A new baby!

As many of our friends and family know, we have been expecting a new member of our family to join us this August. On August 21, at 12:34 pm, Hannah-Rose Lorraine Mantel was born weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz, 3 oz heavier than her big sister. Delivery was a bit rough on mom and baby but both are doing fine now!

 

 

 

Hannah-Rose

Megan and Hannah-Rose

 

Casey and Hannah-Rose

 

Ethan and Hannah-Rose

 

Hannah-Rose and Daddy

 

Hannah-Rose

 

The whole family

 

Mommy and Hannah-Rose



August Farming

As has become our family tradition for almost all the long weekends between spring and fall, we once again packed up the kids and headed to the farm for the August long weekend. Due to a sudden death in the family in December, we were a man short for farming this year and chose to hire out some of the more particular jobs such as spraying. Here are some pictures from our weekend at the farm.

 

 

Megan driving Casey on the garden tractor

 

Daddy and Ethan

 

The sprayer that we hired to help out with harvest preparations.

 

Grandma and Casey on the other garden tractor

 

Having fun swinging

 

Megan the farm girl with her pink Riders hat, cut off jeans, and her brother's shirt

 

Casey and Daddy in the tandem (yes he's there!)

 

Megan and Ethan helping Grandpa with the swather.



Celebrating the Stampede

As many people know, this year was the 100th "birthday" of the Calgary Stampede. As such, we decided to take the kids downtown to watch the parade. Due to the heat of the day, the length of the parade and several other factors, we didn't stay long. We also chose to let the kids stay up really late one night in order to watch the special fireworks they had in honor of the 100th Stampede. Here are some highlights.

Taking the train to the parade

Pre-parade entertainment

The official start of the parade

Stampede Showband

Ian Tyson - parade marshal

Fireworks presented by TransAlta Utilities for Light Up the City

More fireworks



Our BC Vacation

This year, after Megan was done school, we took a trip to BC for our main summer vacation. While there, we linked up with family in both Abbotsford and Kelowna. While in Abbotsford, we took a day trip into Vancouver which included seeing the Olympic torch which is still set up next to where the ceremonies took place. Here are some of the highlights!

The Olympic Torch

Killer Whale statue

Near the harbour

Ethan the Totem Pole

Casey the Totem Pole

Megan the Totem Pole

On the beach with the Kelowna cousins

Having fun at the beach.