A day at Waterton

Today was such a nice day out that we decided to go to Waterton.  We really do like to go there.   It's a place that you always know your going to have a good time.  For all the years that I've gone to Waterton I have never rented one of those bikes.  So we decided to actually do it today.  It was fun - Caleb lasted about 15 minutes before he decided he was done sitting on the bike, and that it was time to get down to run around.   So we took him to the park and Blaine and I took turns with Braiden until it was time to take it back.

Here are the guys on the bike. 

 And Caleb at the park while Braiden is riding the bike. 

 We grabbed some lunch and headed to a part of a lake.  I was thinking it would be fun to throw rocks in the lake

 This is what Caleb thought it would be fun to do!  And this picture was taken after he had already soaked his first set of clothes.  I don't know how he kept playing in that freezing water.  

 We also headed up to Red Rock Canyon.  We took the little path that leads to the falls.  

 Here is a picture of us at the falls - although you can't see them!

When we got back to the canyon the boys went in the water again - and of course Caleb had to go up to his waist, and soak his second set of clothes.  We figured it was time to go home since the boy didn't have anything left to wear!

summer update part 2

Earlier this summer the first batch of "Chicago cousins" came up to visit.  My cousin Stephanie and her family came.  It was fantastic.  Love when we get to see them.  We were very busy everyday, just the way the Chicago cousins like it.  We hit all the tourist spots in the area.  I only got pictures of a couple places we went.  We had a great time hanging out together.  

One of the places we went to was the Fort in Fort Macleod.  I never thought I'd actually go there seeing as how I grew up there.  Isn't it funny how you never seem to go to places that you live close by? 

Here are a couple of pics of us at the Fort

Some of the kids stopping so that we could take a picture of them. How cute is "little Zack"?  We have two Zacks - so we had to differentiate some how.

 Cameron got to be the inspector of the mounties and their horses.  He had to make sure that everything was in order or he could make them do push-ups.  He was kind to them, and everyone passed.

 Where they belong?  

 On another day we went to the Bellevue mine tour.  Most of us had been on it - I had actually never gone, so it was new to me.  I really enjoyed it, and it seemed like everyone else did too.

Zack and Braiden getting ready to go coal mining.

 Jake and Clara heading into the mine.

 This is what happens to kids when going through the mine.  Actually he whined for most of it, and then fell asleep on the way out.  Steph and Jakes "little Zack" fell asleep in it too.

 We headed out to Waterton on another day.  No one can come visit the area and not go to Waterton!  Beautiful place, and we love to go there.  

 It also never fails that whenever Blaine is with us in Waterton we always see bears. First we saw a mom and two cubs, and later on we saw another bear, and other animals as well.  It should be a family rule that you must always take Blaine with you to Waterton so you can see all sorts of animals.

 The mom above and one of the cubs below.  They walked right in front of our cars and then stayed pretty close to the road for awhile.

 And Cameron at his lake.  We could not miss going to his lake and water falls.

 Looks like the boys are contemplating something serious.  Or maybe just wondering how freezing the water is?

 Of course Skylar had to be the first one to test out the water, as she is the family fish.  It's always so cold, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  We all had to take a turn to see how cold it was.

 Skyar and Braiden - Braiden always the goof

 Blaine and Shannon

 Ahhh - isn't she lovely?  :)

 We also stopped at Red Rock.   Here is a prego Steph with a couple of the kids climbing down in the canyon.

 Braiden and Ainsleigh looking like they found something interesting.

 Steph and Jake and the two youngest on the bridge.  Look at the scenery, Waterton is just beautiful.

 Shan and I decided to go on the little hike to the falls by Red Rock.  I can't remember the name of it, but since neither of us had been to it (actually I didn't even know about them till that day) we decided to take Caleb and check it out.  Caleb wasn't too happy to be stuck on my back for too long, but he finally gave into defeat.  They were actually pretty nice falls.  

Shan and I were doing poses cause we could see Blaine taking pictures.  After a bit I started walking again thinking he had to of gotten a couple.  Well, this is all we got - Shan still got a pose in anyways!

It is always a great time when the Chicago cousins come to visit.  Now we get to see the rest of them in a couple days - so excited!

summer update part 1

We have been crazy busy this month - as we usually are during the summer.  So many things that we are trying to fit into such a short time.  With all that is going on, I have been neglecting my blogging duties.  So I'm going to fill it in now.  

What would summer be if not for some boating?  Love boating days.  It's always so much fun.  

I had to put this picture on to prove that Braiden is on the boat and is actually awake!!  It's a miracle!

 Here is the more common site of Braiden sleeping on the boat.  

 Having fun on the tube.  Braiden loves riding on them.  

 Zack and Blaine on the kneeboards.  Zack did amazing!  He got up on that thing so fast, and he did a great job.

 One weekend Blaine had a bit of a family reunion.  It was at a lake in Calgary.  I can't remember what it is called.  We had a BBQ and played in the lake, and got to see a bunch of Blaines relatives that we don't get to see very often.

Braiden playing in the water.  We couldn't get him out of there!

 Caleb having a great time as well.  He also had no problem using other kids toys all the time.

 Some more fun in the water.  

 Eating yummy watermelon  Caleb ate so much that I'm pretty sure that he had a whole melon to himself.

Summer is my favourite.  You can't go wrong with warm sunny days!

Bike trip!

Soon after Blaine and I got our new bikes we decided a bike trip was in order.  I couple years ago we did a trip where we went to Fernie.  We loved it.  So this time we decided that we needed to go a bit bigger.  We thought "why not Cranbrook?"  okay, I thought that.  I'm sure Blaine thought I was insane at first.  Then after a bit, we decided that we should bike to Fort Steele and make a fun trip out of it.  So Blaines mom and sister came down to watch the kids and we were off!

Here we are at 6:30am as we are heading off.  Yes I know I look horrible here, but I'm going with that it's 6:30am.  Ya, I wish that was a good enough excuse too!

 It was absolutely gorgeous out that morning.  I loved being on that bike looking at the beautiful mountains with the sun coming up.  Just breathtaking and peaceful.

 Blaine was so excited for this sign (just outside of Fernie)  He had to get a picture with proof of only 101 km to go!  I was more excited for the next sign that only had 2 digits beside it.  

 So about 80 km into our bike trip we ran into a bit of a snag.  We rode past a part where a bunch of rocks had fallen on to the road; and one of those rocks had the nerve to cut through one of Blaines tires. So we were down.  The plus side was that it happened right beside a roadside turnout.  So we called Blaines mom and sister, had them pick us up - take us back into Fernie so we could see if we could get a new tire. (it was way beyond repair)  Luckily we were able to get a new tire very quickly and we got dropped off at the same spot and headed off again.  

Here is Blaine looking sad with his blown out tire.  

 After we got back on our bikes it became very clear that the first 80km were definitely the easiest.  It was all uphill from there.... well, at least it felt like it!  But in the end - after 150km we made it to Fort Steele.  We were a bit on the tired side - okay, we were exhausted.  But we had so much fun!  We loved doing this together, just the two of us. It was exhaustingly amazing - and I would do it again, no question!

So then started our Fort Steele fun.  Blaines mom, sister, and her girls, and my parents were already there at the camp ground, along with our boys of course.  We love Fort Steele, we go there every year.  Of course we forgot the camera the first day, and since that was the day Blaines mom and sister were there I don't have any pics of them.  I have some pics the next day though.  We made sure to take a bunch of pics since we dropped the ball before.  

At Fort Steele, Braiden goofing off of course.  

 A favorite place to go is the bakery.  It seems like we have to hit it up quite a few times in the day.

 Braiden just loves watching the little skits that they put on during the day.  He has to watch all of them.  We all love them.  Here is Braiden watching one of them.  

 Caleb could not get enough of the stairs.  And of course there are a lot of them.  He loved to climb these ones in the courthouse.

 One of the actors made Braiden a judge.  He was loving that!

 We went to the main play in the afternoon.  of course Braiden loves those as well.  He especially loved when one of the actors came down during the play and talked to him.  He was laughing so hard, it was so cute to watch.

After we went on a wagon ride.  We got to have a couple of the street actors come on the ride with us.  One of them gave us his commentary as we rode around the little ghost town.  He was hilarious.  Kept us laughing the whole time.

 At the end of the day we went on the train ride.  Caleb has started to like trains a little bit, but of course that doesn't keep him still for the ride.  That boy is so busy, I don't know how he does it.  

 Here are the boys enjoying the ride.  

We went home after the train.  We had a great couple of days.  It was something our family has needed.  To just be together and having fun - creating some new great memories.  I'm so grateful for our family members who came with us, and helped us out so that we were able to have such a great time.  It was very much needed and appreciated.  Now onto making more amazing moments!

Wildcat

This past weekend here in Elkford we had out Wildcat days.  It started for us by going to the fireworks on Friday night.  They did a great job again this year.  The kids really liked them.  It was so late when they started that Caleb just layed on my shoulder while watching; a couple times he would raise his head a little, point and oooh about it.  I really love how they echo in the mountains.  Then they have tons of stuff going on for Saturday and Sunday.  So we went to go have fun!  

 Braiden at the parade showing his favourite candy he got - freezies!  yum!

 Braiden in one of the bouncy castles.  Always a huge hit

 Caleb hangen out and watching Braiden have fun in those bouncy castle things.  I took him into the smallest one.  It was a worm one, and so you had to crawl through it, and then finally at the end you got to go down a slide.  He was not to happy about it though.  The whole time we were in there he held onto me for dear life, and would kind of whimper/cry through it.  It was not an easy feat getting through that thing.  But he loved the little slide at the very end.  So we ended up on a happy note.  Later on Blaine tried to take him and he refused... loudly!

 Braiden sliding down another bouncy castle

 A girl was there giving people tattoos.  Of course Braiden had to get one.  He loves tattoos.  Here he is waiting patiently for his

 And here is the finished product!  He loves it, he kept his sleeve up for most of the day

 Getting a little mini-hockey in

 Caleb looking pretty tired here.  He was determined not to miss a thing, and refused to nap till we left.  Crazy kid...

 Braiden got to help the magician out for a bit.  It was so funny, and you can tell that he loved being up there.  

This is actually a picture taken while waiting for the parade.  He was pretty excited for the day to start.  It was a fun weekend.  They always do a great job, and I love that Blaine was able to have most of it off so that we could all go together.    The sunburns are so worth it.

I am just loving that summer is here, and that school is out!  Looking ahead to one great summer.

Below is a little video of Braiden helping out the magician guy.  Love how much fun he is having.