Enjoying Radium

So off to Radium we were, bright and early Sunday (cough,cough).
We discovered Canyon RV a few years ago, and alternate between staying there or at the national park, Redstreak. Of course the two aren't comparable as they both offer different amenities. For example one has a laundry and one doesn't. One has full services and the other has none. I have no problem admitting that in most cases I will select the RV park, but I do not like the pavement and no trees kind. Canyon RV is nestled by a creek, many trees and beautiful trails. If you want to spend the RV park type of fees but still feel like you are somewhat alone and in nature, this is a great choice. It's very family friendly. In fact I would love to have the family here for a campout.
Of course while we were here we took advantage of the hot springs. What can be better than an evening soak in the outdoors?
We revisited a trail we have hiked in the past called Old Coach Trail. There were spectacular views of the Kootnei River and Invermere Lake.

And we wandered around Invermere stopping in little shops and getting a coffee. It's such a comfortable town to do that in.
And that wraps up our Radium adventure. As you can tell we're getting good at slowing down and smelling the roses!
Tomorrow we're finally crossing into the states. I'll be sure to let you know where that is!

And We're Off!

Just not that far.

Every year we try to camp at least once in Canada with Ivan, of the famous Roadtrip blog.  I say Canada because we don't seem to have any problem meeting up with him when we are down south in the winter, but we are all so busy in the summer.
Anyway, the weather reports were kind of wet for our planned location, so instead we moochdocked in his yard.  As always we had a great visit and fit in a trip to the Bearberry café and the Cross Iron Mills mall.  We had to do something to avoid the rain.  And we were rewarded by the beautiful scenery.

After we left Ivan's on Friday we were headed a short ways again to Okotoks to see Walter and Pat.  Again we see these Canadian friends down south more often than we do in Canada.  Pat and Walter are full timers, living in a beautiful RV resort in Okotoks.  There are no overnighters in this park as the lots are owned, but occasionally Walter can somehow wrangle a spot for us.  This time however we had to find a campsite.  Sounded actually easier than it was but we secured three nights at the Black Diamond Lions campground, just down the road from them.  We have stayed at this campground before.  It is such a beautiful country in this area.  We visited with the Parkers on Friday evening and there turned out to be a lot of them, as Walter's family were all down visiting.  They are all as hospitable as Walter and Pat, and it was a great evening.

On Saturday Don and I went to two farmer's markets.  The Millarville Market is a situated at the old Millarville Racetrack, and just driving in you can imagine the history of the place.  It makes a great background for a market!  We also visited the Okotoks Market that day, where I ran into an old ringette friend who now lives in Calgary, Tracy Megaw. 

I also discovered this very useful wine box holder, but I have no idea why it comes with so many glasses.  Who wants to share??

The rest of Saturday was spent again at the Parkers, eating, laughing and enjoying.

Tomorrow we are headed to Radium for a few days, hoping to soak in the hot pools and maybe some hiking.

Talk to you soon!

Moving Through August

After our Jasper trip we were home for a whole week! That's more than just the lawn and laundry. LOL

But it wasn't long before we were on the road again. This is the third summer we have met Don's brother Ken and sister in law Brenda for a camping trip. We chose Meota Regional Park. It is about halfway for both of us, and gave us access to exploring, etc. Although the weather wasn't great, lots of rain, that didn't stop us from sharing great food, conversation and day trips. We took a drove up to and around Turtle Lake, and had lunch in a "unique" restaurant. The food was great though.
We camped from Monday to Friday which was great, and left us some weekend time at home to see the kids and friends.

I said in a previous post about bike camp but it didn't actually happen until August! We went one morning to watch everyone except Mason learn some extra skills. Connor's training wheels were removed and he cautiously wound his way through pylons. Blake and Em both were led through trails and paths, and Reese spent time as well on a maze of pylons. It's a wonderful camp and the kids learn lots and improve their confidence as well.

The Saturday after returning from camping we attended one day of the Edmonton Rock Fest. The bands this year that attracted us specifically were Sweeny Todd and Foreigner. It was a fantastic hot day listening to old rock and laughing with Paul and Mary.

I spent a day with all the kids at Lindsay's Lake Summerside Beach. The weather was overcast but it was nice to be a bit cooler and still enjoyable.

That almost brings us to our holiday time.  Our September vacation is starting in August this year so I can get home for a work commitment, and a great lady is getting married to her partner.  I will try to blog more often on holidays but no promises!

Bike Camp!

Two Little Fishes

Beach Day Pile Up

Rock Fest

Jasper

It should be no surprise to anyone that Japser is one of our favorite places. Reservations were made in January to ensure that we would have a fire pit in our site.
This was our first trip this summer without the boat and it was nice to travel with Don. Taking two vehicles is lonely.
The Camerons joined us for the long weekend, and we did all things touristy. We hiked at Pyramid Island (a first for us), went to the Miette hot springs, had ice cream, visited Jasper the bear, and even watched a few movies while it rained. We even fit in a bike ride and a visit to the beach. If you haven't been to Lake Annette and it's beaches, you need to check it out. Very beautiful!
Of course we were sure to visit our two favorite restaurants, Something Else and Bear Paw Bakery, as well as some shopping.
Another great long weekend wrapped up!

Athabasca Falls

Pyramid Lake

Just Peaceful:)

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime

These are the days we all live for.  The freedom to follow our kids and grandchildren around and enjoy the summer and life through their excitement.

July started for us in Slave Lake at Spruce Point.  What a great campground and boat facility.  It really is nice to moor the boat at a dock, and the back of our trailer looked upon our own sandy beach.

Between fishing, campfires, cooking fish, drinking and visiting and relaxing, the week sped by.  There was one day where the boys were in the water for well over 5 hours.  That is summer in a nutshell!

The next exciting trip for me was a mom and daughter trip to Vancouver to see the Dixie Chicks.  We have been thinking of going somewhere together for years, but between babies and life it took this long to work out!  But oh was it ever worth it.  We had such a good time together, just hanging out.  The concert was AMAZING, the shopping as good, and the wine and sushi deserve their own full page.  Thank you Tracy and Lindsay for spending that time with me.

Don took a trip to Tisdale to visit with his family while I was gone, and he also had a great visit with everyone.

Again just enough time at home for the lawn and laundry, then we were off to Long Lake for over a week of camping fun with our kids.

Our time at Long Lake almost seemed magical.  The kids put the boat to work, tubing endlessly.  Blake tried to ski, but the rough waters tested him on that.  Tracy and Lindsay both got up, and Don tried.  Mason had one ride with Lindsay and I, but he quickly ensured we all knew he preferred riding in the boat.  He has one seat he considers his own and is very content to watch the others.  The park had giant screen movies a few times, and their parks are awesome.  The beach is great and the kids spent some time there as well.  I even went tubing for my first time and invented a new ride called "the Grandma".  Moderately slow, and no waves please!  Our boat may be a bit old but it is fine shape and provided us with hours of memories!

And - one more camping trip this month!  Off to Jasper we went with the Camerons.

I think I will leave that for August.

Go get some sleep, you must need it as much as we did at the end of July!

At Slave Lake

Amazing Dixie Chicks

Mr Cutie Pie himself

Play forever at Slave Lake

And she's up on one ski!

And she made it up too:)

Waiting on June

This is really taking the easy way put but here's what June brought us:

• Baseball games
• Lacrosse tournament
• Visit with Stewart and Susan
• Playing with the Stecyk boys
• Co-op meetings
• Co-op meetings
• Co-op meetings
• Co-op meetings...
• Meatloaf concert
• Father's Day Brunch
• Yoga
• Barre classes
• Finding Dory and lunch with all the kids and their moms
• A long stay at Slave Lake with the Stecyks, Scotts and Paskos

The Meatloaf concert - while you may be aware that Meatloaf had been sick and cancelled some shows.  Sadly this should have been one of them.  We love this artist, and thank goodness we have watched him perform numerous other times or we would be so disappointed.  It was obvious form the start that he was still very ill, and the only thing that kept the show alive was his back up singer and the band.  But the music still moves us, and honestly I would still go to another show.  My heart was pounding when he literally collapsed on stage while performing the encore.  It turns out he was ok, but it was terrifying then.

It is hard to believe this is the last month of school.  All the kids had a great year, and we are so privileged to be able to attend school and sporting events with all of them.  Every one of the five make us proud, whether it is school. sports, or just being great kids.

I am going to save the Slave Lake post for July, so I can tell you all about it.

Thanks for sharing our adventures.

The Camerons in Jasper

Beautiful rainbow at Athabasca Falls

School Family Photo

Finding Dory!

The Cameron and Campbell kids playing Beanbag Toss - carrying on a long tradition!

Out of the Frying Pan

And into the fire...

That's how it feels when you get home from vacation!  But in a great way, not a bad way.  We were quickly immersed in work, social and family life; all of which we miss when we are gone.  But it takes a few days to get used to not being together 24/7 and sharing ourselves with others.

So since it always takes me so long to catch up on the blog during these times, I will offer you the highlights of May, and not bore you with work details.  Depending on a person's perspective working for yourself and mostly from home is a dream life.  Most people seem to believe you have all the time in the world to market your business, keep up with personal and business social media, keep up with your social side, the housework and daily living, and somehow still spend hours working.  That is a fairy tale.  End of rant.

My first week home started with a focus on work clients, then quickly moved into grandma time.  On Wednesday I played with Mason while Lindsay and Connor were at a school function.  Those boys melt my heart.

May 5th was time to celebrate Blake's 9th birthday.  He chose a baseball game party at a park and the afternoon was awesome.  I love seeing the kids interact with their friends, and having plain old fun! Blake is in love with baseball so his presents from us were all focused on that!

If I thought we spent a lot of time in sport facilities when our girls were young, it's nothing to trying to keep up with all the grand-kid's activities.  Friday evening was the start of a lacrosse tournament for Blake.  This is quite a competitive sport in case you didn't know, and I find myself very addicted to the physical side.  I can yell "hit him" and it's okay.  Saturday morning we went to watch Connor play floor hockey.  Far too cute!! And then we also attended Emerson's year end dance performance!  And if all that makes you want to have a drink- we did that too.  It was our friend Mary's 60th birthday party that night.

The next week was a little less busy.  I accompanied Blake on a field trip in Stony Plain to the Multicultural Centre and did a Thursday morning pick up of the Cameron kids at school, then we all drove to the Stecyks to sit with Mason while Lindsay and Connor were at a school program.

The next week started out with the usual meetings, then ended with one of our favorite weekends of the year - the May long trek to Cross Lake for camping!

It was a brutal weather weekend this year.  We never even out the boat in the water.  I sure hope that the summer doesn't go that way.  But we still had days full of fun and adventure, good food and drink and most importantly great family and friend times.  The Stecyks have a new trailer; a fifth wheel with a bunk room for the boys. Although their first one was nice, this one has far more poor weather room in it.

Just a few days at home and I was off to Calgary for a night of adventure with one of my best friends Yvonne.  We met when both working for Volunteer Alberta and although she lives in Grande Cache, she is wonderful at "coming south" and visiting.  This time we combined work with pleasure and attended the Volunteer AGM in Calgary.  I do contract work for Volunteer Alberta and feel it is important to support those that support me.

The month ended as it always does with our anniversary.  It is so hard to believe that 36 years have passed.  So much has happened yet so much is the same!  It's a great time to say thanks to Don for 36 years of Driving Miss Donna and here is to many more.

Blake turns 9!

Connor at Floor Hockey

Just 2 boys and Lego

Nothing like a Conga line to stay warm on May long - thanks Mary!

The Blues Brothers