Vacation Pictures!

We had a wonderful week with our friends Bryan and Karen! I don't think we could have fit in much more fun and activities than we did! They arrived Monday, February 2nd. We celebrated their arrival with a meal at a Japanese restaurant and more food than we could possibly eat! That evening and Tuesday were rest and relaxation days which gave Bryan and Karen a chance to get used to the 2 hour time difference.

On Wednesday, we took them to West Edmonton Mall, which is about 20 min. from our house. (This is the largest mall in the world.) The kids were at a friends' house so they wouldn't get worn out walking the mall. After exploring, shopping and lunch, we left to pick up the kids. We decided it would be fun to go back to the mall and play at the indoor World Waterpark. Our family had never been there (Joshua used to go as a kid), so Sara and Sky were super excited! It was tons of fun! Joshua and Bryan tried all the scary slides, Karen tried a couple of scary slides and I didn't try anything scary! :-) I spent most of my time with the kids in the wave pool or on the kiddie slides and that was just fine with me! We didn't remember cameras, but that's O.K. because we didn't want you to see us in our bathing suits anyway! :-)

Thursday we were up bright and early for the next stage of vacation. Grandpa (Joshua's Dad) came at 9 a.m. to collect the children. He took them out for a pancake breakfast, which they were pretty excited about! The 4 adults then packed up the car and we headed to Jasper, Alberta (about 4 hours away) for the next 4 days. Here are a bunch of pictures from all our adventures there!

The cozy Gingerbread Cabin where we stayed. Joshua and I have stayed here a couple of times for our anniversary, so it was fun to share the experience with friends!

Bryan and Karen at Maligne (Muh-leen) Canyon near Jasper. There is a river and waterfalls that run very deep through the canyon. In the winter everything is frozen, so it was very spectacular.

Joshua and I enjoying the view at one of the lookouts. Of course, the pathways were completely covered in snow and ice, so we had a VERY slippery hike! It was quite funny! We were all wearing running shoes, so none of us had any traction!


The guys slid down the pathway as fast as they could go. Here they are looking smug and laughing at us girls! Karen and I were just a bit more cautious and we clung to the handrails for dear life!

Here is one of the frozen waterfalls we came across. It was awesome! The picture doesn't do it justice - you can't tell how deep the canyon is.

Me and Karen taking a self portrait.

Karen getting her "ski legs" back after not skiing for many years! She did a GREAT job!

Joshua and I during lunch break on our first ski day.

At the end of a very snowy, windy ski day, the sun finally peeked out and treated us to this beautiful sight!

Jasper's downtown area with the beautiful mountains in the background.

This vacation was so needed and I'm so happy we were able to share it with special friends! Inspite of long, busy days and major sore muscles, we were refreshed. Thanks for coming, you guys! We couldn't have asked for a better time!

100th Post!

Wow! This is my 100th post! I'll celebrate by making it one of my shortest posts ever... Tomorrow morning we're heading to Jasper, AB for the big family vacation camping trip! It's been a busy day, doing laundry, packing bags and tubs, washing fruit, etc. I think it's about ready... I just have to grate some cheese... (Should've bought the pre-grated stuff, but couldn't bring myself to pay the price!) Joshua had all of last week off of work as well. We had such a fun week, but I'll have to post all about it when we get home. The highlights were shopping at the mall, visiting the Science Centre, and a day at the Calgary Stampede. Oh, and learning to play Guitar Hero - Joshua found one at the mall on Wednesday! The kids are worn out, so maybe that will help them sleep really good while we're camping... I think we'll have fun, as long as it doesn't rain too much and the bears stay away... :-) Jasper is just beautiful and there are so many lakes and waterfalls and canyons to explore there! I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from this weeks activities.

Here is astronaut Sky...

This is Sara being elevated on a bed of nails at the Science Centre! We all tried it- very freaky!

And now we have cowboy Sky, chewing on a piece of grass...

And the very adorable cowgirl, Sara! Doesn't she look great in a cowboy hat?!

I'll be back to report on the camping trip next week! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

An Amazing Vacation In Mexico!

O.K., now that I've been home for a week, I think it's time to share the details of the trip! BUT, if you are one of my dear friends who has been bugging me, you are required to leave a comment when you're done reading!

The trip was absolutely wonderful! I am so thankful for the chance Joshua and I had to spend this time together. It was like a second honeymoon! We had no travel problems, or delays or lost luggage. We didn't have tummy problems or any other sickness. We had a very comfy bed and a quiet room, so we slept great! And Joshua didn't even sunburn himself to death (which he tends to do)! I would have to say that it was pretty close to the perfect vacation!

The food was sooo yummy! I really enjoyed eating authentic Mexican food again to my heart's content! I think I had beans and corn tortillas with about 2/3 of my meals - even sometimes for breakfast! There was an abundance of fresh pineapple, cantaloupe and papaya. We both discovered that we don't so much care for papaya, but the pineapple was excellent. When you go to these all-inclusive resorts, there is always a main buffet restaurant that is open for each meal of the day. (There is a snack bar for the in-between times. Which had the best ice cream cones, by the way!) At the buffet, there were made-to-order omelette stations for breakfast, along with anything else you can imagine for breakfast! The french toast, made with leftover french bread, was amazing! I looked forward to that every morning! At lunch and supper, there was always some sort of meat that you could get right off the grill (fish, pork chops, burgers). Also, there was a made-to-order pasta station that was pretty good. There was always plenty of fresh salad materials, so we took advantage of that to offset the ice cream cones! :-) There were 4 other restaurants on the resort that were only open for dinner. They are called the a la carte restaurants. When you stay for a week, you are allowed to make reservations at 3 of the a la carte restaurants. We ate at Bambu, the Asian restaurant, the Beach Barbecue, and the Mexican restaurant. All of them were excellent and each had their special trademarks. At Bambu, we had the best time interacting with the waiters - they had a lot of fun in there! I got to try some different kinds of sushi too. All the food was really good. The Beach Barbecue was very special because it was set up right on the sand next to the beach! It was so cool to be able to see and hear the ocean while we were eating at a table with a fancy tablecloth and a hurricane lamp! They had ribs, pork chops and chicken. The ribs were our favourite and we could hardly stop eating them! The natural thing to do after a meal like that was to just step away from the table for a moonlit walk by the beach. We ate at the Mexican restaurant our last night there. We got a table out on their terrace, so we were able to see the ocean AND watch the sunset! It was so beautiful! The food at this restaurant was probably my favourite. I had this soup, for an appetizer, that I could eat everyday! So, we rate the food at about 5 stars!

Our typical day went something like this. Get up around 9 or 9:30 a.m., get dressed and walk over to the buffet. Eat a yummy breakfast. Go back to the room and put on our swimsuits and sunscreen. Pack the tote bag with water, more sunscreen, books and cover-ups. Walk to the beach and set up camp. Go get a pina colada (virgin!) at the bar. (All the drinks were included as well.) Sit in the sun and get nice and toasty. Go play in the water to cool off and ride the boogie boards for awhile. Clean the seaweed and sand out of our bathing suits. :-) Sit in the sun some more. Joshua went to play in the ping pong tournament by the family pool at 1 p.m. for 4 of the days we were there. He won twice! Then, put on swimsuit cover-ups and go to the buffet for lunch. Put on more sunscreen and head to the pool. (There was an adult only pool that was very nice. It overlooked the ocean. There was an inner circle that was a hot tub, but the outer circle was also nice and warm.) A couple of times we played tennis in the afternoon. Go take showers and put on nicer clothes for dinner. Eat dinner. Take a walk on the beach or rest in our room for awhile. Head over to the theatre for the nightly live entertainment. Enjoy the show and some hot chocolate. Back to the room for a good night's sleep! There were a few variations in each day, but you get the idea!

We met a Christian couple, Hans and Charissa, while at the resort, who had also come without their kids. We started talking on the beach the second day we were there and just seemed to click with them. We actually ended up doing a lot of things together and enjoyed getting to know them. On Monday, we went to the nearest little town with them to do our souvenir shopping. We hopped a local bus out by the road, paid $2 each and had about a 15 minute bus ride to town! We did our shopping, and took the bus back to the resort a couple of hours later! It was a lot of fun, and we were glad to have someone else along just for safety purposes. The kids were very happy with all the things we brought back for them! That was our only "excursion" away from the resort. We didn't go on any of the organized excursions that were offered. There was one that we booked for Friday, but when Hans and Charissa went on the same excursion on Tuesday, we cancelled ours. Their trip was a disaster, partly due to the weather, and we just didn't want to risk the same disappointment and frustration. So, we were happy to stay on the beach and work on our tans! We did get some great tans, by the way! Hopefully I'm still somewhat brown by the time we can wear shorts around here!

The kids did great with Grandpa and Grandma while we were gone. They also stayed healthy and injury free, so I was thankful for that. They had lots of fun going for ice cream, shopping, visiting the zoo, going swimming and playing outside. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything you did to make the weeks a huge success! We love you!

Well, I could type all day, but I think that's enough for now! If you have any questions, just post them in the comment section. If you want to see LOTS of pictures from the trip, here is a link to my album on Facebook. (Blogger won't let me download anything onto here right now.) Enjoy!

I'm Going Somewhere WARM!!

Mexico, here I come (with Joshua)!! We have wanted to go on an all-inclusive vacation to somewhere warm for a long time. It seemed like something that might happen in about 5 years, until we discovered how cheap you can get these vacations! We decided it was something we could do sooner than later. In January, we started dreaming and talking about this more seriously. After weeks of looking at vacations and resorts on-line, we finally picked a date, found the "perfect" place and booked our getaway! Joshua's boss was really flexible and great about the whole thing, so we were able to do what really worked best for us. The bottom line is, we are headed to Puerto Vallarta to the Palladium Vallarta Resort and Spa! And we're leaving tomorrow!! Yay! At 6 a.m. in the morning! Boo! That means we actually have to be at the airport at 4 a.m.! But, I know, NONE of you are feeling sorry for me! :-) We'll be gone for 8 days, so we'll be back on the 22nd. Just wanted to let you know when you didn't hear from me for awhile! Oh wait, that's just normal..... :-) I'll post lots of pictures when we get home. The kids will be in the care of Grandma and Grandpa Knaak and will be spoiled rotten by the time we get back! Joshua'a parents were able to come to our house for the week. I was really glad because I think that will just be easier for everyone. Yesterday, I asked the kids if they would miss us while we were gone. They both gave me a hearty "No!" I said, "Good! Cause I don't want you to be sad while I'm gone!" They are so excited to be spending the week with G and G! When I put Sara to bed tonight, she blew me a kiss (something we exchange every night as I walk out her door). She said it was a special kiss that I could pack in my suitcase! My heart melted! So, I think it will be a fun week for all!

And how do you like my new blog look?!!! Isn't it beautiful?! See Brandy's Bloggy Designs button on the right sidebar of my blog. She did an awesome job and I LOVE it! (Brandy wouldn't rest until I said that I LOVED it!) I think I was a challenging customer for her, but she was great! Thanks for all the hard work, Brandy! I hope all of you enjoy the fresh look! I'll be back in one week!

Lumberjack Sky!

Today has been a weird day for me. I feel strangely bored, and yet I've accomplished quite a bit today. I guess washing dishes and doing four loads of laundry and making a bed and fixing meals IS boring! I was going to make cookies with the kids this morning, but somehow we never got around to it. I also needed to run to the grocery store, but decided that could wait till later. I think you get the idea! Maybe I'm just relaxed for the first time in a long time! The kids are definitely bored and whiny - I put them to work helping me with the laundry for awhile and they actually had fun! I don't have the camera today because Joshua had to take it to work for something. So, the picture for the day is from Saturday. Sky was building a set for a lumberjack show like the one we saw in Ketchikan, Alaska. (I guess I didn't write about that - O.K., I'll put a picture of that too!) That's what the big pile of "junk" is! He was performing some things for Daddy and Joshua got some great action shots! This one was the most dramatic! That boy can jump! Here's a couple of pictures from the Great Alaska Lumberjack Show. I went with the kids while Joshua and his dad were on a floatplane adventure! I think we had more fun, personally! It was absolutely hysterical! There were two lumberjack camps pitted against each other, so the whole thing was a competition. (I think it was mostly rigged!) We unknowingly sat down on the Canadian side, so that was fun! The crowd was split down the middle so we were pitted against each other too. The guys did things like log chopping, pole climbing, cross cut sawing, log rolling and chain saw carving! There was a lot of yelling and screaming, cheering and jeering! You really had to be there - it's hard to describe adequately!

Well, I finally occupied the kids by turning on the sprinkler outside! I need to go cheer on their antics and then start supper! And things are ALWAYS more exciting when Daddy's home!

Alaska's Glaciers

My favourite part about the entire trip to Alaska was the glaciers - those awesome rivers of ice! The glacier above is the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska. During our third day at sea, the ship toured around Glacier Bay National Park. We stopped in front of three major glaciers so everyone could get on deck and take pictures, etc. As we entered Glacier Bay in the early morning hours, we heard there were a lot of whale sightings. (Around 6 a.m.) When our family was finally awake and moving around, we could hear over the intercom that they were still seeing whales. We pulled on our clothes as fast as we could and raced onto the outside deck! Breakfast could wait! We were walking around the deck trying to find a good spot, when we heard the announcer freaking out about a whale! We rushed around the corner, poked our heads over the railing, just in time to see a humpback whale jump out of the ocean! I only caught the splash with my camera! Oh well! It was incredible to be greeted by this whale as we entered Glacier Bay! After he jumped he rolled around and around for awhile showing off his huge flippers. Then he was gone and we didn't see anymore whales the rest of the day.

I'm going to put up some pictures of the glaciers and let them speak for themselves. The first one that we viewed that day (the first one below), had pieces of it falling into the ocean. First, you heard the crack of the ice as it separated from the glacier and then it tumbled and splashed into the water. Most of the pieces were fairly small, but right before the ship moved on to the next stop, a HUGE tower of ice broke away and crashed down! It was very exciting, but I was the only one that saw that, because Joshua had just left to go take the kids upstairs to their class! And don't laugh too hard at my hair in this picture! I was just finishing a shower when this glacier came into view and Joshua yelled at me to come see. So, I came out wrapped in a towel and was squealing and exclaiming so much that our neighbours, who were also an their verandah, were laughing at me! After I quickly got dressed, Joshua wanted me to pose right away to capture my excitement over seeing my first glacier!


This last one is one of my favourite's. It was just fascinating to see all the ice floating in the water. This was one of the bigger chunks - most of the pieces were fairly small.
Everyone has asked about the blue in the glaciers. Yes, they really are blue - it's not trick photography! And the reason....something about the way the ice crystals are compressed....they can absorb all the colors of the spectrum except for blue. So, the blue colour is reflected for us to see! Very beautiful!

Alaskan Cruise - The Food!

O.K., O.K., I know it's been forever and you all are dying to hear details! I hardly know where to start....there's so much to say! I'm going to do this in parts because I don't have time to do this all in one sitting!

So, I'll start with the FOOD! The royal treatment you've heard about is true! We traveled aboard the ms Noordam, one of Holland America's newest and biggest ships. Holland America is also one of the most elite ship lines, and I can definitely recommend them! The food was truly amazing and PLENTIFUL! We could eat anywhere on the ship, at any time, and nothing ever cost extra (for all of you who traveled with Steve Canfield....the food really does come with the cruise!)! There was one ultra fancy restaurant that needed reservations and cost $30 extra per person, but we never felt the need to do that! The formal dining room we could eat in each evening was elegant and wonderful enough for us! Our dinner sitting each night was at 8:15 p.m., which made things very interesting for the kids. Once we got to Alaska, the time change for us was 2 hours! So, essentially, we were sitting down to eat at 10:15 p.m. Calgary time finishing up around midnight! Of course, the issue was not that we were hungry at all. In fact, I usually found that by that time in the day, I was so full I could hardly enjoy my fancy dinner! The problem was more like trying to not fall asleep!! We ended up only bringing Sara and Sky to the late dinner with us twice on the whole cruise. Both those times they were hard pressed to sit in their chairs properly and Sara spent the majority of her time whining. Sky was slightly more cheerful and simply amused himself by using the plentiful array of utensils to "build" creations! Both of our kids usually do really well in restaurants, but it was asking a little too much for a dinner that lasted 2 hours and kept them up 3 hours past their bedtime! So, a couple of nights, we put them to bed early, and the other nights we took them upstairs to Club HAL (more on that later) where they could chill out and watch movies and eat snacks or do crafts. Then we all enjoyed the evening much better that way! So, as far as food taste and quality, both were excellent! I got to try things like Alaskan King crab legs, lobster tail, filet mignon, beef Wellington, all kinds of soups and chowders, brioche and more! It was so fun to eat elegant, expensive food and not pay for it! During the day, there was always something yummy to eat. They went from breakfast, to lunch, to afternoon snack, to dinner, to bedtime snack and then all over again the next day! Even in the half hour or so breaks between the major meal and snack times, there was always ice cream, pizza (Bryan would have been in heaven!), a make-your-own taco bar, burgers and hot dogs, and a huge salad bar. You could order room service at any time for no extra charge too! We ordered breakfast to our room a few mornings and that was so nice. We just checked everything we wanted on the breakfast order card, including what time you wanted breakfast, and hung it from our door handle. The food would magically appear the next morning right at the time specified! So fun! One afternoon, on the pool deck, they had a bratwurst and saurkraut festival and we really enjoyed that! The kids had fun with the pretzels, as you can see here! They had German potato salad, Dad! Mmmm! So, we definitely never went hungry, but we can still fit into our clothes, so that's really good! We tried not to be pigs! It was hard not to at breakfast - Joshua and I both love breakfast food, so we probably ate a little more every morning than we should have! Our family favourite was the waffles. They came in the shape of a flower and they were sooo yummy! Sky and I preferred ours with butter and plain syrup, but Joshua and Sara enjoyed the strawberries and whipped cream! It's been hard to come back home and eat toast and yogurt again!

The most spectacular display of food during the whole cruise was the night they presented the dessert extravaganza! This was set up around the pool deck at 10:30 p.m. one evening. The lights were turned down low and a string quartet was playing festive music. There were lighted ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, bread sculptures, and more dessert options than you can even imagine! It was beautiful! I was so full that night, I only had a small piece of chocolate torte, but just to see the presentation was more than satisfying! Joshua and I had to put the kids down for bed, so did the tag team thing and each took a turn admiring the sights and eating dessert! It was all so lovely! You just can't beat the food on a cruise!

We're Cruisin' To Alaska!

Only two days left before we leave on the most exciting summer vacation we've ever taken! Joshua's parents are treating our family to an Alaskan cruise aboard the ms Noordam! His parents and sister are coming as well, so we'll just be one big, happy family! (I hope!) The cruise ship leaves from Seattle, WA on July 1 and will have us back on July 8. We're going a couple of days early to see some sights in Seattle, and visit some wonderful friends, Brian and Lindsey Jacobs, who now live in a suburb of Seattle. For those of you who know Brian and Lindsey, they have four kids now! I'm excited to get a Lindsey hug! We leave on Thursday, so we've been running around all weekend doing last minute shopping. I was already in the early stages of packing yesterday, so hopefully I won't be up too late on Wednesday trying to get everything done! I probably will anyway! I always do that. :-( Packing for this trip has proved to be a monumental task! Because we're headed for Alaska, the weather will be somewhat "rugged!" I checked the weather forecast in all the cities we'll be docking in, and it looks like it will never be any warmer than 60 F (15 C). And I don't think we'll see the sun very often either - there was a lot of clouds and rain in the forecast! But, I'm not complaining....we're going on a cruise, baby! So, we're packing everything from swimsuits (indoor pool), casual clothes, jackets and mitts, to formal wear! At least two outfits per day and three on some days! There are two formal dinner nights, so we had fun shopping for that one! I finally found that perfect "little black dress" and I just love it! We will be docking in Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Victoria, BC. I'll share details later, but the on-shore excursions we've booked include whale-watching, walking on a glacier, a salmon bake, kayaking, a zip-line expedition through the rain forest, The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, and a semi-sub boat tour! The more strenuous, adventurous sounding ones will be Joshua and his Dad only! The kids and I are doing stuff like the Lumberjack show! Grandma and Auntie Shannon are going on a couple loooong nature hikes and I knew little legs would never be able to handle that! So, keep us in your prayers that everyone will be safe! I know it will be an amazing time and I'm so ready to get away from normal life for awhile. I will post plenty of pictures and stories when we return!

In other news....the kids had their last gymnastics class for the season on Friday. The last class of each 10 week session is always fun because the kids get to roam the gym and do whatever they want! There's always a pretty good scattering at the beginning, but as time goes on, you can see the definite favourite spots! There's always a line-up at the trampoline, the rope swing, and the high jump into the pit of foam blocks! Nobody wants to walk the balance beams! Anyway, here's a few pics of Sara and Sky showing off their stuff! Sky does an amazing job on the pommel horse! He has very strong arms!