A little wedding camping

In May, our oldest nephew (Big Cousin Carter to the kiddos) got married. Of course we headed down to celebrate! We also decided to stop along the way and camp at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park. So it was a packed, and awesome weekend!

Thursday at noon, I picked Calista up at school, Kyler and the train station, and we took off on our adventure. Along the way, there was a bathroom break or two, a break for dinner, and of course, 6.5 hours of driving.

But we made it! Once we got to the campground, we were thrilled to discover lots of trees and shade in our spot, with the playground and bathrooms close by, too.

I assigned the kiddos to clear the tent spot of pinecones, and got the tent out of the car.
Once it was out and set up, we headed to the river to play for a bit. I took these pictures specifically for my mom.

There is a fence and gate between the river and the campground.

As this sign indicates, it is to keep the beavers by the river out of the campground so they don't go chewing up all those shade trees!
The river was beautiful in the evening, and we were so grateful for a nice warm day.

We were a little worried about camping at the end of May in Canada, but we didn't freeze at all!
Then we headed back to the campsite and attempted to make s'mores with our camp stove.

Not a great success, but fun all the same. Next up was pajamas and bed... eventually. First Kyler had to tell the kids spooky stories (at their request). My favorite was one was about a time-traveler back in the time of dinosaurs. The man got caught by a tyrannosaurus rex, who agreed to not eat the man if he would go back to the future and then bring the t-rex back some Tillamook Cheese. The man went to the future to get the cheese, but instead of taking it back to the dinosaur, he ate it himself. One day he went to a museum and saw Black Beauty. The skeleton turned to face the man and said, "Where's my cheese?" When the man said he did not have any because he'd eaten it, the t-rex said, "Well, then, I'll eat you!" and gobbled him up in one bite.
After several such silly stories, and singing about 99 bottles of pop on the wall, kiddos were finally asleep. Whew. Kyler and I slept horribly, but that's beside the point.

The next morning, we headed into the hoodoos.

We went on a hike at let the kids scramble along,

gave great views of the river,

and ended in a pictograph called "The Battle Scene."

It was pretty impressive.
Caleb fell asleep in the carrier along the way,

Craig didn't think he could make it back to the campsite, and Calista got a little whiny. But then I asked Calista to try to be more positive, and she proceeded to be much more encouraging to Craig, even taking him by the hand and helping him finish the hike.

It was great.

We then played at the river for a while more, this time ready to get wet!
Kyler tested the depth and strength of the river by wading out into the middle,

and the kiddos enjoyed wading with him and playing in the sand.

Finally, lunch, taking down the campsite, and driving to Raymond.

Everyone was exhausted,

but we'd had a lot of camping fun. And the weekend had barely begun!

Friday night, Kyler and I had a little time to ourselves - to go to a (funeral) viewing and a rock concert in the cafeteria of the high school - and then it was off to a desperately needed sleep for everyone.

Saturday was wedding day! Kyler and I attended the ceremony and the dinner while the kiddos got to play with cousins and eat pizza next door.

It was wonderful. Carter bawled like a baby when his bride started walking down the aisle, and I was so happy for both of them. Plus the food was excellent.

Following the dinner

(and Craig falling asleep while eating pizza), it was time to get ready for the reception and dance!

Kyler took the kiddos back to his mom's house for a bit while I helped set up, and then came back with Calista to the dance - Caleb having fallen asleep and Craig electing to stay and watch a movie.

We rocked the casbah, got sufficiently sweaty, and then headed back to sleep.
Craig, when I asked him what we should get Big Cousin Carter for his wedding, told us, "A baseball bat. Because, when you get a new player on your team, you need a new baseball bat."

The new teammates

You better believe we bought Carter a (dollar store) baseball bat along with the other things, and wrote that message in the card!

Sunday morning we headed into Stirling to go to church with some friends we knew in Calgary, and they invited us to eat lunch with them, too.

It was great, and the kids got to play and have fun before the daunting 6 hour drive back home so everyone could do school/work Monday morning.

It was a long, exhausting weekend. We will definitely be going back to Writing-On-Stone, maybe even to stay a few more days. Calista said, "Wow! Why is nature is so much fun?" Because it definitely was fun. I love spending time with my family, and this was a weekend full of that!

Date nights

Last weekend was a busy one, particularly because both Kyler and Craig, and Calista and I, went on dates. 

It started with a date for the boys. We had two tickets to Galaxyland, so Kyler and Craig went. Craig had a ton of fun.

He's grown several inches in the last year, which means there were quite a few rides he could go on, both alone and with Kyler.

He loved the rides and begged to do the fun house twice.

Kyler thought Craig might stay in the playground all night, but he only played there for an hour or so, and then did some more rides. The boys were out pretty late (I even did my best to get Craig to nap in anticipation of the day. I was successful) but it was worth it.

While Kyler and Craig had fun, I was home with Caleb and Calista. Calista had gone to a birthday party earlier, and came home pretty tired. When she fell asleep on her own before Caleb did, however, I decided maybe she was sick.

Yup, checked her temperature and she has a fever. Uh oh! Because she and I have a date the next day, going to see Stars on Ice! I've been looking forward to going with her for a couple of months, she can't be sick now!

Nope, she was sick. And my chance at seeing Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Kaetlyn Osmond, Patrick Chan, Elvis Stojko, and Javier Fernandez, to name a few, seemed to be slipping through my fingers. Nooooo!

But we decided to give her a blessing. For hours, she'd had a fever hovering around 102-103. An hour after her blessing, it's down to 99. She begins to perk up. Calista begs to be allowed to go and gets dressed on her own. Against my better judgement, and mostly because I really want to go, I say that our date is back on.

And, honestly, I'm so glad I did. We had such a good time together.

Calista loved watching the skaters and dancing to their music. Her favorite to dance to I think was Patrick Chan and "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" by BNL. She was impressed by Elvis' ability to touch his toes while doing the splits in midair, and so excited to see the people she'd watched at the Olympics in person.

One of my favorites, of course, was Javier. Who doesn't love a handsome Spaniard?

Javi forever, Javi for always

Although probably the best moment for me was seeing Tessa and Scott do their "Roxanne" dance.

I am so glad she and I got to go and have a blast spending time together. I feel so blessed that she was able to feel well enough to go, and also just blessed to have her as my daughter and buddy.

Yay date nights!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

My favorite toddler has beautiful hair. It's curly, blonde, and looks like this:

Well, okay, it doesn't always look that crazy. I actually do try to comb his hair regularly.

So, instead, it looks like this:

 Um, I mean... this! This is what it looks like!

A little shaggy, but do you see those curls? Oh, my heart!
But, after some convincing by Kyler, I realized it was time. Time to give my baby his first haircut.

The first few cuts were the hardest. After them, there was no going back so it got easier to finish.
The end result is quite handsome.

 And maybe a little too grown up.

Who's that handsome young man? Where has my baby gone?

Even without the curls, I love him. I still miss them, though.

Toothless

Calista has been telling us she has a wiggly tooth for months. We mostly ignored her, because it wasn't really wiggly at all. But she persisted, and since time was on her side, eventually Calista's tooth was legitimately loose.

She wiggled and wiggled it, but hoped it would come out at school so she could get a little tooth necklace from the office to put it in. Because this is important.  Calista let Kyler and I wiggle it as well, and soon the tooth was hanging on by a thread. But she wouldn't let us pull it.
Problem was, it was starting to hurt her to eat or even talk, because the poky bottom of the tooth, the part that used to be securely in her gums and jaw, was now mostly on top, poking and hurting her gums every time it moved. Calista's gum was getting pretty inflamed, so we decided the time had come.

We put a show on for Calista. Kyler got out the pliers.

He didn't actually use them, though, because he couldn't get a good grip on her tooth. Calista was complaining it hurt, but in the end, when Kyler pulled out her tooth finally, she didn't even know it had happened until he showed it to her.

And then she was thrilled.
Calista got to put her tooth under her pillow. She asked me if I got money when I put my teeth under my pillow. I told her I did, and she replied, "Maybe the Tooth Fairy is real, then!"  Maybe, kiddo. You've got no proof otherwise!

Now we have a little Miss Toothless, with more to come (someday), I'm sure.

Belated Easter

Happy Easter - a month ago!

We had a great Easter season, beginning with a trip to the temple grounds.

It was the kiddos' first time walking around the Edmonton temple, and while the grounds are small, they still enjoyed themselves. Visiting the temple also helps our family focus on what Easter is all about, not just all the fun stuff.

Of course, we had fun stuff, too.

Kiddos all got Easter baskets. Everyone got some bubbles and chocolate bunnies - yum!

Caleb also got this little puppy ball toy thing that makes noises.

Not a great description, but he loved it.

Calista and Craig each got a Lego set - they were on sale!

So part of the afternoon was spent putting them together, obviously.

Oh, but first, we had the egg hunt!

Calista was a pro. Craig and Caleb, well...

They needed a little more help.

A lot more help sometimes. Everyone had fun, though, so success.
I was kind of hoping to do the hunt outside, take advantage of our new yard, but there was fresh snow on the ground so that was out. Oh well. Maybe next year.

After the morning's festivities, we got the kiddos dressed in their clothes to take a picture.
Which, of course, was easier said than done.

Still we ended up with a decent picture or two.

Don't they look fabulous? I just want to squish them all, while they're still young enough to let me. Most of the time.

Happy Easter!