Waterton

Since the last time we came home to visit it was near deathly freezing temperatures we hadn’t been to Waterton National Park for a couple of years and so with Ryan’s family from Utah up and spending their visit at Waterton we were happy to take the excuse and spend the day. We went up with Jessica and her boys and spent the afternoon with a picnic, walking by the lake, playing at the park and hanging out waiting for the Porters to get back from their hike. It was a great day and the visit was good. Ryan was licked by a deer who must have thought he had food!?

Dad's Wedding

The main reason we went home to Canada when we did was because my dad was getting married! It was a quiet simple backyard ceremony followed by a catered dinner with only my dad and Peggy's kids invited. It was a really nice time and although I'm not too sure how to elaborate further other then it was a great evening and we have a couple of really nice pictures to share.

Writing On Stone

For our second weekend back in Canada we had the Beattie family reunion which included Ryan's mom and dad and all the brothers and sisters. Whoever had trailers brought those and the rest of us stayed in tents. The weather was great and it was a lot of fun to have everyone together. I'm sure that we annoyed a couple of the campers beside us as the 9 grandkids ran together in a wild pack of craziness but they had a blast. We were able to climb in the hoodoo's which are rocks eroded away over time into a climbing playground of dips, caves and peaks. We spent an afternoon on the beach although the current in the Milky River was strong the kids took a ride in the raft letting it carry them down the river. Ryan spent his time setting up a huge underground tunnel system in the sand which turned into a trap waiting for some little feet to trample over it unaware and fall in. We finished the day with a pirate treasure hunt for the kids where they collected treasure at every stop and gaining pirate patches, hats and swords.

Sunday morning we had our own Sunday school class before packing up and heading out. Yay for the Beattie family reunion!!

Calgary Z00

Today we flew into Calgary from Honolulu and Ryan's youngest sister Jessica picked us up with her two boys and we spent the afternoon at the Calgary Zoo where my sister and her boyfriend joined us. It was really great to let the kids run off some of that pent up energy from sitting in the planes for hours and hours plus they were really excited to have their cousins there with them. Brayden and Kaden were pretty cute if it's okay to call two boys that!? But Brayden was thrilled to with Kaden, repeating over and over again that Kaden was his friend and hugging him, holding his hand. We quickly tried to get around to most of the animals sadly skipping the Canadian wildlife section ;) My personal favorite is the hippos because they are so FAT and somehow they can still stand on their tiny little legs... one of those mysteries I suppose!!

Honolulu

After a very long, tiring journey we made it to Honolulu Sunday evening. Our hotel was great and we were only a couple blocks from Waikiki beach so we decided to check it out our first day so we could stay close to the hotel in case we needed some pick me up naps while adjusting to the 16 hour time difference from the Philippines. It was crazy the amount of people that were there but even through the crowds the beach was beautiful and the water looked great. We had a good time playing in the waves and the currents sucking us back into the water. We were able to find a quiet place under the palm tree so we had some shade, we ate breakfast and relaxed for a couple of hours!

After the beach we walked around Waikiki looking at the different shops and vendors. It was busy but the weather was perfect and all the different people kept the kids entertained and there were alot of different things for the kids to look at!

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well I haven't updated in quite a while so I thought I'd just get everyone up to speed on the last couple of weeks!
For those of you that heard about Typhoon Frank, in our area everything is back to normal and dry! We've had quite a bit of sunshine for rainy season but it was needed to help people air out all their wet belongings. I read somewhere that they've only found 34 survivors out of the 800+ that were on the ferry when the Typhoon capsized it but waters are still high and rough which was hurting rescue parties.
Ryan will officially start his Masters in September so we'll be living the students life once again but it'll be the next chapter so it should be good.
In 24 hours we will be sitting at the Guam airport eating breakfast waiting for our flight to Honolulu where we will spend 5 days before continuing onto Lethbridge. We're all really excited go to Hawaii and do the tourist thing for a bit. It'll be a great holiday before our month at home. I think we're mostly packed which is good because we leave in 10 hours! We'll spend our morning at church, come home... rest, pack and clean and then off to the airport. I can't wait!! Brayden is so excited to go on the airplane, go to the beach and see Kaden his cousin!! He will be there picking us up at the airport and so this week Brayden's favorite toys have been his two airplanes.
So off we go... wish us well and please please please send my children sleepy vibes!