Edmonton Envy

So, Edmonton has officially stolen both Sarah and Jenny back.  I am the lone ranger in Okotoks.  But at least I can plan trips and look forward to my sister-visits.  It's Jenny's birthday in a few days so I came down to celebrate her birthday with Sarah.  We have this doll-head-swap thing that's been going on for years.  YEARS!  I have no idea where it is.  We all have moved too many times to truly know where it has ended up, but I DID happen to have the body of a porcelain doll that I managed to separate from its head.  I'm sure Amber's doll head will curse me the rest of my life for this!  Well, it was time to pass the torch and change things up a little so for Jenny's present I wrapped up the body with a note saying something along the lines of, "You have something that belongs to me, and I want it back!"  I truly believe Jenny was the last one to have Amber's head, so really it's Jenny she should be haunting.  Not me.  Jenny said it was perfect.  Honestly, what I should have done was sew on a different doll head in its place.  Now that would have been something.

I was near tears seeing these amazing beauties!  It's been far too long.  Happy birthday Jenny!

We did dumb things like try on ugly clothes that don't fit right, along with eating too much and watching movies; "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (which I highly recommend---book and movie).  And the classic you cannot go wrong with ever, "Pride and Prejudice."  

We played a frisbee game with Hannah and Taylor and I learned something new;  That there is someone in this universe that is worse than me at throwing a frisbee!  Haha!  Go Jenny!

I am lucky to have these women in my life.  I couldn't help but shed a few lonely tears.  It has been an adjustment over the past few years with not being in each others' lives as often as I would like, and this Summer has been a severe gong-show that way.  I haven't even talked with Jenny in months!  Months!!  This is what growing up is I guess.  I wish I could find that balance where I don't need them as much as I find I do.  At least Edmonton is not that far away.  And at least there is Google-chats.  These two things make life more tolerable.  I will probably never stop needing my sisters.  I am lucky to have them in my life.  They make me laugh.  They make me calm the heck down when I'm freaking out about stuff.  They listen.  They hug and console.  They are my best friends.

Dine-saw!

The tv show "Peppa Pig" has taught Jane many things.  One is how to call me, "Mummay" which is adorable, and the other is to call dinosaurs, "dine-saw" just like George does.  With all this smokey outdoor business, we decided to take our Burnham business inside and check out the dinosaur museum last week with the Mifsuds.  It's a lot cooler when your kids are older and actually want to read and learn.  Which was not this trip.  Haha!  It wasn't that bad.  But, honestly, I would love to go on a date just me and Joe and take our time there.  All in all, it was a fun visit.  Alberta is pretty neat.

Jackson (11)  Jane (2)

Jane (2)

Zoe (6)

Ellie (8)

 Noah (10)

Jane passed out HARD.  Bless that beautiful stroller.  We have had some long fun days of playing hard and it has been a massive blessing that she has still managed to find a way to sleep in not her bed on these days.  Whew.  Happy Summer all!  Back to school next weeeeek!!!

Sheep River Falls and Banff

Sometimes having guests come visit you means that you force yourself to see the funnest and most beautiful places of Alberta.  One of those places was Sheep River Falls (and surrounding areas).  This is near Blue Rock where we camped but we didn't get a chance to really dig in to all the sights.  Glad we went back to enjoy it.

We also took the Mifsuds to Johnson's Canyon in Banff for the longest hike my kids have ever been on.  Haha!  I wasn't sure how they would do but somehow I was able to have the patience of someone who is really patient.  Seriously.  I was killing it.  Probably because I knew it would be a gong-show.  Here are the kids at the starting point.

Aaaaaand two minutes in, Noah got stung by a bee.  So.  Patience.  The stinger was left in and everything so Joe had to dig it out with a credit card and suck out the venom juice.  Poor kid.  He was a champ though, and kept going.  He kind of had no choice.

 Joe handled Jane for most of the uphill journey and I had the other four.  I thought this was a good gig, but I forgot that Zoe is not much for walking of any kind.  I got a small dose of what Jackson gets every day going to and from school.  Haha!  There was a point near the end where I was giving her piggy back rides, which my back is not really equipped to do, but somehow did it anyway!

If Jane was not being held, she was mostly found off-roading it.  "I'm climb a mountain!"  Don't try to tell her where to go or what to do.  She knows what she wants.  And that phrase is basically who she is in a nutshell.

Joe and I switched on the way back and I got Jane.  No-nap Jane who was so snugglish.  I loved it.  My back didn't by the end, but my heart did.

There were a few times with me where "I'm climb a mountain" attitude came out, but it didn't last long and she would end up in my arms again, half asleep.  I got lots of "aww" looks from passersby and one comment from a Dad to his teenaged son, "don't expect that on the way back!"  Haha! 

Tired.  Tired.  So tired.  They did pretty good actually.  I was expecting a lot more whining and a few more near-deaths.

During part of the walk it was just me and Ellie and Zoe and I loved chatting with them.  We mostly talked school and friends.  And what if your house was made out of chocolate.  It was adorable.

If you look closely, you'll notice that Jane is covered in mud and wet.  Haha!  She had just fallen when seconds later, Zoe followed suit.  We had two very loud little girls, wailing and wailing on.  So.  We swapped again and I took Jane back.  She was immediately healed by a happy little squirrel.

It was seriously so cute.  After this, she just let me hold her sleepy little self all the way down.  Thankfully she is a feather.  All we wanted was ice cream at the end of the trail.  Ice cream.  And I knew there was an ice cream kiosk at the end.  And.  It.  Was.  Closed!  So that was sad, but McDonalds was a happy recovery for all.  I would recommend this hike!  It was super busy, which is the ONLY thing that isn't awesome about it, but what can you expect from Banff?  

Hogg Park

Hogg Park always causes me a bit of anxiety.  The rushing icy waters.  The jagged rocks.  The too high cliff-jumping.  It's actually all really fun when we are there and I get over myself.  But.  Jane.  JANE.  She is a lot of work at these kinds of places because she is so determined to do what she wants to do.  But this time around, it's almost as if she had a reverence for the water this year.  Almost.  She still gave me a few frights, but mostly she was happy gathering pails of water or throwing rocks.  It was actually quite tolerable.  Who am I kidding?  We had a blast!  And I'm so glad we went because it was one of the last nice days of the Summer.  That did not change the temperature of the water, unfortunately, but we got around that by being brave and just going for it!  

The kids found this really cool part of the river where they could ride the wave with their boogie boards and were out there forever!  It was pretty neat.  And Joe took a break from cooking this trip, so I actually got to do quite a few runs with Zoe tubing down the river.  It was fun and she is so cute to be on a tube with.  Not a lot of fear, but a TON of excitement and joy and giggles.  

Dave and Elisabeth Mifsud came to visit us for a few days and joined us here.  Joe managed to convince Dave to cliff-jump, and I'm so glad he did because I was totally off the hook for peer-pressure of any sort!  Deep down I want to, but man.  That water was just a BIT too cold to go all in this year.  Maybe next time.  Also, I feel like these pictures don't do this cliff justice.  THIS IS HIGH FOLKS!

The Johnsons also joined us for part of the day (Paisley).

Ellie and Maryn J hitting the wave.

Thank you Jane.  Thank you for staying on land and keeping yourself entertained with rocks.

It really is a pretty place here.  We are so happy we found this gem.  Not the prettiest or private-est campground, but the river is a lot of fun.  Great for fishing too, which I didn't capture, but did actually happen.