Author: Jen

Grateful

There’s nothing like a few years in Kuwait to make you truly appreciate Canada.  I could easily fill several pages with all of things I’m extremely grateful for here at home, but nature is, without a doubt, near the top of my list.  Being able to enjoy spending time outdoors…  Mountainsides covered in trees…  Green grass.  Wide open spaces.  Wildflowers growing in ditches.  Fields of corn.  Kids running in backyards…  Sometimes it’s all a little overwhelming.  And the sad part is that until we moved to the Middle East 7 years ago, it was all too easy to just take it for granted.  Thankfully, Gracen seems to truly understand the beauty that is where we call home.  Several times during our summer vacation she’s paused while out on a walk, taken a long, slow breath in, and in an airy voice said, ‘Ahhh… This air just smells so amazing.’ She often comments on how beautiful leaves and flowers and trees are, and more often than not has a very special rock or stick in her hand. My hope is that she continues to see the beauty around her {even if it means she continues to hug and kiss grass, trees, and other things while outdoors – not joking}, and I’m going to do the same {the being appreciative part – not the kissing grass part}.

So even though I’ve taken and shared a gazillion photos of our outdoor adventures already, here are a few more – simply because they’re too good to pass up.  Another day on the farm, but this time with a friend…

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Homemade Fruit On the Bottom Yogurt Cups {made with honey and chia}

Homemade Fruit On the Bottom Yogurt Cups | Mama Papa Bubba

Since we first introduced it into her diet, Miss G has always eaten plain organic yogurt.  She loves it as is, and its fun to dress up with fun toppings if she’s wanting to add a little flavour to it.  Sometime just before leaving for our second stint in Kuwait, however, we got our hands on a few little cups of flavoured yogurt sweetened with pure fruit juice, and she just loved them.  I had forgotten all about the flavoured Gracen-friendly yogurt until a couple of months ago, when Miss G requested we get some more.  I would have happily obliged, but finding decent yogurt in Kuwait is a challenge, let alone finding decent yogurt that is flavoured, organic, and sugar-free.  Never going to happen.  Luckily, she happily accepted the fact that it would be something we’d find and have in the summer…  Only Mama can’t find the darn fruit-flavoured, naturally sweetened, organic cups now that we’re back in Canada.  Oy.

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Mermaid Necklaces

Mermaid Necklaces | Mama Papa Bubba

Summer vacation is officially in full swing – Brad’s home from Kuwait, we’re back in BC, and life is good.  And now that we’re settled an in one place for a little while, Miss G and I have begun digging into the collection of fabulous activities in the Backyard Summer Camp eBook I co-wrote with a handful of awesome kid bloggers a couple of months back.  Today, we decided on making the jewelled shell necklaces from the ocean-themed section of the book written by Amanda of The Educators’ Spin On It.  Miss G loved the activity because the necklaces were just like the ones mermaids wear, and I loved it because we had all of the materials we needed on hand and it would only take a moment to pull it together {score!}

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Frog Catching & Donkey Riding

Whew!  What a day.  Knowing that we had a babysitter hired for tonight, our goal for this afternoon was to tire the munchkins out as much as possible in hopes of having them all in bed before leaving.  Our plan?  An afternoon outdoors and a heavy dose of fresh air, sunshine, and physical activity.

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Playground Morning in Cochrane

One thing we just cannot get enough of while in Canada is the awesome parks and playgrounds.  During the two years we spent in Vancouver between Kuwait stints, Miss G and I started every morning with a walk around the neighbourhood and an inevitable stop at a playground of some sort.  Sadly, in Kuwait that’s just not our reality.  Heading out the door for a brisk walk around the neighbourhood is next to impossible, playgrounds are few and far between and not at all well maintained, and much of the year it’s too hot to spend half of your day outdoors {especially on playground equipment}.  SO, we make the most of it while we can.  A summer filled with park and playground visits simply can’t be a bad thing, right?

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Happy Canada Day! {2014}

This year, we decided to spend our Canada Day soaking up the sunshine and fresh air out on my brother’s new boat.  We packed up the kids, a cooler filled with yummy food, and headed out to Chestermere, a nearby town with a little lake.  Unsurprisingly, the lake was super busy which was a bit of a pain, but the kids had an awesome time anyways.  Miss G was eager to try tubing for the second time today, and she loved it just as much as the first.  We had such a great day and I am so thankful to be able to call this beautiful country home.  Happy birthday, Canada.

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