While we were in Idaho, we came across a "Bumblebee" bike that was the right size for Mason. We had seen this one advertised back home, but it was never in stock, it was also priced for about half the cost!! So, in the presence of our soon to be 4 year old, we purchased the bike. And with no where to stash it, it was no surprise to him that it was for his birthday. So, just to make it official and to satisfy my need to throw birthday parties, I planned an "un-birthday" for him so that we could actually give him his present. We also wanted to give it to him a bit early so that we could squeeze as much ride time as we could before the fall and winter came along. I prepared his favourite: homemade (aka "real macaroni") and we had fresh, homemade blueberry pie instead of cake.

I think he likes it...
It's funny...he had seen this bike before, even had a try riding it in the store, but we kept in "hidden" for about a week and I guess the time apart was enough to make it seem almost like he was actually surprised! haha

Slade's Uncle and Aunt, George and Lucy Bates, celebrated their 50th anniversary this year in Trail, BC! We made a last minute decision and decided to attend the festivities! Unfortunately I forgot my camera at the hotel and so I don't have any pictures from the event. It was nicely decorated and had a really great program with lots of singing from the family! What a talented family!!! I was amazed and had a good time hanging with Slade's extended family and getting to know them better. We only get to see them once every 3 years, so things change a lot from then until now. They had a dance afterwards and Summer was in her glory!! That girl has got some moves! I wish so badly I had my camera there to take some pics and video. She was hilarious and had the best time of her life up to that point I'm sure!! She particularly like the old school songs from the 50's! After the reunion we headed down to Couer d'Alene, ID. We had been to an amusement park there called Silverwood and Boulder Park years ago when Ronan was only 6 months old, so we wanted to go back and check it out again. It is an amusement park mixed in with water slides! Your entry gets you into both parks. We started out at Silverwood and got right into the rides. Ronan and I went on this ride first. It was fun and Ronan got a real kick out of it!

The boys REALLY liked this ride. They went on it a few times, especially once it got later and the crowds started to thin out.

I, being a mean mother, forced the boys onto this rapid raft ride. teehee! It is by far one of the most calm raft rides I've ever been on. They plugged their ears the whole way down!


We got soaked, so we decided to hit up the water slides and let our clothes dry out in the sun for awhile. I had fun, but I don't think the boys were too impressed!

Coming into the home stretch of the summer, you start to run out of ideas for things to do. We'd been to the lake LOTS, parks, spray parks, swimming pools, play dates, shopping...we were running out of ideas and the kids were starting to feel bored with the mundane. So Irene phoned up one morning with the great idea to go check out the Dinosaur Exhibit at Metrotown! So after some planning, packing and getting ready to go we met up and headed out to Surrey to catch the sky train. We could have just drove, but we thought this would add to the fun. Just as we arrived at the Scott Road Train Station, Summer puked all over herself. This was confirmation that my little baby gets car sick!!!! Sucky!! So after I cleaned her and her seat up as much as possible, we got our tickets and headed off.

Summer slept through the whole thing except for the sky train ride!

We are spoiled during the summer because Slade gets all kinds of free tickets from Avenue Machinery to events throughout the summer/year. So, as usual, we had some tickets to go to the air show! We met up with the Leavitt's and had some fun.

Slade had the opportunity to play baseball with the fire department in the World Police and Fire Games! The team was organized and started practise in March. It was pretty exciting for him and I was happy to see him tapping into something that he has loved and missed. Slade played baseball all through his childhood and youth. He got to play first base with his team and did a really great job! I went out to watch 3 of his 7 games, the first one in Surrey and the next two in Burnaby. It was lots of fun, and I was thankful for the good weather! Glad it wasn't raining and glad it wasn't 45 degrees out! I love watching sports, but I really miss playing sports as well. It was fun to watch Slade and his buddies pull it together. They went up against the team from Montreal that won the gold medal in last years WPFG!! So yeah...they got beat pretty bad for their first game. Their final game would determine who would go on to play for the bronze medal! They were so close and only lost by one run! It was a good game, an exciting experience and he had fun playing anyways. :) Here are some shots of the action: