7canzers

I have learnt that there is no point to winter if you don’t use it.  I could sit inside and moan about how cold it is, or we could rug up and go do something.  I love that the seasons are so distinct here, and with the distinction comes specific activities.  I have posted about the kids being in X-country ski lessons, which is awesome, but the coolest part of the deal is they get ski rentals for the year and we can go any time we want.  Ashton and I went out one afternoon after school for a little off-track loop down by the river, following the otter trails.I am taking my tripod with my most places we go just so that I can be in the picture too.  I don’t want my kids growing up thinking they had no Mum about.Another afternoon I decided that I could manage all the kids on my own while Kent was at work.  The big girls were fabulous at helping little bro.And Neika was a trooper about helping everyone up the hill.Cheers to the tripod, we are all in the frame 🙂  I had Chelise on my back which is a bit of an accomplishment considering I am not very awesome at skiing.  Thankfully I didn’t fall over!!As we headed home we were starting to lose the light.On yet another occasion, we did a mini loop of bush bashing.  It was only about a km round trip but the kids had a blast.
There was lots of carnage, and lots of laugher!

Our kids are in cross country ski lessons this year.  Big thumbs up to that.A little tobogganing thrown in there too!

We have some awesome friends from New Zealand visiting us.  We did life closely with them when we were living there, but you always wonder what it might be like when you haven’t seen each other for four years and it’s time to reconnect?

Well, it was great! What was I worried about?!  Our kids are the same ages and I realized how much I miss them and what they added to our life. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and the adventures we had together.  We parent similar so it was easy and wonderful 🙂

Onto the pictures!  We skied together a few times – our kids loved showing them around ‘our’ mountain.

This is my fourth winter in Canada, and I still am amazed that things freeze solid here….that a lake can be walked and driven on.  And a fire lit.  That is crazy talk.  We had a fab time with our friends playing at Grave Lake.

It’s not our anniversary now,  but we do always hope to get away without the kids once a year, for our ‘anniversary’.  The middle of October is not usually prime adventuring time in terms of warm weather, but it so for being alone.  Everyone else seems to have curled up at home, and put away summer gear, and replaced it with winter.

And to be fair, we would have stayed at home too, if not the the stella weather forecast, that perfectly fell on our window of opportunity!!  We had planned a 3 night getaway to paddle the length of Maligne Lake.

As we left Jasper, we came across a herd of Elk.And right from the beginning we had this jaw-dropping beautiful land to ourselves.  The tourist boats were moored for winter.Spirit Island is one of the most photographed locations in Canada.  We hang out there for probably two hours and didn’t see a soul.We paddled 23km to the end of the lake,to our destination at Coronet Creek Campsite.The next day we headed back to Fisherman Creek campsite,which was located in a beautiful bay.The days are short, so it was easy to get some shots of the night sky.The weather was unbelieveable amazing.  Blue skies, and glassy smooth lake, but it was cold.  We guesstimated that overnight low’s were about -8, and we were waking up to a good amount of frost on our tent.  I slept in my down jacket in my down sleeping bag!!And it was hard to keep toes warm when we started out in the mornings.Some places, the lake was even starting to freeze over!!Because this area is crazy popular you have to book your campsite and stick to your schedule.  Because we hadn’t seen a soul, we decided that we wouldn’t keep to our schedule and instead of staying two nights at Fisherman Creek, that we would paddle to another campsite that was brand new, and we hadn’t known existed when I booked our trip.  We had gotten lulled into a false sense of alone-ness.  We started to see other boats.  Whaaaat?  This is our lake!!! And we got to the campsite (that we weren’t booked into!) and it was full.  Oops.  It was the weekend by now.  And because you are only allowed to camp in designated spots, we had nowhere to camp.  We dawdled and enjoyed hanging out in a few bays,

And ended up paddling back to the launch area.  We went for a run on some of the trails, and decided to head back to Jasper and hotel it for the night.  So instead of 3 nights, 4 days, we only had 2 nights, 3 days.  But honestly, it was one of the most magical trips ever!!

So, I am over the wind.  It is so tiring.  It has been gusting up to 100km/hr.  So we hide in here when we are at camp!And because we need to hide for a while, we are doing a pancake breakfast.And then we went for a walk to Cameron Falls, some on the trail, some on the fence.Our final day, and I’m hiding in the trailer for breakfast to avoid the wind altogether.  I’m not crazy about driving home with these gusts, so Kent has come to rescue us!!!A quick stop at the bison paddock….And finishing with a pretty rainbow on the drive home!!I think we will make camping on Thankgiving weekend a tradition if the weather is still holding up!!

Kent had to go home to work.  Bummer.  When I planned this a few months ago, I thought he wouldn’t be able to come at all, so the day he got to spend with us was a bonus for sure.  I think I am all brave and strong to do things on my own, but when the rubber meets the road, I’m really not.  I am grateful for his help and companionship, and I miss him when he’s not here.

Our plan for today…..Bear hump hikeAll of my family, minus Kent and my brother.The kids were wanting to go higher and higher.  It’s always so hard to hold them back.Upper Waterton Lake, and Waterton Township.The view further down the lake towards the States.  Halfway down there somewhere is the international border.It was windy windy windy!And because of the wind, we spent a lot of time in this shelter trying to escape it.  We noticed all the shelters are built this direction, most likely for a reason.  Afterall it is the windiest place in Alberta.The girls are on dinner duty.  Fancy!!The boys spent most of their time playing soccer.  The bikes are set-up in a semi circle for the goal.

We have been so blessed since we have been in Canada by a large number of NZ visitors, both family and friends.  It’s not like we live on the main drag, and are easy to get to.  It takes commitment for people to travel to see us.  We are so spoiled that they make the effort.  My sister and her family have just completed a 6 month RV road trip, that began in April from our house, and ended just now at our place. We wanted to do a trip with them and my parent’s to Waterton National Park before we put all our camping gear into hibernation for the winter.

I am going to do a few different posts, because I have lots of pictures!  We drove in last night, set up our campsites, only to move in the morning to a more sheltered spot.  It was crazy windy.  The days plan was to hike and bike, and we had only gone a couple of km’s when our bike rack broke.  Lucky we were only going about 30km/hr and we could stop quickly, before much damage was done.  It makes me feel ill to think what would of happened if we were going full speed on the highway.

We went and checked out Cameron Lake.and then walked to a little lake really close by – Akamina I think.  I love how the kids have no problem having fun together, and without the need for artifical props.  They were all intrigued by the spine we found.And crossing the creek without getting their shoes wet.
Grandma with her chocolate bars were a hit!But even that wasn’t enough bribery to try and get 9 kids to co-operate for a cousin’s photo.  We tried…..Next up, was a hike n’ bike to another lake.  A couple of bikes got bent rims from the bike rack breaking so some of us were on foot…..

Some of the older kids carried on a trail that ran paralell-ish to the road, and then finished up on the pavement, having a hoot all the way back to the villageAt camp they ran like a pack, just enjoying being together.
At dusk the light got so awesome!!  It was very eerie and cast a really deep orange glow, not just in the sky, it was like the atmosphere was on fire too.

One of the neatest things about raising kids is seeing personalities emerge.  I like her’s a lot!  She is silly, thoughtful, sensitive, hardworking, responsible, enthusiastic and just at such a sweet spot for just being a really great gal.  Happy birthday beautiful girl.  We love you to the moon and back 🙂

Her New Zealand cousins rolled into town just in time to celebrate.The day after her birthday we had another party up a mountain with some of our favourite family friends, and NZ family.It’s been a while since I have made birthday cake’s for the kids.  The last couple of years they have mostly been courtesy of Dairy Queen, but she made a specific request for a real cake this year.  I saw this simple but pretty idea online, and she loved it.

Birthday’s in the outdoors seems to be our favourite way to celebrate.  Keep smiling girlie! We love you.