Bountiful Acres

 Summer is coming to an end far too quickly! For now we will enjoy the bounties of the garden and the giant sunflowers as we prepare for back to school! I am so grateful for all of the things this acreage gives us. It is such a gift.

Oh these brothers are just the cutest!

Best Buds!

 

In the Summer Sun

Today was spent mostly outside enjoying the Summer sun. We had a lovely afternoon at the beach with cousins. The littles enjoyed wading through the water and digging in the sand and the big boys got right into sandcastle building with Uncle Arland. They ended up creating quite the masterpiece!

The late afternoon was spent checking out the garden and admiring the height of the sunflowers in my little patch. I planted a few different varieties this year. Some grow super tall, some get really big faces, and others are an evening variety of oranges and blacks. All of them make me so happy.

The new house is really starting to come along nicely with the windows finally in! It's been so fun to watch it take shape and change each day. I can't wait to make memories in this space and fill it with laughter and joy!

When the littles were in bed, Camilla and I ended up having a girls night. We topped and tailed over 20lbs worth of beans while watching a movie. I finished the day with Sonny cuddles while lightning flashed in the distance. 

 

Lake Magog and Wonder Pass

 Today we woke early, enjoyed the sunrise while we aired our tents, and took a short jaunt to Lake Magog to enjoy the eating shelter, outhouses and views. 

After our extra long day hiking yesterday, our feet were sore and we were slow moving. Despite the lack of sleep, the children were happy! 

We hit the trail with full tummies and stopped to enjoy Lake Magog and the view of Mount Assiniboine. It was crazy to think how far away we were just a few days earlier.

Joe was fascinated with the jumping fish, and Camilla caught a Toad! I think we named him Oggy.

This pointy mountain is Mount Assiniboine, the one that can be seen off in the distance on day one and two.

After the kids had had their fill of skipping rocks and watching fish jump, we wound our way around the lake and headed on to Wonder Pass.

We followed the trail through some valleys, over some streams and up through Wonder Pass.

We took a nice long rest and snack break at the top of the pass and enjoyed the panoramic view of the mountains. 

Afterwards we carried on through the pass and took another break to admire the view or Marvel Lake. The water looked incredible and pictures don't really do it justice.

Our feet were sore and I still had shin splints from our earlier descents, so I wasn't really looking forward to the climb down. We walked the switchbacks slowly, scaled some ridges, and wished for shad as we followed the edge of the lake to our final campground.

Every tall tree became a place for a quick break from the sun and our water was running low due to dried up streams. It made for a difficult last push for us in the rear. Mr. Stannix had taken the three older kids and trucked on ahead, so my parents, Fin and I were left at our own pace. Fin's feet were moving pretty slow at this point, so I had to walk ahead of him and set a pace for him to keep. 

With a lot of breaks, we eventually made it to Bryant Creek where we would spend our final night camping. Mr. Stannix and the older children were desperately waiting for us as we had the water filter. We all sat by the waters edge, filled our bottles, and then hobbled a bit further into the woods to our booked campsite to set up and cook some dinner. 

We were all thoroughly exhausted (some of us slightly dehydrated) and looking forward to being able to sleep in our own beds the next day!