Oh, hey there! Did you miss me? I totally didn’t mean to take a month-long break from blogging but life got a little crazy. By the time I realized that I hadn’t blogged in three weeks I figured a recap of what I got up to last month would be better way to update you all than a bunch of little posts. Ready? Okay!

Of course, Canada kicks off July celebrating the birth of our nation! In the past my mom and I head down to Riverside Park to take in all of the festivities, but this year we decided to visit the Farmers’ Market instead. I loaded up on some fresh, local produce, (and bannock!) and the girls enjoyed some treats as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the sunshine!

Isla spent five days camping with my mom and stepdad during the first week of the month and she had an amazing time. It was rather strange only having one kid at home for those few days, but I think both Norah and Isla appreciated the time apart from one another. Unfortunately, the camping trip was cut short by a day because the smoke from the wildfires that had suddenly popped up all over the interior, but my mom did take this amazing picture of Isla during the tail end of the trip:

I’m pretty obsessed with this photo and how it captures every essence of childhood. <3

And yes – the wildfires. Kyle had two weeks of holidays this month and depending on how you look at it, they were timed either very well or very poorly. On his first day off his dad and his girlfriend were evacuated from their home in Cache Creek due to an out-of-control brushfire that was sweeping through the community. Of course, we offered our home to them they stayed with us for about 10 days before they were allowed to head back home. Great timing for Kyle to be off – he was hoping to spend some time with his dad anyway while on holidays, it’s just unfortunate that it was under these circumstances! Of course, Isla and Norah were just happy to have their grandparents visiting!

It was too bad that it was so smoky though – there were a couple days where you couldn’t even go outside for more than 30 minutes without your throat starting to itch. It really put a damper on some of our plans.

These two photos were taken 24 hours apart from the same vantage point. You can see the smoke from one of the fires down in the valley of the top photo.

Eventually the smoke cleared up and the weather got hot enough to enjoy the last few days of Kyle’s time off!

We’ve been wanting to go to the waterslides for quite some time but have never been able to due to weather, pregnancy or what have you, haha. Since Kyle’s sister was in town because her and her family were also evacuated from their home in William’s Lake, we invited them and Kyle’s mom to come with us to the slides just outside of Vernon. The weather turned out to be amazing and the girls had an absolute blast! Isla was apprehensive about going down the slides by herself, but after we asked if she’d go down if she was wearing her lifejacket and she agreed? We couldn’t stop her! I practically had to pin her down to stop and hydrate and eat! And I was so nervous that Norah was going to hate them but she had just as much fun as Isla doubling with either Kyle or myself. They were both exhausted at the end of the day and slept SO GOOD that night, even with their naps on the way home. #parentingwin

Kyle also busied himself by making a bed for Norah! We had Isla’s made by someone in town, but Kyle thought it would be a fun challenge to try and make a similar “big girl” bed for Norah while he was off work. He did an awesome job, IMHO, and Norah loves it! I swear it’s even helped her sleep a bit better through the night.

Kyle and I had always agreed that Isla could get her ears pierced if she asked for them herself. We kind of always figured she’s ask one day, it was just a matter of when. She had originally asked back in June, so I told her I’d talk to her dad about it and we’d go from there. We agreed that if she asked about it again, we’d make her an appointment and take her. She finally asked me a couple weeks ago if I had “talked to dad about her getting her ears pierced,” and then she asked him directly at dinner, so we figured she was honestly ready! I called and made the appointment, and Kyle got the honour of taking her to the studio to get them done! She handled it so well and is very proud of them! Me? I’m sobbing on the inside because she’s no longer my little baby :(

What else? We got in a few pool and waterpark days, the girls had their annual check-ups, (doctor, eyes, and immunizations for Isla, doctor for Norah), I had my wind-up slo-pitch tournament, Isla did dance camp, Kyle found a toad, we ALL overindulged in the best way possible, including hosting a “Christmas in July,” and just had a great time as a family! While there were a couple of low moments overall it was a great first month of the summer. I cannot believe how quickly July few by, and now August is here. I hope we can make this month just as memorable!

How was your July? Any highlights you’d like to share?