait to swim and even carried the lily pad to the dock all by themselves. Boston was in heaven having Uncle Jeff around to play with him, as well as lots of fun cousins! We each had 2 days to cook, so Jeff and I went first and went into town the first day to get supplies. Jeff also had to get a few things for his bike, because he woke up early many mornings while we were there to get his training in for his race later in July. 

We spent most of our time boating, swimming, playing pickleball, doing a Mexican Horseshoe tournament, and catching creatures. We took the lily pad out and drove the boat around it for waves. Bentley and Deacon surfed really well and tubed lots too. Leo is still the bravest on the tube I think! Leo also really wanted to try skiing all on his own. We helped him for the first couple of times, but then he was insistent on having no help. We were all really surprised with how great he did with the rope on his own and how he got up for a little while! Not too long, but getting better every year. Deacon tried slaloming lots of Ashley Lake, and was so close! He did get up for a few seconds, but we didn't count it as enough to say he could slalom (see a later post in the summer where he did!). Bentley is always a bit more nervous, but she did ski on 2 skis lots and did great! Boston wasn't feeling very brave this year, but did swim in the cold Ashley Lake water a couple times - but not without some cries and screams! Luckily we have a hot tub to warm up in. I slalomed lots, as usual, and Jeff wanted to save his hamstrings for biking which was very wise.

We spent the Fourth of July there and unfortunately it was raining! It started out as just a drizzle so we pulled out the sparklers and little fireworks for the kids. It started raining a bit more, but we decided to not let it stop us. We did all of our cheap fireworks off the dock and I was definitely scared someone would get hurt, but it was fun! Then we decided to hop in our boat, rain and all, and drive around to look at other fireworks. We had umbrellas and lots of blankets and hoodies. We blasted the patriotic music and had a lot of fun singing and getting wet. 

The next day was also cold, so we hit the town for shopping and a movie! The boys went to "Jurassic World" and "How to Train Your Dragon." Well, I think Jeff and Boston were the only ones who went to the dragon movie, but they all had a good time while the girls shopped! We went to all the places in town and I bought things for the boys, while Bentley found a few things for her. I always have such a good time in Target and could still stay in there for hours. We met up for lunch at Taco Bell, and then headed home. The kids put on a fashion show for us to watch that night, as the tradition goes! It's always a highlight for us all. Boston was funny because he wouldn't put on his clothes but wanted to hold them in front of him to show us as he walked. Leo's most memorable item was his Target dog pajamas, and I loved that he wore red and white to town to dress for the occasion of shopping at Target. We did make sure we met up with him there because he had been saving money to use at Target, in particular! He bought a toy and Pokemon book. 

We really enjoyed our 10 days there, but the time always comes to go home. We went to church and then drove home afterwards on Sunday, July.6. It felt weird to have so much of summer still left, but we definitely got a good start to it! We saw a beautiful rainbow on our way home to welcome us back to Calgary.