Red Rock Anniversary

Back in August, because I'm slightly behind the times, Kyler and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. Last one in single digits, people! This called for a celebration!
Of course, we had a 5-year-old, an almost 3-year-old, and a less-than-3-month-old, so big romance or high adventure weren't really on the menu, so to speak. Still, we wanted to do something. So, we finally planned a little day trip to Waterton that we've been talking about forever. I did some research on the internet, leading us to head to Red Rock Canyon in the morning.

I am so glad we did! Kyler doesn't think he'd ever been here, though his family couldn't quite believe it - apparently his parents came here on their honeymoon, and his sister took her engagement pictures here. Still, it was new to us.
There is a short trail overlooking the canyon, which was nice to hike around.

And then the real fun began. They have a specific area where they allow you to climb down and get into the canyon to hike around and play in the water. It was a ton of fun!

The water was a little cold, which made Calista hesitant at first, but she grew to love it.

Craig also absolutely loved it, and thought he could do explore all by himself, resulting in me being very glad I had brought a change of clothes for the kiddos.

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The only negative part of Red Rock was when a very nice boy fished our camera out of the stream and asked if we'd dropped it. Whoops. Sadly, the camera won't turn on anymore, but at least the memory card still works. We had to switch to taking pictures with our phones after that...

After we changed Calista and Craig's clothes, we headed into the town of Waterton, where we started with a picnic lunch at a park, though for our two eldest, there was slightly more park than lunch.

Then we took a short walk to the quintessential Waterton photo-op, Cameron Falls. It was kind of strange. Because the weather forecast had been less than ideal, there was no one at the Falls. We could take as many pictures as we wanted, whenever we wanted.

Following our pictures at the Falls and a nice walk around the town, we headed to get ice cream, and the weather report started to become a reality. Thankfully we were only five minutes from our car, out of the rain and wind.
We headed to Kyler's parents, where we were staying for the weekend, and took advantage of the free grandparent babysitting to head out to an anniversary dinner, just Kyler and I... and Caleb. He's still in the "where mom goes, baby goes," stage. We were hoping he'd sleep through our sushi date, but he didn't. He was awake almost to whole time, but an excellent (translation:quiet) dinner companion.

It was a nice, low-key anniversary. We loved spending time together as a family, and also as a couple (plus infant) at dinner. I'm so grateful to have Kyler to support me, and to raise children with. The last nine years haven't been without their ups and downs or trials, but they've been good, and I look forward to an eternity more.

Photo by Calista

Happy anniversary, Kyler!