Alberta-bound

We took off on Friday, the 18th, with the Saturn packed as full as it can get. All our camping gear, wedding clothes and gifts and supplies for three people for ten days. Whew! It was quite the load. We arrived in Canmore that evening, to spend the night at Mel's house. Mel was a great hostess and we enjoyed the chance to re-connect and catch up on each other's lives.

Saturday morning we headed to Calgary after a relaxing morning. We arrived at Luke and Marlene's (see "Abundantly Blessed") and had a chance to let Hunter loose on Dylan's toys before he awoke from his nap. It's so easy to take a child to the house of someone who already has kids... no worries about them wrecking stuff (sorry about the DVDs, Mel) or getting into somewhere they shouldn't be. I've already said how nice it was to spend time with Luke and Mar, but I'm not sure that words can express it... Anyhow, after a short visit and lunch (yummy) we were off once again to Tanya's wedding. Tanya and I met in our teacher ed program in Kelowna. She is a real doll and I feel very fortunate to have had a chance to spend time with her. We had a lot of fun doing projects together and playing with puppets - I was in her slide show:). We had a great time at the wedding and Hunter really put on the moves on the dance floor... and on Tanya's nieces. Too cute!

Sunday morning, after a night at L&M's, we all headed out to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Brooks, Alberta. I had thought that DPP was in Drumheller, near the museum, but I was wrong. We were camping 2 hours away from our reason (well, sorta) for the trip, the Royal Tyrell Museum. You will notice on my mapquest links that the other is not even visible on that view of the map! I guess I am an idiot. All other adults were a little frustrated with me, at this point. So, we drove on into emptiness, watching the road maps. After a LONG drive, looking at flatness on all sides, we rounded a bend and began to head down into the most incredible valley. The badlands of Alberta. I call them the Grand Canyon of Canada. They are absolutely amazing and realy make you feel like you are somewhere on another planet. As we descended into the park and the hoodoos became visible, Marlene stuck her hand out the window to give me the thums up (cue.. huge sigh of relief, I was not going to be throttled). We checked out the park and found that there were (as I had thought) lots and lots of activities for us to do in the park. So, we set up camp and explored. After an amazing meal of steak, veggies and potatoes (yummmmmm), we took in an outdoor, to the mosquitoes' delight, amphitheatre production "The Ugly Eya". It was incredibly well done and featured some wild deer walking beside the presentation (pure coincidence, though). It was a play about an owl who thinks she is a hawk because her egg was discoved by a momma hawk who decides to raise her. Within a lot of information and biology (yessss...) she discovers who she is. Very very informative and extremely entertaining. I love these things, I really do. Back at camp after a serious battle with a teething Hunter (four new teeth by the end of this holiday - yipes)... Carcassonne, by moth-light, I mean, lantern.

Monday, we decided to ignore our plan to travel to the museum and, instead, enjoyed an incredibel day in the park. Now, by incredible, I mean FULL. We went on a bus tour of the badlands (holy, hotlands, turn on that AC) and got to see some real dinosaur bones, we went to the river and "borrowed" a canoe (I didn't, the boys did), went to play in the park, played cards, ran through the sprinklers, went to a dinosaur game show (go saurischians), toured the park facility, ate a hot dog and ice cream lunch... and topped it off with a totally fantastic meal of.. my favourite - chicken, rice and broccoli (instead we added corn and mushroom-soup beans and it was all incredible). That night, after the worst go-to-sleep battle yet (good times, good times), Settlers of Catan.

Tuesday, we woke up, packed up, and headed to Drumheller to see the museum. It was great, but challenging to enjoy while trying to keep the kids happy. After the museum, we returned to Calgary to find that Christa and her three kids had just arrived at L&M's. We all headed out to the park and had pizza on the grass.

Wednesday, all of us (six kids under 4 and five adults) went to the Calgary Zoo. Awesome! The kids loved it and we did, too. That evening, after picking up Justin's lost sandal (fell off in the parking lot at Tanya's wedding when he was changing shoes), we went to visit Carrie and to meet her husband Mark. It was so neat to get to see Carrie after eight years. It had been so long, but it felt like we were still in touch. Hunter really enjoyed exploring her house and her puppy (sorry, Care). After a great dinner, we returned to L&M's.

Thursday, Justin, Hunter and I left early(ish) and made it to the Calgary Science Centre just in time to catch the Imax Theatre production of Bugs. It was pretty cool. Hunter was a little frightened by the giant screen and ended up nursing to sleep and missing most of the show. We really enjoyed getting to see all the neat stuff at the Centre and left around 1pm, to travel to Edmonton. In Edmonton, we met up with my super duper friend, Linda, from high school. We met her boyfriend, John, and got to see her digs. After a short visit, we drove them to the airport and headed to IKEA. Yessss... Of course, we ended up spending some money and ended up leaving there with... a bed???? Whaatt?? Our car was already full to the brim when we left home!

Friday, we hit up West Edmonton Mall and got some much- needed work clothes. We went back to IKEA to return a couple things and ended up leaving with some art for our house. Luckily, we were meeting family at the next wedding and we were fortunate to unload some of our gear onto them to bring home (thanks soo much, Kristin and Ian, and Henry and Fran). We drove out to the Boskers house to see the family that was in town for the wedding and surprised ourselves by actually finding it! (Long story, this one is long enough).

Saturday, we relaxed all morning and enjoyed the day. Then, we went to the wedding of Justin's cousin, Shelly. It was a lovely wedding to finish off the eight weddings of this summer! Between the wedding and reception, J and I took Hunter to the park to try and wear off some of his endless energy. It was a lovely time for our little family to spend together, just us. At the reception, we had a lot of fun meeting up with the family we had seen in July (at the deVries reunion) and teaching them some games.

Sunday, we drove home.. all day!
Whew! That's it. I'm all typed out. Sorry that was so long. Pictures aren't working, either... lame!!! I'll try to get them in tomorrow, maybe.