Austin Thresherman's Reunion

This even is what puts Austin on the map, it's kind of like putting Burnaby Village Museum and Agri-Fair all into one place for one weekend. Anyway, there's a big tractor parade, which is a big deal because they have real steam engine tractors running for this. A rodeo in the evenings. There was a stooking competition (making towers of the swaths of grain, apparently it's a really itchy job), and lots of old stuff to see, including the first "snowmobile." There are also historic building through out the site, from a school house to various homes and a couple of churches, a blacksmith and a flour mill. Pretty cool, and now I've finally been. Obviously, this is something Michael grew up with, so it was good to have a window into his experiences.

On Sunday there was a mud bog competition, so we went to that as well.

a real time post!

Hi there! For those of you who haven't figured out, I back date my posts. I don't always have the time or the patience to post right away, especially when it involves photos, so I create the post title and insert the correct date in order to come back to it later. This makes it kind of annoying for you guys, because you might end up missing something. So, I'm going to tell you about a marvelous thing called Google Reader (for those of you who know, just skip the next paragraph). This is a lovely tool where you create a list of all the blogs (and other interesting sites that have updates) you like to read and then you sign into Google Reader and it shows you every new thing on all of the blogs, rather than you having to check each one individually and wonder about missing something. This is particularly useful when you read our blog, because I like to cheat and back date entries, making it easy for you to miss something that I supposedly posted three months ago, even though I did it today. So, I'm determined to catch up on old posts. I know I have said this before, and this time might not be that much better, but I'll give it a shot. I've also been really struggling to stick with my Bible reading plan, let alone journalling, and I know how important these things are to my overall well being because I really feel a bit psychotic these days. I've decided that for every morning when I do those two things, I will allow myself to do a blog entry (maybe that sounds weird, but I am hoping that it motivates me to do both). So, happy reading, and be aware that I'm catching up on old posts!

girls only weekend / Cate & Angela spend the weekend

Two things ended up happening on the same weekend. I had a chance to go a cabin for some girls only fun with friends from university and Angela & Cate wanted to come for a sleepover. So, I hung out with the girls:

The cabin was on the same body of water as Grand Beach, so I was really hoping to enjoy some sand and sun this time, as opposed to last time. Friday night we did take a walk along the beach, it was pretty, but too cool to go in the water. Saturday it was really windy and ended up being stormy. The power went out and trees fell down. Sunday morning it was beautiful and sunny, but the wind had pushed the water in so far that the beach was completely under water, no sand in sight! Hopefully third time's a charm, and I'll actually get to sink my feet into the wonderful white sand at Grand Beach!

Meanwhile, Michael got to have a sleepover with Angela & Cate:

my birthday!

Well, turning 27 felt a little weird. It seems so much closer to 30 and that is just too weird to even think about! On my birthday we got invited to some friend's campsite at Grand Beach for the day. So we went with our friends Nathan & Malann, and their baby Sofia. I was really excited about this, since I've wanted to go to Grand Beach since I first came to Manitoba, but never had the chance. Finally, after spending four years out here, I get to go.

We arrived just in time to eat lunch, in the blistering heat. Then we headed down to the beach. While I was in the change room getting suited up, a thunder storm let loose. We had a full out hail and lightening, huge drops of rain, storm. It lasted about half an hour and then everything cleared up. So, needless to say, my swimsuit got wet, but not from the lake water! I had a great day despite the crazy weather, especially since I happen to love storms. Sorry, I guess we didn't take pictures of all this.

After we got home and cleaned up, we went to Nathan & Malann's for some appetizers, and I do have pictures of that:

lifegroup BBQ

I'm feeling pretty wordless these days. We did so much stuff this summer, that catching up on blog posts feels like an insurmountable task. So, as a result, you are getting pictures stories of some of these events. We had a BBQ with our life group, it was an absolutely beautiful evening, mosquito free with a slight breeze, and two birthday's to celebrate. Awesome!

Cate is 1 Year Old!

The week of Cate's first birthday Michael and I went over to have supper at John & Angela's place. We had a great time.

I managed to get Cate's birthday present finished (this is quite an accomplishment for a knitter). So, after her bath she modeled it for me:

Pretty cute, eh? It's super easy to make, and I used dishcloth cotton so it was inexpensive to make and can handle a lot of washing. This is a good thing since it's being worn by a one year old and will last two seasons if we're lucky!

clean sheets are VERY important to me

I hope the title didn't gross you out too much! In our house there is a constant debate about using a flat sheet (I've resorted to buttoning it onto our duvet since I can't convince Michael it's a good thing). While I'm not a big fan, I'm an advocate, now that I'm the one responsible for washing sheets & bedding. In the summertime, since we just have a thin blanket without a duvet cover, I give up on using a flat sheet altogether. I also have a husband who, when he does sports, does it with great intensity. Resulting in various scrapes on his legs. This summer he's been playing flag football. He slid on the grass, scraping both shins/knees. I told him he had to either wear pajama pants or use a flat sheet (since I did not want his oozing wounds touching my clean sheets & blankets). He refused to do either and devised an alternate plan. I thought it was so hilarious what the guy will do to avoid the flat sheet (or the pj pants for that matter), that I took pictures. Here they are! Want to know what that is? It's a dishcloth, taped to my husband's leg with medical tape.

Just imagine, he'd rather rip tape of the back of his hairy legs, than use a flat sheet!

Apparently, some where around 3am, he was so uncomfortable, he got up and took it all off and opted for the pj pants!

Frisbee Golf

For our friend Corey's 30th birthday the guys took him out to try frisbee golf. Michael thinks he wants to take me sometime, but I'm not so sure. I don't have the greatest aim, and even the guys had to chase after frisbees in the creek!

The birthday boy in action. And here's some more shots from the day, including the BBQ we had after.

Janet comes to visit!

Well, for the first time ever, since living in Manitoba, I had a non-family visitor! This was quite exciting. I finally got to do something I've wanted to do for quite a while. Just walk around downtown & in Osborne Village. I've yet to convince Michael to do this with me, besides I think it's more interesting during the day when the shops are open. So, Janet and I spent the whole day walking. Here's a few pictures of hanging out with Janet!

Motor Cross at Shadow Valley Raceway

Michael's friend Duane has family connections to the people who own this track. Michael has often gone to help out, this year we went together. It was a lot of fun, we got in for free and had to do some work, but also got to watch all the racing.

Well, here's a shot of the girls hanging out up on the scissor lift to get a good view of the races. Me, Arlene, Wendy and Londa. This was during one of our breaks from running the concession stand.

Watering the track, to keep it from getting really dusty when the riders are on it.

For part of the day, Michael manned the gate, and he had to blow all the dirt off the cement pad before every race started. I think he really enjoyed this part, since it makes pretty awesome noise and send a lot of dirt flying.

A cool shot of tires and color.

At the end of the weekend, Michael and I got to ride the track, to see what it was like. Pretty cool, but there was some DEEP ruts (read: I got stuck once)!

And this is a cool shot of me, with my wheels off the ground! (I just wish my jacket wasn't all poofed up with air, oh well.)