Walks and Locks

I find that as a mom I am always in a hurry to get to the next thing: the next errand, the next meal, the next chore, the next mess.  I often fail to allow myself and my children to take a breath and enjoy what's around us.  Even on our walks when we should be able to enjoy the beautiful weather and sights around us I still find myself urging "Come on, keep moving" or "can you stop dragging your feet like that" or "you've looked at that earthworm long enough".  One day quite a while ago when Emma was very little we went on a walk with my mom.  I couldn't help but envy the patient way she let our sweet, curious girl take her time with every bug and flower she came across.  She never rushed her or pushed her along with reminders of all of the things she had to get done for the day.  Maybe it's a Grandma thing or maybe just a Holly thing but I often times think back to that morning and try to bite my tongue when I want to rush the kids along on our walks.  The other day while the older two were busy at their cousin Ava's house I took Lillian on one of these unrushed, patient walks, something that I never get to do with her all alone.  And it did take A LOT of patience because every three feet she would stop and do this while pretending to snore.

 

After about the 15th time it took every ounce of will power I had not to throw her on my shoulders and run home.  But I reminded myself of how little these sorts of alone time moments occur and let her do her thing.

 

We spent another 10 minutes on this curb while she dipped her feet in the water.  In the end a walk around the block, literally, took us 30 minutes but I had a content two year old who felt like she had been the boss for a few minutes.

 

And while we're on the subject of Lillian, here are a couple of other goofy pictures of her at the playground.

 

Again pretending to sleep

 

She had spent most of the night before awake, so she actually may have dozed off for a few minutes.

 

And just one quick update.  The first thing Emma wanted to do when we got back from the wedding, especially after spending a full 90 minutes having her hair done, was cut off all of her long locks.

 

She went from this...

 

to this...

 

What a cute pair!!

 

She asked the salon to donate her horse tail of a braid and hasn't looked back since.  As an added bonus our relationship has improved drastically since I am no longer having to try to brush through her mane everyday.

 

 

Holiday's End

Just boring old me tonight to recount some of our other adventures in B.C.  One of my favorite things was our visit to Fort Steele.  The kids had so much fun learning about olden days and visiting all of the old farms and homesteads.  And while it was over 34 degrees outside they were troopers and we were able to fit everything in.

Waiting for the stage coach

 

 

 

 

I don't think there's anything I love more than when our kids can spend time with their cousins.

 

 

Racing to the gazebo

 

One of the kids' favorite places was the Wild Rose Theater where they got to see an old fashioned play.  They thought it was hilarious and were excited to get pictures with the cast.

 

Lillian was not nearly as impressed.

 
 

 

 

 

 

Serious Students

 

The train ride was last on our list and you can tell by the flushed faces that it had been a long and exhausting day.  It was well worth the wait though and we made a quick stop mid way through to get pictures at a beautiful spot.

 

 

 

 

 

Great Grandma Reay

 

Our poor Lilly baby had a rough start to our holiday with a bug bite on her eye that made her look like a prize fighter and a sick stomach so she was a bit of a monster.  In fact the word monster is a bit of an under statement.  She was so miserable that Allan's grandma started calling her "the one that screams all the time."

 

Most of her time was spent doing one of the things below. 

 

 

 

 

 

And if she wasn't doing one of those things she was screaming.

 

This is the scenery that surrounds us everywhere we look in Jaffray and it was hard to leave behind.

 

We finally made it to Kicking Horse where we got ready for Haley and Des' wedding.  Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures with everything going on but we had a great weekend surrounded by family and were grateful to be there to meet our newest nephew, Simon (Bruce and Kelsey's baby), and to celebrate with Mr. and Mrs. West-Chow, the happy couple.

 

Emma made the most beautiful little flower girl. 

 

 The gondola ride up to the ceremony

 

 

We were happy to return home to our beds and our puppy and our routine but we couldn't have asked for a week that was more fun!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaffray According to Emma and Walker...and Mom

We spent the end of July in British Columbia visiting Allan's family in Jaffray and attending my sister's wedding in Kicking Horse, or Golden, I still am a little confused as to whether or not Kicking Horse is in Golden or if Kicking Horse is its own town.  Anywho... it was beautiful and we had a wonderful week.  Jaffray is easily one of the kids' favorite places in the world and we're so grateful to have a little piece of heaven to visit when we go and see Allan's Grandma Reay and the rest of the Reay bunch on "The Ranch".  Emma is certain that she and her cousin Kendall will eventually own a ranch and home there where they can raise horses and ride "Rangers" all day long.  And since it is their most favorite place I'm going to let them give a rundown of the week.

 

Emma: Me and Kendall and Walker loved to feed the horses apples every morning and night.  Kendall thought Sage was a girl but after she got in trouble with her big sister Mikaela because he was actually a boy.

*side note* Sage is one of the old ranch dogs

Walker: Kendall and me and Emma love to do what Sage does but he is doing his job and we can't do it with him.

*other side note* Sage thinks he's a herd dog and so is always "herding" the horses even though they don't pay him any attention.

 

 

Emma: The cabin was a nice place to sleep.  We got to sleep in the top.  Do you see those black metal stairs?  They are very sharp when you don't have shoes on.  That's why I always have to have shoes on when I'm around the cabin.  Near the cabin there is a red ride where Kendall holds onto one handle and I hold onto the other on the other side.  Then we run in a circle and then we lift our feet off the ground, we hold on tight, and it spins us around.  It's fun!

Walker:  We have a great time together as a family.  Auntie Penny gave us cheerios for lunch.  It's fun.  We got to go to Mom and Dad's cabin every morning. 

 

*The cabin that he is referring to is Uncle Dewey and Aunt Brenda's home where Allan and I stayed with Lillian right next door to the cabin above.  He built it when they were first married.  It's beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Emma: In Kimberley we got to go to a rock water park.  Some dogs drank from it.

 

 

 

Emma:  We got to play giant chess with Uncle Mike and Kendall.  They won.  It was so unfair that they won. 

Walker:  Uncle Mike and Kendall did win.  We did lose.  I did hate it when they did win.  I did want to be on their team next time.  It was too late. 

*Clearly we need to have a Family Home Evening lesson on being a gracious loser*

 

 

 

Emma: The waterfall was beautiful.  I love the color of the creek.  I saw guys jumping off a bridge into the creek.  When Mommy fell in I was worried and thought I was practically going to lose her.

 

*To clarify, I was trying to find a place to let Lillian put her feet in the creek and slipped and fell.  We were a little close to the waterfall for comfort and it was kind of traumatic for everyone involved.*

 

 

*Allan wasn't so traumatized, however, that he didn't manage to snap a couple of pictures immediately following.

 

 

*That big gap in the rocks there would be the beginning of this waterfall.

 

 

 
 

 

Walker:  Waterfalls are beautiful when water rushes down.  We love to see the waterfalls rush down.

 

With 200 pictures from our little B.C. adventure it is going to talk me a couple of posts to squeeze all of the significant events in.   More to come later this week.