JULY - WOW! What busy and exhausting month for all of us here! I could repeat that over and over!
A MONTH OF RAIN - Despite the rain, either light, or severe downpour we all made the most of it during July as can be seen by Bella and Kiedis above. The rain hindered a lot of our projects, made it hard to mow the lawn or jump on the trampoline but we were pleased at least that the rain would come, leave and bring a rainbow and then a nice hot day to follow. 
RINGETTE CAMP - July for us started with the girls in a week of Ringette camp. Last year they were in Ringette Review camp, but this year Ringette Review and Ringette Retreat both ran by former ringette players (Jody Black and Lisa Brown) combined turning the camp into the National Ringette School. Many of the coaches either played ringette with my sister Erin or were coached by my dad Jeff or he coached with them. Needless to say it was a reunion of sorts. Jason even knew the one coach as he played hockey in Okotoks with her brother. The girls had a fabulous time as expected. Robyn had 3 hours of ice a day, along with a nutritional class, general class that taught skills, gym, and so much more with an hour of swimming on the Friday! Being a goalie she had tons of one on one lessons and learned so much soaking up the goalie knowledge. Kayla had 2 hours a day of ice plus an hour of swimming each day, class, gym and much more. As they were in camp with friends from past ringette years they are already looking forward to the ringette season starting.
FAIRMONT - As the week of ringette came to an end Papa (Jeff) picked the girls up from ringette on the Friday and they were off to Fairmont for a week. As for Jay and I, we were getting ready to build our new fence. The girls enjoyed a fabulous week with better weather out there than we had in Calgary. As for us the weather sure delayed the fence from going up quickly. Grandma, Papa, Auntie Erin, Uncle Devon, Lily, Marilyn, Frank, Jodi, Trent, Kord, Reid & Bryn were all out there. The girls had a wonderful visit with their cousins and had so many stories to tell about everything they did and where they went. I wished Jay and I could have gone too however the week they were in Fairmont was my week to be in the hospital for my yearly testing and I was not feeling well.
KANANASKIS - So the girls returned for a very short couple days. On the Saturday we went to Kananaskis to visit Nana & Papa. We were showered with wonderfully hot weather, gained a little color, ate very well and enjoyed hiking, the streams and wildlife. Yuppers, in Kananaskis there's always wildlife and we got to see not one but two coyotes up close. Well Kayla and I did anyways. It was pretty neat and I'm happy it wasn't a bear! The dogs love the outdoors and with all of us really loving and missing camping it just reaffirmed the fact we NEED/MUST get a tent trailer asap!! The girls are growing up so fast and before we know it they won't want to camp with their parents.
MEDICINE HAT - and along came Sunday, 2 short days with our girls and we were off to Medicine Hat, down one day and back the same day to drop the girls off for a week with their cousins. It's been a yearly thing for the past couple years and the girls always enjoy Medicine Hat, all the family there and activities. I was sure missing them at this point. They were able to hear and see all the wedding planning for Stevie's wedding next summer, and went swimming and shopping and saw Eclipse. I did too...hehe. Chelsi and I went for a ladies night and gawked at the guys in the movie. Grandma and Papa Lennard drove down the following weekend for Great Aunt Jean's 75th birthday and at the same time picked up the girls and brought them home. 
AUNTIE ERIN'S BIRTHDAY - Age is just a number but with Erin turning one year older it was my turn to joke she was one year closer to my age...to which she quickly replied, "You'll still be 30 before me". Haha she has a point. It was a lovely evening spent with the family. We had pizza, and DQ cake, sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed the lovely wine Devon made. Mmmm. As each year comes and goes so quickly it's most noticable in the kids, they are all growing up so quickly, especially our little Lily who has all these new teeth and words and is so funny with a really great personality. I would have posted a pic of Erin but alas we got the "Do NOT post those pictures of me...Thank You". So we posted Erin's younger version...and Lily sure is cute as pie and 'SO BIG'.
I couldn't believe it...July was almost over, we'd built a fence, worked relentlessly on the yard through the brutal rain in July and although we hadn't, the girls had packed so much into the month it had disappeared! Summer here...Summer gone is how I'm feeling...or perhaps summer is just starting as I was right back to laundry, packing and getting the family ready for our adventure to Vancouver Island leaving July 29th! With everything packed and ready to go the plan is...to do the long haul drive to Vancouver in one day, leaving on the 29th, staying over night in Vancouver before catching the Ferry bright and early Friday morning...BC Bound here we come...
STAY TUNED ~ More Adventures to come as we post about August! It's sure to be packed and just as busy as July as we share our BC adventures...Birthdays...Concerts and Sooooo much more!
