The Summer That Was...

Hello everyone, I'm still here!  I blame the crazy heat we had all summer.  You should see my email account.  I feel like I haven't really accomplished anything.  It has just been so crazy hot and dry.  I'm not sure if we are technically as dry as 2012 but places look dryer than during the drought.

Belinda and Stefan took us to Canada's Wonderland.  My goodness, it rained so much when we first arrived.  The rides got shut down and we hunkered down trying not to get too soaked.

The rained stopped and the rides started again.  Ella and Auntie B did a couple of the really big roller coasters.  Ella discovered she's not the wild ride person she thought she was, 'The Bat' scared her a lot.  We got her to go on a couple of the smaller 'coasters (get back on the horse).  Luckily, it stayed fairly cloudy all day because it was stinking hot even with the clouds.  The rain showers helped keep a lot of the crowds away.  Most rides only had a few minutes wait, if any.

My kind of ride!  This carousel is nearly 100 years old.  I think the sign said it was made in 1927.  It was great to get back to the house and soak in the pool.

Remember how our best friends moved far, far, away to Englehart?  Well, we went up for a weekend visit.  WOW!  That was a drive and a half.  Google lied and we got stuck in some construction.  It was close to 5.5 hours!!  We stopped for lunch in Temagami.  The food where we stopped wasn't worth mentioning, but check out the old train station (and yes, occasionally, my girl will hold my hand in public :) )

The train station IS worth the stop.  They did an amazing job on the restoration.

We had such a good visit.  Ella enjoyed having a bit more freedom.  Englehart is very small and feels very safe.  Also, Ella having the kids along makes me feel safer to let her go to the park 'alone'.  Englehart has a really nice community pool.  It was warm enough to take the kids for a swim a couple of times.  It was so good visiting with Amanda (and the kids).  One day we took the kids to 'town', aka New Liskeard.  That left Colin to entertain himself.  He checked out the grain elevator where Amanda's fellow works -farmer talk.  Then he spent the rest of the day touring.  He's fairly certain he ended up in Quebec a couple of times.

Colin found this cute little church in Belle Vallee.  It's got this cool line that runs around the whole building.  He's not sure how the statue of the Blessed Mother doesn't get wiped out by the snow plow.

Colin didn't have to travel far to find this!  It's right in Englehart, close to the house.  This train has a great history and was really cool.  While he was reading the plaques, Colin could hear voices behind the train and thought maybe it was some "old train guys".  He went around hoping to hear some old stories.  In reality it was some new 'white hats' talking over this mess:

Two modern trains that derailed and were waiting for the crane to arrive.  Colin had a good talk with the guys too.

We came home on a Sunday, so the drive was quicker (no construction delays).  I can't wait to go back again.  It's really nice up there and we miss our friends.  A return trip will have to be soon though, because they get early and long winters up there.

Colin has been busy the last week or so.  He's been working on putting in some tile drainage over at Dad's.  He's got a couple of wet spots over there that we often have to leave bare.  Instead of using the tiny little 'back hoe' that attaches to our little tractor, he was able to borrow a bigger, proper backhoe from his step-brother.

One day after our field lunch, Daddy gave Ella a crash course on running a backhoe.  Ella did such an excellent job!  She was a natural.  Must be all her video gaming.  If you want to see her in action, check out the video here.

Three-ish feet down and no sign of moisture and no worms.  They must be really deep.

And of course, it wouldn't be a September post without our back to school picture.  It took some persistence to get a good one.  Some days I get tired of 'moody teenager'.  But most of the time she's my adorable girl and I wouldn't trade her for the world.