Hell Has Frozen Over

Hell has officially froze over and pigs are flying…I started exercising today or as Gatlin says “workin out”. Chad is a workout finatic and has been trying to get me to do it for years. I have always managed to avoid it. Well, Gatlin has now become his Dad’s workout partner. He faithfully goes downstairs and exercises along with Chad in his special workout shoes. He was in tears last night because we were in Portage for the weekend and he hadn’t worked out for three days.  Watching Chad exercise for all of these years has never made me feel guilty but watching Gatlin tie up his workout shoes and exercise for 1/2  hour makes me feel like crap! So today I started…not happily..but I started. The highlight for me was Chad telling me to do twenty reps…I took it as twenty on each arm…he meant twenty all together. Not so happy that I can’t feel my arms now. Then there was the comment that I could do 12 crunches on the bowflex but it was okay if I couldn’t do that many. Being slightly ticked off I had to do 30 and flick him the bird…not so sure I will feel so cocky when I can’t get out of bed tomorrow. So it remains to be seen if Hell will stay frosty, pigs will continue to wing their way over Souris and if I will continue “workin out” with Chad and Gatlin. Well, time for bed…if I can make it up the stairs.

Family Pictures

We decided that it was finally time to try to take some decent family pictures. Usually one of us (ie me or Gatlin) have our eyes closed or one of us (ie Chad) has a silly grin. We took our tripod out and ran. After getting Gatlin to finally button up his shirt and zipping Maddex’s sweater up to hide the stains we were ready. We took the first picutes in Elanor Kidd Park in Brandon. It was hot. I had a heart attack moment when Maddex was sitting on the side of the bridge for her pictures. Chad had to keep telling me to back up out of the shot. Next we tried some pictures with all four of us. It was pretty entertaining watching Chad set the timer and run as fast as he could to get into position for the picture. You can see us laughing in some of the pictures.

Next we were off to Island Park in Portage…more like goose shit park. It was impossible to walk two steps without stepping on a mine of poo!! We did find a great tree for pictures and of course.. Gatlin managed to step in goose poo. The smell in the jeep after was great. We took a break for supper at Papa and Grandma’s and then were off to the old train station. Again it was a great spot for pictures…if you could avoid the pigeon poo! Anyway, we did manage to get some good shoots and I will be able to fill the frames that have been waiting patiently for the last year to be filled.

Officially Campers

We are officially addicted to camping. We have gone out three weekends in a row.  It is amazing how it can make you forget everything else. Five minutes after we get parked, Gatlin is on his bike and looking for friends. We have a hard time dragging him back home to eat. Maddex loves running around and getting dirty. I have to admit that she has probably ate more grass and dirt than a kid should but she is happy.

We convinced Papa and Grandma to bring the boat up to Minnedosa for the weekend. Gatlin really wanted to try to get up skiing. He could make it for about 10 feet but just couldn’t quite get up. So it was back to tubing. Maddex loved the boat ride but wasn’t too sure about the life jacket that was squishing her cheeks! Chad went for a ski at least until he broke the rope. It is still in debate as to whether the rope was old or he has gained a little too much weight!!

We camped in Portage last weekend and I think it was my favorite place yet. We had a great time playing baseball and soccer with Gatlin and his new friends. And I think that Gatlin found his first summer girlfriend. We knew it was serious when he was actually quiet so that she could talk. (Gatlin is never quiet!!) He followed her around all weekend like a puppydog. He even ditched his guy friends to play playdough with her?????? Love makes you do strange things!

Being Gatlin, he has some war wounds from the weekend. He had a few spills doing his bike tricks…a mouth full of dirt acutally kept him quiet for the second time that weekend. He also had a run in with our firepit. Thank God it wasn’t lit. Gatlin and his buddies managed to go through two tubes of glow sticks decroating their bikes. It was actually nice to be able to see where they were all night. It sure brings back all the great memories we have of camping as kids. Can’t wait until our next trip.

Maddex’s First Birthday

Maddex turned 1 on July 22nd. It is crazy that a year has gone by so fast. We had a BBQ for the family to celebrate. I have to admit that I haven’t recovered from everyone teasing me about the cake I made for Gatlin’s 1st birthday…so I made cupcakes for Maddex. Apparently what I thought was a really cute bear cake looked like a snowman!! Maddex had a great time demolishing her cupcakes. She may look like a girlie girl with all her pink decorations but she can shove cake up her nose with the best of them.

Summertime

Wow, I guess that it has been awhile since we posted anything on our blog. It seems that there is always something going on to keep us busy. Gatlin took a week of swimming lessons in the 30 degree heat. It was great for him in the water but Maddex and I suffered on the deck. Some days, we were as wet as he was but ours was sweat!!! Anyway, he passed and is now in Level 4.

We have been doing some visiting over the last few weeks. We stopped in Portage to visit Grandma and Papa and Winnipeg to see Auntie Vicki.  Maddex has discovered kisses and has been happily spreading them around. If you are lucky you get a real kiss or if you are really luck you get a big lick. Vicki’s dog Ripleigh was on the receiving end of a lick on the nose. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about it. She also gets a big kick out of walking around with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. She has the longest tongue I have ever seen. She gives Gene Simmons of KISS a run for his money!!

Wisconsin

We finally bought a camper!!! We have been watching ebay for the last month or so looking for one we liked. We bid on a few but didn’t get them. I have to admit that it took us awhile to figure the whole bidding thing out!!  Anyway, we finally got one that we liked and for a decent price!! The only catch was that we had to go to Wisconsin to pick it up!!!

Auntie Candace graciously offered to take the kids while Chad and I made a rushed trip down there. Thank God we had a friend that had bought campers down there before. He gave us the list of things we needed to do to bring it back. It actually wasn’t that hard. We left on Thursday at noon and drove as far as St. Pau, MN. There is some beautiful country down there…. a Target every 1/2 hour!! We were glad to get to our hotel that night. I think it took us 5 minutes to check in and fall asleep. I am surprised I could sleep after the experience of driving on the interstate through Minneapolis!! I got to dream about driving through that again but this time with a camper!!!  And evil Chad, he wouldn’t let me stop at the mall of America!! I did get him to stop at Target in Grand Forks for 1/2 hour! I was a happy girl.

We got up at six and left for Colby, Wisconsin. The country was really beautiful! We had to spend an hour faxing papers back and forth to get temporary registration on the trailer! That was the hardest part of the trip!! I hate waiting. We started for home at 12:30. The only problem we had was in Minneapolis, when we stopped to grease the hubs.  The brand new grease gun got stuck on a nipple and pulled it out. You should have seen the look on Chad’s face! He just kept saying “I can’t believe this!” ” Carla, I can’t believe this!” It would have been funny if I didn’t actually think we might be screwed! After 45 minutes, 100 swears and Chad just about shooting me with the grease gun, we finally got it out! The rest of the trip was smooth sailing.

 Gatlin loves the camper and made Chad sleep with him in it the first night. It is cleaned and loaded and ready for camping.

Countryfest

Well, we survived an other year at Countryfest…but just barely! We have decided that we may be getting a little too old to keep up with the young kids. We still managed to go through a respectable amount of Bud Light and a few bottles of wine. Chad put on the usual show, flirting with any female from 8 to 80!

The music was great! Blake and I showed our age rockin’ out to Nazareth!! We took Gatlin in one afternoon to watch the dirtbike show. He loved it. Although it might have had something to do with all of the girls in bikinis. He got a bit of an education!! The guys happily took Ripleigh(Vicki & Mike’s dog) and Gatlin for a walk around the campground. Apparently, dogs and kids are good bait for girls!!

We did learn some valuable lessons.. look around for the party tent before you set up camp, if you let your neighbours use your generator they will feed you all weekend, girls will wear bikinis even if it is freezing out, burning couches attract huge crowds, and guys in cowboy hats and depends don’t look good.

Testing The Marriage

Yesterday, Chad and I, once again, decided to test our marriage.  In other words, we tried to build our new gazebo together. Surprisingly, it went fairly well. I think there was only a few ” you should have listened to me, the first time” and only one or two dirty looks. Gatlin was a big help putting the washers on the bolts. Although, it took us awhile to convince him that they were called washers, not dryers!! Once we were done, we tried it out with Asten and Ryan and a few drinks. Gatlin tried very hard to convince Asten that it was called a Cazebo not a Gazebo! He was sure that he was right! Now we are hoping the wind calms down so that we don’t find it over in the neighbours yard!!

Trains

Last week, I was cleaning the windows and was baffled to find Maddex’s footprints on the window. Today, I finally discovered the reason.Trains. Gatlin has been a fan of trains since he was little. Gramma Madill lives beside the tracks in Minnedosa and he would make her lift him up every time a train went by so that he could see it out the window. Well, I guess now that we live beside the tracks he is sharing his love of trains with Maddex.  I have attached a pictures of how I found them today. It explains why I have footprints on my window.

The Biggest Smiles

It is amazing to me how much Maddex loves Gatlin. If she is hurt or upset, all Gatlin has to do is fall down or make a funny face and she is instantly laughing. She is usually smiling but she saves the biggest smiles for Gatlin. And like her brother she has a crazy laugh…which is usually reserved just for him. Today they played hide and seek for almost an hour. I sat and watched the whole time completely entertained. Gatlin would run and hide and then make funny sounds until she found him. I could have watched them all day. They were so happy together. I know that as they grow up they will fight but I can’t help but think(and hope) that they are going to have an very strong bond. I even got to join in the fun and hide from Gatlin with Maddex. It would have been great if she could have stopped laughing. She gave us away everytime.