Alberta Trip

At last - the end of June came, and it was time for our family vacation trip to Alberta. 

(loooong picture post)

Seats worked out well, and we were across the isle with our little groupings of kids. :) Erik and James enjoyed watching some of the World Cup, while Katy opted for Mary Poppins, and I watched a little of the Chronicles of Narnia, while holding, playing, feeding, either Laura or Amy - James and I would switch on and off. 

Excited. 

Looking at the clouds.

And then we landed! The kids were so great with their luggage/backpacks, and were cute to watch. Everyone enjoyed watching us I think....

With Auntie Annie! Mom and Dad also came to pick us up, which was great - and we had a nice trip to Lethbridge. 

We met Charissa for some lunch, and then went to a music recital of Cameron and Lisa's girls, which worked out well! So great to see everyone again, and to see a few others we knew.

Cam and Laura. I got to finally see Titus...special

Hitting it off with Uncle Cameron.

Alanna, Lisa and Megan doing some of the percussion part of the recital. 

 A bunch of girl cousins! 

And as a bonus, I got to see Lydia again - as she is the fabulous MYC teacher! We got a quick chat in, before heading over to Cam and Lisa's and to see their new house that they built. 

Me and Titus. Such a cute little man. Finally got to spend some time with him.

Grandpa and Titus - such love for his grandson.

Then we went to visit Grandpa on the final leg of the journey. :) 

The next day was Father's Day - so I got them all huddled around daddy for a quick picture before getting ready for church. Erik is holding one of his drawings for James. :)

Three of the munchkins. :)

At church it was so nice to catch up with a few people...always so many to see and talk with. This is dear Naomi...so glad to see her! 

And dear Kendra! Even though it was short, still nice to see these friends.

Naomi and Mark - such teasers & encouragers. :)

Their son Erik and my son Erik. :) Both in blue plaid. 

We went for a beautiful walk out on the farm, before we got a lot of rainy days. This is Laura all bundled up...her mom was thinking Alberta hot for the week, so didn't pack for the chilly week we ended up having. 

But still so cute.

In the gazebo. 

Peek a boo!

Pretty girl

Love this picture - the two dad's, holding onto a child's hand.

Grandpa showing an ant hill/hole to the kids. 

I love this alfalfa. 

Going down to the coal pond....neat to see your child love the same farm you loved. 

My dad - he's just so amazing. 

Like father, like son-in-law.

Going on the lawn mower for a ride.

James and I went for a tour of Jon and Sharla's home that they are building one morning. They are doing so amazing! Got to see Jeremiah (Sharla's brother) and his new wife Hilary as well right before we left, as an extra bonus. 

We picked up Karina and Daniel for the kids to play with on the way back from Jon and Sharla's. 

Daddy and James working on the new zip line....and picking off the occasional gopher as they go.

The homestead. 

You can tell it has the, Laura's-been-here look. 

At last! Daddy did - he fulfilled the dream of making a 350' zipline down the hill!! Here's Daddy giving it the last test run, before we all got a chance!

After a bunch of us had given it a try, and Karina getting to go too, it was Katelyn's turn! She was excited!

And this is her at the bottom! She loved it. 

Erik wanted to give it a go as well. He did great too, but at the bottom, got a bit scared with getting pulled back and forth by the two little girls. 

Playing in the grass with her cousins - she loves her cousins. 

 Making faces - such girls. 

My little photographer - she just started directing Anne-Marie and Karina to get what she wanted...quite funny. 

 Amy and Grandma together.  

Benjamin, Laura and Uncle Andrew. 

Dear Chloe...I was hoping to see her while in Alberta - the newly married woman, but didn't look like it was going to work. But she traveled an hour and a half to visit with me on of the mornings we had, so we could visit for a couple hours. Very good to catch up in her life.

Laura brushing Aunty Charissa's hair, and tangling it...instead it of de-tangling. 

Anne-Marie in her scrubs after her work day at the hospital. 

My family got Sarah and Jonathan's wedding invitation while we were there - and Laura was happy to see "Sarwah" again. 

Trying to play ping-pong together with daddy watching on. 

We got to spend a bunch of a day with Andrew and Rebecca at their house, which I enjoyed. Just a good time of talking, a wonderful meal, and lots of fun. 

The next day I did a family photo shoot with Andrew and Rebecca. It was fun, and they were such good sports! I put just a couple pictures up here...but there's so many good ones of them. 

 Love these two...three. :) 

Sweet Karina

Me and Becca at the end of the shoot. 

June 20th came around, and it was Katelyn's 5th birthday! So I got her a special breakfast ready, with mom's input, and we went in singing to her. :) 

My excited Five year old. 

Going around the yard for a fun ride

Icing Katie's birthday cake...the progress. She was so excited to see it at the end! Just like my mom did for me. 

At her birthday lunch. (the Fehr Family reunion started a few hours later)

Karina came over for lunch which was pretty special for Katy. 

Blowing out her candles. 

Opening up her gifts.

She got her jacket from Anne-Marie. :) 

Then it was quick cleanup, and everyone started filing in for the Fehr Reunion. After supper, we took our family pictures - all together, and here are a few from the evening. :) Dear cuz Josiah came and snapped the group pictures, which we so appreciated. 

Little Laura coming downstairs before the big family pictures. 

All of us...

Mom and Dad and their adorable grandchildren.

Some of the girls - such great friends!

Best friends - Felicity and Alanna

Karina and Rebecca

Megan and Julianna

All of the siblings with our spouses. 

Brother and Sister

Our patient photographer. : )

And there's a bunch of pictures I took of the rest of the week...but think I lost them... but the time in between included singing, more zip-lining, good food, time of prayer as a family for Titus, games, and fellowship. 

Then the night before we left, I took some pictures of my beautiful sisters at the golden hour. It was such fun - despite such awful mosquito's. 

Sigh...I've got such gorgeous sisters. 

Then it was time to leave....again.... We stopped in to see Grandpa again, and he got to meet little Amy this time as she was awake. :) Love how Amy is smiling at him, and him back to her. Every time I leave the hospital I wonder if it's the last time I'll see Gramps again... 

Charissa joined us for the trip back up to Calgary - meeting her after work in Lethbridge- Starbucks -she got us a special drink to enjoy. :) We made it to the airport, another goodbye...and began the trip home, which went quite smooth til Toronto- good flight crew, and the children did so well on the plane... and when we went to get our baggage, not all of our car seats had arrived...so we waited and waited - talked to the staff, and after an hour and a half, they eventually gave us two new carseats, and told us they would deliver the other ones when they located them. So that worked out okay. Despite the long day, the children were very good, and just had a blast running around the empty baggage claim. And then they slept well on the way home.

A good trip with the family.