Waterton Wow!

There are only a few weeks left of this school year! Yay!  I cannot begin to tell ya how excited I am for summer holidays to begin.  This has been one of the busiest years on record, and I am feeling the heat (literally these past few days) to get on summer break mode.
This past weekend, we decided to get an early start to our camping season and head down to our favourite place....Waterton Lakes National Park.  We pulled the kids out of school for Thursday and Friday, so we could get down there Wednesday night for a full four days.  This is a little shorter than are usual one week, but the way the camping schedule fell this year, that's how it all worked out.

We kicked off our stay with a family bike ride after a later Wednesday evening dinner after arriving.  It was a great night to be out and about.

Thursday's weather, however, wasn't ideal, but made for a great day for the boys to head out and get some golfing in.  Aidan got his first taste of playing eighteen holes, and driving the golf cart.  He just needs a little more practice on parking the cart when on a hill!  The girls and I spent the majority of the day bike riding around the townsite (between getting soaked by rain showers) and doing a little shopping, playing at the playground, enjoying the lake views, and visiting the infamous candy store for a few treats.

As Aidan was a little under the weather for most of Friday, we decided to let him rest, and tackle a little geocaching.  The park puts on a new series every spring and summer, so we are always up for a new challenge!  As Bree scaled the rock wall for this geocache, I couldn't help but to admire the view from this vantage point.

The weather after Thursday was pretty great, but not quite warm enough for swimming.  The girls can attest that the water temperature has a long way to go!

Friday afternoon, we laced up and hit the trails for a hike to Lower Bertha Falls.

I have in previous years done this hike later in the summer, so being here this early lead to some pretty impressive volumes of water cascading down the mountain.  The temps were on the rise, so cooling off in the mist of the falls was a great reward for the hike.

With Aidan feeling much better on Saturday, we headed out to what was perhaps the biggest highlight of the trip....horseback riding!

Alpine Stables is a family owned and run business in Waterton and offers lots of different ride packages in the area, in terms of both duration and destination.  We opted for the hour and half ride through the surrounding forests and plains.  I think we all developed a new found love for horses thanks to this trip!

Around the halfway point of the ride, we let the horses cool off for a bit and get a drink from the lake.  Brent's horse however, decided it was an opportune time for an attempted "swim" and sent Brent scrambling to get off his horse before going all the way in.   Both Brent and his horse got quite the soaking!  We found out later, that this horse loves the water.

The landscape was beautiful as we made our way along the horse path seeing everything from lush vegetation to open plains with gorgeous expansive views in every direction.   I have a new found appreciation for the power of horses after this ride.  They are amazingly strong animals and so smart. This was a total highlight for me, as well as the rest of the crew, and we will definitely do it again on our next visit!

With the duration of our time here coming to a close, we decided Saturday evening to hike the Bear's Hump for an incredible vantage point over the townsite and Upper Waterton Lake.  This is a fabulous hike, short but steep, and worth every amount of energy mustered to reach the summit.  This hike has become somewhat of a family tradition each year, and I was very thankful to take part this time after missing out of the last few thanks to my knee.

As tempting as it was to stay longer (believe me, I thought about it!) we had a fabulous time in Waterton and it was a great way to kick off our upcoming camping season.  We are off to MacDonald Creek in BC in a few weeks, and then returning to Vancouver Island for most of August.  It will be great to get back to the Island as it has been a few years since our last visit!

For now though....the countdown is on until the kids wrap up another school year!

Have you seen Waldo?

What a great seventh birthday party for Bree and Jenna!  Despite being a month after their actual birthday, we had a group of their friends here over the weekend for a "Where's Waldo Celebration".  We kicked off the party with a little friendly competition and had the ladies partner up and do a little search and find on some gigantic Waldo posters.  They were all totally into it, and would not give up easily.  It was awesome to see how excited they got!  We followed that with a house hunt for Waldo cut-outs that were hiding throughout the main floor.  Totally fun!  Instead of gifts, we opted for a book exchange where everyone brought a new book, wrapped, and all of the guests drew a number, and then went in order to select a secret book.

The highlight of the party, was a surprise visit from Waldo himself!  A huge thank you to Brent for being such a great sport and pulling off a pretty realistic Waldo!  He was hiding and sneaking around the backyard as the girls were eating their snacks and cupcakes.  As soon as they saw him, the giggles and screams were hilarious.  They loved it!

Needless to say, Waldo was a huge hit!  

The party was so much fun and I think the smiles from all of the girls speak for themselves!

lucky number seven!

There you have it!  These ladies have just turned seven years old!  How that happened I have no idea.  It has been an amazing seven years with these two, and seeing twins grow up like these gals has been an awesome experience.  They continue to make us all laugh every day while keeping us continually on our toes as to what they will come up with next.  They are definitely each other's best friend and the bond between twins is something we are so very lucky to witness first hand.  They have filled our house with giggles and goofiness and are growing up with such awesome personalities.

Happy Birthday Bree and Jenna!  

Pocaterra

Well, I am not sure where winter has gone, but when one is desperate to find snow, it can be done!  Such was the case this past Monday, when we made the trip into Kananaskis to check out the Pocaterra network of trails.  The kids were off on a pd day so it was a great time to head into this area as it was not busy at all.  It was a beautiful day out in the mountains, and although the snow wasn't "perfect" at least we found some to enjoy!

The main purpose, however, was to get Aidan on cross country skis.  A few weeks back, we went on a field trip with his school, and part off the day was spent snowshoeing and cross country skiing.   He was hooked!  So, we dug out my old skies from back in the day, and let Aidan give them a whirl.

He did awesome!  He mastered the art of going straight, and some smaller downhill sections, but the herringbone technique for going uphill still needs a little bit of work....

And while Aidan was learning the art of cross country skiing, I was able to snowshoe along side of him for a great workout and I even managed to find some snow to play in.

The girls and Brent ventured out onto a frozen lake, and mostly enjoyed playing in the large snowbanks and just enjoyed the time outside.

The great thing about the Pocaterra trail system, is that in winter they have a warming hut where you can eat your lunch and warm up after your ski.  You can leave your gear in here for the day as well, so it is a pretty convenient base for exploring the numerous trails in the area.  We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch in the hut, and then wrapped up the day with a round of hot chocolates.

The ladies have also taken an interest in trying out a little skiing so hopefully the next time they can give it a go too!  We will definitely be back to this area of Kananaskis.  We are now officially on the hunt for some cross country skis and are hopeful this can be a new winter activity for all of us to enjoy!  Now.....let's just keep our fingers crossed we get some more snow.

Christmas wrap up

Man oh man, time sure does fly by these days.  Here we are sitting mid-January and I am finally getting around to posting a quick holiday re-cap!
We had the most wonderful holiday in these parts.  It was a white Christmas first off - something that just seems to make this part of the year extra special - and most importantly, we had loads of family out here to celebrate the holidays.  It was a jam packed few weeks with mountain trips, baking, game playing, sledding, Zoo Lights, knitting and all things crafty, colouring, entertaining family and friends, and of course we rounded it all out with pool and ping pong.   There was even a pool and ping-pong tournament here with Aidan's curling team and their families.  Excitement for the holidays is always at a high level here and this year was no different.

The big day itself was perfect in every sense in that we celebrated it all with family.

We had a great dinner full of yummy food and it was our largest one yet!

Pool and ping-pong became a hugely popular past time as everyone worked on brushing up on their skills.

And as tradition holds, the New Year welcomed Olle Bollen a Dutch tradition that I hope we can stick with over the coming years.

The house was full of excitement with people coming and going over the course of the holidays and I wouldn't have it any other way.  We are finding ourselves once again wrapped up in the busy-ness of not one school, but now two schools, and weekend sports and man somedays it's hard to keep up!  At any rate, everyone has got the new year kicked off to a great start and we look forward to what adventures will come our way this year!

All right 2016....let's do this!

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year!  

Love Always,

Brent, Shari, Aidan, Maelle, Bree & Jenna

mountain day!

Oh it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!  We have snow on the ground and have had it for a while now, which will finally guarantee us a white Christmas!  Yay!

Being that the kids are now officially on holidays from school, and curling for Aidan has taken a Christmas break, and Grandpa Snider is in town, we loaded everyone into the truck and took off for a day in the mountains.  Our destination:  Banff National Park and the area around Lake Minnewanka.

It was a beautiful day to be outside in the fresh mountain air today.  We spent a good deal of the afternoon on a nice walk and the kids (and adults) had a tonne of fun sledding on the shoreline of Lake Minnewanka.  Not a bad place to have a few runs down the hill!

We even located an awesome sitting spot...and I tell ya, if I had a thermos of something warm to drink I could have spent all day in this very spot!

Speaking of warm drinks...we stopped in Canmore at the Good Earth Cafe (our favourite place) for a round of hot chocolates before heading home.  Now you may be wondering why I have a multitude of drinks in front of me, right?  Long story short....the steamer machine broke down after we placed our orders so we had to make a few alterations to our drink selection.  Turned out that the machine came back on so they made our original drinks anyways....on the house!  Nice!  This was me trying to decide what to drink first.

We had an absolute blast in the mountains today, and can't wait to get back there very soon.  We will be quite busy with holiday preparations over the next few days as we will have a full house here on Christmas Day!

Hello 9!

Hello Everyone!  We are back blogging in this space after an absolutely wonderful adventure, and I can't think of a better way to kick things off than a birthday celebration for a very special now nine year old!

Maelle turned nine years old this past Monday, and honestly I think birthdays are a bigger deal to this little gal than Christmas.  We spoiled here with some pretty decadent cupcakes and loaded her up with some blank canvases and paints...a perfect gift for this budding artist.  She has big plans to draw upon some of her adventures over the past three months and we all can't wait to see what she comes up with to paint.  

Maelle continues to keep us laughing daily and always has a hug for whomever is near.  Her giggles can be contagious and her creativity is inspiring.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!  We love you so very much!

It's GO time!

Hello Everyone!

Well....we made it!  It is finally here.  We are a day away from our adventure of a lifetime!  It still doesn't feel real.  I don't think it will until we board that plane, fasten our seatbelts, and take off.  Everyone is really excited, if not a bit nervous, and anxious to get this trip rolling.  You can follow our adventure at "full of adventure", a blog that has been set up specifically for this trip. We plan to update the new blog as often as we can.  Also, keep an eye on Instagram (click on the button on the right hand side of either blog) to stay up to date on where we are!  So, for the next three months, you will find us over in our new space.  Please click on the link above, or click on the "full of adventure" button (the one with the airplane) on the right hand side of this blog.
We look forward to what this adventure will bring, the stories that will be written, and most importantly the memories that will be made.  It truly is an adventure of a lifetime!

Yoho National Park & Banff National Park

On our way home from MacDonald Creek, we decided to spend a few days in the Lake Louise area to take advantage of some hiking and paddling that has been on our bucket list.  We stayed in the Lake Louise Campground (trailer section) and although it is not perfect, it provides a great base for exploring the area.

Our first destination was Emerald Lake, which is located in Yoho National Park - another park that is on my favourite list! The lake is exactly that - an emerald green, and beautiful!  We launched the kayaks from the shore and spent a good few hours paddling around.  It was extremely cool to paddle on this lake and the kids got a great first hand experience of the glacial lake from an entirely different perspective.

The great thing about this lake, is that there is a trail that winds around the shoreline the entire way - which meant that whomever wasn't paddling, could hike!

We played tourist, and hit a few of the stops we hadn't visited in sometime.  Takakawa Falls included!  I have always enjoyed this waterfall, and given that it was really hot out, the mist provided a crisp cool down!

On our final full day, we were up early and on the trail up into the Larch Valley.  The last time I was in these parts, was when we (Kylie and Lindsay included) climbed Mount Temple almost nine years ago to the day! Just staring up at this mountain made my knees quiver!  I honestly couldn't believe that we had all made it to the top of this well over eleven thousand foot peak.
I had wanted to get the kids up here for sometime, and the hike did not disappoint.  After some really good switchbacks that got us warmed up, we emerged into the Larch Valley and were quickly surrounded by the Valley of the Ten Peaks.  This is what I wanted the kids to see!  Being completely surrounded by mountain peaks, each towering well over ten thousand feet!

This shot (below) is my most favourite picture by far, and will definitely be making it into a frame shortly!

After a great morning hike, we ventured down to the lakeshore of Moraine Lake.  This is another glacial lake, that is more of a turquoise colour.  We once again put the kayaks in, and enjoyed another fabulous paddle.  It is always remarkable to get a different perspective of the surroundings from the water, instead of always seeing the lake from the shore or hiking the trails.

The water was perfect!

See those two little specks in the water?  That is Maelle and I!  The shot was taken by Brent from a quick little trail up a rock pile located near the start of the lake.

Well....that wraps up this summer of camping!  We had a bit of a shorter camping season this year, as we now head into prepping for our big adventure that is less than two weeks away!  Yikes!  I can't believe we are this close!