Welcome to the Kroeker family, Jasper!

So we went and did it - we got ourselves a puppy! We picked him up from Seatac airport on last Thursday (the 11th) and the kids were instantly in love with our new family member! The first few days were an interesting adjustment for sure, he had been trained to go potty on puppy pads at the breeder's, but being in a new environment clearly had him nervous and forgetting his previous training in this area:-/. We have had him now 10 days and yesterday he had no accidents, so we are making progress! He kept seeking out carpet and using that as his puppy pad, so we've had to block off a lot of areas of the house until he is trained. It's been frustrating for sure cleaning up all these accidents, but I do think we are getting there. We just have to follow him around and watch him like a hawk, and we've been rewarding him greatly whenever he does go potty outside or even on his puppy pads, one step at a time! We took him to the groomer this past Friday and she noticed that he had ear infections in both ears, so off to the vet we went. Sure enough he needed an ear wash and some ear drops, hopefully that clears it up. I didn't know to keep such a close eye on his ears so I will be more vigilant in the future! He's a great dog that doesn't bark and only seems to whimper or whine when he's left alone . . . poor guy, needs people around all the time. I hope he will get used to being alone and tolerate it a bit better soon. Last Sunday, we left him alone in his pen when we went to church, and he was so upset he figured out how to climb over the 30 inch walls of the pen! I went out and bought him a crate that same day, can't be having him wander around the house on his own when we're not home! Lynsey just left for the day to go to a birthday party and Great Wolf Lodge and he's been a bit whiney since, I hope that the more he experiences some disappointment like that the more he will learn to cope with it. He doesn't have such a hard life, we are home a lot and he gets a lot of attention!

Besides the puppy did anything else happen in the last week and a half?? I can hardly remember lol! Oh yes, I did have my 40th birthday a week ago:-). Lynsey and Adam had their equestrian camp at Farrell McWhirter this past week and it went really well for both of them! Adam has come so far since last year, it's amazing. Nathan did his first week of swimming lessons this past week and he's making good progress as well. It was definitely a hectic week balancing these camps and the puppy, but we made it work! Brian and I went to a Chicago concert at Chateau St. Michelle this past Friday and had a great time! I love these outdoor concerts, such a fun atmosphere. 

We are finally getting some good weather this weekend and going into next week, hurray! We are going camping on Friday which will be fun for the kids, hopefully for me, too! Camping is so much work, but it's worth it. I just need to go through our camping gear this week and make sure we've got everything we need for another camping season!

Back from Alberta!

We made it back from Alberta in one piece! We had a great trip, so many fun memories made! We left Thursday (June 27th) and stayed in Kamloops for the night. Some "excitement" at the border because of the extra wine we were bringing over for Angie, and because I declared the blanket I was bringing over for Mary (next time I will not say anything about an item like that, how would they ever know that wasn't just our blanket for our use!). It was all fine in the end but the duty and taxes on the wine were a lot more than anticipated, and it delayed us by about 20 minutes. Oh well, live and learn! We made the drive to Calgary on Friday and had a great weekend hanging out with Brian's family. We played some games, went to the park, ate lots of good food. Had a little birthday celebration for Mike, Arianna and myself. On Sunday, I started the morning with a pedicure with my good friend Larissa - I had missed her so much! After lunch, we went with Mike and Annie to Big Hill Springs park where we had a really nice walk. We had great weather all weekend and the kids had a blast!

Monday (Canada Day), Mary and Dave came to Calgary and we took the C-train downtown to take in some Canada Day festivities. It was a bit crowded and overwhelming, but the kids had fun. We ate lunch and had ice cream, all good things! I went out in the evening with my friends Katie and Danielle which was really great, love catching up with old friends!

Tuesday morning we made the long trek up to La Crete. The drive was uneventful but so very long. We had a great few days before the campout, playing with cousins and visiting lots of family/friends. I got to have coffee with Patti one morning which was such a highlight! So excited for our girl's trip in September! 

The family campout at George and Karen's place started out with a bit of a "bang" for our family. Adam was stressing out when we got there and wouldn't calm down. Brian decided to take him for a bit of a drive to town, where he gassed up the van. He opened the back gate of the van and that pricey wine we brought for Angie went crashing to the ground, smashing two bottles:-(. That wine was such a curse lol! It took Adam some time to calm down even after he got back, but he did eventually ask for his swim trunks and went swimming in the pool. After this incident, he was good for the rest of the weekend, only very minor incidents here and there. He loved being there, as did the other kids! Such a fun weekend of swimming, volleyball, basketball, visiting, and eating great food! Love our campouts, and I know the kids love them. The access to the swimming pool was fantastic, Adam got in and out probably 10 times over the course of the weekend, perfect for him!

Sunday morning we came back to the campout pretty early (we had been sleeping at Mom and Dad's and Lynsey had been sleeping in the treehouse with cousins), had breakfast and packed up Lynsey's stuff. The drive to Edmonton went pretty well, encountered some thunderstorms. Got Brian and Adam off to the airport okay so they could fly home, then myself, Lynsey and Nathan were off to Calgary to spend the night. We saw Bobbi and her kids Monday morning, had lunch, and were off to Revelstoke. We made the drive from Revelstoke home yesterday. What a looonnnggg day, probably the longest yet because of how badly we all wanted to just get home! We had such a great trip, but 12 days is a long time to be away from home. 

Tomorrow we start on a new adventure - we are picking up our new puppy! We are getting a mini Aussie Labradoodle from a breeder, he is about 4 months old. I am surprisingly excited! We told the kids while we were in Calgary, Brian thought they should have some time to anticipate Pup's arrival and be excited about it so we scrapped the surprise idea:-). My next blog post will be quite puppy focused is my guess!