Ashley Lake

On our way to Ashley Lake we decided to go through Glacier National Park this time to show the kids the wonderful views, and we also wanted to stop and do a little hike or see what fun things we could find! Our plans were also to go to the house of mystery that we always drive by, but we never did get to that. 
The kids had so much fun looking at all the huge mountains and waterfalls, and we even saw some mountain goats. We stopped to climb up near the weeping wall, and then when we were leaving the park we stopped at red rock. It was beautiful with the red rocks and turquoise water. Then we found the Trail of the Cedars hike, which was stroller friendly so we decided to do that. The kids loved it! It was so pretty and Bentley and I even saw a deer. It was just a few feet away from Bentley, and we stood there silently watching it walk around us. After all this stopping, it was actually getting close to dinner time so we headed into town, ate at Dickies and then arrived at the cabin. 

 Joce and my mom came that night too and they had to drop Jeff off at the airport. He needed to get some stuff done back at home for a few days in Arizona and then was coming back Wednesday night. So unfortunately Jeff didn't have him around to hang out with, but my dad came Sunday night so he at least had another guy around then! On Sunday we went to church, had dinner, played games, etc. The kids were just excited to see more of their cousins! Bentley got to have a sleepover with Brooke every night in my mom's closet. She loved that, although I'm sure they didn't get as much sleep as they needed! 
Throughout the week the kids swam, hot tubbed, paddle boated, kayaked, all the fun water things. Deacon was obsessed with catching crawdads, and uncle Jeff taught him to hold them without getting pinched. He played with them and constantly checked on them throughout the day. We also found a frog at one point, which he was also obsessed with, and was devastated when it jumped off and he wasn't quick enough to catch it. He definitely loves all animals or insects! We went boating a few times although every time we took the boat out it seemed to start raining! It wasn't the warmest week, but luckily there were a lot of nice periods of sun, and rain would be dispersed throughout the day. Bentley was terrified to do anything behind the boat (maybe because of her fall at Echo Lake) so we eventually forced her onto the EZ ski and she had an okay time. On the last day she hopped right onto the tube with her cousins and even went over some bumps and totally loved it! I don't know what happened, but at least the year ended on a good note in that regard. Deacon was a little wimpy too, but went on the EZ ski and liked it.
The kids also enjoyed the big "bubble" or ball that we get in and play on the water, trying to stand up and run inside of it. I even went in and remembered how hard it is! 
On one of the cooler days we went into town to go back to school shopping. We did this another year and it almost seems like tradition to buy the clothes and then have a fashion show back at the cabin. We found some cute stuff at JCPenny for Bentley and Deacon. Bentley got a cute shirt for $5 that matched Brooke. We also went to Ross and bought her some new school shoes and backpack. She loved doing the fashion show, and Deacon was kind of forced into doing it, but he started to like it too! The boys met us after we shopped that day and we ate out at Panda Express.
Another day we all went in to see the movie Lion King that had just been released. We even brought Leo into the theater and luckily we could bring the stroller in since we were in the front row of the second section so he sat there eating popcorn almost the whole time. The other kids sat by their cousins and had a great time! Bentley said she really liked the movie, even though she isn't super into movies (she like shows more). 
The adults had a lot of fun playing pickle ball in the evenings, and I also really enjoyed playing Code names lots, and any other games. I only waterskiied once, which was kind of crazy. But then I was really sore and wished I hadn't! We had a great time with the Fox's and my parents, and were thankful for how much they helped us with the kids and everything. We were sad to leave, but also kind of ready for a break and a little bit of down time at home. 

 

 

Stampede Week

After Echo Lake we came home for 5 days before we went to Ashley Lake. We had a lot of fun in those 5 days! Jocelyn and Jeff and family were in Calgary and we hung out with them almost every day. The stampede was also going on, which made it even more fun. 

This year I was feeling brave and decided to take the kids to the stampede. I went with Lena, Laura, and Chloe. We dressed up a little bit (mostly Bentley who was really excited), took the c-train and arrived. We started with the dog show, which was really good, although Leo is a little difficult to hold and have him sit through shows. The kids quite liked it though, but were ready to move on afterwards. As we were walking we saw the end of the motocross show and I think that would've been one of my favorites. Deacon loved watching the motor bikes and the fire! Then we headed to the kids area where Paw Patrol characters were, and this was what the kids were most excited about! As we waiting in line to meet them, Sky was there so we got to see her, but when we finally made it though the line it had switched to Chase so we all got pictures with him. Then there was a Thomas the Train show that started so the kids watched that, as well as a story time with Chase. I ran and grabbed some mini donuts while the kids watched that and Lena watched them and Leo. We polished off the mini donuts and wanted more food so we walked over and decided to get snow cones (maybe not the best choice because they were pretty messy). Anyways, we decided to go see a bunch of the animals before we headed out. The horse building was pretty cool because the kids got booklets and at every horse there was a stamp for their book. They had fun with that! It was so so busy and I was getting tired of making sure I knew where my kids were all the time so I was ready to go after this. It was a little stressful, but I still enjoyed the stampede.

 We also enjoyed 2 stampede breakfasts. One of them was because Jeff called us to tell us to meet him at one near his office. We had plans to meet Joce and Jeff at Treehouse, but decided to squeeze it in beforehand. Once we got there, we realized we were too late, and it was over (at only 9am). Luckily, we walked a little bit and saw another one going on at our Dentist's office so we just joined in on that one! Pancakes, eggs, and sausages. So good!

The other breakfast was at the church in Walden and we went with most of my family. It was a great breakfast as well and they had music going on so the kids started dancing to it afterwards and it was very cute. There were bouncy castles too but the lines were so long that we didn't try those out. Bentley had just had a sleepover with Brooke at my parent's house so we met her there and talked about how much fun she had. She loves sleepover's at Grandmas and really loves being with Brooke! Deacon was really good not being too jealous. 

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 One afternoon we all met at Chaparral Lake to play. There was some event going on so there were bouncy castles, a slip n slide, and food trucks there as well. The kids had a BLAST! They played in the sand and the lake for a really long time and I brought a picnic lunch. Then we headed over to the bouncy castles and the kids went through them multiple times. Deacon was brave and tried out the slip n slide full of bubbles...but then was a little sad when he got super wet and soapy. It was a little scary for him, but I was really impressed that he even tried it! Then we bought some popsicles and played at the lake even more. I feel like they could've stayed there all night, they were having so much fun. 

 Another day we met at Sandy Beach Park. We played at the playground and then went for a little walk. The kids played in the river for a while, throwing rocks and wading in it. I brought their water shoes and they had so much fun with everyone! Then we headed to "My favorite ice cream shoppe" that was really close to the park. The kids order birthday cake ice cream and Bentley and Brookie sat outside on a bench sharing one and chatting, it was really cute! Those two are adorable. Afterwards we head home because we had planned an adult date night.

 Holli and Dakota babysat our kids so that we could have an adult date night. The kids were SO excited and told me they had so much fun after! They sure love their cousins. We all went to Earls to eat, and it was delicious of course. Then we went to a field and my parents had bought this "ginormous rocket" and for some reason decided to shoot it off that night. We felt like we were teenagers again and joked about playing grounders on the playground after. We shot it a couple of times and then saw a cop parked near us checking out what we were doing. We think someone called us in (maybe thinking we had fireworks or something?) and then when the cops noticed we weren't causing any trouble decided to leave. It was pretty funny though. Then we went to Tamara's house and played Code Names. I love that game, and it was just the first game of many in the summertime!

It was an awesome week! Jeff also met up with Jeff Fox one day at Spolumbo's and bought us a bunch of sausage. It's so good. We hung out at my parent's house one day too and then on Saturday morning headed to Ashley Lake, where we would meet Joce and Jeff there for another week of fun with them!