This is the Life!

Today was a beautiful day! We woke up bright and early. Actually, those teen hoodlums woke up at 4:00 am - that is how sunny it was. So by 5:00 am they were out of the tent and out boating til they were called for breakfast at 7:30.

Given our tribe of children live on oatmeal or toast 7 days a week, they were very happy to be greeted by bacon and eggs this morning!


They don't know it but they will only have oatmeal once this week *smile*. Every other day I have something different planned.

The nice thing about not being at home is I don't feel compelled to spring/summer clean closets, plan school curriculum or clean the floor *again*! Here I can bead Raine's hair, so that she doesn't have to sit out in the hot sun with a cap of curls! We sat outside and beaded her hair, while enjoying the hot sun rays. At first it was hard for her to decide if she wanted her hair beaded - something she loves - because she was deliberating if she wanted to give up her playtime to sit for two hours. When I told her it would mean no hair combing for a week, which means no tangles, she jumped at the sitting time.

The boys spent the day in the water.


Cooper is getting very good at working the little dingy by himself, and the older boys spent their day in the kayak. At one point, as I was going for a walk, I saw the older boys in the kayak. They looked innocent enough...

Until a few moments later, when they got closer to the little boys. They were not friendly boys; they were fully armed pirates! They came fully loaded with two water guns and plenty of ammo *smile* each!


The little boys had no hope of getting away. Austin took it like a man, but Cooper got a little upset at the rocking of the boat and asked the captain of his boat to hurry him to shore, as he was getting seasick!



By the end of the day, they realized how much sun one can get by being out on the water! Ooops!! Dane was not pleased and Cassidy was in minor pain. Now we know that legs need to be coated with sunscreen as well as the arms, back and face!

At lunchtime, I had Dane run inside and make us some jam buns - a simple lunch, since most of the meals will be gourmet camping. He pretended the door was a takeout window and the kids quickly obliged him by getting in on the act.


Raine adores Briton. He reminds her of Yoseph, her little brother, in Ethiopia. He is cute and busy and mischievious. Here is a picture I took when I asked Raine what Briton was doing with her pudding. She told me that he was stirring it up for her. I can guarantee that none of my boys or Savannah would have put up with Briton 'helping' them like that! *smile*

And here was the end result when I walked back by them about 15 minutes later. She was giving him just 'baby bit', as he calls a 'little bit'. I don't know if I have met a sweeter child. I love my boys to bits, and they are sweet and charming and loving, but Raine has a blessing in her that causes her to be so incredibly kind and goodhearted. We are very thankful she is part of our family!


Briton has really enjoyed the bonus toys and ride on cars that are at this site.


And to make it even better, we are the first and only people at the site right now! I think we will end up making this a June tradition. While other poor children are still chained to school desks, we have the privilege of coming out camping and learning all about culinary arts on a campstove, fishing, water survival, boating skills, and outdoors activities. That is the bonus of homeschooling - our children can finish their curriculum as quickly or slowly as they see fit! One boy had completed his year in April and was very happy to burn the outer skins of his workbooks! *smile*

But of course, the learning and reading continues. In my house children read. On our holiday everyone was required to bring a book or three. As it turned out we had to send an SOS to Daddy to bring more books, as some children have read half a book in their afternoon quiet reading time.

Speaking of that time, that is when I get my blogging in. The boys all curl up with a book and the four little ones snuggle up in their beds for a nap. The schedules are all out the window. The girls are up til the boys fall asleep, and then we older ones are up for another couple hours. The children are learning to fall asleep to the sounds of people a few feet away. It certainly is a different way of life! But I *love* it!


When I was a teenager I began travelling with a backpack. I headed to Savary Island, then Hawaii, then onto Banff for six months, and then to travel all over Europe, back to Banff, and then finally down to Mexico and California. I had full intentions on continuing travelling, but I met my husband *smile*.

My travel bug quieted down after Ray and I did a couple trips. Our honeymoon was to Fiji. One trip was to Europe with a seven month old baby boy, Colt. Speaking of that - he cut his first tooth in Paris. *smile* And then we took both Colt and Dane to Mexico and California on a cruise. We intended to continue travelling, but our budgeting was not yet in a good place, and so the money wasn't there. The travelling died out, and my passion for it settled quietly down.

It wasn't until a few years ago, that I took my first Rambling Road Trip that I realized that the desire for adventure and travel had not disappeared, it had simply put itself on a shelf until such a time that it was appropriate to reemerge. That three week trip to California and surround states began the yearly trips. The next was our trip around Western Canada and this was followed by a trip to Ethiopia.

Now this year, things have gotten very tight due to the Recession, so the trip I will be taking will be to see adoptive families in the Western Provinces. I will have to keep it very tight, as money is like that right now, but it will still be an adventure!

But something has caught my ear. A fellow MOMYS - Mother of Many Young Siblings (have to have four within eight years to qualify, and I have done that three times! *grin*) told of a wonderful camping trip they took for a year in Europe and North Africa. Well, anyone that knows *me*, knows that is *right* up my alley. Now Ray is another story. So I shall continue my research and my thinking and leave it up to God. If we are meant to go then the doors will open.

In the meantime, one of the first things I needed to do was to perfect some simple 'on the road, out of a backpack, type meals'. So we began with Dane on the second night. He was to make Barbeque Kielbasa. This is a *delicious* dish, that is so fast and simple. It is done in one pan, and then the noodles are cooked in another.

Protecting Himself From the Heat

Here is the recipe, for those that want to compile some simple camping/travelling recipes:

Barbeque Kielbasa

1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
10 italian sausages (I use this instead of real kielbasa, as that is what I had)

2 cups ketchup
1 packed cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (and for those that don't know how to pronounce it: Wuss ter sheer - I come from that area in England)

Hot cooked rice or pasta

1) Cut up the sausage into tiny pieces.

2) Put the onion, olive oil, and sausages into the pan. Saute/cook until the onions are soft adn the sausages are browned.

3) Add the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a slight boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for a few minutes.

4) While doing the above, have the water on for the noodles and cook them up.

NOTE: This recipe is enough for me to feed 10 people. I use about 1 kg (2 lb) of fusilli noodles, but any will do. This is a great way to stretch sausages far!

To see just how far they actually stretch, let me tell you what happened. Dane had cooked the dinner and was bringing the kielbasa to the house. He had just entered the door when the pan slipped and we lost 3/4 of the dinner! ACK!!

Thankfully, I still had all the noodles, so I opened a can of Hunt's Thick and Rich and poured a can of that into a pan with half of the noodles. I then added the remaining Kielbasa to the other half of the noodles and there was dinner. I found the Kielbasa sauce stetches so nicely over the noodles, that even if you only get a few pieces of the sausage (as was the case when we lost so much), the delicious thick sauce coats everything and makes it yummy by itself.

Back to our day:

The kids spent the rest of the day boating, playing sports games on the large lawn, eating, and reading their books. It was a very full and fun day!


Before Raine was allowed in the boat with Cooper, she had to show that she wasn't afraid of the water. So she walked in as far as she felt comfortable, but it was rather rough, so that was as far as she went.

Click on the picture to see Cooper's determination to get the boat off the beach. I think his tongue might be helping him!

Queen Mesai

We discovered her name Raine means Queen in French, and since Ray's family is French, it seems appropriate!

Unfortunately for Raine, she nearly had a mishap. She almost fell out of the boat, as she leaned towards the dock to push them off (a little later). It frightened her and when I told her she had her first adventure, she said, "I had NOT adventure." *grin* She did not want to claim it. She is a little tease!

First Watermelon - Yummy!

They have also been having lots of fun with the water guns. I think Briton had more fun shooting that being shot at. He had to sit on the trailer steps a few times for shrieking when squirted too close to his face.



I think filling the buckets from the lake and pouring it into little containers had more appeal for the little ones.


At the end of the day, Ray showed up with Colt. They had worked that day and had gone home to bring a few forgotten items. I have no clue how people tent!!! I love the convenience of the trailer!

After dinner, some more boating, and a movie for the bigs ones, everyone hit the sack and slept hard. This time two of the older boys chose to sleep in the house. One took the couch and one the floor. In the morning, they claimed it was much better than the tent!

And Daddy went back to work for another day... (with another list of things we forgot: games for the evenings, more blankets, more bugspray, and more books for the boys)
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