August.....phew!

I apologize! It's been over a month since I've Blogged but due to the events of this month I'm hoping that you'll forgive me! I'm actually going to start out in late July so bear with me.

It is with mixed emotions that I say goodbye to a good friend. We traded in my Car for a new to us Van. My feelings are mixed because I really did like driving my car but I really like the flexibility of the Van. My kids are actually able to each have a friend in the car now!!! The van is a year older than my car but only had 40,000 miles on it which is much less than my car.As many of you know my Dad had been pretty sick over the last year and a half or so. He had been in and out of the hospital many times over this period. This last time he entered the hospital on May 4 and the kids and I were able to get up to visit him about once a week. This picture was taken on July 11th and I like it because my Dad was having a good day and everyone is happy.

Less than a month later, on August 5th, my Dad lost his battle to Diabetes. This is the picture that I used in his Obituary and it was taken on February 15 of this year while my brother was here from Iraq visiting. He was very happy to have been able to see my brother.

Although I am sad that he is gone, I am comforted in the fact that he is at peace and no longer in pain. He had had a few amputations just before he died and battled many infections.

RIP Dad

Now for happier times. The day after my Dad's service we headed up North to Kamloops. A celebration for my Mother and Father-in-law's 50th Wedding Anniversary had been planned long before.

My sister-in-law, Pat, made a trail of rose petals down her stairs leading to.......

The honeymoon suite!!! (or better known as the love shack!!)

Pat and the kids also made some signs for them!Here's the happy couple!!! Gord's Mom and Dad.
We ate so much food that day!! Here's just a sampling of the appetizers!
And the day was not without excitement! Emily had been sitting on my lap and I had shooed her along when her hand hit Auntie Pat's red wine and sent it flying all over this gal's WHITE pants. She was a really great sport and Pat had another pair of white pants for her to wear and she had this pair washed and dried with no stains before she left!!The next week was Fair week! My kids love riding the rides! This was the first year that we actually let them wander a little bit on their own (with mom and dad checking in frequently!)
I think that my kids' favorite ride is the glider! It was getting dark so it was hard to get non-blurry pictures!
I like this one because the lights are starting to sparkle in the dark!I love this one because it shows the motion!!!
Next up was the Typhoon! Here's the kids standing in line waiting.
The Typhoon goes all the way around but both kids braved it and ended up having a good time!Next was the Tornado!I got a couple of cool pics of the Ferris Wheel.
On August 19th, Emily and her friends decided to have a Lemonade stand. I was really impressed when they decided to donate their earnings to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Janet's sister works for a bank so she took the proceeds in and had a check made out to the charity and sent it off!!

My Aunt Deb and Uncle Rick (my Dad's brother and sister) helped me out tremendously in the days following my Dad's death and we had a family get together a couple of weekends ago. I like this picture of my Aunt because you can see all of the happenings in her glasses!

My Uncle Rick has a very nice home and has entertained us a couple of times this summer. He has an in ground pool and the kids love coming for a swim!

Finally, this past weekend, my friend Monica invited us to see a movie in an outdoor theatre in White Rock. There were tons of people there and many more behind us in this picture. People just bring their lawn chairs and they block of a city street and play movies during the summer. We saw Mama Mia this time and we had fun singing to the music.

Here's to September!! The kids start school tomorrow and I'm sure that I'll be back soon with some first day of school pictures!