It's almost Christmas?!

As is my normal, I haven't blogged in eons! One of my goals for the fall is to do better with posting as it's just so much fun to look back at what's been going on in our lives here. I don't scrapbook, so this is as close as it gets... We had a great summer. Christian had to travel a lot through June and July, but August was much nicer. I took the kids on a road trip in July to Grand Forks and we had a blast! Lots of swimming in rivers, adventures and visiting with good friends. In August Christian had a week off and we went on a camping trip to Barkerville. Of course, I have tons of pictures, but I'll probably never post them here. Above is a pretty typical view of our life on Salt Spring. It really has to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth.
So fall is here and the busyness has hit full force.

We've been doing a lot of this ^. Isaiah and Brennan are both playing for Salt Spring United, and they're also involved in an extra soccer league. So we have soccer on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Abby is in gymnastics this year as well as Brownies. Isaiah is about to start basketball at school, and also has youth group. I'm totally becoming a "kiddie taxi", and that is with us even being super choosy about what they're involved in so that we have time as a family to just hang out. I'm managing Isaiah's soccer team so that's been a learning curve for me and quite time consuming.
We ordered a new camera, paid for completely with air miles, so we've been having fun taking pictures! Christian and I both love photography and plan to learn more about taking pics and editing. I'd like to take a course in the new year.
This is the house we're renting for now. It's right on the waterfront on a tidal canal. This means that when the tide is high, we've got great swimming and canoeing off the dock. When the tide is low, we've got mud. It's a cute place but super quirky. The builder went a little wild; every room is on a different level, so there's lots of stairs and super weird angles to every ceiling. It's also getting run down as you can probably see with the deck. There's many things that need attention, but the owner doesn't seem too concerned, and it's nothing that affects us too much.
I'm really loving this stage of parenting with the kids. They are taking on a lot more responsibility and I love talking and teaching about life and listening to their unique personalities. We are so blessed! It's kind of been an unsettling time in our lifes; Christian has been travelling a bit too much for our liking, and we're probably on the cusp of some big changes in our family's life. Can't say yet though. It's secret...
I'm going to New York with Christian on a work/pleasure trip in November. We'll definitely take lots of pictures! I'm getting just a little bit excited now :)
-Jenn