It's a Wrap! (End of Summer Recap)

Well, we managed to survive the week.  The first week of school!!!

The busyness actually began for John last week as he had to start showing up a few days before the students and volleyball tryouts began right around then too.   It was a sad couple of days for me as I realized the end of our summertime was drawing near.

The last couple of weeks were pretty superb for us as we tried to take in all the nearby favourite summer places.    The mini chuck wagon races...late afternoon stops at Dave's for fries or ice-cream...and lazy day walks down to the creek in search of snakes and fossils.   Sigh...excuse me while I reminisce for a while;)

One thing that I'm slightly disappointed about is that we only made it down to Glacier once in August.   ONCE!!!   Ive got a long list of hikes that I want to do in Glacier (Rainbow Falls, Garden Wall, and I've heard of a Chalet deep in Glacier that you have to hike into...) but this year, we settled for our much loved stroll to Lake Josephine for some fishing.   Of course the kids always have to stop at the "elephant tree" for some pictures;)    John hiked up with the dingy and the kids ventured out a little further then they have before, and Grandpa was the fisher of the day, catching more then anyone else did!!  

We did a lot of fishing this summer.   My favourite time fishing was when John and I were alone at Wall lake.   I've discovered though that I don't really care for it much when others are around.  Too many people to see me tangle up the line, I suppose;)   For that reason, when we go as a family, I'm usually perfectly happy to sit back and watch John coach the kids through it all.    ...usually;)

Another highlight this summer has been the gardens.   Our poor gardens definitely didn't receive the love and care that they normally would during a less hectic summer, but thanks to a wet spring and HOT summer - they have flourished nonetheless!  On this particular day we all went over and helped Grandpa with his beans.    Fresh Green Beans are the BEST!!!

At some point during the last week of summer, Jewel and Kendall slipped away for a weekend and her kids were able to come stay at our place.   These cousins get along so well and I rarely had to pay attention to any of them the whole weekend long!   We took them out to St.Mary's and Walley's Beach one afternoon and I'm glad we did.  For some reason, NOONE else was at either place and we had the entire beach to ourselves.   It was warm.  It was quiet.  It was so soothing!

Another thing we had to do one.last.time was steal out to Waterton for another attempt at fishing.  Sam has been determined to catch himself another whitefish, and we knew there likely wouldn't be another family trip out here until winter!   (Though, I'm already planning my own trip out as I type this.  It involves an afternoon of photographing fall leaves and lunch at the Prince of Whales!  It'll be so dreamy;)      ...ANYWAYS, we had a picnic supper, Sam serenaded us with his ukulele, and then I took the girls for ice-cream while Sam and John rowed far out onto Upper Waterton Lake to fish.   

At one point we could see them rowing right up to the edge of the lake, way far ahead of us, and it looked almost as though there was a bear walking along the shore right by them.   I pulled out my camera and zoomed in for a better look and sure enough, there was a bear eating along the shore, and Sam and John were just feet away from it watching.    I was so mad!!!!  Not so much because of the safety of it, but more because I was jealous that I wasn't in that boat!   That would have made for some great pictures!   At 8:00 we all made our way to the Falls Theatre for a presentation on flooding in waterton.    That may sound boring, but the presentations were definitely a highlight for the kids this year, and we tried to go to as many as we could.   

And what would summer be without Swimming lessons!!! 

Our pool renovations were completed by late spring, and for the first time ever we opted for a family pass.  I'm so glad we did, because these kids swam any time we didn't have something else going on.    They each passed their levels, but Sam and Abby were able to pass off two levels in one session because they flew through the curriculum so fast.   (And because their lifeguard/teacher was AWESOME!)   Abby was so proud to finish the week with a Level 7 badge and has her sights set on becoming a lifeguard herself in a few years.     Sam (as the picture may appear) fine tuned his "walking on water" technique, and also LOVED meeting up with his school friends each day at the pool.    Jessica of course has continued to love everything about the whole world, and swimming was no exception.  Nate however really surprised me.   Like, really!  For as long as this kid has existed he has never been a fan of pools.  ...or of getting wet in general.   This year he did a complete 180 and morphed into a complete and absolute FISH!!!  Though he is still nervous around the diving board, he no longer fears anything else.   Mission Accomplished!!!

This time of year is always a fun time as we get to turn our focus to our yard and gardens.  One evening, Max came over for dinner with a hundred pounds of apples in tow.  I'm not exaggerating either.   There were so.many.APPLES!!!   I knew I didn't have the time to process them in any way, but we couldn't let these delicious morsels go to waste, so we packed up 18 individual bags of apples and delivered them to friends and families that we know.   It was the most random night of deliveries ever, but the kids enjoyed it!!  haha

I snapped this photo on labor day morning as it marked the last laid back, lazy morning breakfast of the summer.    Sigh....we've sure had our fill of John's awesome cheesy hash browns!!!!    Bring on the cold cereal and hectic mornings.  haha

And finally, the only back to school photo I was able to get.    It's so telling of each of my kids' personalities I get a kick out of it every time I see it.  This is what happens every time I ask the kids to "smile" and I'm convinced that they have made a united pact together to never.ever look at the camera nicely;)    Abby however is just dripping with Junior High attitude and my thoughts and energy have shifted a lot as I begin to consider how I will possibly help her navigate through the next few years.   

Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time, you know?  Just stop it in it's tracks.   

It would appear that things just keep marching on whether I want it to or not.   Summers come and go much too quickly now.  The kids are getting much too tall, much too fast.  I guess all I can really do is try my best to keep up!!!

Camping in Waterton

After the fun time John and I had in Waterton a couple of weeks ago, we decided we needed to do it again, only with the KIDS this time!    So, we booked a campsite in waterton for a couple of nights, loaded up the van and headed out.   (John and I were a little bit shocked to see how much more packing is involved as soon as you bring the kids;)   Yowsers!! 

The kids enjoyed drive up to Cameron Lake, particularly because we stopped along the way this time paying attention to places and things we'd only ever driven by before.    It's awesome having a lot of time to just do "whatever" and not have to worry about getting home at any certain time.     Grandpa met us up at Cameron Lake that afternoon and rented a rowboat.   Nate refused to go, so while him and I hung back, the others rowed to the far end of the lake to fish.    The kids had a blast doing that, and it was fun to have Grandpa come along too!

I had such a fun time with Nate while everyone else rowed and fished.   We got ice cream treats, sat on the dock with our feet in the water, we drove around taking pictures, and then drove down the road to McNealys to prepare some supper for everyone else.   As soon as they arrived we enjoyed sloppy joes, veggie sticks, and S'mores!   WHY does food ALWAYS taste more delicious when eaten outside?    I don't understand it, but I do love it!  

The S'mores were such a fun hit during these three days.  We enjoyed them after every evening meal and the kids got to the point quickly where they could roast the PERFECT marshmallow in seconds!   They enjoyed the roasting so much, it was like a little S'more assembly line going on.  Everyone wanted to make one, few people wanted to eat them.   As a result I had a constant stream of delicious S'mores (made with love;) coming my way!!!!  I gained weight that week, I definitely did!

One day was quite rainy and drizzly, but it was not at all windy so I was happy and the rain didn't slow us down one bit.   The kids worked on their waterton activity booklets, we drove out to the Bison Paddock and got way too close to Bison, and we hiked Bears Hump!   On this day- Nate hiked Bears Hump for the first time without ANY assistance.   (We were majorly proud of him;)   Jessica spotted a cluster of Woodland Lilies which were BEAUTIFUL and I was over the moon excited to get to cross those off my list of flowers yet to see.   And Sam caught a huge Mountain Whitefish while half heartedly fishing at Upper Waterton Lake of all places.    Each one of the kids went to bed that night feeling as though it had been a special day for them in one way or another.   

Jess and Nate painted pictures up on top of Bears hump, and Nate and Abby both completed their booklets earning them special Waterton Hiker awards!!!

This whole trip was originally planned and introduced as a Birthday Trip for Sam who turned 9 right smack dab in the middle of our stay here.   He milked the whole "Birthday Boy" think pretty good that week earning him a double scope Ice Cream cone at Big Scoop, a special Father Son fishing trip below Cameron Falls and praise and compliments from the rest of us every time he wanted!   haha.   

We hope it was a fun time for him, but we definitely feel like it was a great time for the whole family!!  We can hardly wait until our next camping trip, which sadly may have to wait until next year;)    Luckily, we're working on a whole new list of things we want to accomplish while there!!!!

Cousin Camp and our trip "Sans Enfants!"

This past week Jewel hosted a Rausch Family Cousin Camp at her home for all of her siblings' kids.   The kids were invited- but her siblings and spouses were not!   I'll admit, I never really embraced this idea (I think I may have told her she was crazy. ...several times) but she forged ahead and counted on each of our kids showing up.

When the day arrived, our kids could hardly contain their excitement and I was so impressed with all that Jewel had done to prepare for this.   She had a stage ready for their "Cousins got Talent" night.   She had a schedule that was FULL of fun activities.  Every kid was assigned to a group with an older cousin in charge.   They had jobs to do, meals to cook, journals to keep and more!!   

It all looked like so much fun I found myself wanting to stick around too.   ....almost;)

John and I left the kids at Jewels and sat around for a while wondering what the heck we were going to do with this span of three days.    Naturally- waterton was calling our name!

Because I was a little short sighted, I'd only booked the campsite for one night, which meant that we had exactly 24 hours from the time we checked in- to the time we picked up the kids, to make the most of our waterton trip.  We resolved to tackle some of the things we'd not easily do with our young kids.   

It started with a hike into Wall Lake.  Not nearly as difficult as I'd imagined, in fact it was really quite lovely!  Here I am thinking we were so cool because we'd like hiked all the way into BC.   Pretty tough eh?   haha

Wall lake itself is GORGEOUS!!!   John is not one to stay at the front of the lake and whenever possible, he likes to circle the whole darn thing- so that is exactly what we did!  Once we'd scaled over that ice cliff at the top of the lake, we found a great spot to pull out our fishing rods.   It was the best fishing experience we'd ever had.  We caught fish almost every cast!   We caught so much fish that we actually got bored of the little ones.   The water was so clear and pristine and I found myself wishing I'd have the guts to just go right in for a swim.   (Then I fell in - and that settled that!;)

There was only a trail around 1/3 of the lake and so we were definitely scaling shail and bushwhacking for the rest of time.   It was pretty fun!!

When we finished the hike it was roughly 4:00 and we decided on a whim to head right on down the road to Cameron Lake.  We'd been wanting to row to the far end of the lake for a long time now (naturally) and figured this was as good a time as any.    I was so impressed that after a 12 k hike, John still had the energy to row a DINGY for 3 hours once all was said and done.   

(He's pretty tough;)   

The far end of Cameron is soo pretty and so lush!! I never would have known this but the mountain wall is covered with little waterfalls and you can hear them all cascade around you as you fish in the water below.   It was so serene!   (And of course, true to John's theory- the fishing was great at the top of the lake!)

The next morning we got up early, packed up our tent, had breakfast at Wieners of Waterton and set off for another delightful hike!  This time Carthew-Alderson.   Considering how easy Wall lake had been, I was definitely not prepared for the uphill climb that is this hike.   (7 km each way)   I also wasn't prepared for how beautiful this hike is!   Alderson was smaller than Wall lake, but had a similar wall at the head of it.    John fished here and caught a couple of fish while I spent some time identifying some flowers.   We ate some snacks and then made our way back down to the town site so that we'd be able to meet up with our kids at the right time.

I was definitely missing those little goobers by this point, and it was such a happy sight to see Jewel, Chad, Crystal and all our kids pull up to our meeting place.   (Lost Horse Creek is a GREAT alternative to Red Rock by the way.  LOTS of great rocks, waterslides, and privacy;)    Here we played with the kids, Jewel fed us a delicious meal, and everyone shared all of the highlights of their week.   SUCH a fun evening!

What a great week that was.  It was great to spend time with John.  It was great to get the cousins together.  And it was great to see my siblings!

I'm so thankful that Jewel stepped up to do this (not everyone would so willingly;) but it proved to be a remarkable week for those lucky little cousins.  Definitely a Highlight!!!

Lazy Day down by the River

I have not gotten together with my sister Jewel for a month.  A MONTH!   Actually, it's been a lot longer than that since I've even seen my other siblings, but considering the fact that Jewel and I live a blessed block and a half away, I think it is fairly ridiculous that we've not really gotten together sooner.   Ridiculous, but definitely understandable.  (Our normal routine includes phone calls, swapping childcare, and running into each other at school/church functions.   There is nothing "normal" about our summer routine;)   

On one particularly warm afternoon last week though, Jewel called up and invited my kids down to the creek with her and her kids.   Kendal was painting, John was fencing, and none of us had company for the first time in weeks, so it appeared as though the stars were aligned!

My kids were THRILLED to go down to play, especially since Jewel's fam was visiting our cousins dog Banjo for the week.   Banjo has become an instant hit, and I'm praying that Jewels fam gets a Ridgeback of their own sometime soon.   (That way John and I will be the only ones in my family without any pets and our kids will think we are super cool for that one;)  

The kids (minus Nate, who stayed home because I lied and told him that the others had to go "work") found a snake, swam in the water and enjoyed feeling like they know what it's like to own a dog.   

Pretty great way to spend a lazy summer day!!!    

R.I.P "Hotstuff"

A couple of years ago John and I made an impulsive decision, gave into the persistent pleading of our children and got a couple of fish for them as pets.   Sam wisely named his fish Poseidon, but sold him a year later in an effort to make a fast $10.    Jessica named her fish "Hot Stuff" and never really gave him much thought after that.    (Clearly my kids grow deep attachments to their pets;)  

Over the course of the past year I have been the one to feed her fish, change it's water, and give it the love my kids didn't seem capable of giving it.   I'd often tell the kids that I was the only reason that poor little fish was still swimming.   Turns out this was true :( 

With all the company we had over the past week or two, poor little Hot Stuff took a back seat entirely, even to me, and after all of the family had left, I went to feed it, only to realize I was about 10 days too late!   Sigh....

The kids wanted to hold a funeral for "Hot Stuff," not because they felt a deep sense of loss or anything, but more because they have a morbid sense of humour;)   Here were some of the sentiments that were shared:

Jessica:  He was a beautiful little guy!

Sam:  He was always so nice.

John: He never complained.  And he taught us that even when it seems like nobody notices you, or cares for you, you just need to be patient, until you can't be patient anymore.   

And with that, we ended our journey as Pet Owners.

Let's hope we've learned our lesson!!!!

The "After Party"

We all got home from John's family reunion on July 19th, only we weren't alone.   For ten days more, the party continued, on this side of the border, as a few of John's brothers and there families came up to stay.    Here's just a FEW of the highlights:

As soon as we'd all adequately rested (and recovered from a week in Kalispel;) we loaded everyone up and went out to Waterton.    The afternoon started out a bit chilly, but that wasn't going to stop the kids from playing in the water.    Jessica had a blast with Libby, Emma and Mary the entire week long, and the four of those girls got along so well it was perfect.   Know what else was perfect?

Baby Max's little smile, that's what!   

Luce and I had decided that the best thing to do for dinner that night was to have Luci make Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw, and I think we definitely made the right decision on that one;)   While Luci got everything ready - the rest of us played down by the water, because naturally, they weren't quite wet enough already;)    Here's something important that I need to say:   Pulled pork sandwiches are the best.   Like...the best, especially when covered with coleslaw.

  (Big Scoop ice cream for dessert doesn't hurt either;)    

After we ate, and despite the fact that it was way past little babies bedtime, we drove up to Cameron Lake for a bit of fishing.    It was cool to point out and notice the changes that have resulted along this road due to last years flooding.  More than once I wanted to stop and take photos, but couldn't because I knew that would have annoyed everyone!  haha.   Other fun things to note about this night:  

*Sam caught his first fish of the year, much to his delight!

* Jessica caught an old fish head, much to my dismay;)

* Jordan did his best to tolerate the mosquitoes

* We saw a moose on the drive down

*The Sunset was gorgeous that night, and as I drove home with a van full of girls, I was touched to hear my daughters and nieces singing to their favourite church songs, and talking to each other about Heaven and Family.  It was pretty darn sweet!

Another day, we ventured out to St.Mary's Dam to show them all one of our very favourite places.    

The dam wasn't open very much, which was too bad, but I suppose that made it safer for the little kids.   John immediately set everyone to work looking for fossils, and it was literally not two minutes before my niece Emma found what John was certain was the tip of a T-Rex TOOTH!!!!  

We were all pretty convinced and this lucky find helped enthuse the rest of us who now wanted to find one too;)   Just as we were about to leave, John's brother Ammon surprised us all by finding ANOTHER tooth tip.   What a lucky day!!!!

In case you are skeptical, John recently showed these teeth to a local fossil expert/archaeologist who confirmed that they are undoubtedly end parts of either a T-Rex tooth or teeth from a predecessor of the T-Rex.  How cool is that?    That makes for three T-Rex teeth that John has watched people find in this spot, and those three finds have caused John and his friend to think that this could mean that there is a legit skeleton somewhere under all that rock.  We have permission to send these teeth on to Emma and Ammon now, however the Tyrell Museum may eventually want them back IF such a skeleton was ever unearthed.   So fun!!!

After a little fossil hunting, we led them over to Walleyes Beach.  Or what existed of it.  (The water was high, and the mosquitoes were plenty;)   haha

I should probably interject right now and point out that these kids, over the course of those 17 days, ate a total of 51 meals together.  51 MEALS!!  Not once did they argue, or fight.  Sure, the occasional plate of food was thrown over the balcony, but overall I think these kids were awesome together!!

Abby, in particular impressed me so much as she took a keen interest in all the babies.  Whether it was Savanna, Blythe, Jaden or Max- if there was a baby around, she was looking after it.   She seemed to grow up right in front of my eyes over the past couple of weeks, and now every time I look at her I feel sad!  And grateful.  So, so very grateful for her and the help that she was!

Ok, enough gushing about Abby, back to the recap.  Towards the end of the week, Ben and Kat came down again and we were able to all go out to Waterton together again.   We tackled the smallest of hikes to Blackiston Falls.  The kids enjoyed it, but what they really enjoyed was playing in that wonderful Red Rock water!  Sigh...it was beautiful!!!   And of course, nothing tops up a trip to Wateron quite like hot dogs at Wieners of Waterton and Ice Cream at Big Scoop!!!   

Is it possible to ever get bored of this?   I think not!!!!!

So that is it.  We said good bye to Ammon & Kristin on Firday, and Jordan & Luci left on Monday.  

We've spent the last few days recovering from colds, cleaning up, catching up on yard/garden work and trying to re-establish some sort of a normal routine.  (I use the term "normal" loosely;)  

We had a crazy, busy, silly, happy, exhausting, memorable, FABULOUS couple of weeks!  

Not a bad way to spend the first half of summer;)

Blurry Recap

We arrived home from our week long family reunion a little under a week ago, and I am just now trying to recap some of the fun that was had.    (I was too tired then.   Sadly, I'm still too tired, but I realize that if I don't record some of the highlights - this old brain of mine might forget them altogether!!! ;)

The drive down was a beautiful one as we chose to go down through Glacier!   There was still a tonne of snow up at the top of the pass and the waterfalls were all flowing fiercely which made for a spectacular ride.   (It's on my list of "summer must do's" to drive that road again this next month and snap some photos)   It was beautiful!!!

My main worry that Sunday was that nobody would be happy with the accommodations as that was one of John's and my responsibilities.    I'd spent weeks agonizing over all of the things that could have gone wrong, because clearly, it helps so much to worry about things preemptively;)   

In the end, the accommodations were great!  The cabin easily accommodated all 40 of our sleepers, and each family had their own room, which gave us reason to celebrate for sure!

Monday was spent at the cabin taking family photos and enjoying the traditional carnival.  (Each family is in charge of a game/activity and some families really outdid themselves this year around!)   The kids always look forward to this event, which can't really be said for the "family photo event."  (Monday is always a love/hate kinda day;)      

We did enjoy a day at Big Sky Water slides as well, but I intentionally left my camera behind.  It was a cool morning water sliding, but warmed up nicely in the afternoon.    It's definitely no Seven Peaks or anything, but I think the cousins enthused each other and had a fun time!

Glacier consumed one of our days, and it started with lunch along the shore by Hotel McDonald.  

 I LOVED hiking to Avalanche Lake.   I found three flowers I'd not before seen - Queens Cup and Solomon's Seal and Alpine Forget me nots.  Beautiful!!!

This was definitely Nate's longest hike ever and I was proud of him for accomplishing it.   He had to be carried for about 10 minutes on the ascent, and then pretty much the whole way down - BUT he didn't whine!!  So...that's a win;)

Avalanche Lake is a gorgeous lake and I think John fell in love with it the moment he discovered the fish were biting!

This reunion also marked a new event that was a hit with the kids.   A family Auction!!  

Each family brought toys, treats and all sorts of fun things to donate and then each family was given points to to use when bidding on items they'd like.  

The kids all enjoyed this and there were relatively few tears, excluding Nate's;)  He suffered some major anxiety as he watched the coveted light sabre which he worried would go to someone else.  He was over the moon delighted when his bid for it won, and it was all fun and games for him after that!

                                                Nate wasn't the only happy camper that night;)

Another day was spent on Flathead Lake enjoying Seadoos, and a pontoon.   

Abby and John could have spent their entire time on the boats - in fact, I think John did!!!

On Friday the whole family participated in a silly sock run.  The kids had spent time decorating socks in all sorts of crazy ways and then on Friday they ran a fun, lighthearted run.    It was cute watching every family member cross the finish line.   

My favourite event of our reunions are always the Girls Night Out.  Over the years, it has turned into a "Favorite Things Party" and we LOVE it!  I feel like I have been blessed with amazing sisters and sisters in law, (on both sides) and this evening is a fun chance to celebrate with some of them.   

John and Sam went white water rafting with some of the others.   Abby wanted badly to go too, but she'd gotten a bit sick that day with some bug that was going around.   Poor thing:(   

I think John would have loved more rapids but Sam thought it was wicked cool!!!

Those were some of the highlights of the week.    

John has a remarkable family who know how to party in a big way.  

I'll admit, I was a wee bit exhausted, but as we drove home at the end of the week (with many of his family joining us) I felt grateful for the time we got to spend there with all of them.   

Here's to the Cougar Trail Ranch.  Thanks for another great family reunion!!!