Girl Genius

Okay, so I may be bragging here, but I honestly dont remember Eric or Sara being able to draw people (or anything for that matter) until they were older.

So, Jada was doodling on her magna doodle the other day while she was sitting on Casey's knee, and she just was like, look daddy. So he looked and it was totally people. She could tell us all the parts of these people. Their arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth and hair. She must have just picked this up from watching us draw people for her all the time. Though, I always make stick people when I would draw for her.
So proud of Jada for her artistic ability.( I do have it on video, but I have proven incompetant for adding video's here, so sorry)

Braces are OFF!!!

Eric got his braces off on Monday this week. WOW. He looks so awesome. Such a handsome, bright, big smile. I cant stop looking at him. He still has to wear a retainer but only at night time. His first request was POPCORN. It has been 8 months since he has had any, and it is one of his favorite things. So the night before, we were at the theatre and brought home a bucket for him special for after the braces. Soon as we got in the van after the braces were off, he downed the whole thing.

First picture is him being silly. Second one is a nice smile.

Kidsfest

Last week we took the kids to a Kidsfest in Swift Current. There was a carnival from 3-6, followed by a GodRocks Concert. All the kids had a lot of fun at the carnival. Ball tosses, marble races, calf roping, face painting, digging for treasure, huge jumping blow up thingys, clowns, balloons, prizes, hot dogs, and it was all for FREE. Great time for us all. The girls got their faces painted. Jada loved the bouncing jumpy thing.

The concert also totally ROCKED. The kids LOVED it, (well Casey and I enjoyed it as well). Casey's brother Adam & Cathy & girls came too, as well as Trevor & Colleen & kids. It was a good time. The music was so awesome. Loud, rockin' music, and the bonus was, it was all about God.

Oh the funniest part was when I thought Jada was feeling a little warm, so I gave her a motrin tablet. I then stood up to take some pictures of all of us sitting around waiting for the concert to start. Well, Jada thought that medicine tasted yucky, so she leaned over and told Dad to take this. He opened his mouth without asking and ate it. Oh he made the funniest face right when I took the picture, and was like "what is this?". All the while Cathy is sitting beside him trying to tell him that it is Motrin. She was killing herself laughing. It was so funny.

Pal the Pony

Royal got this pony, Pal that I talked about in a recent post titled "giddy up". So I thought that I better share some pictures of him. He is such a sweet horse.


Eric & Sara are now feeling confident to ride Pal without being led, which is great. Though Pal still wants to follow an adult, it can be a tricky time to get him to go out on his own with the kids.

Jada and her new earings

Well my baby just became a big girl today!! She got her ears pierced! She sat so good, and only had a tiny flinch when the earings went in. The plan was to have two guns at the same time, but one gun never went off, so in the end, it was one ear at a time, and she did wonderful. (I think I was way more nervous than she was.) Soon as we were done, she was ready to go play with Lexi. She loves them. She has been so good for me cleaning them as well. My babies are growing up so fast. I think Jada grew two inches today with her happiness to have earings "just like sara".

In the pictures they look funny, b/c the purple dot is still on where they marked.

Trail Rides @ Cypress

Wow, we are so hooked on horses right now. We went for another trail ride with Cathy and her girls. This time Jada could come with us, doubled up with a parent. She was soooooooo happy about this. Lexi on the other hand, did not like it at all. She wanted to go home the whole time. Poor girl! Cathy & Lexi.
Jada and I, riding Magic
Eric riding Latago, and he was such a slow horse that he had a whip attacked to his saddle to be whipped with. Eric was very pumped about whipping his horse.
Sara rode Goldie. Doesn't my Sara look so beautiful on a horse.
And Kate (my neice).

This was a great ride. They got the horses into trotting and one time Jada & I got into a full gallop. Made this to be a much funner ride then the plain walking one in Golden. Sara and Kate had so much fun, I could hear them talking the whole ride. Jada also talked the whole ride. She just loved it when she would see the horses in front of us start to gallop b/c then the "bummpies where coming".

Mini Golf @ Cypress Hills

This was a nice end to our couple days in Cypress. By all means we have no Tiger Woods on our hands, but they did have fun. Oh and the end putt, the one where you have a possiblity of winning a prize, has only one prize to win. A free game. My only thought is "please dont win, please dont win" . We are leaving, and I am not staying for another game. And who knows when we will be back. "Bzzzzz", the first buzzer goes off and Eric has won a free game. Ahhh. "Bzzzz", the second buzzer goes off and Sara has won a free game. Jada's turn, I know she wont get it all the way in to end this, so I just help her hit the ball straight, "Bzzzzz", the third buzzer goes off for a third free game. So now I have three tickets for free games at Cypress Hills Mini Golf. If anyone is going soon, let me know, you can have them. Or hopefully they are good next year (if I can keep them that long without losing them)

Fort Walsh

Last week, the kids and I went camping with my sister-in-law Cathy and her two girls, and Cathy's parents, Grandpa Bert & Grandma Alice. We went to Cypress Hills, Sask side and stayed in Cathy's new trailer. Very nice!!!

We went to Fort Walsh to have the grand tour. The drive there was really interesting. Signs said to go this way >>> to we followed. Little did we know that it was taking us on a back, dirt/rock trail. Very hard on the vehicles. But we did get close and personnal with some cows and even horses. I rolled down the window and pet one on the way by. Even honking the horn barely made them move. It was very scenic, but we did make it.(We took the pavement all the way back to Cypress)

We all had to ride down the hill in a school bus, which made Lexi & Jada very excited. Then at the actual Fort we were met by our guides. The kids went off to do their part of the tour, which turned out to look a lot more interesting than the adult tour. The kids got to dress up in serges and be RCMP officers, learn to march, arrest parents & take them to court, and run around on a scavenger hunt. We got to listen to a guy talk, and talk and talk and talk.

It was a beautiful day outside!!

In the mini museum!! Being silly girls.
By the big school bus. Lexi was especially excited to go on one like Kate.
Don't we wish the kids would do this pose more often?!?
Leaving Fort Walsh!

Giddy Up

Our nephew Royal has gotten a pony. (When I say that, in my mind a picture a miniture horse, but in reality it looks more like a half size horse, so yeah) Sara has been so excited to see it, so finally yesterday and today we went out to the pasture and saw it.

Yesterday, Casey was going to be the brave one and try to catch it. We were told that a little calling and a few carrots will get him to come (his name is Pal). Well, Casey called and walked and showed these carrots, but all Pal did was run the other way, farther and farther. SO...we drove down the side of the pasture to where Pal was now located and I thought I would give it a try. Well, a little bit of calling, waving a few carrots around and here comes Pal. It did take a while to gain his trust before I could put his rope around his neck, but I did it. The kids where able to sit on him bareback, and I walked them around the pasture. The kids where beaming.

So this afternoon, Auntie Rachel took us out again, only this time she brought Pal's saddle. I caught him again (since he wont come for Rachel either). My pride right now is way to high, but I just loved Pal. He was so good. We got his saddle on and I led the kids around again on the saddle. This time I ran with him so he trotted for the kids. Sara looked so beautiful with her hair flowing in the wind on top of a horse. She's my cowgirl. Jada did it all by herself as well, without an adult walking beside her. Eric is feeling confident that maybe next time he would like to try without me leading. Hum. We'll see.

Day 7 - Fri. Aug. 8

So the final day to drive home. We werent going to stop at Calaway Park but as soon as we saw it along the highway, we felt the log ride calling our name. "just a couple hours" we said. Yeah well 6 hours later we finally started home again. We all did have a lot of fun. Jada was just the right height to ride the rides by herself. I cant believe how big my little baby is getting. (big sigh here) And Sara was the right height to go on all the ones with Jada but also tall enough to do some bigger faster spinning ones too. Eric was tall enough to finally ride the roller coaster. Eric was such a thrill seeker that he went on all the crazy scarey rides, over and over again. Like the Storm Chaser in the picture, it goes completely upside down, and really high up. Sara's picture is in a spinning one, where you are in control of how much you spin. Yeah, I am glad I didnt go with her, she was going too fast for me. Jada's picture is in the bumper cars, and she did very well, to my surprise. She could get that car going and making it turn and everything. She loved it when Sara would bump into her. We all where able to enjoy the log ride. It is our favorite there. Sara and Eric fought over the front. Even Jada made it and liked it. Casey left the park with a sick tummy from all the rides the kids convinced him to go on. :o) I stuck with Jada on her rides.

So all in all, this was one wicked vacation. I couldnt have asked for a better time with my family. These memories we will cherish forever.

Day 6 - Thur. Aug 7

So the trek home begins today. Casey has to work on Saturday. We stopped in at Golden to go on Trail Rides with some great horses. Sara rode Ghost, Eric rode Fat Dan, and I rode Bandit. The ride was beautiful. Sara talked nonstop to the guide. Literally for the full 1.5 hours Sara didnt stop talking. this was her highlight of the whole trip. Jada wasnt old enough to go on the trail ride, but they did sit her on and lead her around for a bit on Fat Dan. We all walked funny after getting off the horses and my behind was killin me. But it was worth every ache. I love horses too.

We made it back to Canmore this day and we treated ourselves to a hotel. We all had terrible sleeps. Woke up with sore necks, backs, and woke up too early. It would have been better to sleep outside in the wonderful mountain air.

Day 5 - Wed. Aug 6

Oh the Enchanted Forest. The whole reason we chose to come this direction, and we finally make it. Ah. I have so many pictures from here, but I just am posting a couple. Obviously hey. This was just Jada's size. All the little houses to go into and all the figurines. Eric and Sara had a lot of fun too. Jada's favorite was the Three Bears house (in pic). Grandma Welk reads this story to her everytime we go to her house. Jada has it memorized. She was so excited to see Goldilocks sleeping in little bears bed. Eric's favorite might have been this trappers cabin with a real fur inside and all the traps hanging outside. His attire just fit right in hey?!? Also, I think the trout ponds where another favorite. Sara's fav, if I have to guess since she is at the pool swimming right now, would be feeding the geese, and generally all of it. She was running from house to house with great joy. Also, down the trail walk that is available, we found little row boats to go on. Casey took us for a nice little row around the pond. We saw great big lily pads with beautiful flowers on them. The Enchanted Forest was Awesome.



Later in the day, since it was really hot this day (though we didnt notice it in the forest) we took the kids to the Aquatic Center in Revelstoke. Beautiful facility they have. Waterslide for the big kids, a small slide for Jada where she could touch.

Then we toured around Revelstoke and came across a Japanese Restaurant. Since Jada was sleeping and the only nice thing to do would be to wait the 10 minutes it took to make california rolls, we order 2 appetizers and then headed to the campsite. Since Jada needed the rest. Wink Wink. Then we ate them by the fire. Eric tried one, but they just werent quit the same as crunch rolls. So Casey and I enjoyed them greatly. ((I am so hooked)) The ones on the left are deep fried, thought we might try something different.

Day 4 - Tues. Aug 5

So here is a promised picture of our Noah's Ark campsite. We set up Eric & Sara's tent so that our doors where facing each other, and that gave us all a bit more room. So this day began with us going to Sky Trek Adventure Park. Such cool find. Casey, Eric and Sara all had a LOT of fun. You get harnessed up and spend time in the trees going through obstacles, zip lining, suspended bridges, swinging logs, or balancing between cables. Sara could do the kids course, which was a great challenge for her. She loved it so much we let her do it a second time. I have so many pictures to chose from, but here is just a few.

Eric and Casey took 4 hours to go from being harnessed, trained, and doing 2 out of 3 of the adult courses (Eric wasnt tall enough to reach the final course). I was great to watch them, but it was a long wait for Jada and I. There was a great couple in front of the boys, and they took a ton of pictures of Casey & Eric in the trees, so maybe once they have emailed them to me I will post some more pics.

Then the children & Casey braved a helicopter ride. I am so proud of them for being fearless. Sara even sat in the front seat beside the pilot (whose name is also Sara). Even Jada went up. I however, sat in the helicopter while it was running, but was oh too scared to go up. When the guy (whose name was Eric) was going to put on my seatbelt, I freaked out. That thing is so small, I dont even like fair rides. So I chickened out and watched. After that we walked over to feel the lake. It was mighty cold. The beach is at 3 Valley Gap, where we ate everyday while in BC. (Oh no, did you think we cooked at camp, NO WAY, we are on holidays, no cooking for us). Eric & Sara even jumped in. Sara did this awesome pose as soon as she popped out of the water. And the day was not over yet. Can you believe that we still fit in a drive on this Amphibious Vehicle Argo Ride. Casey drove us around trails and through water on this thing for almost 1/2 an hour. It was bumpy but a blast.
We all crashed pretty hard this night, sleep was so easy in the mountains.