Days 6-10 Vanderhoof

We got the party under way as soon as we could. Within a few hours of being there we were all together at my parents house for my Dad's birthday party - 63 this year. We enjoyed visiting and playing with all the family.
The kids got to playing and created a "monster" that lived in Grandpas root cellar. Of course all the adults couldn't let that go, so uncle Mike donned an old wolf skin and hid in the root cellar, while aunt Jana helped arm the kids with sticks and took them to see if the monster was real. The kids were pretty hesitant, but Jana convinced them that there was no monster so just go knock on the door! They did and got the surprise of their lives. Some immediately fell to the ground in horror, others fled the scene to the adults who were looking on and videoing the retreat. Yet others fled momentarily and returned to beat the monster. All in all it was pretty hilarious. I'm glad to say that my kids are a lot faster than I thought they were and were some of the fastest to retreat. Although, they did leave their little brother behind to be devoured by the beast. Fun was had by all.
Monday rolled around and we got the store all set up for Halloween and Fall, that cute little store, I sure do miss it. We had get together almost every night with all the family. Ryan made sure we had plenty of Woody's Bakery doughnuts each day. He sure misses that place and I am not sure how they stay in business with him out of town now, but he does his part when he returns. I too over indulged in the delicacies and will be hitting the gym hard to prep for our next trip up there!
The kids had a ball playing with the chickens, gathering eggs and even cleaning out the coop. Tate learned that even when chickens eat beets interesting things happen. They spent a lot of time out at the garden, pillaging the last of the raspberries, carrots and tomatoes. They ate more cucumbers in vinegar than we can count. We spent an afternoon over at aunt Karli's new house jumping on the trampoline with soap and water - have you ever seen 12 boys jumping on a trampoline, falling all over because it is slippery? Oh the fun we had.
But probably their favorite thing was "hay bale jumping". They made a game of it and spent hours out on the rows of bales, jumping from one bale to another. I love the simplicity of entertaining kids.
We spent some time out at our old place, cleaning up and mowing the grass, picking a few rocks. It is sad to see it empty and lonely. The boys begged us to move back there. Connor cried several times and offered to go work for Grandpa Gulbranson picking sticks so he could help make enough money to move back. He really cried when it came time to leave and to help Jana gave him a picture of Coleson to take with him, only he looked at it the whole time back and cried more when he saw it.
We sure love Canada and the farm, so many good memories.