The Grand Road Trip 2014, part 3

When we last left our adventurous heroes, they were preparing to leave Utah, the land of their eldest's birth, and return to Canada, the land of the clan leader's birth. So, we shall continue with The Grand Road Trip, part the third: our trip back to Canada and Canada Day celebrations.

So, the return drive itself was fairly uneventful. We spent the night in Montana to avoid doing the 14 hour drive in one day with two kidlets... yuck.
Craig absolutely loved the hotel because it was some place new to explore. The rest of us just appreciated the break from the car.

What I didn't appreciate: while in Montana, I... threw up again. For those keeping track at home,  this is the third time since the morning we left Calgary I threw up. Yeah, I'm not a fan. But I've survived, and we survived the driving with 2 kids under 3. We made it to Raymond, and all is well.

We got into Raymond on June 30, so the next day was Canada Day.

Obviously we went to the parade, sitting with a couple of Kyler's siblings and their kids.

Calista sure loves hanging out with her cousins. We gave Calista this lecture about the candy during the parade coming from cars, and needing to be careful, so she didn't get hurt... and then she was afraid to step of the curb without Kyler holding her hand. Whoops.

Maybe next year we won't give her the lecture and just see if she needs us to set limits first. In spite of her fear, she still got more than enough candy and had a lot of fun.

Craig also loved watching, just taking in all in. We didn't give him candy, because we were mean.
In the afternoon, we headed to the carnival or whatever it is by Raymond High School. They had some yummy buns,

music to dance to, and sand to play in.

The sand ended badly, however, when a boy about 11 threw sand at his friend and instead hit Craig (who wasn't even in the sand!). Kyler and I totally became those parents who yell at other's people children. Thankfully, Craig is just fine, but we still took it as our cue to leave.
Calista also got to stay up and watch fireworks for the first time. She started out outside with her cousin Brooklyn, then it was outside with Kyler, and then she came inside with me, too. She didn't act afraid, but was just being a little cautious.

The next day, we all went out to lunch with Maria - her favorite, sushi - and then to see How To Train Your Dragon 2 at the theater. There were moments that Calista got a little scared, so she sat on Kyler's lap and every once in a while would say, "I need a hug!" It was cute. She loved the movie, though. And afterwards, Maria went to Toy R Us and bought her a little Toothless dragon stuffed animal. Calista definitely loved that.

On Thursday, I think we're at, we went to the pool.

Calista loved it and went down the slide all by herself multiple times.

Craig hated at first, and then decided, actually, this isn't too bad, and did really well.

The mosquitoes, though, were HORRIBLE. Being in the water protected you, but when Craig got hungry part way through, instead of sitting in the lounges poolside, I retreated to a wooden bench in the dressing room to avoid being eaten alive. Ugh. I hate mosquitoes.
After the pool, we went and had dinner with Krissy and the missionaries. Calista loved playing with her cousins, and mostly let them boss her around.

She does have her limits, though, and let them know when she was done being their little doll.

Craig got to interact with little Brock, born Aug 1. It was pretty cute to see them play and touch each other.

Craig got his mohawk pulled a bit, and couldn't even retaliate, because Brock has almost no hair. Ha.

On our drive back up to Calgary, we took a little detour and went to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. It's a Provincial park and interpretive center. It was really interesting. We told Calista about it, and she kept saying, "Buffaloes fall off rock. Buffaloes fall off sedimentary rock (her addition) and get hurt. Buffaloes die." Yup, that about sums it up, kid.

Of course, in the days since, Calista has been "falling" down every once in a while, and then saying, "I falling like the buffalo." She is also saying, "Buffaloes fall down and get hurt... we got to help the buffalo!" I'm not sure she quite understood the concept of the buffalo jump.

It was cool, though, they had a movie of a buffalo hunt, and a whole bunch of stuff about the Native American tribes in the area, and their cafe, which we didn't eat at, had bison burgers. I was satisfied with that.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, though we are glad to be back home. So is our cat. I think she's forgiving us for leaving her all alone (with friends to check on her and feed her, don't worry!).

Now planning for the next big trip begins. What will it be? Christmas? Next summer to the Oregon Beach for the May Family Reunion? Hawaii after Kyler gets his PhD? All of the above? Vote in the comments below!