Another 1/2 Marathon

Brett added another race to his list this fall with running the Mighty Niagara 1/2 Marathon.  This race was right here in town and followed the Niagara River all the way out to Lake Ontario.  It was a rainy day but we spent all morning chasing him down along the route to cheer him on.  It was tons of fun and I am sure it will be run in our family again.

Smash Up Derby

We attended our first Smash-Up Derby in September - never had been to one of these before.  In fact did not really know they existed here ... but yes they do and thanks to the Burrs we had front row seats!

The kids were quite fascinated..we each picked a favorite car and watched to see if it was still moving at the end.  We got pretty mud splattered but it was lots of fun.

Here are Matthew and Kaylee looking on

Sara trying to stay clean 

All the kids

Brenna was pretty impressed with the crashes.

Cowgirl and Cowboys

A few months ago Brenna received a great gift from her cousin Lydia...a pair of cowgirl boots.  She was thrilled to get them and has worn them quite a lot.  The first day they came she ran inside - grabbed her stick horse, cowgirl shirt and hat and came out for some fun in the yard!

 As you would guess out came the brothers too (with Rayhaan of course).  The good news is that they are each getting a new pair of cowboy boots from Nana England and Paca for Christmas so we will be well outfitted in Western wear.

Finishing Up the Summer 2012

It has been way too long since a new blog post - so get ready a bunch of catching up is about to happen.

Lets finish up the summer first (at least before Christmas gets here)!

One warm sunny Saturday we found ourselves with the WHOLE DAY to fill.  So we set out for a north of the boarder trip to explore some Canadian parks we had wanted to get to all summer.  It was such a fun day with a superise find of a great sushi restaurant and a great beach that we will definitely visit next summer.

First however we for a beautiful walk around Dufferin Islands - Brett has lots of childhood memories of swimming in these ponds (back when you were allowed to do such things).  No swimming this time but there was some creek walking, duck feeding, and seeing all the nature that God allows us to enjoy.

Since we were so close to Niagara Falls that day we walked along the river for some good views of the abandoned barge in the river and the waterfall of course then we crossed the street to the botanical gardens where the kids enjoyed some jumping and running around the fountains.

After all that exercise it was time for some food and my kids LOVE some good sushi!  They are already asking to go back and they have their favorites picked out.  Anything with crab for Joshua and Mac - he will eat about everything

We continued to explore and found ourselves at the Welland Canals.  We were just in time for a HUGE ship to pass through the locks.  It is amazing how tight a squeeze it is for those ships to make it through the system and how much water is moved up and down.  

Finally we reached the beach that we had promised all day!  Port Dalhousi is a pretty clean sandy beach in a quaint little town on Lake Ontario.  It is a pretty shallow bay so you can walk out forever.  And a 50 yards out or so there is a sandbar that runs the length of the beach so it gets shallow all over again.  The water was nice and warm in early September and so clean.  We stayed all afternoon playing in the water and sand.  We were all ready for bed that evening.

First Day of School

Third Grade - Age 8 1/2

 This year Joshua has moved up to 3rd grade which means a new school building with 2 floors and a new teacher.  He has had the same teacher for the past 2 years so this year brought a lot of changes.  He was really ready to start this past week and had a great first few days.  He has one past friend in his class but is starting to make some new ones.    I think that he is going to have a great year!

First Grade - Age 6

 Matthew moved on to 1st grade this year and was excited to be going back to the same class of children that he was with last year and the same teacher.  She was so sweet and gave huge hugs when we saw her this week.  You could just tell that the kids were all so glad to be back together again and picked up right where they ended last June.  We are excited to see Mac learn lots this year.  He already mastered being able to tie his shoes in 2 days so he is on a roll!

Brenna - Age 3

 Brenna is not going to school yet - she still stays home with mommy BUT she would have been glad to go and readily posed for some pictures with her brothers.  She is my helper taking them to school in the morning and picking up in the afternoon.  We are starting some learning at home this year also - so I am sure we will be amazed at how much she learns this year.

September 6th, 2012

Joshua, Matthew and Brenna