We're home!

The first thing we did when we got home was go check on our chickens and garden. We missed them! I was shocked at how many raspberries were out there. They were red and ripe and delicious. So instead of unpacking after we got home, I decided to make raspberry rhubarb jam. It was a nice welcome home treat!

Our beautiful lettuce! We have about 12 heads that are big and unaffected by bugs. We had salad for dinner after we got home because we didn't want to eat anything else :) After all the road food, it was heaven!

Vacation - Appendix

There were a few things I wanted to document that didn't get thrown into the main story so I'll add those here, mostly for my own records!

• We were driving down the road and Asher was frustrated that he couldn't find something. He was whining and said "I put it right by the sliding door like you said, Ooh! Horsies! but now it isn't there!"    Everything was soooo whiny, except when it came to the "Ooh! Horsies!" it was excited and happy and a completely different tone. It was hilarious, and we laughed about it for a long time afterwards.
• It was interesting getting used to the fact that everything is in two languages. I only saw a few things the whole time I was gone that only had one language written on it. It was kind of cool, and also kind of annoying at times.
• It was also interesting getting used to their money. Some of their bills are plastic. You can run them through the washer and it doesn't ruin them at all. And, did you know that their $1 coins are called Loonies and their $2 coins are called Toonies? I laughed. It's awesome.
• Everett was freaking out at one point because he was SO sick of being in his carseat. (He did so well most of the time!) I asked Brayden if he would please try to make baby laugh. He said "Sure Mom! I'm good at that! I'll sing him a lullaby." So he started singing in this sweet little lullaby tune "Close your eyes, and rest your body. Hush hush hush little baby, Goodnight." I swear to you, within 10 seconds, he was quiet and within 2 minutes, he was asleep. It was such a tender mercy, and I am so grateful for my sweet Brayden and the loving care that he shows his baby brother. They really do have such a special relationship, which I hope continues as they grow!
• There was this huge twisty "big kid" slide at the water park. Asher came up to me and asked if I'd take him on it. I didn't think he knew what he was asking, so I took him to the bottom so he could see that at the end, there is a huge splash of water that would get in his face. It didn't deter him and he raced me up the stairs. I sat down in the slide thinking he'd back out, but he hopped right on my lap and said "let's go!" So I told him that when we got to the bottom he could close his eyes and mouth and plug his nose so that he didn't get water in them. We raced down the slide and at the bottom, he did just that. He hopped out and said "That was soooo fun! Let's go again!" and raced me to the top again.   I am so grateful for my little adventurous child, and even more grateful that he is getting more comfortable in the water!
• The mosquitos at the farm are unlike anything I've ever experienced. They were huge and incessant and came out in droves. I was warned that they'd be bad, but I could not have even imagined them this bad. I think that between all of us we went through 3 bottles of insect repellent in the 5 days we were there. Aaron got bit a couple times on his forehead and it made him swell up so bad. He looked like an alien, and allergy medication didn't touch it. Heidi took him to the doc and they just said to wait it out. Crazy what those suckers can do!
• I cannot wait to go back to the farm. My kids loved it. I loved it. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and a nod back to the simple life that I'm finding more and more appealing. And, Banff was incredible. We will be making it back there again for sure too. Maybe when the kids are a little older so we can enjoy some of the longer hikes that are boasted about up there!

I can't wait to take my family back there, and encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit Banff... DO IT!!

Vacation - Part 4

Sean’s Mom, Lorraine, was raised on a farm in Innisfail, Alberta, about 2.5 hours East of Canmore/Banff. She still has a lot of family there and the boys and I hadn't met any of them, which was the main motivation for this trip.

The scenery along the way was beautiful, and although these pictures are washed out, they give you a glimpse of the awe-inspiring sights that we experienced.

Big Horn Sheep, running down the road

Ryan and Heidi and Fam, Brad and Lorraine, Caiti and us all met at the Scott Farm and hung out with Lorraine's aunts, uncles and cousins for a few days. The farm was homesteaded by Lorraine’s Grandparents 105 years ago. It is still a working farm, worked by Lorraine’s cousin George. George almost singlehandedly farms 2800 acres of wheat, barley, canola, and cattle. He has lots of huge tractors with cool computers in them, and he gave us a tour of the farm and his equipment. It was so fun to see the inner-workings of such a large scale active farm, and it was a great experience for the kids. 


This picture is a view of the landscape. The road were miles and miles long without, even a slight  curve in them. On our way there I think we drove 12 miles on dirt roads without any turns. In fact, the directions to get to the Scott Farm were "turn left at the one bend in the road". Haha, I just have never seen roads so long and straight, that went on forever into the horizon.

We got to the farm Thursday afternoon. Soon after we got there, Ryan/Heidi’s fam and us went to Nixon Apiary (Bee Farm). The sign claimed they did tours but when we got there, he said that they only do them in July/August. Regardless, he hung out with us for a half hour or so and taught us everything we wanted to know about bees, and then we were able to buy some honey from him. Amaretto Honey, chocolate Honey, and cinnamon honey, along with regular honey were what we ended up with. It was so hard to decide which of the 10 flavors we wanted!

When we got back to the farm, we played a pretty wicked game of baseball. We had a decent sized group, which made it a ton of fun.

Brooklyn and I climbing the tree, waiting for our turns to bat

This picture cracks me up. He was serious about getting to first base!

We'd played so long and hard that we broke the foam bat we were playing with. Sean caught this picture perfectly so we could see the flex that our eyes couldn't catch!

After our game of baseball, Lorraine took me on a walk up the hill by the farm, so I could get a glimpse of it from a higher perspective. I fell in love with this farm. I had always heard about it, but wasn't really expecting much. I'm not sure why. It was amazing up there. I really really loved it, and can't wait to go back!

The sunset on our walk

Friday we all headed to the Innisfail Discovery Wildlife Park. This place was incredible! It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a zoo. My favorite part was the bears. They have about 5 bears that are famous. They each have a huge resume of movies/commercials/shows they’ve done. Everything from Grizzly Falls, to Pepsi and Charmin Commercials to Super Bowl ads. The trainer of the bears was there and took us on a behind the scenes tour of how they train the bears to do “tricks” required for these. At the end, we got a picture of us with the bear standing up behind us doing his “angry bear” stance. (I'll get that picture scanned and added in later.) We were literally within 2 feet of this bear, with nothing but a thin wire between us. I could have reached back and touched him. It was SO cool! As the trainer was talking to us, we were in a group of about 100 people. I was standing behind all the kids sitting down in front of the fence and Everett started growling. The kids all turned around totally terrified. They thought a bear was behind them! It was super funny.


Towards the end, Heidi and her pregnant body were getting pretty worn out so she rented a Golf Cart. We had SO much fun on that thing, and we got to see the 2nd half of the zoo way faster than the first half. I took Michael and Brooklyn on a little joy ride at the end and let each of them drive. They were in heaven! It was such a blast to be able to do that with them. 

I just have to throw in an ear picture every now and then. Mike and Brooke were so impressed with this. They had fun bending his ear and comparing it to their own. All of the cartilage is broken down due to him always playing with it so it's super bendy! 

The kids had a blast with Uncle Ryan flying them down the hill in the stroller. Ryan definitely got his workout for the day running up and down that hill half a dozen times!

Michael LOVES the cats. He knew so many facts and statistics about them. It was pretty amazing, actually.

And, he was a great helper with the kids! B & A really took to him, and they love having a cousin to rough house with. He is so good with them! Pretty soon I'll be able to hire him on as a babysitter :)

After we got back, George took us up to the cow field. I thought we were just going to drive up to it, and look in. Nope. We drove INTO the cow field, and got super close to them. The kids thought that was really cool! (And again, I was grateful I didn't have my van there!)

Asher was climbing on this tree and this branch snapped off. He landed on his bum pretty hard. He sat there for a second and then said "Aww, MAN! That was AWESOME! I'm SO STRONG!" Then he walked around carrying this huge (to him) branch over his head, showing us his muscles. It was hilarious.

Side note: Asher *thrived* on the farm. He had an absolute blast. Having the freedom to play outside all day without any boundaries ("stay out of the street!") and do ultimately whatever he wanted was so great for him. He doesn't do well confined to small spaces with lots of restrictions, so this trip was very good for his soul. He didn't have even one meltdown while we were there, and he played extremely well with both of his brothers, as well as his cousins.  Makes me realize how badly I want to move to a place with some land!

George also took us to go see the lambs and horses. The boys loved how soft the fleece was and they loved being so close to real farm animals!

Saturday we headed to Red Deer (a half hour North of Innisfail) where we went to the community center. They have an indoor water park that was phenomenal, and super cheap considering! We had a blast on their lazy river, water slide, playground, and hot tub. The kids enjoy the water so much more than they did last year. I am so glad that they enjoy getting more than just their piggies wet now. Makes events like this MUCH more enjoyable. I was terrified to bring my camera inside so I just have this one picture from Heidi's camera. It'll do!

Sunday we went to church in Innisfail, then came home and had dinner with the extended family. It was nice to be able to sit and chat with family that I’d heard so much about but had never met!

Ryan and Heidi left on Monday, and the boys missed their cousins but it was nice to have a day that we just relaxed. I mowed the lawn for a couple hours, then Sean and I went Gopher Hunting. George let us take his truck and .22s and showed us which field he had the worst Gopher problem in. It was fun to go joy riding through a huge field and take out a few ground squirrels. After hunting, we stopped by the Knee Hill Valley Divide Cemetery, where Lorraine’s uncles and other relatives are buried. It is a tiny cemetery with only a few dozen headstones, but it is in a beautiful location where you can see the entire valley. I’m glad we took the time to stop and check it out.

Tuesday morning we woke up, packed up the car, said our goodbyes and headed out. We realized after we got to Innisfail that we had left a load of laundry in the dryer at our Hotel in Canmore. It would only add a half hour to our drive to stop back by there on our way back to Spokane, (and cut 2 hours off our drive the next day) and since we loved it so much, we decided to book another night there and see a little more on our way home. When we got there, it was pouring down rain and gross, so we took advantage of the pool one more time. 

We stopped at this playground in Bonner's Ferry, ID. The kids played for an hour and were begging to play longer but we had to get back on the road.

We made it home around 4pm on Thursday, and although we were definitely grateful to be in our own beds again, we sure did enjoy being on vacation!

Vacation - Part 3

We drove into Banff and were worried that the Gondola wouldn't be worth it. It was overcast and rainy. The kids had fallen asleep in the car so we waited a half hour while they napped and the sky cleared up! We heard that the Gondola was amazing, and we weren't disappointed! The Gondola takes you up to this really high point on Sulphur Mountain. Then from there, you can hike another kilometer up a boardwalk to a higher point. All of it was incredible!! It was the perfect time to ride the Gondola since 5 and under were free. We only had to pay for Sean and Me! Everett had a blast climbing the boardwalk stairs up to the higher lookout and we were all happier after burning so many calories.

The lookout point we hiked to is in the top left corner

The view outside the hotel in Canmore

After all sleeping very well that night, we took advantage of the hotel pool before heading off to the Farm. Everett had a blast! I'm hoping that maybe we'll have one fish in the family!

Vacation - Part 2

We left Monday morning around 10 and headed towards Spokane. We got to Spokane Monday evening and stayed the night with my cousin Shana, and her family. I hadn’t seen Shana in several years so it was so fun to get to hang out with their family for a little while. We decided to rent a minivan in Spokane. We got a really great deal, and the benefits far outweighed the cons. We were SO grateful to not put the miles on our engine and tires. And having the perks that come with a 2011 van was a plus! We picked up the van Tuesday morning and after transferring all of our luggage (way.too.much.stuff) we were on our way to Canmore/Banff. 

The clouds in E. WA. It looked like they were sitting on glass. The bottoms were all perfectly flat. It was so cool!

Sitting at the border, we saw this weird trench cut in the trees. It was super long and steep and it looked mowed. I had to snap a picture, because I just didn't understand!

The first thing we learned after crossing the Canadian border is that Canada’s speed limits are way worse than Easter Oregon’s. I don’t think we got about 70mph (110 km/h) the entire time we were gone. Shortly after crossing the Canadian border, we stopped for lunch at this cool place along the river. 

On our way to our Hotel in Canmore we saw an elk, a bear, mountain goats, and deer. Along with the clearest rivers and waterfalls I have ever seen. It was a beautiful drive! 

We got to Canmore and got checked into our room. The kids had slept a lot in the car so we let them stay up late to run around and burn some calories. We left by 10 the next morning to head to Banff. We went to Moraine Lake first. It was the most beautiful lake and setting I have ever seen. I NEED to go back there someday. It was incredible. There was this huge boulder pile that we all climbed to get the best view. The kids loved being allowed to climb on everything. 

We then went to Lake Louise, where Brayden decided to go swimming. So we were only there for about 45 minutes. But we were blessed with beautiful weather and it wasn't too crowded. We were blessed!

After Lake Louise, we headed to Banff. I'll save those pictures for the next post...