Our Manitoba Trip!

So, our summer vacation just came to an end last weekend after spending a week in Manitoba visiting Jonathan's family and enjoying the cottage country out in Gimli and Grande Beach.

It was so peaceful and relaxing spending time out there . . . a slower pace of life . . . and unforgettable memories!

I apologize for the long blog post, but as I was scanning all of our pictures, there were too many good ones not to share with everyone, so here we go . . .

We visited Jonathan's grandma out in Winnipeg for a few days, and the kids had a wonderful time getting to know their Baba! Aubrey enjoyed walking around the apartment with Baba's cane, while Hayden enjoyed using it as a gun and shooting all of us!

We were filled with lots of yummy perogies, and the kids especially enjoyed her famous apple perogies!

The cottage we rented was just north of Winnipeg in the sleepy cottage town of Sandy Hook, with a beautiful view overlooking Lake Winnipeg.

There was a small sandy beach they played in at the bottom of the steps off the deck, then a stone retaining wall which was perfect for Hayden and Jonathan to go fishing off of. Hayden was very excited to go fishing as soon as he saw the fishing rods lying on the deck and became quite the expert on telling daddy how to fish - "you turn the twisty thing, like this!"

Hayden and Aubrey had fun learning how to play badminton and crochet out on the front lawn . . .

. . . although, Aubrey was just grabbing the mallets and knawing the plastic ends off.

The kids also enjoyed the marshmallow roast . . .

. . . Hayden was very patient and roasted his very slowly . . .

. . . but as for our little Aubrey . . . she created a new recipe by mixing gooey marshmallow and sand . . . mmm, what a treat!

More great pictures . . .

Here's Hayden running through the puddles on the breakwater at Gimli . . .

And lastly, one of our favorite days was at Grande Beach, on the opposite side of Lake Winnipeg - perfect weather, perfect white sand, warm water, and you could walk out for miles and the water only be at your waist!

The kids mostly enjoyed just playing in the sand with their toys

And just behind the beach, Hayden and Jonathan went off exploring the sand dunes which I soon followed in their footsteps and got a few pics of Jonathan jumping off some of the steep dunes . . .

All in all, a memorable trip we'll never forget!