☼Bye Bye Summer 2016☼

We drove down to Park Lake to celebrate our last day of summer.

We meet Lauren, Kaly and Jennifer with their kids to spend a day in the sun :)

Laurens Mom and sister came too, along with these super fun Kayaks- the kids loved them, total hit.

I headed down early before the others, stopping in Lethbridge, dropping the kids off with Jen for 45 minutes while I went and saw my new niece Arlie!! It was so great to hold her and see her beautiful Chipman features. No pictures, I spent the entire time holding her, soaking up the baby time :) Hopefully she will be out of the NICU soon and the kids can meet her.

The weather was perfect, the only down side was the wasps... and poor Remy got stung on the cheek, sat with me and cuddle for about 30 minutes after.. it hurt!

With 14 kids we had toy everywhere and everyone had a play mate, such a good way to spend the last day of 2016 summer.

We rushed home for a quick dinner and I was off to Young Womens, Grandma babysat the kids and got them in bed on time. Before the kids were in bed, the Elders came by. Elder Wicker got transferred, he has been here for almost 7 months (I think) and my kids adore him. He came to say good bye- we hope you come back Elder, we would love to see you again :)

NEW & OLD cousins

Tuesday morning, I rolled over, looked at the phone and got fantastic news!!

Mark and Lindsay had their baby! She was born late last night, and she is gorgeous. 

I can wait to meet her :)

Congratulations you two.

Grandpa sent me the pics!

Tuesday morning Remy had a dentist appointment and I renewed my passport. All the way into the city, she has a pediatric dentist, she was shouting "My Teeth No Hurt!!" over and over again hoping I would change my mind about taking her LOL! AND THEN when I dropped the other three kids off at Aunt Karlas to play she dang near lost it. She screamed and bawled all the way to the dentist, up all three flights of stairs, and the entire time in the waiting room (20 minutes). We finally got into the dentist, she was tuckered out and just whimpering by the time we laid her back, I held her legs and the dentist cradled her head while I pinned her hands and legs. The dentist asked if she was three yet, (he saw her chart) and mentioned that she would need 2 prizes, one for her birthday and one for the visit. She almost stopped crying, and then as she was winding up again, the dentist goes "Shhhhh, your gonna wake my baby elephant!" She stopped crying instantly. Didn't make another peep. All smiles after that, all smiles.

Good Grief.

A quick stop to renew my passport and we headed back to meet Karla and Sherilyn so we could hit the beach!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, the kids got one more play date with cousins before school starts. Daddy even joined us for the afternoon at the beach, he is heading back to Edmonton this evening for another weekish of work.

Cat Creek & Hot dogs

I had to adult Monday morning.

All this fun stuff is butting me WAAAY behind in my motherly cleaning duties.

Folded and put away 5 loads of laundry and packed/labeled and sorted out School Supplies and Backpacks for School starting Thursday. 

After adult things were done, and Daddy got home early we headed out to hike Cat Creek Falls with the kids. I have heard great things about this little hike in the Kananaskis Country.

I had planned to hike it with a friend Monday morning, but she got busy with her job and had to bail. We were bummed we couldn't hang out, but I am glad I still did it with my family :) I am also super glad Justin came, Remy demanded to be carried for a lot of it.

She could have walked it... from now on we are going refer to her as Princess.

The views were amazing... the kids were.... they were kids. The kids are kids, act like kids, are kids and frustrate us like kids do.

Big change for us was Annaliesse decided to barf instead of Barker. We were walking up the trail and all of a sudden Annaliesse bends over and barfs... she felt terrible the entire time and fell asleep as soon we got back to the van.

Family selfie... to prove I was there.

It took us about a hour and a half to hike there and back. We played and climbed around the falls for about 20 minutes or so... Kalia really had to pee and Annaliesse really felt terrible.

Barker got the soles of his feet wet, until he felt how cold the water was... his shoes went right back on. LOL Daddy climbed around a bit- Kalia wanted to follow but it was to steep on the way back down, so the rest of us just watched.

We headed back after Remy faceplanted in the little stream off the one side, and kept yelling HOME. It was really pretty and a great outing to do :)

I highly recomend it if you live close :) From High River WITH the climb and drive back it took just over 4 hours. Which is totally doable for young families or even a date night!

We got together with friends that night for another impromptu to FHE fire pit. George Lane Park @ 6:00 for hot dogs and marshmallows.

I love how Barker climbed into the pit to build a teepee, so cute. I also want to remember the age of Barker and Remy right now. Every so often Remy will go over and stand right next, like right next, to Barker. Just so she can be close to him. Its darling.

We usually get there early to get a spot and to start the fire, hot dogs roast best with coals.

The FHE usually lasts about 2-3 hours. Everyone brings their own food, we share too and just enjoy each other company. Kids go off to the park and adults chat and eat without kids in our faces (most of the time).

Sometimes gloves are brought and catch happens, Barker was very happy to play with Grandpa for a bit this evening.

Tonight was Bro Anderson's Birthday so they brought Ice Cream for everyone to share, what a great time. Thanks friends for being friends, and being into our impromptu FHE Fire pit nights :) We are hoping to be able to sneak one more in September before the weather turns..

Trying to finish strong

Originally I had big plans for Saturday, however after our not so perfect day in Banff Friday, we revisited our plans. Instead of going to Drumheller we stayed home, Justin mowed the lawn and the girls did a craft (nail polish painted bobby pins) in the morning. A friend texted and so we headed to the park to meet for a hour or so.

Should have stayed home :(

Fistycuffs and bawling, screaming and no respect. We left the park worse for wear.

The kids all got put down for a nap- and a stern lecture about manners and behaving. The little ones slept for 2 hours and the older girls sulked downstairs before deciding that maybe if they smartened up we could do something fun. 

Justin took Barker and Remy to the skatepark after they woke up, and the big girls got along very nicely. The afternoon was such a turn around that we decided to head into Calgary and go swimming with cousins!!

Last minute swimming trip to finish off the week, was just great. We met the Lieshmen's, Miguel's and Mom Moxley for a couple hours at the pool. We swam from 6pm to 8:30 pm. Remy was done at 8 and she cried for the next 20 minutes to show me how done she was- her and I got out and dressed before everyone else, and when we were done everyone else got out. We showered the kids for church at the pool and then hour drive home.

The kids were up until 10 pm... but we are determined to finish the summer on a high note!!

For the last 9 days the kids have been rather horrible, they are ready for school to start and for routine to come back. I am to for that matter! School starts September 01, but like I said, we are determined to finish summer on a high note!! There are a few more things planned for Monday-Wednesday lets hope the kids coo-operate and make these last days super fun. 

Banff

A day trip to Banff!

Justin got a call Friday Morning. A buddy had his truck stuck up north of Cochran, in the middle of nowhere. Justin headed out first thing, the kids and I cleaned the house and got ready to leave for 11:30. We met Justin just outside of Cochran and headed in.  

Usually we are early doers. Not this day.

Justin and I had different visions for this day. I had wanted to do Moriane Lake, but didn't realize it was another 45 minutes pasted Banff- maybe next time we can do it :) This time we just did Banff- First up a walk through downtown. Ducking into a few cute little shops. Before the day was out, each kids had a Backpack Bob and I may have purchased a darling Christmas ornament.

We ended up in a little mall half way through our walk and they had a String Quartet playing in the center. It was beautiful. The kids listened to a few songs, they even played a Disney song for the kids. After a bit the older three were ready to move, but Mommy was not done. Justin started to walk away with all the kids, but Remy got right mad, she wasn't done either! Mommy and Remy listened for another 10 minutes or so before moving on.

After our walk downtown we took the kids to the Cave and Basin National Historic Site. The have these Alberta Explorer books for kids to fill out as you tour the area, and if you fill out 5 pages you get a prize. Kalia and Annaliesse were SO into this. There was actually quite alot to see at the Site. The kids had a great time.

Lots of interactive things through the tour, a old timer car packed with camping gear, a tent from the 1800's with camping equipment, a room with some building things, and even some places for a photo op to be emailed to you! The picture below showed up in my email today!

The cave was hot and smelly, but neat to look at.
Kalia did the older kid booklet and it was a bit harder. She had to read things and fill in questions, at the end Kalia took the Alberta Parks pledge and got a dog tag and the three littles got a card and a tattoo.

It was dinner time after our trip to the Historical Site. There are so many unique places to eat in Banff- but we wanted the kids to actually eat, so we stuck with what we knew... Boston Pizza for dinner, where the kids were terrible and Mom & Dad tried hard to keep everyone happy. They stopped listening about 5:00 pm, we should have taken the hint and headed home. LOL.

But one more stop before we headed home- Banff Upper Hot Springs. Justin and I went on a date here about 10 years ago, it was fun to take the kids back... well fun might not be the best word. It was work... the kids were not allowed to jump around and splash and be crazy and they did NOT like that. But they did enjoy the giant hot tub for a hour or so, and it was a fun way to end our trip in Banff.

We left the hotsprings at 9:00, got home about 11:00 that night- I brought the kids jammies for them to change into after swimming, and we had snacks in the van. A snack and the kids slept on the way home... after being told to stop talking only about 15 times...

Family time is fun, it really is.... just sometimes its takes waaay more work and is not as fun as other times.

Remy's Day

Happy Birthday to Remy!

We were so lucky to have Daddy home for Remy's Birthday. He had been working away for the last week, and it was looking like he wasn't going to make it. But they ended up finishing the night before, the bosses wanted to wait and drive down the next morning, but Justin left that night to get home for Remy.

We hid her presents for a hide and seek game that morning. She thought it was hilarious.

For days she has been asking for 2 babies. The amount of babies she already has is ridiculous, but we found her a frozen (aka hoho) set of dolls.

Lucky for us The High RIver Parent Link Centre had their yearly carnival that day :) We headed over at 10- to hopefully avoid the rain and the crowds. We managed to do the Petting Zoo, Cotton Candy and a few Bouncy Houses before the rain came. We were in line for the gitterly tatoos when it rolled in.

The kids got the tattoos and we headed home. Daddy spent the afternoon building a box for a friends classroom, Barker right by his side the entire time. Instead of napping Remy played in her room for naptime, and then played all afternoon. There were babies lined up on both couches, phones and blankets everywhere. I made the cake and then some cookies, and cleaned. It rained all afternoon- it was really quite cozy.

We had dinner at Grandmas and Grandpa with the Missionaries, Laura and Mark. Thanks for feeding us Mom and Dad! We were getting a picture with Remy and her cake, she stuck her chin and sleeve in it. :( Good thing for washing machine and cakes that are easily touched up.

Aunt Laura came in with a bag of goodies for Remy. Stickers, coloring, bubbles, and sunglasses. What more could a three year want?

Remy had also been telling Grandma she wanted Babies for her birthday, but Grandma managed to convince her she needed baby blankets instead. Look at that happy face!

Grandma also got her a Daisy Doll set with enough accessories to loose one a day for a year.... thanks mom ;)

Happy Birthday sweetheart, we sure love you.