Family, Fun, Food, Fairs, Freedom

Today is the first day of our summer vacation and I am leisurely drinking a coffee-hot chocolate while Sam and Rachel mess up play in the playroom. Thankfully I had some time yesterday and I went through it and got rid of a bunch of toys so it might be a little easier to play in. Today just feels like a fresh start to me, kind of like September and January always do.

One of my resolutions for 2014 was "I want our family to have more fun." I feel like we've done a pretty good job of that one this year and here is just some of the fun we've had these past few weeks.

One night we got to watch Willem play soccer, and since Tessa, was refereeing his game, we got to see her in action as well. Willem played in goal in the second half and he did pretty well.

Instead of giving gifts to Sam and Rachel's teachers, we donated school kits to Mennonite Central Committee in their honour. We gave each teacher a handmade card, the photo below, and a little bookmark explaining school kits. I think they all really liked that.

The night of Rachel's preschool graduation, a friend of ours told us about the Fun Fair at their child's school. Since Sam's school didn't have a Fun Fair this year, we crashed theirs. It was a lot of fun. The best part of the evening was getting to hang out with these friends who we are just getting to know better. I really enjoy them. That was also the night I discovered that Sam and Rachel LOVE hot dogs! And that Rachel makes a really cute bunny :)

 

For years I've been seeing signs for the strawberry festival in a little village near ours so we decided to make it a priority to check it out this year.  I'm glad we went, but honestly, I don't think we need to go again. There were lots of bouncy things (which our kids hate) and lots of vendors selling crafts. Sam and Rachel took full advantage of the petting zoo however.

 

Oh wait, that was someone else's kid!

They actually got the most enjoyment out of the free kids area so Dave and I were really glad we didn't pay $12 for the "You can do everything wristband."

 

We did each get our own strawberry milkshake though. That was probably the best part of the entire festival!

A local neighbourhood association near us also had a fun fair one day and we went to check it out. Again, it wasn't really the best thing for our kids -- there was a major water gun fight which Sam was a little intrigued by, and I was just annoyed I couldn't stand anywhere without getting wet, and then there were bouncy things again. However we did get find a couple of cute monsters :)

Sam enjoyed a quadruple decker peanut butter and cracker sandwich one day.

 

And finally, this past Wednesday our credit union had a Family Fun Night at a local heritage farm. We enjoyed a BBQ, riding on a wagon pulled by a tractor, and playing in the straw. Okay, it was mostly Sam and Rachel who enjoyed the straw play! It was nice to just be outside enjoying our awesome weather. And we ran into some church friends which made the whole evening that much more enjoyable.

The evening ended on a low note, however, when a bottle of orange juice somehow spilled in my bag, where my wallet, sunglasses, purse, and camera were. Thankfully, there seems to be no permanent damage. Whew.

 

Well, if you made it to the end of this post, you deserve a prize. Sadly, I don't have one for you. However, it's the weekend so there is that! Dave and I are celebrating our sixth anniversary on Sunday (!!!) so tonight we are headed into Toronto for an overnight and some fun adventures. Tune in on Monday to see what we did. And if we survived :) Oooo, the suspense!