Cabin Induced Questions and Clips

Do people who live on lakes or on the coast, have cabins on the prairies?  Cabins they can go to on the weekends and plant gardens for fun?  Where they can drive tractors and pull their kids on wagons behind them?  Where they can get away from the daily grind of being out on a boat and fishing?

Or is that as silly as it sounds?

What brings rest?  Is it sleep?  Is it nothing?  Is it less?  Is it change?  Is relative?

For the past couple months we’ve been given a chance to experience rest.  Personal rest.  Rest as family.  Rest with friends.  Rest in action.  Right now we have the opportunity to experience rest as thousands of others have chosen to experience it…what we’ll call cabin rest.

It is strange to define and explain its popularity.  But here are some clips of rest at the cabin for us which might give better insight:

Digging epic holes in the sand and the kids filling them with water at the beach.

Fishing while chatting with Tim.

Mowing the lawn.

Walking or boating to get ice cream and sitting near the water as we polish them off.

Chasing minnows and studying the ones Aunt Hailey caught.

Cooking beef on a bun (with a crockpot).

Having brunch with four generations of family; ages ranging from 4 weeks to 4343 weeks old.

Canoeing kid cargo to and from the beach and cabin, with and against the wind.

Losing to Grammie playing Settlers on the deck.

Eating bannock and chatting around the fire with Tim and Erika.

Poutine and onion rings on the beach.

Couch and carpet and grass and hammock and bed wrestling with Ev.

Reading by candle light.

Reading on the beach.

Reading by the fire.

Cooking all three meals on the bbq while the power was out.

Playing beanbags in the backyard with Grammie and the kids.

And watching the sunset over the lake.

There is something to be said about resting with others.  Like most things we tend to personally customize our rest to suit ourselves, but resting in community refreshes the soul.  We are blessed to rest with some of our family and friends and look forward sharing more of it with you.

Thank You Notes from Canmore

Thank you Canmore for bragging about how awesome you are by your very name: “Can more amazing things be found in any other town?  Can more cool people live together in any other place?”

Thank you “Amenities Building” for reminding me that my house is not only a shell of what it could be, but that it is also an uncivil and improper dwelling…well, you’re not even a house and you smell like chlorine and leather.

Thank you poutine truck man for your passion about infusing everything healthy with garlic butter, salt, bbq sauce, parmesan, mozza, and cheddar cheese.  Thank you from the bottom of my tongue…

Thank you Frisbee Golf for your exclusive use of certain muscles, which are only ever used when playing you.  My swollen and torn Frisbee Golf muscles thank you for finally being noticed.

Thank you rocks and sticks for simultaneously being the cheapest toys for young boys and making me feel and look like a naked gladiator in trying to disarm them.

Thank you five kids for turning “peaceful hot tub time” into a scene from Moby Dick…getting me in touch with my inner Ahab, thank you.

Thank you guacamole for destroying the culinary phrase “presentation is everything.”  Nothing looks more disgusting and tastes more terrific than you.  Thank you.

Thank you Jovi for asking simple questions while hiking like, “Why did God create bears?”  And thank you education for reassuring answers like, “To eat things…like…berries.”

Thank you double BOB stroller for being a socially acceptable wheelbarrow that can hold two large hand bags, five kids, six beach toys, eight drinks, and a man’s dignity without any signs of strain.

Thank you again double BOB stroller for being another mini-van attack on my masculine pride.

Thank you shoulders for being a comfortable seat from which kids can try their hand at being blind plastic surgeons.

Thank you exercise equipment at children’s parks for turning every curious dad into a creepy man.

Thank you mountains for finally bringing tall people and clouds down to size.

Thank you family for being the good friends we couldn’t pick, and picking us to share this time with your family!

(and thank you Jimmy for the inspiration)

A very accurate picture. 

Evrest "You Can't Catch Me" Koleba and Derek "The Hammer" DeVries

The aforementioned double BOB.

Strolling the boardwalk in Canmore. 

Is it a sad fact that the coolest places to swim in this country are all quarries? 

Perfect weather...for a picture. 

Ev got distracted by something he should growl at and hit.

Rising in the East and Setting in the West

Sexsmith-Vermilon-Winnipeg-Thunder Bay-Annapolis Royal-Cornwall-Halifax-Winnipeg-Edmonton-Innisfail-Canmore…(places in order, where we have stayed at least one night)

It seems strange to think that a province as diverse as Alberta can still seem to provide the comfort of familiarity even while we are hundreds of miles from our actual home.  We have traveled much these past few days and we are excited to be close.  Not only closer to home, but closer to friends, closer to family.  We are thankful to Heidi and Hailey, and Josh and Meg for hosting our brief stay in Edmonton.  A big shout out and welcome to our little niece Charlie who seems smaller (and much cuter) than Evrest’s left foot.  We are happy to be back in Alberta, and do not anticipate any all-day drives till our return home.  Throughout our travels we have been blessed to gather pieces of everyday living from those we care about.  Little glimpses into their lives which encourage us, challenge us, inform our prayers, and fill us.  We are thankful and will continue to gather these pieces.  Jovi’s reunion with her cousin Ava has released a built up wave of girl time; consisting of parties, parades, princesses, and excluding their brothers.  Ev is also glad for the company of his cousins, Pax and Blaise.  Our new favorite word of his is “motorbikecle”, revealing a lack of consistent terms on our part.

Speaking of trimesters, Brittany is beginning her second one (smooth transition, I know).  For those of you who have just found out, and in such a graceless way, we apologize but it’s been hard to keep track of being on the road.  We would appreciate your prayers, and we are encouraged that Britt has begun to feel better.  This Alberta stage of our sabbatical will be spent with a couple more friends and much more family.  We are looking forward to this next month, and what God will choose to reveal.

Epic tower building with Auntie Heidi.

Don't worry that's just a yawn.  Charlie never cries.

This is the picture 20 sec. before the fake one.

The natural beach at the Edmonton Legislature.

(The tardiness of this entry is a result of an inconvenient internet connection, which pushed me to buy a coffee to share this with you)

P.E.I. Portraits

Here are some pictures from our time on the east coast island for your perusal.

Enjoying a great sunny day...at least most of us.

The beautiful dunes of Cavendish beach.

Slight enthusiasm over having some ice cream.

A giant flower in downtown Charlottetown.

The famous fare at Rick's Fish and Chips.

Hanging out on the Charlottetown boardwalk.

Another happy couple on the boardwalk.

Strolling the streets of Avonlea.

Britt and Erin enjoying low tide at Canoe Cove.

A pretty cool red sand playground.

and finally, the first stage of development of a future masked superhero: