Drumheller, Alberta

We took a trip to Drumheller this year.  Something we've not done in Years and Years.  Our trip began with a stop at Horseshoe Canyon.  Isn't it in interesting sight?  

Those little specs down there are my kids and their Grandpa.  They went hiking around the canyon.  I stayed up and took pictures because I wore sandals :-( , and it was a pretty steep walk down to where they were.  
Here is Alex coming up the canyon, what a fun time.  There was a little gift shop in a trailer on the property, a lovely woman in the gift shop named each of the rocks that my nephew brought up from the canyon.  It was a neat place.
We then headed to the fabulous  Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum.  There were so many cool dinosaur things in there.  It actually made me feel like there was a part of the world that I was really missing.  As I walked around and read the signs I was overwhelmed with how much information is out there about dinosaurs.  I've never had a kid that was all about Dinosaurs so I don't know more then a few names.  
At the museum they even had a window where you could watch them work on actual bones.  It was so cool.
This is the Worlds Largest Dinosaur.  He stands 86 feet tall, and you can climb up the stairs inside and stand inside his mouth for a "scenic view" of Drumheller.  :-)  It was quite a haul up those stairs, which actually made me realize that I need to get to the gym a bit more often.  It was a cool experience, but I would have to declare it a bit over priced.  (yes, we were charged to climb the stairs inside this beast. $3.00/person.... I though $1 would have been more reasonable for what it was).  But here's the pic, none the less.
And of course all the kids in the mouth.  Missing Ethan, but I guess he was done by the time I got my exposure figured out.  :-)
Here they are climbing on the toe. It was a fun little stop.  
We were then off to the suspension bridge.  When I was a little girl we took a trip up to Drumheller.  If I remember correctly we went to visit a missionary who served in our area "Benji".  He told us tales of a haunted apartment, and broken guitars.  I was pretty creeped out.

That night I had a nightmare, but it wasn't about the haunted house, ore the broken guitars, it was about this bridge.  I have had very few "bad dreams" in my life, and my bad dreams are rarely about ghosts and goolie things, usually my bad dreams are about people.  In my dream my dad was swinging me by my feet over the side of this swinging bridge, and when he flipped me back up onto the bridge, the bridge flung the other direction and tossed him over the edge.  I watched him fall for what seemed like forever.  I'll never forget that dream, and every time I see this bridge it is totally clear.  Funny how stuff sticks with you.
We then went to the Hoodoo's,  Mostly to take pictures :-)  These Sandstone columns are naturally carved by the wind.  Kind of cool lookin' eh?

Tori had to strike a pose on the Hoodoo's.  You're aloud to walk around the area, they just ask that you don't actually climb up upon a Hoodoo.  Don't you just love the name Hoodoo?  LOL
We had a long full day.  As we drove home we were tortured by a beautiful sun set.  Yes, I said tortured because it was the most stunning sunset, all set upon the beautiful rolling fields, and Kevin and I didn't have a tripod between us!  It was horrible.  I took mental photos, but I can't show you those!  Oh well, know that it was gorgeous and perfectly colorful!

Not for those with weak tummies

Okay, so they're not THAT gross, but I thought they were so funny when I pulled them out of the camera in this order.  I was just taking pictures of her on this little hill, I had NO idea what she was doing until well after these photos were taken.  Poor girl.  :-(

*Click on it to see it larger*

Catch up 2 (Aug 4th)

Monday was a holiday so mom invited family up to have lunch at her house.  It was so fun to see everyone.

These are my moms sisters.  Patty on the Left and Laurie on the right.  
This is my cousins Neil and Star, and on the right Stars boyfriend (I don't recall his name).  Neil lived with us for a few months when he was just tiny, I remember him as a little baby.  Helping my mom with him in the night.  I can't believe how big he is now!  Crazy! 
The boys.  These are some of my Grandmas great grand sons.  My cousin Tobie (who is my age and she and I grew up inseparable in the summers) came.  the littlest guy in brown, and the boy behind him  are hers.  It was so fun to see her and her boys again.  And her cheeky husband I suppose.  ;-)
These are the great grand daughters that were there.  All mine and my sisters.  :-)
Kevin and I got to go out at sun set with the petty skirt, and both girls.  Oh was it fun, but oh the jealousy when Tori saw that she wasn't the only one who could model.  :-)  Unfortunately for Tori, the light got really sweet when it was Abby's turn, so there aren't any of Tori that have this pretty of light!  It was really fun though, and I think the girls felt like movie stars with both of us shooting away like crazy.  :-)
A little twirl.  I LOVE this skirt, I hope you don't get sick of seeing pictures in it.  IF you do, too bad  :-) LOL!

Playing Catch up 1

Oh, I feel so far behind.  I did that on post and now here I try to fill in the blanks from that one and catch up with the photos.  I want to journal this whole trip, so I'm just going to take it in chunks.  This photo was taken on my first night out shooting landscapes.  We were eaten alive by mosquitos, but we got some good shots.  

Alex got a chance to play a little Baseball with Grandma on the first day that we were there.  It was fun to watch them.  Alex was only wearing flip flops so he was a little slow on the bases, but luckily he was playing with Grandma.  :-)
I found a Twilight fan to go with me to the book release!  I nearly had to drag Kevin with me, but realized, just in the nick of time that my niece Samantha is a Twilighter, so we went together.  The place we went to had drinks in blue and red, if you like Edward you chose blue, if you like Jacob you chose red.  So it was obvious who was cool, and who wasn't  :-)

They also had mask making (didn't we do a beautiful job!?!)  We stood in line for an hour and the girl in front of us won the raffle and got the first book.  I think we got #12 and 13.   We were both so excited.  Samantha was done with in a day and a half, I however and still not done!  I know, I am probably the LAST twilight fan on earth to not be done, but I'm not.  Crazy times.

The next day we headed out to the river by my moms house to play in the water.  It was a fun time.  I of course played with my camera, and was envious of Samantha reading her book.  

This is my niece who is Liza's age.  I just LOVE this picture of her.  

Here is Sam gobbling up the book right in front of me!  (RUDE)  Oh well, she mad up for it when she read aloud to me in the car for almost 4 hours a few days later.  She really wanted me to finish so that we could talk about it.  She was very good at keeping her mouth shut and not being a spoiler.  :-)  (thanks Sam)
Katie by the river, not long before the aforementioned blow out.  I have the funniest pictures from that blow out... I know it's gross, but really funny.  :-)  
Here the kids are in the river.  A few days later they actually took tubs out and went for a ride down the river.  Not me though.  As much as I love the pool, I'm not a big fan of "wild" water.  I don't like to go in oceans, lakes, rivers... places where critters live and water is unregulated and uncontrolled. (weird, I know)

That night the kids went with Grandpa to Journey to the Center of the Earth.  I stayed at Dads house with Katie and Tori and Abby.  They wouldn't have enjoyed that movie.  The other kids loved it, while the adults, and Sam said that the story line sucked, but it did have really cool effects.  My question is why can't a 3-D movie have a decent plot?  Oh well, the kids had fun.  :-)

Brian Regan!

Hello all, Tickets for Brian Regan  Go on sale on Friday 22nd.  If anyone wants to go and sit with us, let me know.    He will be in Fredrick on October 23rd  (thats a thursday).  This guy is hilarious!  Don't miss it.  :-)

OH CANADA

We made it here safe and sound. We've had fun seeing family again and playing at both Grandma and Grandpas Houses. On our flight here we were so lucky to get a plane that had an individual TV for each passenger that you control yourself. There was something for everyone, this made that ride rather pleasant. The kids watched "little bear" and "Rollie Pollie Ollie" and even a bit of "Horton Hears a Who", Katie had a nap, and get this.... I watched a movie! I may have had to pause it a few times to run kids to the potty, or clean up a spilled drink, or settle an argument, but I watched a whole movie. I got to see Fools Gold, which I thought was quite cute. I would watch it again. There were no delays and we had the nicest boarder crossing dude of all time, so that went off with out a hitch. Really ended up being a pretty good day.

My sister showed up early with her four kids, and so my kids were thrilled to pick up a few extra days with their cousins. So far we have gotten in a lot of playing with "new" or "new to you" toys, and a lot of arguing which set of 2 gets to go on the trampoline. (My sisters kids and my kids line up perfectly for age and gender, her last 3 and my first 3. We both have a tail end, she at the head and me at the end, so those two feel a little left out at times I am sure.) On Saturday we went to a farmers market, and got some delicious cherries and juicy perfect peaches. (oh yum, I love BC Fruit) I wish I could bring a piece home for all of my lovely friends at home. :-) After the market we went to a river, nice and shallow the kids could wade across the whole thing with out getting their bum wet. It was really nice. I got to take some photos, Alex fell in and spent the remainder of the day shivering as his skin stretched over his bones tried to keep the poor bag o' bones warm. Katie had the blow out of a lifetime, lets just say I thought she stepped in mud. (you can fill in the blanks) Luckily we were right by a river. :-) Poor girl, I bet that was cold oh her little bum! Last night Grandpa took the kids to see "Journey to the Center of the earth." (3D movie) The kids loved the movie, and the fact that you were aloud to bring home the glasses. I stayed home with the little girls, Katie went to bed and Abby and Tori watched a movie and ate cookies.

I've only been out to shoot with Keven once so far. It hasn't been as easy to get out there as i had hoped it would be. The kids are staying up later then normal, playing with cousins so I'm not getting them in bed in time to head out to shoot those evening shots. But in just that one shoot, I learned a ton. I can't wait to head out again soon. :-)