The Tea House at Lake Louise

Shouts of joy, and squeals of excitement were heard  around here when Andy successfully cleaned out the barns on time to go away for a few days yet before a new flock arrived.  And since the Monday the birds were scheduled to arrive was a stat holiday (Labour day) we had one more day to enjoy 'off'.
While everyone else started school we had a "back to school" vacation;)  No one here was complaining about starting a week later, so I wasn't about to either;)
*Disclaimer - all my pictures are off our cell phones as I found Rowan 'washing' my Canon with the garden hose two weeks ago. :((  I am now camera-less.

We quickly found a one bedroom condo to rent in Dead Mans Flats just outside of Canmore, then packed our bags into the van along with four giggling kids, (which apparently don't get out much as they were so so soo excited to go) and drove to the mountains!  The forecast was not ideal, but that was ok, as we were planning to relax and sleep a bit instead of our normal running-around-see-everything outing.  Didn't quite work out that way, but all in all it was a very lovely time away and we enjoyed a vast array of activities.
Upon our arrival we saw rainbow after rainbow between the mountains, changing locations as the storm clouds moved and we moved between ridges.  It was a great opportunity to talk about God's promises and all that goes with it.

Tuesday morning was sunny and perfect for us to do the hike to the Tea House in Lake Louise.  It was approximately a 6.8 km round trip which was perfect for our family. Andy was super dad, carrying Rowan half the way up, the whole way down, as well as having Abby for a fair amount of the time. 

Mirror Lake

At the Tea House!  We made it up - that was quite an accomplishment for us.

The movement of walking rocked this trooper to sleep. Sound, sound asleep.

Do any of you ever go hiking on a regular basis with your children?  I get the giggles from the zoo-keeper feelings I get.  - Hang on to that one, nudge this one, encourage one more all the while carefully watching my own step so as not to trip with the baby on back.  There are many many lessons to be learned for everyone along the way, from the smallest one with the tired legs, to the oldest one trying to encourage us that we are 'almost there'.  It's quite encouraging also to receive so many positive remarks from passers-by who marvel at our 'large' happy family, or at their quick pace or even at the craziness of attempting to hike with a toddler and baby.   They smile, we smile, both go on with our days and lives, but still, it's a positive vibe that passes between us.  And my zoo keeper feelings seem all worth while. :)

Drama in the dry land

On the way home from the library a couple weeks ago I got a call on my cell from one of our neighbor friends. The conversation went something like this:
"Hello, Felicia here."
"Oh hi, this is Ben, is Andy around?"
"No, I'm driving home actually, - from Taber... Andy's at home though... have you stopped by the farm?"
"Yeah I was just there, couldn't find him.  When will you be home?"
"In five minutes or so..."
"We'll I went to farm and didn't see him, blue truck was there though.  If you'll be home soon, don't worry about the fire that you'll see in your fields. The fire trucks are there and it's under control now. Just thought I'd let you know."
"You said Whaaaat?? Our field is on FIRE?"

You get the idea, it was shocking and I made it home in record time.
The day was hot, actually the whole week was.  That day was +38 C.  We are putting up a pivot on the back field, which is dry land with native grass.  The company that is putting the pivot together was there with some guys who were grinding re bar for the concrete at the pivot pad.  Apparently when the humidity in the air is lower then the temperature fires happen and spread fast.  Which is what happened.  It took six fire trucks from Grassy Lake and Taber four hours to put out the fire.  A neighbor came with a huge tractor and pushed dirt around as well.   It was scary for us, it must have been really scary for the people who live with their back yard facing that land!  About 25 acres burned out. Most of the pieces didn't get touched except the computer control panel, which was covered by insurance.

 On a positive note, fires do refine land really fast and now all the brush and weeds are cleaned up for us:) Always thankful for the small things:)
A couple days later Andy had a grader come in to level a ditch and level around the pond in the same field.  The grader got too close to the edge and slid in the pond, much to the operators embarrassment and our childrens delight. ;)  An excavator came the next day to pull it out. 
After all was said and done, no one got hurt, and nothing broken that couldn't be fixed.  We also found out that our hearts are healthy and no heart attack should collapse us in the near future. ...although I'd prefer not to test it in such a way next time.
Life on our little farm on the prairie is never dull, and there seems to always be something new to keep the days interesting. 

Local Haunt: The Forks

A beautiful Sunday afternoon with nothing urgent to do after church... what's better then enjoying the great outdoors and some R&R? 
Close by here is a little local haunt down in the coulees called The Forks, which I have posted about previously... We went there with Ben and Ruth-Ann close to two years ago for the first time!
It was so nice and quiet, the kids found clams, we watched Pelicans diving for fish, and enjoyed a BBQ.
And for one of the first times... I felt like a local.    

Hot summer days

Ten things I'm thankful for this summer:

1.  cool nights after hot days
2. lots and lots of sunshine
3. energetic boys with dirt on their noses
4. irrigation technology
5.  summer storms finishing with rainbows
6. all things dairy (think ice cream and cold coffees)
7. a baby girl with big blue eyes
8. lakes and friends with boats
9. fresh potatoes and a garden full of food
10. my new pressure canner ;p 

Canada Day celebrations at the park in Taber!

Watching the movie "Home" - (it was lame btw, don't watch)

Canada day candy parade, also in Taber

Andy and Pastor Tyler ate candy while the kids collected it :D

We've had spray planes flying overhead a few times this summer.

Incredibly low. Must be good pilots.

The boys took out their toy guns and pretended to shoot the 'bombers'. 

This little lady loves the kittens.

Iris, Tulips and Sheepy-Sheep, our three wooly pets.

We have spent so much time swimming this year!

My garden had a slow start, but I'm reaping bountifully now.

Our 28 hour summer vacation - Day 2

We spent the night at a Super 8 in Fernie, which was quite an adventure in and of itself.  I don't know about other families, but when you get us six in a hotel room, there are really only two options for Andy and I.  One is to laugh, the other is to cry.  So we chose laughing. And the reason for that would be because trying to get four excited children to sleep (two in one of the queen beds, one in a pack and play and one on a fold up mattress we took from home) is really quite a ridiculous and non-relaxing occupation. Especially when there's a tv in the room, and the air conditioning isn't working (which the hotel receptionist graciously came in to fix for us), making the room just as warm as it was outside, approx. 35 degrees celsius.  Every time Andy and I thought the kids were sleeping and we'd gingerly turn on the tv to watch some news (!!!)  one little head would pop right up and that would be that.  Finally after 10:30 pm we gave up and all fell asleep.
I like to laughingly remind myself and my dear hubby that although we might like to think that the word 'vacation' means 'relaxation', the actual definition is "an extended period of recreation, especially one spent away from home or in traveling".  So here we were, doing exactly that, having a period of recreation spent away from home, and it's not relaxing, but that's ok, 'cuz we are enjoying it anyways with all these cute faces and spunky personalities God has given us to care for. :)  It's totally worth it.

But back to the topic.  Super 8 has amazing breakfasts, and we make sure we always get our moneys worth with all the waffles devoured!
We found a place called Island Lake Lodge that advertised family friendly hiking so that was our destination.  It was beautiful, and we did a 4 km hike thru brush and bush, around a lake, right thru the mountains.   Considering the lack of sleep the kids were troopers!  BC forests are simply gorgeous. The forest we walked thru boasted of 800 year old Fir trees.  You can see on the pictures below there were some massive trees there.   We were warned of bears and so naturally wanted to see one, but when we passed two spots of fresh-ish poop on the trail Andy and I got a little nervous and figured bear bells would be purchased for future hikes. Considering all the chatter our little group made, I am quite positive that they were far enough away for safety. But... we don't want to take any chances.

We tried taking a family shot with the self timer - "tried" being the key word.

Finally some other hikers came by so we asked them to take it for us:)

Hiking makes everyone hungry so we had a picnic lunch then headed for home. On the way we stopped at Bellevue Underground Mine where we could go for a tour. It's an old coal mine that is now abandoned. During it's time it was a very productive mine and large! There is much more coal in the mine which could be taken out if needed but for now it is closed.  Seth and Tristan love rocks and minerals, which made this a good learning experience as well. It was very interesting for us all!

Getting ready to head into the mine.  Helmets on and lights ready!

Rowan was pretty pleased with the light on his head!

The temperature inside the mine was 2 degrees.  We were really cold by the end:)

...and a fun trip was had by all!