Our Trip West - Sorrento

Day 8 - We traveled from Radium to Sorrento with many interesting stops along the way. Our first stop was at Roger's Pass where my couisin Darrel works. He showed us around the visitor centre, a new memorial for an avalanche that occured when the railway was being built (bottome left) and took us on a few hikes. Our first hike was the Rock Gardens, where we hiked through a rock trail looking for hidden symbols. Our second hike, was the Big Cedars where we saw enormous cedar trees towering above us. We even found some very fresh bear poop along the trail. We then made our way to Revelstoke, where we stopped at the Train Musuem and checked out the some model trains, an old steam train and learned about the history of the railroad in the area.

Our journey to Sorrento continued on and our next stop was The Enchanted Forest. It was a beautiful cedar forest filled with enormous trees and every storybook and nursery rhyme character that you could imagine. The kids had a blast in here and loved posing for pictures and exploring all of the displays.

Right beside The Enchanted Forest was the SkyTrek Adventure! There was a kids rope course which was about 10 feet off the ground and took the kids about 30 minutes to complete. They had a blast climbing and maneuvering around the course. Both of them made it through without falling and having to rely on their harness to keep them up!
We finally arrived in Sorrento at Aunty Verna & Uncle Dieter's after an eventful and exciting day! We were now ready for a weekend of R & R!!

Day 9 - Aunty Verna was our official tour guide on Saturday and took us around the area to see some of the sights. We began our tour at the Recline Winery, where we were able to sample some delicious varieties of wine. After that, we headed to Gort's Gouda Cheese Farm to sample and buy some fresh gouda cheese. Cole was not impressed with this part of the tour, as he did NOT like the smell of the cheese. A fresh fruit stand was our next stop, where we paused for an ice cream and bought our fair share of cherries, peaches, nectarines etc. Next stop was Salmon Arm, where we picked up some fresh Bratwurst for supper and toured the harbour where we saw some of the many houseboats found on the Shuswap Lake. We then went for an amazing hike at Margaret Falls through a small canyon. Lots of trees and places to explore. After an amazing supper of Bratwurst, Verna & Dieter took us to the Par 3 Golf Course in their neighbourhood. We all had a great round of golf - Elroy almost had a hole in one, I kept hitting the ball into the gully and Cole was interesting to watch as he had to use Elroy's adult clubs and nearly spun himself into the ground on every shot!!! The evening concluded with a puppet show put on by Mackenzie & Cole and some star gazing on the deck! Another great day!

Day 10 - Today was Aunty Verna's birthday!!! Elroy & Dieter took over breakfast duties and we had a great breakfast on the deck with bacon & eggs and lots of fresh fruit. Mackenzie & Cole decorated a birthday cake for Aunty Verna. (I think there was more icing on the kids than the cake.) Mackenzie Kate received a special gift from Aunty Verna, a framed prayer cross stitch that Grandma Kate had made in the 1940's. Aunty Verna sat down with Mackenzie and wrote a story about Grandma Kate's life. We spent the afternoon lazing around. Cole was busy cleaning his toy 4-wheeler from Dieter and was very happy to help Darrel wash his truck. I think Cole & Darrel were more wet than the truck by the time they were through. We also started a new tradition of "Steak Faspa" which is pretty much steak supper in the middle of the afternoon. After our Steak Faspa we headed to the beach for some swimming. Another great day with family and tomorrow it was time to move on to Jasper.

Our Trip West - Radium

Day 7 - We travelled from Banff to Radium through the Kootenay Mountains. It was another beautiful drive. We stopped along the way for a hike to the Paint Pots - bottom left picture. This is an area which is fed by ground water and contains ochre which produces a paint like substance. When we arrived in Radium, we noticed that our camper slide needed some minor repairs, so after that was taken care of we headed to the Radium Hot Springs for the evening to enjoy both the cool and hot pools. The kids had a blast doing tricks off of the diving board into the cool pool and I loved being able to sit and relax in the hot pool. The kids were very excited to see Mountain Sheep by the pool.

Day 8 - White Water Rafting on the Kootenay River!! The kids were super excited about this day! Our rafting adventure began at 9:00 am where we boarded an old school bus and traveled for about 45 minutes down to the river. The kids were geared up with wet suits, rain jackets and river shoes and we were provided with rain gear and river shoes. After a few basic lessons in rafting we were on our way. The day began as a beautiful sunny day, but by the time coffee break rolled around the clouds also rolled in. We had around 10 people in our raft and the kids sat in a safe spot in the middle. The scenery was amazing and we even saw a small black bear climbing the side of the river bank. We traveled through Class 1, Class 2 and some Class 3 rapids where we all got a good splash and had to paddle hard and then hold on as we went through them. Just before we stopped for lunch, it began to drizzle. After lunch, it continued to rain for a while and then cleared up for a while. Right after we passed the waterfall (picture bottom left), dark clouds rolled in and it began to rain once again and then HAIL and thunder!!! After paddling through this for about 10 minutes it finally cleared up and we once again were paddling in sun, but by this point we were all soaking wet, except for the kids who were wearing wet suits. Despite all of the adverse weather condition, we loved every minute of our rafting adventure. We traveled 40 kilometres down the river and saw some amazing scenery and wildlife. For the kids, it was one of their highlights of the trip! We boarded the bus for a hour and a half bumpy ride back to our campsite. We arrived back around 6:30, made some supper, popped in a movie and relaxed!!

Our Trip West - Banff/Lake Louise

Day 4 - Banff campground was an interesting place. It did not offer much privacy, but it had an amazing view of the mountains. The weather in Banff was quite cool. Some mornings it was only 4 degrees when we woke up. Our first day in Banff we headed to Johnston Canyon for a hike. We hiked for a couple of hours in the canyon and saw some amazing waterfalls and scenery. We stopped for a little snack at the upper falls and then headed back down the canyon. On the way home we saw some Elk along the side of the ride and were able to pose for a picture at a safe distance. Some people ventured even closer than we did - crazy!!!! We had an amazing supper that evening at Grizzly's Fondue. We cooked bison, elk, venison, beef, shrimp, lobster and chicken on a hot stone at our table that was 600 degrees and then dipped the meat into a variety of sauces. Sooooo yummy!!! For dessert, we had a chocolate toblerone fondue with fresh fruit. The kids LOVED this meal and wanted to do it again the next day. We said only if they were buying.

Day 5 - We headed to Lake Louise in the morning and were once again not disappointed. Mackenzie had the idea to rent a canoe, so that's what we did. We had a hour to explore the lake in our canoe. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The kids even helped with the paddling every now and then. After our canoe ride, we had worked up a bit of an appetite and it was lunch time, so we checked out the fancy hotel and had a fancy lunch with fancy hot chocolate and coffee! Yummy once again. The evening was spent checking out the shops in the town of Banff.

Day 6 - During our last day in Banff, we checked out some more of the town sites, hiked by the Bow Falls, walked through the Banff Springs hotel and just relaxed at our camper.

Our Trip West - Altona to Banff

Day 1 - The long drive west - the kids did such an amazing job with the drive that we made it all the way to Medicine Hat on our first day. They kept themselves busy with books, colouring, DS, and lots of movies. We stopped in Moose Jaw for gas and ran into my cousins Tyler & Melissa - total fluke and we were busted! After a quick visit on the parking lot we hit the road again.

Day 2 - We travelled from Medicine Hat to Okotoks with a little detour to the Bass Pro Shop in Calgary. If you haven't been there before, it is so worth the trip. It is an amazing store!! In Okotoks we stayed at a campground across the way from my Uncle Don & Aunty Diana's house. We spent the evening with them and their grandson Reece. (We forgot to take some pictures!!!!) The next morning Elroy went for a round of golf with Uncle Don and Tolan and then we all went for brunch at the golf course! Thanks for the great meal and the visit! It was great to see you guys again!

Day 3 - We travelled from Okotoks to Banff. Tolan recommended a great route for us to take through Kanaskis Country. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped along the way several times to check out the sites including a moose on the side of the road. We discvered that our sun roof was a great vantage point for the kids to see the wildlife safely from the vehicle. We also stopped at the lake where part of the movie RV (Robin Williams) was filmed. This is one of our favourite camping movies, so it was neat to see the lake where the RV drives into the water.

Wheat Field Photo Shoot

This year the field behind our house turned into a wheat field! We were very excited because usually this field is filled with corn which leaves a big mess on our yard come harvest time as a lot of the stuff left behind blows onto our yard! The kids and I did a mini-photo shoot before we left on our trip out west. My new camera lens worked really well with some of the close up shots.

Cole & Mac's handiwork with the camera!

Random Summerness

Just a few random shots from the summer. Top corner - Cole decided to put on his football costume and wanted to play football in the back yard. Large Picture - Dressing up with the neighbour kids. They actually walked around the village like this playing musical instruments. It kind of reminded me of "Brumtops" (not sure if I spelled that one correctly. Bottom right corner - Camping in Cavalier with some friends. Little Ava was the lucky recipient of a "Spa Afternoon" in the camper. Bottom centre - eating some cake with buddies while camping. Bottom left - camping in Cavalier. There was 5 Moms and 15 kids. We had a blast!!! Left centre - Cole lost both of his top front teeth this summer! Made his little grin even more irresistible!

Summer Camp

The kids both attended Winkler Bible Camp this summer for 2 days and 1 night with some of their friends. The both loved all of the activities during the day. They both loved the ropes course and the climbing wall. Mac made it to the top of the climbing wall (top row of pictures) and then repelled back down again. Canoeing, mini-golf, horses, games and lots of fun with friends!

Swimming Lessons

The kids both did their swimming lessons in June after school. We finally got the hot weather we had been waiting for and it was a great way to cool off after a day in school. Cole finished Level 2, where he learned to tread water in the deep end and began to work on his front crawl. Mac finished Level 5, where she spent most of her time swimming lengths of the pool. She also learned the whip kick and sculling.