Hanging Around Town

We have been gone a lot more than we originally thought we would be this summer but when we are home there is so much to do!  We have enjoyed a lot of time by the river.  The girls love to go down late afternoon/early evening and catch minnows.  The setting sun as a backdrop and beautiful weather makes it an ideal evening activity.

They are getting pretty good at catching the little guys!  (and don't worry, they practice catch and release just like Dad)

We have been working on "moving" an extra 2 kilometers a day which often consists of a bike ride.  We even have fun with Uncle Mike joining in the fun.  One day we even ended up riding into a photo shoot on this bridge.  They just continued to take pictures as we rode by and gave us a wave.

Uncle Mike liked to get in on the minnow catching action!  He would go in the water for a minute and then come out onto the rocks and say, "brrrr, that's cold!"  We all had a good laugh.

The girls love to play with their Uncle at the park.  He is so much fun and is the best when he gets laughing!

He even plays catch with the girls!  What a great Uncle!!

Sometimes he makes them work!  It was Elizabeth's turn to push someone on the apollo.

One day Cera setup shop in the upstairs bathroom.  Mom didn't know until she went up to bed that night and it made her smile; especially the cost.  

A&W had a free root beer day.  Of course we had to go in and get it in a frosted mug!  The girls were so impressed. 

Cheers!

Mom and the girls decided they could ride their bikes up to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  It's about 6 kilometers and has a big, long gradual hill to ride up.  We were so proud when we accomplished this goal!  The girls even did great on the huge hill and didn't stop too many times!  Mom was super impressed!

The sky and sunset was breathtaking on the way home!  Some great exercise, a good visit and perfect ending to the day.

One evening, Elizabeth and Mom snuck out for a "hot date" bike ride.  We were enjoying a bike ride on a trail by the river....

...but the the trail started to narrow and we (meaning Mom) ended up having to push our bikes up a crazy steep hill.  But it was a fun adventure full of memories!

The girls are still loving their dog especially playing with her in the backyard.  Mojo is a pretty good jumper!

She's pretty strong too - not sure the girls could win a tug-o-war.

Bomber Command Museum of Canada

We have talked about visiting the "airplane" museum in Nanton for years - it was finally time!  The girls were so excited!

It was a great learning experience!  You could spend hours in the museum learning about the history of the bombers and other airplanes used in war.  The girls were able to climb into a few planes to look around.

They even had some "gear" to try on.  (Mom might have cringed a little at the thought of lice bugs hiding inside the hats)

Some of the artwork that pilots added to their planes was neat to see, others might not have been age appropriate for the girls to see!

We found a few snowbirds!  They thought the ejection seats were pretty neat. (although not so much if you actually had to use them)

We are grateful for museums to visit so that we can see and learn about many new things to us.

We didn't end up paying the extra to tour the bomber (Mom wasn't feeling 100%) but it was very cool to walk around.  It was huge!  We also were impressed with how they moved it to the museum!

We were glad that we stopped and might have to stop again as there was so much to learn.

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Our next adventure was to Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park.  It was about an hour drive and as we got close Mom and Aunt Tori thought they saw a sign about watching for snakes on the road.  They looked at each other and thought maybe they just imagined it or it was talking about garter snakes or something......nope, a few minutes later there was this sign.  Oh man, this might be bad for certain little girls (ahem, Elizabeth) who are nervous about many, many things.  But we've come this far so we've got to have our adventure - it might just be different than we planned!

We tried to keep the snake issue quiet but it was hard to miss the rattling noises as we sat to eat our lunch by the visitors center.  After many discussions about how they won't bug us if we don't bug them and reviewing safety guidelines, we were able to start our hike along Hoodoo Trail.  Elizabeth was very cautious and stayed close by Mom or Aunt Tori - preferably right between both of them!  We were in awe of the beauty we were surrounded by and how different it was from what we are use to seeing.

We enjoyed the interpretive trail.  We stopped at each number marker and the girls took turns reading to us about the area.  We learned lots!

There were some pretty neat plants along the trail too!  We felt like some were straight out of Horton Hears a Who or The Lorax.

We enjoyed searching the rocks for the petroglyphs and picotographs.  If you look close enough you can see one here on the left side of the center crack in the rock.

And another one - it's sad to see them fading from natural causes.  What a great opportunity we had to enjoy them!

It was a hot day and they had said you can drive and stop at a few places along the trail.  We figured we could make it as it was only 4.4 km and we were prepared to hike it.  It was a great hike but we were grateful for the few places we could enjoy a bit of shade along the way!

We had such a wonderful day exploring new places, enjoying each others company, learning new things and trying to stay hydrated!  (the girls loved each having their own camelbacks to constantly drink from - the youngest two ran out of water before we made it through half the hike!)

The Battle Scene trail was a little off the Hoodoo Trail but well worth the distance!  It was amazing to see an entire battle scene drawn out on the rock!  

This past year Cera had learned about the RCMP and liked seeing one of their old outpost buildings.  The landscape around it was gorgeous.  We loved the lazy river look of the Milk River and discussed floating down it next year.  The girls also discussed how Dad would love fishing the river.

After the hike we grabbed some slushies from the campground store to help cool us down.  Then we went to explore the trail from the campground to the visitors center.  We climbed all over the hoodoos and took lots of pictures.  Elizabeth was pretty scared to lean over the side so we had to get creative in order to get her picture.

The girls loved the feeling it gave them being able to climb to the top of all the hoodoos.  They would have climbed for days if Mom let them!

It feels great to be on top of the world!!

We came, we hiked and we conquered!  

On our to Writing-on-Stone provincial park we noticed a sign for Coffin Bridge.  We couldn't pass up the chance to check out this uniquely named bridge on our way back!  It was a neat looking bridge with pretty surroundings but we also enjoyed the wildlife we saw on the way.  There were a few deer on the road and instead of moving out of the way when we came they took off hoping down the road in front of us.  It sure filled our car with giggles and something to talk about!

When we got back to Aunt Tori's house the school sprinklers were on so the girls headed across the street to play.  It was fun to watch them play, laugh and have so much fun together.  They enjoyed the cool down but also had fun shooting their sandals with the force of the water.  What a great day!!

We live in such a beautiful province (and country) and have enjoyed exploring more of it this year!  Here's to many more adventures and memories!

Henderson Pool

We decided to head to Lethbridge again!  This time we took a trip to Henderson Pool and loved it!!  We went on the right day that there were hardly any lineups for anything.  The pool was a blast, company was great and the price was right!  Highly recommend it to anyone!

Cera and Emilee liked the climbing wall over the pool.  You could climb up as high as you wanted to (or could) and then drop into the water.

Emilee had fun on the diving board and was the last one to take the plunge before they closed it for awhile to let people swim in the deeper area.

The girls were nervous to try the big water slides.  Aunt Tori was able to convince Cera and Emilee to try them and then there was no stopping Emilee!  

Mom went down a few times with Emilee but preferred the open top green slide as the red one seemed a little small and too closed in.

There was nothing that could convince Elizabeth to try the bigger slides but she loved the "under 12" area.  She probably wore a strip down the middle of this slide!

What a great afternoon!  The girls weren't ready to leave and will for sure come back again!

Fun Around Home

Elizabeth enjoyed an afternoon hanging out with Mom.  When it was time to go pick up the other girls from their play dates it was a little wet out!  The rain was coming down so hard our rain barrel couldn't handle it - it was shooting out the top.  Elizabeth got the giggles when she saw it and just had to have a picture.

Mom asked the girls to help with making some meals this summer - one, to help Mom out and two, to learn some basic cooking skills and meals.  Emilee decided to take over making fajitas one night and did an excellent job!  One of her favorite parts of cooking is cutting all the veggies.

We have been working on our goal to walk, bike, or run an extra 2 km a day throughout the summer.  Our favorite seems to be bike riding especially with the perfect place to ride by our house - around the pond.

We had a coupon to use at a pottery painting place so Mom and the girls headed for a day out.  They looked pretty good once they were painted.....

....but wow, what a difference the firing makes!!

We decided to try Burger King when we were out and the girls decided they really like it as another fast food option.  They even liked the cheesecake dessert!

We love our family nights out - especially to the river to play!  (and that Dad is easily talked into a stop for ice cream on the way home!)  We live in such a great town full of green and natural spaces and a wonderful pathway system that we can enjoy.