Heaped in Hospitality

We spent a few days in Stoney Plain with Lynn’s son Kyle, his wife Neve, and grandchildren Wyatt and Marlene.  We swam in their backyard pool, biked on miles of beautiful paved paths near their home, visited the University of Alberta Botanical Gardens (a little underwhelming actually haha), and the Parkland Pioneer Museum (very cool!). Such fun little kids!  Each uniquely different and precious! Marlene is quiet and cuddly and Wyatt is wise beyond his years and has Kyle’s great sense of humor!  We laughed when we were biking and he kept telling Lynn to “be careful grandpa, you know you’re not 20 anymore” Haha!!

Next we drove to Lynn’s sister Joan and husband Ronnie’s house in Lloydminster where she loaded our little Joey freezer up with her delicious homemade butter tarts!! We then all drove in tandem to their lake property at Ministikwin Lake!  We spent a few days there visiting around fire pits, telling stories and laughing a lot. One beautiful sunny afternoon Ronnie took us all out in their pontoon boat where Lynn and his sister caught jackfish for our dinner. We went golfing (yes, I golfed … haha) nearby, Lynn helped assemble and install a neighbor’s gazebo, did some investigative biking around the lake sites, and ate amazing camp food!

Spent the next few days at Lynn’s brother Scotty and wife Lori’s cabin on Turtle Lake (21kms long!) A beautiful and peaceful Hamlet called Parkland Beach. We did a lot of walking, played games, visited, and ate more amazing food!

20yrs ago, on one of our family trips to visit Lynn’s dad Norman took us to see the one room Brooksdale Schoolhouse (built in 1919 now a heritage site) in Mervin, Sask that he attended for most if not all of his schooling years.  That day our son Cameron, then 11 years old wrote: “Cameron was here Oct.13 2003.

This day when Lynn walked back into the unlocked Historic Schoolhouse he was stunned to see that Cameron’s message was STILL on the chalkboard! We don’t know who, but someone later added “Norman Opperman’s youngest grandson” beside Cameron’s message and attached plexiglass over the chalkboard preserving it for all time.

Next we drove to our last family stop to visit Lynn’s daughter Ivy, husband Matthew, and grandchildren Parker and Finnley in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.

We attended Finnley’s graduation ceremony at BCS (Battleford Central School). Ivy teaches Grade 1 at this school and both kids attend there.  We didn’t really know what to expect for a kindergarten graduation haha … but never the less it’s a big deal for Finnley so off we go!  It was SO cute their teacher asked each child two questions: 1. What was their best part of Kindergarten and 2. What they wanted to be when they grow up. One little red-headed cutie said his best part of kindergarten was her (the teacher) …. There was a universal “Awe” from the audience – he literally stole the show!  There were many cute little girls that wanted to be Farmers when they grow up and precious little Finnley said she wanted to be a teacher like her Mom.   

There was golfing, swimming, biking, games, hockey practice, and a ball game where Parker connected with a great hit that got him to first base and ultimately scored a run for his team! Back to BCS the next day for an  awards ceremony in the gym where Parker received a medal and certificate for ‘Spirit of Achievement’ –  a dedicated and hard-working Grade 3 student … also totally handsome!