Papa and Mer Mer Visit: Continued...

After our lovely stay at Echo lake we took Papa and Mer Mer back to Cardston with us! Each of the kids got a turn to drive in their car with them. I rode with them too! :) Got to be the kid in the back seat again. We stopped at Lake Macdonald for a picnic lunch and of course they had to play in the water. Irresistible. Even if it is a freezing rocky glacial lake!

 

I stole all of these pictures from Dad. He got pretty good at doing panoramas. It is a gorgeous place! Come see it! And visit us!!  

Picnic time! 

Beautiful drive over Logan's Pass.

 

Triplets? I get that question a lot these days. The girls seem to be catching up to Zach Attack. They are only 20 months apart!

We stopped at the top of the pass and at several other touristy beautiful spots. The kids loved it and it was fun because we usually just drive on through to get to Echo as fast as possible! It was fun to stop and explore a bit.

Another panorama at the top of the pass.

 

My Dad loves these red tourist buses. We have to get him on one, one of these days!

The kids LOVED this creek. It was fa-reeeeeeeezing cold! Look at that BLUE sky. Big Sky Montana.

 

 

This place is my favorite. Sunrift Gorge. It is SO cool! I want to walk right above the sides and see how long it goes...alas there are no trails up there. It is so cool to watch the water fall down the rocks and out of the tiny crevice.

Then it just turns the corner and goes down. 

A little cave at the side of the road. The girls were kinda scared to go into it...can you tell on Kara's face? It was cold in there too...and I have to admit, I was nervous an animal would pop out at any second as well!

Brave Zachy Boy at the back of the cave. What a man.

My FAVORITE thing about summer in Southern Alberta (besides the lack of snow and cold!)...gorgeous canola fields!!! I will have family pictures in these one day!
 

A cute picture of a drive to Lethbridge one day. :)
 

We also had a major hailstorm while Papa and Mer Mer were here. These have been very frequent around these parts I've noticed. Honestly like 1/week in July. You never know what the weather will bring. It sure is a place of extreme weather. Wind, hail, snow, ice rain...wow. We saw the DARK angry clouds coming and knew we should get the vehicles in the garage. We even angled it just right so that we got my parent's in too!  

 They were just bouncing off the lawn and the roof...it was so loud. They ended up being about ping pong ball sized. Not the baseball sized ones they had last year, but the biggest I've ever seen!

While mom and dad were there we got our sprinklers put in. YAY! The worker was so great with Zach, letting him help in whatever he could. Zach is all about manual labor when he wants to be. Give that kid a job or a project and it will get done!

He even let Zach use his pocket knife and cut things for him! 

 

Here is our beautiful garden!!! Just look at that soil. We are so excited for this part of our new house. Especially since it was already done for us...minus the tilled soil. We decided to plant lots of strawberries and raspberries in most of the boxes. By the way, Justin is THE hardest worker I know. Really.

Justin and I planted the strawberry and raspberry starters as they worked on the sprinkler. I am SOO excited for berries! That's my kind of harvest. Thank you Rod Beazer for the starters! You are "The King" gardener!

Can you guess what we are trying to copy. Nailed it. 

Papa and Mer Mer Visit!! -- Echo Lake

\My mom and dad were coming to visit us in Canada so we had them meet us at Echo Lake at the Low's cabin! Brian and Cynthia were very generous to have us all there and our kids were so lucky to have both sets of grandparents under 1 roof for 2 days!! That doesn't happen very often!

 

Here I am with my water babies. Kate could seriously swim all day. Adaleigh is still getting used to it. She LOVES to tube though!

 

 

First the kids went for a ride...

Then we got Grandpa and me on!

And then Mer Mer joined us! They loved it! It was really funny because my dad got really nervous whenever my mom would let go of the handles. "I'm serious honey, keep your hands on the handles!" He was so afraid she was going to fly off! :)

 

Pretty wild! ;)

Zach and Justin got to drive the boat while Justin's dad took a turn on the tube. :) He is ALWAYS behind the wheel...he has to have a little fun too!

Kara in her favorite spot on the boat. Mine too! Love the wind blowing through your hair...

Mom trying to scare Dad doing no hands...watch out! So dangerous! ;)

Kara showing us all how to Easy Ski.

We went for a walk along the lake and my mom weaved/wove (?) these flower wreaths for the girls hair! She used to do that all the time as a kid in Minnesota. So, so cute.

Mer Mer with her flower girls.

Addie's first Sea Doo ride!

My mom LOOOOOOOOOVES Sea Doos. She really really does. She's a free wild woman on them and loves every second of it. She feels the need for speed. It was fun to watch her let it all go.

Dad loves it too, but isn't as wild and crazy.

 

Echo Lake 2013!

The Lovebirds.

And the whole crew!! Thanks so much Brian and Cynthia for letting my parents stop in. They LOVED it so much. It is heaven on earth to them! Next we got to take them home to Cardston and show them our new life. :)