Everett Lee Walker has arrived

Everett Lee Walker

4 lbs 7.5 oz

The most precious tiny baby!

And now we are 4!

Mommy showing Big Brother Rawley how to touch Everett's head.

Tiny Baby Everett

Little of this and a little of that

Our camping season is starting to slowly come to an end. We will be pulling out the second last weekend in September as Gary is going to be golfing in Winnipeg on the last weekend. Also with hockey starting up, hockey will start to interfere with camping. It has been a really good summer there, lots of fun with friends, and lots of rest and relaxation. Have learnt that I do quite enjoy ceasars *S*. Last weekend the guys were all out and about doing other things and the girls just sat around and enjoyed ceasars and had fun!

Daycare is starting to gear up for back to school. I am going to be busy busy busy this year. My kids will include, Carter 11 wks, Ally 10 months, Devon 3 yrs, Matthew 3 yrs, Dayne 4 years, John 7 years and Joleen 9 years. Devon is a FAE child so he will keep me on my toes for sure. I got to meet him yesterday for the first time and he seems to be a really lovable child, just very very active.

Christmas knitting hasn't even really started yet! Yikes!!! I have a pr of socks finished for Joleen and am working on a sweater for Carter and that is it!!! Needles must get busy. Acutally the crafting has sort of been stalled a bit because of this sore shoulder virus thingy that is going around. In the beginning I had no idea what I had done to my shoulder, went for a massage and she worked and worked on it and it helped a wee bit for a day and then holy smokes! The pain when you moved a certain way could just about make you cry. Reaching was the all time worst. I then started hearing of others who had the same thing and have come to find out that it is a virus that is making it's way around. I have it as well as Gary, Auntie Shirley, one of my daycare mom's, Gary's boss, couple of people at the campground!

We still have trouble believing that Allan is really gone, it is just so hard to wrap your brain around. A couple of weekends ago his wife and his girls took his ashes to the mountains to sprinkle them. He loved the mountains and was always sad when a holiday would be coming to the end and he was going to have to leave them so seems the perfect place for his resting place. I am sure it was a very hard weekend for them.

At last, but not least our very exciting news. Ryan & Tammy have picked their wedding date, Aug 09/08! We are so happy for them! They have chosen to get married in Virden so it has been fun being able to 'scope' out things for them etc! They will be here a week before the wedding and I know we will so enjoy their visit. And of course Rawley will be with them and we love every minute we can spend with that little guy. Guess he isn't such a little guy he is a school boy!

We will also get to see the three of them at Christmas and are also excited about that. Having a little one around during the holidays is always so special.

July 8th

Sunday July 8th we were at the trailer as we are nearly every Sunday and Gary's cell phone rang. We get terrible reception out there and when he answered their was no answer but since he has call display we could tell it was his brother's home number. We knew something was up for them to be calling so Gary called them back.

The news he got was terrible, his brother Allan(53) had passed away that morning of a massive heart attack while at work. We were both in total shock and simply could not believe the news. After we were able to compose ourselves somewhat we got our things together so we could head home. When we got home Gary made a few phone calls but really didn't find out any details at all. Because of the way that Allan had died their had to be an autopsy and no plans could be made for sure until the M.E. released the body.

It was a rough week to say the least. Cathy phoned to say that the funeral would be on Saturday July 14th. We decided that we would take off from work and head to Weyburn on the Thursday so we could see Cathy and the girls and spend a bit of time with them and see if there was anything we could do for them.

It was very hard when we got there for sure. The house was full of flowers and meat trays, veggie trays, fruit trays and dainties! Some of Cathy's family had been with her since she had got the awful news which was good. Jean & Pete were already in Weyburn when we got their and Bev and Wes got there a few hours after us. Such a different get together than we had in April when we were all together for the joyous occasion of Jean and Pete's 50th anniversary. We all said how fortunate we were to have all had that time together, we just didn't know it at the time.

It was Allan's wish to be cremated and to have his ashes sprinkled in the mountains. He always loved the mountains, loved to be in them and was sad to have to leave. Because of this there was no viewing of his body which is making it a bit hard for Gary, Bev and Jean. Viewings are never a nice thing, but they seem to be a part of the grieving process and sort of the reality that a person needs to believe the unbelievable.

It was a sad way to start holidays that is for sure, but having the kids home certainly helped that is for sure.

Behind, behind, behind

I am so far behind on this blog it isn't even funny. The last post I made was that it was a month till we would be picking up the kids at the airport and now they have been and gone. We really enjoyed their visit. Of course the time went too fast but it always does when you are having fun.

Due to some unfortunate and tragic circumstances we were unable to go in and pick them up at the airport, but Crystal and Al stepped up and did that for us. They spent the night here at the house and then we met them at the trailer after supper on Saturday. The weather was pretty decent while they were here, with one major rain which thankfully didn't last long. I came out of the trailer to find poor Tammy standing holding towels to prevent the rain from streaming in on our tv, dvd, vcr. The boys had left to go golfing but needless to say they came home without hitting a ball.

Sunday we heading to Souris to take in a few of the sites including the swinging bridge. Monday we headed to the farm so Tammy could go horseback riding. From the farm Ryan and Tammy heading to Brandon to have supper with Jen and Jill and we got to keep Rawley with us. Tuesday the kids spent the day in Winnipeg visiting Tammy's friend and her family. Wednesday Gary and Ryan played a few games of horseshoes and then we hit the pool for some relaxing time. Thursday we headed over to Oak Lake to play in the sand and then stopped at Uncle Joe and Auntie Lucy's trailer for supper and visit. Friday we went into Winnipeg and spent a lovely time at the zoo and then after supper hung out at the pool. Rawley got brave enough for the waterslide and then he just loved it. Saturday was an early morning, breakfast and then the sad part, having to say goodbye.

We have our fingers crossed that we will see them again in December for Christmas!

One Month today

we will be heading to Winnipeg to pick up Ryan, Tammy & Rawley for a weeks vacation here! We are so excited that they are coming home. They will be getting into Winnipeg around 8 p.m. we will pick them up, probably grab a bite to eat and then head back to the house for the night. Saturday once we are up and organized we are heading to the trailer for the week. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can do a lot of swimming etc. The kids will be heading into Winnipeg for a day to visit one of Tammy's friends.

It sounds like the campground will more or less be home base for the week and anyone wanting to visit with them can come to the trailer. That way they can just rest and relax and not have to worry about getting to everyone's place.

Risk

Risk continues to do really well and has really fit into our family so well. He just loves the kids and really misses them on the weekends. He gets upset when we are out walking at the campground and we go by a site with kids and we don't go in. Since we have to keep him on a tether at home he doesn't mind it at the campground so that is good. He does still like to perform his escape artist tricks but is getting better and at least now when he does escape he doesn't just run but rather just sniffs around and explores.

He has met a couple of dogs at the campground and has done well with them. One of the regular campers have just gotten a puppy and she and Risk have been playing together. They play a bit rough to suit the puppy's mom, but they really aren't hurting each other, just being puppies. We did have one incident with another dog though, but it was more our fault than the dogs. Friends of ours came out to visit with their 2 dogs and when they let the 1 out she came running into the campsite, barked and her and Risk got into a bit of a fight. I think she really took Risk by surprise and with her just running in he didn't know what he was suppose to do. We are going to try again only next time we will go about it much slower.

Also Risk is going to be going to school. I enrolled him in obedience classes today and they will start in July. They are adult classes and it sounds like it will do him alot of good. I took Bailey to puppy classes and I did learn alot there and have been using some of it on Risk but think some help from an instructor will be good. We are hoping that we can really work on his focus and get him used to paying attention for more than a nano second. Gary is going to come to the classes with me so that we are both on the same page.

Graduate

Crystal & Al at the reception after the ceremony













Crystal graduated from ACC with distinction! She is pretty proud of herself and so she should be. The ceremony was nice, even though it was rather long. Poppa, Nora, Uncle Joe & Aunt Lucy came down for it. After the ceremony we went to the Green Olive for supper and it was good as usual. It was nice visiting with everyone. This is here getting her diploma!

MIA

My goodness it just seems that the weeks are flying by with no time do get anything done. It is harder once camping season gets here because we are not around on the weekends so you have to fit those things into the week days too.

Our weather has not been the greatest at all. We get one nice day and then a week of crappy days. There have been some really wild storms around the last week or so, lots of thunder and lightning, reports of hail in areas and some funnel cloud sightings. We haven't even had the high heat and humidity that usually brings these kind of storms.

Camping has been going good despite the weather. The add-a-room has been wonderful and we have made a lot of use out of it. It is nice to be able to sit in there out of the weather and away from the bugs.

My knitting has been going very slowly to say the least. Seems there is never time to get into it. Having Risk is part of the reason I think. We take him for a good walk after supper and lots of times we are gone about the hour -an hour of good knitting time LOL.

May Long Weekend

This past weekend was our May Long and like usual the weather really wasn't that nice at all. It was chilly and wet pretty much the whole weekend.

Friday night we went and did our cleaning first and then headed to the trailer. It was basically cold and raining so we just got the car unpacked and stayed inside.

Saturday it was rainy off and on and still chilly, but at least you could be out and about when it wasn't raining. We re-organized our shed, moved our fire pit and a few other things that we wanted to get done. We were going to go to the fire but I got wet and cold and just felt chilled through to the bone so we didn't go. I told Gary to go ahead and go and have a couple of drinks with everyone, but he said he wasn't going to.

Sunday was pretty much like Saturday weather-wise. In the afternoon the wind went down and it quit raining long enough to get our add-a-room put up. One of the guys we camp with said he would help Gary with it. They just nicely got it put up, finished their beer and down came the rain. We got to try out our add a room right away. We put our little heater in there and it was nice and toasty! Sunday night we went down to fire for awhile but came home once it started sort of misting out.

Monday was mostly rainy so we pretty much stayed in the add a room and watched tv.

Daycare

Right now daycare spaces are at such a premium. I have never had as long a waiting list as I have now. My phone just rings and rings and parents just sound so disappointed when you say, no I have no spaces sorry.

I had a couple of spaces open up and I got a call from a mother of 2 and she said she wanted the spaces. I told her that she would have to come for a visit, fill out the paperwork and put down a deposit to hold the spaces until her mat leave was over. She didn't come over and I didn't hear from her, so I call her back and she thinks they want the spaces. I told her that with spaces at such a premium I could not hold them for her if she only thought she was taking them. She said, I will take them then. Again I tell her that she needs to come over for a visit, fill out the paperwork and leave her deposit to hold the spaces. Hear nothing from her again. Today I phone her back asking when she was going to be coming over and she is humming and hawing and saying how she is so busy and maybe by the end of June....... I told her that I had a mom who had a little one that wanted in and she was prepared to come and visit right away, fill out the paperwork and leave the deposit so I was going to be calling her telling her she had the spot. The mom then just said, oh okay I will still take the other spot. She isn't sure which child she wants to leave here and still doesn't know when she can come for a visit. With my waiting list the way it is I don't think that there will be a spot waiting for her when she finally makes up her mind, if she ever makes up her mind.

Our weekend

Friday night we went and did the cleaning at Ackland's so that we wouldn't have to do it when we got back on Sunday night.

Saturday we went and worked our shift at the M&M Meats Crohn's and Colitis Charity BBQ. We were on the first shift so it was setting up etc. We sure weren't busy as far as selling burgers or hot dogs so I hope it picked up for them later on. Once our shift was over we came home, finished packing up the car, got Risk and headed to the trailer. It was busier than I expected it to be and some of the ole regulars were there. It was good to see them and get caught up with them. We did a fair bit of work around our lot, cutting back some of the growth that creeps in every year, raked up leaves, cut grass, organized the trailer, organized the shed, and put up the lights. Our lot looked much better once we were done.

Sunday we finished up what we wanted to do around the lot and then just relaxed. Dad came out in the afternoon for a couple of hours as well. We had supper at the trailer and then came home. I was so glad we didn't have to go and clean.

Risk did really well at the campground. It isn't busy yet and there weren't many other dogs around though. We have to keep in on a tether out there, that or on his leash. He is good for the exercise though because we take him for a walk minimum twice a day.

Another Risk Update

Tomorrow we will of had Risk for a month. It really does seem hard to remember what it was like before he came to our house. He still thinks that he would like to escape from the yard and I am thinking it just may be they way he always will be. So, if we can't be paying close attention to him we have had to start keeping him on a tether. He doesn't seem to mind it so that is good, especially since he will need to be tied up at the trailer.

I know I have mentioned about how he has aggression towards other dogs, and it is seeming that it is more so when he is on his leash. The other day he squeezed out the tiniest space in our fence and away he went, down 3 doors to see if the golden labs were around I guess. Well the golden labs were around, and it just so happened they were in their backyard and their gate was open. The one lab barked at him and Risk just ran up and started sniffing him. I was shocked! But he got along really well with them until I picked him up and then he started barking.

Today one of my daycare dad's brought his dog over at pick up time. I had told him about how he just goes wild trying to get at other dogs. Anyways the dad just openned the backgate and let his dog in and Risk and her got along fine. They ran and ran around the backyard. Risk was barking at Sparky, but it wasn't that I am going to get you and eat you aggressive bark, but more like the, I am having fun, I have a new friend bark LOL!!!! I am so happy to know that his goal isn't to tear dogs apart and that we can trust him around other dogs! One day we might even get brave enough to take him to the dog park. Actually I would like to do that as soon as his recall improves.