Anywho.
We all enjoyed resting and relaxing, while kids found friends again at the pool and went shopping. Was nice to have a lazy summers day just chatting, playing cards. ( note to self don't play gin rummy with hubby anymore he always wins)
Along with rest and relaxation came surprises. Not to me though, I got to be the one to shock. ( hehehe love it) I called my good ole father in law to say hello there how are you with some fairly minor chit chatting and family updates. I asked him if he'd be interested in having dinner with us the following evening. Stone silence. I can only assume from confusion because as far as he knows we're in Missouri not Alberta lol. Then I mentioned that I was yes calling from my Missouri cell phone from my Alberta mom's house living room. Complete and utter shock. I think he stopped breathing at one point and all I could do was first ask 'Are you ok?' and second burst out laughing. Best part of the day was that conversation. He mumbled some stuff not sure what it was exactly because I was too busy giggling up a storm. ( hopefully I didn't snort that's embarrassing)
Next day, ahhhh sleeping in is awesome I really really like it! We decided to get up and enjoy our day shopping. We had promised the kids some early back to school shopping whilst we were in Canada so that's what we did, although with a nice, beautiful, wonderful, once in a very long lifetime twist, Mom got to go on a shopping spree! Woohoooooo! My favorite store, Additionelle, is in Lethbridge and I love love being able to shop for designer outfits ( not walmart old lady fat stuff) and enjoy what I'm wearing despite my chubby sized, curvy self. Even fat chicks gotta look good you know? I could have easily spent over 600 hundred in that store it's amazing! But instead I settled for half that trying to be "frugal" as much as I could considering I haven't gone shopping like that since I attended a wedding up there a few years ago. Despite the shoe store nearby ( if you know me you know I'm addicted could try on everything) I refrained and moved on to allow the kids the buy what they may for the next school year which took quite a bit of time. Thought I was picky, sheesh!
We really enjoyed seeing in laws greet us at the Montana's restaurant. As always they were surprised at how much the children grew, totally understandable. They asked the kids a lot of questions which is good you know because then I get to know what they been doing and not telling me about right? It was great to hear the chatter and the laughter and see all these lit up happy faces. Made my day. (as did the shopping spree woohoo)
Friday! Another enjoyable restful day of goofing off and meeting up with friends of mine this time. So great to see friends. I love them. I miss them terribly. Once you've established such good solid friendships with people that not only you stand at their worst but they can stand you back and still love is precious and rare. Hard not to miss people like that. Had an outdoor meal with the bugs and the birds. Children running around chasing and playing having fun, and our toddler girl lifting up the melting ice cream bucket and you could literally see her tongue in there licking it alllll up. Good times.
My parents are fortunate to live in a town where almost everyone has a bon fire pit in their backyards. You can't burn garbage in town, but you can burn your yard clippings and have bon fires for the purpose of parties which our family grew up doing all the time with all the neighbors. Felt like I had gone back in time a little bit toasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Sticky but oh so gooooood. It was also nice to vent a little bit with my bestest friend. So nice to be able to talk about anything and let it all out about everyone and everything after "dealing with it" all that time. Ahhh peace of mind. I was sad to say goodbye.
Morning comes and as always where there is a Canada Day Parade it has to be hot enough to burn us all as we watch the parade. We joined our cousins once again on my Dad's side to take in the festivities ( as much as small towns go it was nice) and watch our toddler's face because this was her very first parade. She had no prior knowledge that floats and cars would be throwing candy her way but she sure caught on fast. Albeit the other children around her were faster so she had some help from her older brother and cousin to fill up her candy bag. When the parade was over and we walked back to my Aunt's house for a visit, which I enjoyed, realization that I've missed my family and I'm used to them always being around set in. Was hard to say goodbye to my Aunt, I love her so.
From one family to the next we traveled home to Mom and Dad's and Mom's side of the family was about to arrive. My cousin and her husband and their sweet little girl and my Mom's younger sister and her husband came in to town. Other cousins had been detained although it would have been incredible to be able to play catch up with them and see how much their kids have grown. Was a nice relaxing evening filled with .....bbq....mmmmmmmm ( taking a moment to relfect). Not to mention our eldest daughter turned 14. (sighs) It's getting harder to call her a kid now, young woman might be in order. (bossy young woman) Oh shoot she might be reading this, I love you! Apple of my eye, fruit of my loins, sunshine smile girl. ( when you smile) Ok, seriously the last one I promise! The birthday cake was an assortment of cheesecakes, yummmmmmmm...........................what was I saying again? Oh yeah, Happy Birthday!
We journeyed the next day as a family to Waterton National Park, where they let us in for free. Was really hard for me not to take a gazillion pictures since Missouri is definitely lacking in Rocky Mountains, which I had grown accustom to seeing often growing up and in my adulthood. Was a mixed up day if you ask me, beautiful and breathtaking when it was sunny, then 5 mins later, cold miserable rain. Of course it just had to show up as we were eating lunch. Murphy's law. ( stupid Murphy )
And then there is, the 'potty'. A tremendous whole dug in the mountainous ground with a piece of plywood formed into a seat with an actual toilet seat cover. You could see on the wall that they had made every effort to cut down on...................THE SMELL. The best way to have it smell a little fresher is to have open windows not closed cake in the heat kind. Ew. But they did have hand sanitizing foam and toilet paper so that's good. Although I still can't sit on those things, I hover. Don't like 'em.
We wandered down to the town sight and the falls, of course when we got out, it started to rain. Yup. (sighs) I've seen them plenty and we had a very curious 2 yr old who wanted to see them until it really started to rain, she hates rain, she used to scream 'Rain! Rain!' whenever we drove in it so heading to a large tree for some shelter was okay with her no more I want to see the falls up close. ( Thank Heavens) We also headed to the big Waterton Lake. It is such a beautiful setting of clean mountain water with green mountains cascading behind it and beside it. The youngest two girls sure enjoyed tossing in and skipping rocks with their dads. Was a beautiful setting to watch. I almost started to cry because my heart ached at the very thought of leaving the mountains. It's inexplicable in words how happy I feel in the mountains. Would live there if I could in a heartbeat! I hope someday. It started to rain and pour. I got soaked.
We headed over to a campground site and shared a camp kitchen with a lovely muslim family who was having a picnic on the one side and offered us the other table. It was sunny when we got there. We pulled out our grill to cook the hamburgers and hot dogs and had to use ketchup as our bbq sauce ( poor man's sauce lol) was still very yummy and I really had fun talking with everyone and finding out what everyone has been doing and especially, watching my mom with her sister. They are amazing to watch. It is obvious and apparent how much they love each other and how giddy and happy they get when they are together. So great to be a part of. My mom has always had a close family. I truly hope that someday my children will be the same because they are driving me nuts with their fighting. ( understatement ) And it popped into my head that we were most likely heading home the next day. Bummer. But at the same time, what an adventure.
We actually didn't get to Salt Lake City as we had intended to visit with hubby's sister and family. He opted to allow us all to stay a couple of extra days with my side of the family and rest and relax a little bit more before travelling that great distance home again. He also did it because he really loves his children and he could see how much they loved and missed their friends and opted to allow them more time with them. He's an awesome dad.
The trip home? Well that is completely another blog filled with excessive heat and police.....
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