Canadian Fun and Sun..... and Rain

We stayed for a month at my parents house in Canada. It was cold alot. There were only two days that reached 85 degrees, which is great. We didn't mind being cold and wearing sweaters. Of course anyone from arizona understands me perfectly. We also stayed at my sister's farm alot and the kids perfer that to disneyland. No exxageration. Cousins are the sweetest blessing ever. We were priviliged to spend alot of time with Clarissa's, ZeeZee's and Steve&Sherron's kids.

I have the sweetest grandma on God's green earth. :) No point in arguing the matter because you simply won't change my mind. Anyway, my kids love her too and we spent a lot of precious time visiting her this summer.


Sierra is an animal lover. She becomes attached to any animal she can get her hands on. Cocoa is a really sweet little miniature horse at my sister's farm. She is very gentle and good with children.



We also spent some more time in Waterton. There is a nice little spray park there. There was a cool breeze and some sprinkles of rain but the kids just don't care. I was sitting there buried in my jacket watching the girls completely soak themselves. They just loved it.



This hike around Linnet lake is perfect for Maysa's age. Its nice and flat and very short. When the girls get older we'll probably do the Bear's hump and Goat haunt hikes. They are a little more challenging.


At my sister's farm they have baby chickens. The girls spent much time playing with them. They also love driving the golf cart around. There is oodles of space for them to roam around the country side. I'm just sort of amazed no one got hurt. But Uncle Al has it rigged so that it can't go very fast.


What can I say, are there any kids on earth that aren't infatuated with kitty cats. Sierra simply begged to take one home, she named her special one Calique. (she told me because its calico aaaand its cute.) My dad almost had me talked into smuggling one onto the airplane.

At my parents farm the girls and I had daily chores which included bottle feeding the orphan calves, watering them, and gathering hay for them, as well as mowing all the grass. My dad has a terrible bad back so we tried very hard to help him as much as we could.


The girls also got to spend alot of time with their cousins Owen and Ellie. That was great because they stayed at my dad's farm for 2 weeks with us. Elena and Owen spent hours together playing lego, in this picture they are building a helicopter.


The kids planted bean seeds and they grew so quickly.


Our last day in Canada brought us a fabulous storm complete with hail. I loved it but I'm not sure it was good for my dad's alfalfa fields.


When we got back to Casa Grande we were greeted to some beautiful changes. Dan painted our bedroom, installed a door for my office and presented the fabulous new additions to our garden.... A WATERMELON!!

And... a cantelope!
I really loved my trip to Canada with the kids, I loved wearing a sweater for the entire time I was there and I loved using a feather tick at night because it was so cold in my parents basement. I am grateful my parents are so good and kind to put up with us for that long. They are so generous and kind. I know we are blessed to have a place to escape to for at least a little while during the blazing summer of arizona but it is also so nice to be home! Off to San Diego next week with Dan this time!

Waterton Canada

Waterton is my favorite place to visit in the summertime. It is always cool and usually windy as well. We love going on at least one hike and renting the paddle bikes. We always see alot of wildlife, usually some bears too but the road to red rock was closed and thats where we always see them. This year Grandma Lene came with us, we had a big day. Ice cream, hiking, bikes, and hotdog roast. Waterton is about an hours drive from my parents house. It is the outskirts of the beautiful rocky mountain stretch. This year we saw alot of snow on top of the mountains. We were only missing my sister Charlotte, cause she is living in England. Hopefully next year all my five sisters will be here. We had 8 little girls and one boy. Poor Owen, somehow he manages!

Happy Canada Day!

Today is Canada day. We have been having many adventures, especially today as it is a big celebration day and family day for us.

Fun times at the Lake!

We've been having much fun going to the lake on Fridays, I keep meaning to post some pictures of our adventures there. Its been so hot and just perfect weather for skiing, tubing and diving and jumping and having a blast. Our friends the Williams have been coming along because they also have Fridays off. The girls love it because our kids are about the same age. And we love it too. Anyone who wants to come along is welcome.

Sierra and Marissa riding in the tube. They were chatting it up so much they didn't even notice rough waters.



Elena is so good at entertaining the little kids. She is taking Mikayla and Maysa for a ride here, they were giggling so much, it was cute.



Heres to the "Queen Brinton", lots of fun times. Dan brought along his new "Incredible droid cell phone", it is incredible I must say, all the things it can do, but I was thinking about chucking it in the lake after a while... .



Dan and Elena are half fish, they both love water even really cold water. Sometimes we'll stop at a cove and Dan will dive under and not come up for almost a minute. I start thinking he must be dead when all the sudden his head pops up. He just wants to touch the bottom... I HATE it when he does that.



Dan performed a wonderful display of water ballet for us all. Michelle has it recorded, so I'll have to get that and post for your enjoyment.... He's really good at it, why, I DONT KNOW!



What can I say, Elena is just a little fish, she is becoming quite a good diver as well.






Michelle took these pictures of Kurt and Dan jumping off the cliff, I stole them from her, but I know she won't mind. It was quite the climb, doesn't look high but it totally was. I was suprised Kurt jumped, he said afterwards to jump was just easier than climbing back down. I would have chickened out, theres no doubt about that.

I'm going to Canada this week for the rest of the summer so looking forward to cooler weather but I'm going to miss the lake! Always a blast.