Absolutely Agreeably Amusingly Amazing August

We spent the August long weekend (which, incidentally, started in July) heading down to Cochrane for Kim and Sean's wedding. It was a fun event and great to see everyone.

The girls were great travellers!

Across the street from the hotel there was a skate park, so we went over to watch Broc and Uncle Rob.

I thought it was hilarious to see Maddie and Cairo running around, especially since he had no pants on....ha ha!

The wedding was lovely!

Here was our attempt at a family picture, squinting into the sun.

Our drive from Cochrane to Mountain View the next day was beautiful!

Here was the beautiful Bed & Breakfast house that we rented.

Rocky Ridge Country Lodge

Here was the adjacent cottage where Greg, Steph, Noah and our family got to stay.

Sleeping arrangements for Claire are always a little tricky. My mom found this neat mattress for kids that had a ledge to keep her from rolling out. Madeline started out on the bed and Claire was on the mattress. One night we came in to check on them, and found them cuddling together. It was the cutest thing!

On our first day in Waterton, Ryan went golfing and the girls and I took a lake cruise with Mom & Natalie.

The wind was a little chilly on the way to Goat Haunt, Montana, which was the stop on the other side of the lake.

Madeline and I ventured out to sit on the front of the boat and got pretty windblown.

It was much warmer underneath.

Claire loved the experience!

When we made it to the US, we walked along some paths and did a bit of exploring before heading back.

Due to the less intense winds, we all sat on the bow of the boat on the return trip.

We met up with the golfers and had a picnic lunch by the lake and then ventured into the freezing cold water.

It was surprisingly comfy to sit on all those rocks, you just had to wiggle your butt a little bit to make an impression. Claire liked exploring the rocks with her hands.

We got to see Cameron Falls and do a bit of hiking up to the top.

Here we are, at the midway point of the hike.

We even saw some wildlife, up close and personal!

We spent some time at Red Rock Canyon. The entire drive there, Madeline was composing songs about "RED ROCK CANNNNNNYON!" It was hilarious.

This is just before Ryan, Rob, Madeline and I took our trek up the canyon and did some serious exploring. Ryan, Rob and Joel even went back the next day to see if they could get even further along the path and they had a great time exploring and going down some giant waterslides.

Isn't Noah just the cutest baby ever?!

We spent an afternoon at the Waterton reservoir to do some swimming and hang out on the beach.

They started out like this:

And ended up like this:

It was a lovely, windy, Southern Alberta day.

Madeline and I had lots of fun throwing rocks into the water.

We had lots of fun in the house, visiting with family, playing games and exploring all the nooks and crannies.

Our flexible Clairey.

To honour the memory of Grandma Patterson and how she would always include some "culture" in our family reunions, we attended a play at the Cardston Carriage House Theatre. It was based on the TV series "Happy Days," and there were some really good parts. Madeline loved the entire experience. Claire was so relaxed that she fell asleep. :)

Steph and I at the play!

The minute we walked in the door after our trip from Mountain View to Edmonton, Madeline got dressed up like this. She thinks that any type of stripes match any other kind of stripe. She's sporting a tutu that cousin Tori gave her and the flowers that Grandma gave her. Beautiful!

Madeline and I went to run errands one day and she fell asleep in this position!

On our way to Wicked! It was awesome and I'm glad that we went together! Ryan graciously offered to let me take a friend, but I wanted him. :)

Claire is a very creative sleeper. We call this her "lounging on the beach" pose.

We celebrated Cairo's second birthday today and had lots of fun with the fam. These pictures were all taken with Ryan's new phone that he's enjoying!

It's been an incredibly busy month already and it's only...the eighth day. Things will be getting progressively busier as we begin the ascent towards school days again!

Woops

There went July. I started this blog entry, trying to squeeze one more into the month, but life swept me away and here I am, in August.

So let's start with July, shall we?

Apparently the sand in the sandbox is too mainstream for Madeline.

We attended an "underwater puppet show" at the library - they did shadow puppetry and glow in the dark shape puppetry with an underwater theme. It was especially good for Claire, who paid close attention to the lights and the shadows.

We had a fun time at the Street Performer's Festival.

The train ride is a big part of the adventure. :)

Kathy and I relived our teenaged years at the NKOTBSB concert and had an absolute blast!

We were definitely not the craziest "old" ladies there! :)

We took a spur of the moment trip to Slave Lake to visit the Thompsons, and had a great time! Here we are at the top of Marten Mountain overlooking the lake.

On our walk to the park, Ben and Madeline took the lead. It was very cute!

Hanging out on the bridge. Don't we all look so cool?

The whole gang, minus Ben, who is hiding out of the frame.

The girls and I took in the Capital Ex kick off parade and had a great time together.

Madeline has been playing hairdresser a lot lately.

Here is Ryan, getting all spiffied up.

For the third year in a row, we attended Monday Morning Magic at Capital Ex, where the rides are opened up only for families of kids with disabilities. We always have a great time.

Ryan and his new friend Ricky Ray - he knows his dad will LOVE this picture!

Ryan and the girls spent an afternoon at Rob and Olivia's and enjoyed a lovely summer day with them and Cairo.

Madeline reminds me a lot of "Fancy Nancy," the character in a children's book series who loves to make things fancy. Ryan found a bottle of "fancy" lemonade at the grocery store and promised her a delicious, elegant breakfast with it to drink the next morning.

She dressed for the occasion and we enjoyed a beautiful picnic as a family.

We had another fun time with the Thompsons when they came to visit us.

We explored a new park together.

Pictured above with Claire is Lisa - our lovely helper for the summer. She's been a welcome addition to our family a few times a week and we really love having her around! Luckily she doesn't mind hanging out with us!

In other news:

My sister Mel is doing well on her mission in Ireland. We get to hear from her about once a week via email and it's good to have that contact with her.

I started something "fun" this month. Steph and Brandon transferred the reins of their flyer route over to me, so each week I load up my ipod with some good songs and traipse through our neighbourhood, delivering the junk mail that people complain about. Despite feeling like a kid with a paper route again, it's a nice chance to get to know our neighbourhood and get a little exercise and extra money.

Ryan's been working hard at the Apple Store this summer, even running one of the summer camps for kids.

We got to help out a bit with Greg & Steph's move to their first house! We're glad to have them close by and are so happy for them.

Madeline's friend Oliver had a fun birthday party at a spray park and we enjoyed a lovely summer afternoon with friends.

We've spent a lot of rainy days inside and ventured outside whenever we could.

We definitely had an enjoyable July. :)