Saturday 1 September 2012

The rest of the summer



We certainly had a full summer vacation here.  Still jet lagged from our trip to Bermuda, we headed to the Crowsnest Pass to enjoy a day of the Brouwer Family Reunion.  
 Mid-July was also when Daniel picked out his first pedal bike.  He mastered his balance bike quite awhile ago and was very excited to upgrade to pedals.  This picture is from the first day trying it out- you might notice that we skipped the training wheel stage entirely.  Daniel needed some help from Keith the first number of times out, but now he has no problem pedalling and stopping.  He still needs help getting started, but it won't be long until he is going way faster on his own than I am entirely comfortable with.
Daniel had his first min-golf experience this July.  It looked a bit more like he & Nate were playing hockey, so I guess we might need to work on golf etiquette next time.  

The end of July always brings the Vermilion Fair.  Daniel was excited to go on rides, but his favourite part was "going to work with Grandpa" every morning as my Dad had to go up to oversee the grounds early each morning.
 Sophie is looking forward to going on the rides next summer!
Near the beginning of August, Keith's youngest sister, Breanna, and her family came for a visit.  We had a great time seeing the sites of Southern Alberta with them.



 Our first day trip was out to Fort Macleod's NWMP Fort.  Daniel & Cierra were picked to be the official horse inspectors for the musical ride.  The position paid in lollipops & personal satisfaction.


From there we headed over to the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump and took it in from top to bottom.   


The next day we went to the Birds of Prey Centre which was a first for all of us.  Alex and Cierra got to hold this little owl, and Daniel got to pet it.  Later on all the kids helped give a couple of the eagles showers with a garden hose since it was 35 degrees.  We cooled ourselves off with a little trip to Coaldale's awesome spray park afterwards.

As the relatives headed back to BC, we went with them as far as The Saskatoon Farm north of High River.  What an amazing place!  I definitely want to go back and eat lunch there sometime.  The pie was good, but not as good as my Mom's (no surprises there, it's a very high bar).  Sophie was pretty impressed with the saskatoon ice cream and this very old horse ride.

Since then, we've kept busy with family time & visits with friends in the city.  Keith had to head back to work a bit earlier than usual this year since he is at the university, but we still have one foot in summer mode with lots of sunlight after supper to go biking and visit with the neighbours on the street. Our little cul-de-sac neighbourhood enjoyed a block party last weekend.  A potluck supper, games & face painting for the kids, and visiting into the night was a great un-official end to summer.