Canada Trip - Day 7

Wednesday...and Amy was determined to have a go at the lathe today.  My dad designed a bird house for Kristen to help build and then paint.  He was so good and patient with them.  I listened through the open window to the two as my dad sat watching Kristen paint outside the kitchen window.  She was painting the roof of her birdhouse red after having painted the body of it a creamy white.  She wasn't being quite so careful and got some of the red on the white.  She quickly said, "It doesn't matter."  My dad replied.  "It does matter.  Everything in life matters."

Amy finished her lathe project before lunch and my dad helped (*read* took the piece off the lathe, did some finish work, and did a lot of the staining in order for it to be dry by the next morning) take the small vase off the lathe.  She was pretty proud of her project.

We ate a quick lunch of leftovers and headed in to town.  Our first stop was at the brand new Bishop's storehouse.  My parents served a mission at the old one and knew a lot of the people working there.  We were able to take a short tour of the new facility.

We then headed over to the River Bottom.  Its claim to fame is the longest and tallest high level train bridge in North America as well as being the longest and highest steel trestle bridge in the world.  Pretty magnificent.  Chris pulled off in to a parking lot as we drove down to the river bottom and he, my dad, and I hiked up a short pathway to get a better view.

I snapped a picture of one of the humongous bees buzzing around the flowers, but it was moving so much I couldn't get it in focus.  Chris offered to walk back down to the car and meet us at the bottom while my dad and I followed the path down.  I was able to get almost under the bridge to take some more pictures.

We went looking for our peeps and spied Misha's red shirt a short distance away.  We met them at a small playground area equipped with climbing walls and climbing rocks.  I don't know quite what got in to Kristen.  She had finished climbing up onto a rock and looked over at Misha and stated, "Misha, what the hell are you doing?"  Makes me laugh to even type it because it was so unexpected and so not appropriate for a seven-year old to say.  I admit we laughed in shock and then explained that she shouldn't say that again.  Ever. She looks all sweet and innocent.

We continued on to the Old Man River for a little rock skipping.  My kids have always been impressed that I could skip rocks, now they could learn from Grandpa as well.

The rocks were smooth and rounded, and many were just perfectly flat for skipping.  Mom and Amy had remained in the car while we explored the park.  Amy wasn't feeling great and my mom has three blood clots in her leg and tries to be really careful.  She was happy to sit and knit and watch over Amy.

Snacks all around when we returned to the car and then more fun.  Bowling.  Five pin bowling, no less.  Holiday Bowl was completely empty when we arrived at 5 pm.  Completely.  So we had fun practicing and messing up.  Five pin bowling is a lot harder than you think.  Though you might be able to grasp the smaller bowling balls a lot easier, their swath of destruction is a lot smaller.  The pins were attached to strings and to reset, they'd often go flying from the end of the alley and when you looked back again, they were standing up straight as can be.  Our scores were mighty poor.  Except for my dad.  I didn't know he had such style in bowling.  The things we learn.... 

Kristen had a pretty hard time with it and kept throwing gutter balls.  She turned back after a dismal turn and said to Misha, "No comments."  Chris replied, "She didn't say anything."  Kristen countered, "I know, but she's thinking something."

Our next stop was at a brand new IHOP.  My parents had never been before, but I think they might even go back despite the slow service.  Our second to last stop for the evening (or so we thought) was at Home Depot.  The garbage disposal that my parents had installed in the kitchen sink 30 years ago had finally given up the ghost.  Chris helped them price match through Amazon and they scored an extra $50 off.  They were pleased.  While they shopped, Chris filled up the gas tank and bought donuts at Tim Horton's.  My peeps don't eat them too often anymore which makes them a fun treat when they do.

My mom realized while at Home Depot that her VISA card was not in her wallet.  Rightly worried, we drove back to the grocery store which was the last place she remembered having it on Tuesday and went to see if it was there.  No luck.  Fortunately she did find it upon returning home in the clothing she had worn on Tuesday. Whew.

Surprisingly the sunset wasn't too spectacular and we didn't race off to photograph it.

Canada Trip - Day 6

Amy slept until 10 am, but while she slept, Misha was out in the garage with Grandpa doing something cool.  My dad's career was as an Industrial Arts teacher; he was/is skilled in woodworking, leather working, masonry, pretty much anything.  He built two of the homes that we lived in and probably did 98% of the work on each of them.

His garage and work room are full of tools, saws, lathes, wood, you name it.  Like my mom said, "You can't have too many hammers."  (He had two more hooks of them).  Recently he purchased a lathe at a garage sale for $40.  He let Misha try it out, and she was in heaven and so totally focused on her project.  We were content to hang out and let her keep on working.

Later in the afternoon as the girls became a little antsy, Misha and Amy jumped on Grandma and Grandpa's bikes and explored around town.  There is such a different feeling growing up in a small town.  I felt comfortable letting them roam, whereas I would never let them go too far here at home.  Kristen went for a walk with Chris and I and was content to play at the school park.  There are times like this when I feel badly that she doesn't have a brother or sister closer in age.  She is good about making friends, but more often than not she is left out of the Amy and Misha experience.

Before dinner, Chris came up with the brilliant idea of letting Amy drive.  She was pretty nervous to begin with (and there was a moment or two when I might have been a little nervous myself), but she did pretty well.  The drawback was that she wanted to keep on practicing again that night and every day after. I can wait a little longer.

After dinner, my dad took us to the Wetland Conservation Park at Stirling Lake.  Good thing we had the Pilot.  Bad thing that we had just washed it on Monday.  The ruts of mud were a foot deep in places.  Chris had fun using the four-wheel drive.  We walked a couple of miles along the pathway of ruts.  We saw lots of birds, an egg, and white-tailed deer. 

My girls stepped in a lot of mud, and by the time we returned to the car, their shoes were totally caked in it.  And it didn't want to come off easily.  The Pilot was a "whole lot" dirty this time.

We noticed that the sunset had the potential for greatness.  We dropped all but Misha off at home and drove to the nearby town of Raymond (about seven miles away).  We still had some extra time before the actual sunset around 9:30 pm and drove around.  The sunset did not disappoint.  Misha never noticed.  She had her nose in a book the whole time.

Canada Trip - Day 5

Monday, May 28th.  Another lazy morning in Stirling.  My dad had plans to cut down a branch wayyyy  up high on a tree.  It was fortunate that Chris was around because he probably would have tried to do it on his own.  That is with two replacement knees, scaffolding, a ladder, and a saw.  Chris held the ladder while standing on the scaffolding.  Crazy Dad!  It didn't take much effort, and the limb was down.  Mission accomplished. Misha claimed the branch and cleaned off all the extra limbs. She wanted to bring it home. Um, no. I did find it stashed in the corner of the living room though.  Oh, and that hat.  She wore it almost non-stop while in Canada.  She's amassing quite a collection of unique head wear.

After a little this and that around the house and some picture taking by me, we headed off to the pond to check it out.  My girls have fished there in the past, but my dad didn't think it was very well stocked this year.  Regardless, there were rocks to throw and sticks to toss and more pictures to take.

Our plans for the afternoon included discount movie watching at The Movie Mill.  While en route to Lethbridge, Kristen and my dad told Knock Knock jokes, kind of.  Instead of the usual banana, banana, orange you glad I didn't say banana routine, Kristen kept responding to the knock knock with orange, orange, orange.  Her delivery needs a little work.  She got totally confused when Grandpa would add in Who? No, he's on first or What's on second.  Kristen didn't get it at all.  They finally stopped.  My parents saw "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" and enjoyed it.  Chris and I took the girls to "The Lorax".  Usually I am the one that tends to doze in movies, but Chris joined me in my forty winks this time.  Somehow we missed, "...you greedy dirtbag", but my girls thought it was hilarious and repeated it for days after.  Enough now.

Once we joined up again with my parents, we stopped first at a car wash to remove the mud splattered in our sunset chasing from Sunday evening, and then headed back to Henderson Lake to let the girls play at the coolest playground ever.  Okay, that's what they said three years ago.  Amy has since changed her tune and maybe at 12 is beginning to outgrow playgrounds in general. 

They had fun playing though but didn't complain too much when we shooed them away from the equipment to walk around the lake with us.  The weather was slowly beginning to improve with each day.  Chris indulged our sweet tooths by stopping at Dairy Queen followed by a few more in-town errands.

It wouldn't be a proper day if there wasn't some kind of fire.  My dad built one for the girls in his fire pit.  They had fun making s'mores with some chocolate-coated cookies and marshmallows.  Oh boy, they smelled as though they had been camping for a week.  Whewee.  My dad made the three shorter benches.

The girls might have mentioned using sticks to chase some stray cats (though none were harmed). Misha jokingly announced, "They said 'Meow, eh'."

Canada Trip - Day 4

Sunday and rain.  It poured all day long.  A good day for staying in and for another fire.  My dad was happy to oblige.  My parents had Stake Conference which was a nationwide broadcast from Salt Lake City.  We were able to attend at my parent's building with both wards.  My dad and Chris went early to save us some comfy seats.  It was fun to see so many people that I grew up with...make that parents of my friends.  The fact that I was sitting with my parents made me recognizable as their daughter, but not sure most would have recognize me on my own.  In fact, one of my teachers had to be reminded who I was.  And then he rambled.  I'm sure my girls were getting bored.

The bonus to the meeting was that we were finished at 11:30 am.  Can't beat that!  We went home and everyone helped to get dinner ready.  My girls loved the Black Forest ham my parents cooked.  Now, if I had made it, my girls would have said something like, "It has that yucky black stuff on the outside.  We're not eating it."  Since they didn't have a lot of other choices, they ate it and they loved it.

My mom had this head band with an angel halo attached. Kristen wore it around for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. I think she must have bequeathed it to Christopher.

We enjoyed naps in the afternoon and the girls played games.  Sadly, my mom thought she might be getting sick.  She went to bed early with a sore throat.  The rain finally stopped and we were graced with this beautiful sunset.  The sunsets don't usually disappoint in Southern Alberta.  We raced out by "the dump" to catch some pictures.  Unfortunately, not many of the roads in Stirling are paved.  The Pilot got a "leetle" bit dirty.

Canada Trip - Day 3

Saturday.  I was up early and went for a walk with my parents.  Stirling had changed some with new homes and "subdivisions", but basically it still looks the same.  We returned home for breakfast but many of my peeps were still sleeping.  A bit of a quiet morning.  The garage sale got underway fairly early with my dad manning the sale.  My mom took Amy and Kristen to check out some of the other sales around town a little later in the morning.  Maybe because it wasn't quite as warm as previous years, but the turnout wasn't as spectacular as my parents had hoped.  They didn't do too badly though.  There was one lady, Thelma, that Chris helped to carry packages to her car, who bought quite a lot and then came back Monday morning and spent another hour or so looking and buying.

Chris and I were anxious to do something, but the choices in Stirling and around were pretty limited.  And then Grandma pulled out her Cricut and craft stuff and Kristen and Amy were hooked.  Misha was happy to play Minecraft on Chris' laptop.  Chris and I finally ended up going to Lethbridge (about 20 minutes from my parents) on a date.  Can't complain about that.  We shopped for groceries and then filled up at Costco.  So funny.  The guy at the pump in front of us noticed our Colorado license plate and began a conversation with Chris.  I could hear them talking through the windows and laughed at the usage of "eh" and Chris was so pleased that the guy mentioned the word "hosed" in the conversation.  They were talking about the price of gas compared to Colorado.  They were both doing the conversion from litre to gallon.  The Guy said "We're at $1.11, eh."  (That is per litre; there are 3.8 litres in a gallon).  Chris even pulled out his iPod for its calculator feature.  Once figured out, the guy told Chris that we got "hosed" on the price coming to Canada.

We followed our gas station moment with driving around to find a place to eat.  We ended up at the Cheesecake Cafe (not like the Cheesecake Factory at all), and it was so so.  Since we ate there once before, I told Chris I didn't want to eat there again as we were leaving.  Certainly there are better options.  They even have a full-fledged Mexican restaurant.  Growing up, Mexican food to me consisted of Taco Time.  That's it.  But if you want Chinese food.....

Following dinner, we found our way to Henderson Park and enjoyed the beautiful evening. I was glad that I had my winter jacket, but the lake was lovely.  While walking along the path the went around the entire lake, we were coming up on this guy with a huge Mastiff.  He took him off leash and the dog immediately set off toward Chris and I.  Seriously?  You take your big dog off leash?  I was grateful that this dog had attended some portion of obedience school because he returned to his owner, though somewhat reluctantly as he gazed back at us--Mmmmmmm, dinner.

I love hanging out with this man.

We returned to my parent's home to find Kristen in bed thanks to my sweetheart Amy and Misha not too far behind.  Grandpa had made his famous pancakes for dinner so all was good.

I snapped a picture of the sunset off the deck.

Honor Roller Amy

Amy achieved the honor roll every semester this year.  She worked hard and was thrilled to receive a 4.0 her third semester (I haven't checked her grades yet for the last semester but I know she did great).  Learning how to buckle down and study is a hard skill to learn (and rather unpleasant at times).  During the school year, Amy usually came home from school, went up to her bedroom, and worked on homework without me having to push and nag.  Proud of my girl.  Hard to believe she is in the 8th grade already. 

Canada Trip - Day 2

We took our time on Friday and enjoyed a fairly decent seven-hour drive to Stirling.  Before leaving Billings, we gassed up at Costco.  Chris happened to mention that we bought one of our VCRs at this Costco because there's no sales tax in Montana.  Misha immediately asked, "What's a VCR?"  Crazy how technology has changed in just her short lifetime.  We do have a VCR still, as well as tapes (which we'd like to get rid of if you need any Disney shows), but it never gets used anymore.

Shortly after we passed by a rest stop and about fifteen miles outside of Great Falls, MT, Kristen urgently shouted from the back of the Pilot that she needed to go to the bathroom.  Now!  Chris and I looked at each other because we were near nothing.  She vacillated between having to urgently find relief and being too embarrassed to want us to stop by the side of the rode.  Stopping won out when she was near tears.  She was still claiming humiliation, but at this point, the road-side was our option.  Chris pulled over in a driveway of "Our Father's Place" ranch.  We tried to tell Kristen the importance of letting us know next time before her needs were an emergency.

We were happy to stop for a short while for lunch at Cafe Rio and then went to the mall to look for shoes for Amy's (we had exhausted our options at home, maybe Montana had something different).  Success!  We completed our stop by filling up with gas, returning a Red Box, and getting some snacks and treats.

You might have thought that Kristen would have learned a little something about potty stops earlier in the day, but just as we were nearing a stinky section of freeway next to Kevin/Oilmont twenty minutes from the US/Canadian border, Kristen again shouted from the back of the Pilot.  "Stop the car!  Pull over!  Stop the car now!"  Yes, she had to go to the bathroom again.  Her embarrassment no longer was an issue; she was happy to pee on the side of the road.  Sheesh, girl.  Could we emphasize planning ahead a little more?

We finally arrived at the border where we waited for ten minutes or so for our turn.  We were asked for all of our passports this time, asked to remove our sunglasses, and asked to roll down the windows so that our children could be seen.  Whew.  Always a little tentative on whether they'll want you to pull over for further inspection.  We instructed our children to saying NOTHING unless asked a direct question.

The gently rolling hills and prairie of Southern Alberta greeted us as we drove the remaining 45 minutes to Stirling.  More beautiful green to be seen.  We made a quick drive-thru Warner where I spent the first eleven years of my life.  We showed the girls the first house that my dad built, the field that flooded one Spring giving my brother and I hours of enjoyment on a raft we built, homes where my friends used to live, the school I attended and where my dad taught.  Good memories.

It was nice to pull in to the circular drive of my parent's home.  The trees had grown so much.  I actually liked the view out of our windows a lot better growing up when the trees were small and you could see down main street or watch the sunrise and sunset.  Now there's just trees wherever you look.  Not a fan.

After dinner with my parents, Amy and Misha were happy to roast marshmallows in the basement in the wood stove.  My dad was happy to oblige.  As a lifetime Scouter, he loves to build fires.  Being able to build them in your own house--just a bonus.

Canada Trip - Day 1

The combination of May 24th being the last day of school AND the day we left on vacation for Canada was epically epic (Kristen's newest phrase).  Kristen and Misha's school had a family picnic lunch scheduled for 11:30 am and we decided to just sign the girls out and be on our way.  I went to the elementary school to fetch those two, and Chris headed over to the middle school to sign out Amy (she was marked absent for the afternoon!  As if they were doing anything.)  We stopped at Wendy's for a quick lunch and were on our way.

Our plans changed a little a few days before we left.  We had originally planned to take longer to meander up to Canada stopping in Bozeman, MT the first night and then driving up through the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks to finally arrive in Stirling on Saturday afternoon.  Our plans changed a little as I checked the weather.  SNOW!!  Not surprising for May but we didn't want to explore in it.  (Let's just say we learned that the optimal month for going North is July.  We'll do that next time.)  We switched all of our reservations around and planned to drive to Billings, MT on Thursday afternoon instead where we would pass through Great Falls, MT on Friday afternoon and arrive in Stirling early in the evening.

My parents had planned to participate in a village-wide (yes, I grew up in a village) garage sale on Saturday morning and I encouraged them to continue with their plans.  Only with one caveat, my children were not loading up from treasures they found.  I was mostly successful with that rule.

So, we were on our way by 12:30 pm with winter jackets on board because even though we were bypassing the snow, it was still almost freezing overnight in Stirling.  Woohoo.  Our route took us through Sheridan, WY where we stopped for dinner at the Perkins restaurant.  Most of the Wyoming landscape closest to Colorado is not attractive in the least, but Northern Wyoming was beautiful.  I mentioned the coldness factor in going to Canada in May, but there was also the flip side--the greenness factor.  So stunning.  The rolling mountains were lush and green.

We arrived in Billings, MT around 8:30ish.  We've spent a few nights in this fair city and have enjoyed it as a stopping over point.  We lucked out as well.  We had reservations at the Residence Inn and they upgraded us to a two bedroom/two bathroom unit.  Oh to have that luxury all of the time.  Misha and Amy slept on the Queen in the second bedroom and Kristen had the couch pullout all to herself.

Misha's Fifth Grade Tribute

A couple of weeks ago as I was sitting on the bleacher's at Misha's field day, her teacher, Mrs. Spong, came and sat down beside me.  She said, "I have to tell you something neat, but you can't tell Misha."  For the 5th grade April homework assignment, all of the students were asked to nominate another student for "Classmate of the Year".  Out of the 26 students in Misha's class, Mrs. Spong said that about 20 of them had nominated Misha.  I almost started crying as I sat there on the bleachers.  She is such a wonderful girl. 

As I attended Misha's 5th Grade Tribute on the second to last day of school, I brought my camera and moved to stand against the wall as awards were given.  Misha received a Certificate of Completion for 5th grade, an Academic Achievement award that only two others in her class attained, and the Classmate of the Year award.  So proud of my Misha.

Funny note, the boy standing behind Misha in the first picture with the "fro" was named Noah.  He garnered the nickname of "NoFro" once he started growing his hair.  Nice kid.  Funny how the name stuck.

More Kristen Posing

Too bad my other girls aren't as happy to come outside and pose.  Kristen's good for a number of shots before she grows tired of helping me out.

Hair Tales

I'm finding as my daughters age that I don't deal well with pre-teen tears.  Just don't.  I need to try a little harder to be more sympathetic.  Their dad does a better job with it than I do.

I took all three girls to get their hair cut on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a new location for them.  Even before we left the house, my seven-year old--MY SEVEN-YEAR OLD--started to fret.  "I don't know if I can trust them."  Really?  You're seven.  It's a hair cut.  Hair is an important adornment whatever your age I now realize.

I will admit I felt some trepidation--mostly with Misha's hair.  When I requested blending of some pieces around her face, I about threw up when the stylist starting cutting inches off the front of Misha's hair.  Then, she took these freaky scissors that don't really cut as much hair as they look like they are going to and started snipping more hair.  I think my jaw dropped with the first cut and then I realized they were just thinning the hair and not cutting huge random chunks.  Perhaps Kristen was on to something.

Amy was next.  She only wanted a trim--a half an inch--but the same stylist recommended a little more because Amy's hair was dry.  I had Kristen getting started by another stylist so I was back and forth between the two, and perhaps not paying as much attention to Amy.  You cut an inch off her curls and it was like cutting three inches off straight hair. 

I'm pretty sure I could cut Kristen's hair in the future if I do it the way this stylist did.  Kristen's hair was so long, even with Kristen sitting on a booster seat, that the stylist had Kristen stand.  Then blunt cut the ends.  I can do that.

Oh so many tears once we arrived home with Amy.  She hated her hair and its poofiness.  I tried my best to console her by helping her fix it and put product in it.  She wasn't placated.  Her dad went up to talk to her.  It wasn't until the next morning that I learned that it wasn't so much the style but the fact that it was shorter and bouncier and so not what a girl who wants straight hair dreams of. 

Drama.

And my own personal drama with Misha's hair was unwarranted.  She looks great with it framing her face.

My Visual Learner

Misha had a Water Festival Field Trip today.  Not sure exactly what she'll be doing there, but all of the students were given t-shirts to wear.  Said t-shirt ended up on my couch after school.

"Misha, would you please take your t-shirt upstairs?" I asked as she headed up for bed.

"Can I just leave it here so that I see it right when I walk downstairs in the morning so that I don't forget it?"  She responded.

"If you take it to your room and leave it on the end of your bed, don't you think you'll remember to wear it then?"

"No, I'll see this as I come down the stairs," she replied as she pointed to her t-shirt now draped over the back of the couch.  "Besides I am a visual learner.  That's what my testing showed me.  I'll need to see it."

"But...."  I know all you Moms out there are thinking the same thing I was.  But...never mind.

Favorite New Word

I walked in to the kitchen last night with all three girls lined up at the counter for dinner.  Kristen grinned and stated, "My sisters are epic." 

"Oh, really."  I responded.  "Why?" 

"They just are."

Well, alrighty then.  Better than fighting.

Just say "No"

I thought it was pretty funny to catch Kristen's Barbie's Mother's Day feast and Ken's fashion malfunction.  Just say "no" to crack!  And what was for dinner?  Orange Roughy (aka Gold Fish).

Mother's Day

I'll admit that, in the past, I haven't always let my family serve me on Mother's Day.  Something about thinking they couldn't handle a day without my input in some way.  This year, I let them have at it.  I nudged Chris out of bed around 7 am knowing that some of my children wanted to make me breakfast (and I was getting hungry).

I was happy to feast on waffles with strawberries and whipped topping along with scrambled eggs.  Delish.  After church, Chris and Amy barbequed another tasty meal complete with three or four different kinds of vegetables.  On a happy note, we made our children eat these vegetables too.  Amy said the other day that she doesn't even mind the grilled red peppers anymore.  It takes ten tries to develop a taste for a food.  Not sure if the asparagus will fall in to the "like" category.

And, I walked away from the table (mostly) after the meal and let them clean up.  I think I like this style of Mother's Day.  I'm dispensable, and I'm okay with it.

5th Grade Field Day

Here's my preaching, I don't understand schools today.  There is a scheduled Field Day, and yet, they do nothing to practice or to prepare their students.  No strategy for running a relay, nothing.  As a child, I remember PE classes consisting of races, practicing triple jump, long jump, discus, javelin...Perhaps if we hadn't strayed so far from actual effort, our nation wouldn't be facing an obesity epidemic.  I have feelings on the subject.

I was able to attend Misha's 5th Grade Field Day on Wednesday.  I arrived just as she rounded the corner in her relay.  She apparently didn't notice the crazy lady on the sidelines cheering her on.  Sadly, I wasn't quick enough to pull out my camera as she zoomed past.  I made my way to where students from Centennial were sitting.  Misha was just pulling out her lunch to eat.  I was glad that I was able to see her race as she had two events remaining--the tug of war and the obstacle course.  I was grateful that I hadn't arrived at 9:30 am when the day began.  The sun was hot and relentless.

So biased, but my Misha is beautiful. 

Gotta love the twisted-tongue effort.  Her team won their first round but lost the second.  Second place ribbon.

Racing to a second-place finish in the obstacle course.