canoe outing

I was anxious to get out onto the lake or in a lake or a pool, whatever I could find first, so I was able to convince Mike to let us take the canoe out.  Ivan has been desperate to fish all summer, so he came along and Arwen didn't want to miss out either.  We canoed to a beach, but by the time we got there (we were doing a slow paddle over) the sun was nearly down.  So Mike SOS called his wife (my cousin Sheena) who came and rescued us so that we weren't paddling back home in the dark!

While we waited for Sheena to find us, the kids paddled a little.

Mike was holding on to them with a long cord, which at first I thought was for safety- however, the fact that Mike was holding it may not have been the safest of choices!!  They kept rowing out and he would yank on the cord, which sent them flying a bit and laughing a lot.  It was pretty fun.  I'm dreaming of a kayak so I can get out there as needed without finding others to help navigate.

Emora got to have one of her best friends over- Nick.  She likes to tell the big kids that Nick is her boyfriend because it sends them into hysterics as they tell her she is not old enough for a boyfriend and then she laughs and laughs at them. 

Dominique is loving her dance class and Ivan is taking guitar lessons with a teacher that Brian really likes out in Lemberg (about a 30 min. drive).  It's nice for the guys to get to have some time together.  They are going to Ivan's first concert this weekend too- apart from the one we went to last night- done by his guitar teacher.

One of my goals this week is to get out and take some pics of the trees and hills, to hike up a trail and take in all the colors.  One of my absolute favorite things here is to see the hills transform- they are wonderful.  They are the same shapes, to the point where I recognize the horizon at the nearest beach, and yet, depending on the light, the time of day, the time of year, if there is fog or not, the geese, the clouds, frost or not, they are constantly changing in appearance- like they are speaking or alive.  I'm so glad we can see a little patch from our front window.  At times, we can spot some horses out there too.

My other absolute favorite things here are to swim in the summer.  I wish I could summon up the courage to swim in spring and fall, but I'm a bit terrified of being cold.  The other day when we canoed though, I put my foot in and it was quite warm!  And I love seeing live wild animals here.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does in quite makes my day.

We pulled up our garden after it had gotten a touch of frost (oops).  There are a few carrots out there yet.  We heard that a frost will actually make them sweeter.  It felt amazing to be out in the crunchy leaves harvesting buckets and buckets of awesome smelling and wonderful tasting tomatoes.  I know I'll appreciate them all over again as I pull them out through the winter.  I need to write down things we will do the same or different for next year's garden.  We are such newbies, but we still got lots of produce and even some okra!  Our ode to Big Buddy.  I fried it up and thought of how we used to fry up catfish too.  I think if we'd had friend catfish that night, it would have made me cry.  It was so weird how the taste and smell of even the okra made us remember Texas, our lives and friends there.  Treasures to keep in our hearts always.