The Reifel Bird Sanctuary

I can not go to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary enough. It's so peaceful and feeding the birds is great for kids AND mum. I go so often, my friends make fun of me. Being a family of 6 this is the perfect outing for us, the kids run around until they drop and it's light on the wallet, only costing us a whopping $14 (the wee ones are free ~ 2 and under) and if you don't have an unlimited supply of bird feed at your house, they also sell little bags for $0.50 each.

There are so many pathways that wind around and cross, you could go there a dozen times and your experience can be different each time. We try to anyway... Here are a few of my fav's from our last trip...

The views are absolutely breathtaking from anywhere on the property

Sandhill Cranes are pretty aggressive birds. We came across a little crane family of 3 and had to share the pathway. The family coming from the other direction put on quite the production (screaming and all) as they passed the birds so I was worried that they had stressed them and they would try to bite off our faces... Lucky for us the mum and dad Sandhill Cranes were distracted by their young so we passed without any troubles and I even hung back for a minute or two to snap a few photo's.

I heart cows. This is something EVERYONE knows about me; so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered the bird sanctuary neighbors were hanging out just a few feet away. I wanted to stay forever. My husband on the other hand was honking the horn and yelling for me to come back. I couldn't blame him though, the kids had enough and meltdowns were upon us.

We had a fabulous time as we always do, and I'm sure we'll be back at least one more time before the snow covers the ground.

Summer is full of...

Summer is FULL of surprises. If you've been following along, we had to leave our only planned camping trip in a hurry due to some unforeseen nose bleeds. We were feeling a little guilty and wanted to make it up to the kids. Lucky for us my dad has a cabin up at Sulphurous lake. We haven't been up there in quite sometime, so we thought we'd give it a go...

We stopped off at the side of the road at an unmarked rest stop to have a stretch and a bite to eat. The view was incredible. While I was basking in the sun and taking in the beautiful site of the mountains (all while feeding four hungry babe's and making sure they weren't running out into the highway) my husband did a little exploring... as you can see in the picture below, he's off in the distance.. not too long later, he was holding up bones of some kind. Rib bones, pelvic bones, long bones and short bones. He said they were scattered everywhere. I packed up the kids and prayed he didn't come across some sort of satanic burial grounds. After a little persuasion I convinced him to leave...

After the long five hour drive to the cabin, I was exhausted so I plopped down on the couch only to be taken in by the calmness of the lake staring up from below...

(the brand new fire pit that nearly touches the lake)

Hailey getting ready to roast some marshmallow's

 The sun was beaming down on us every day and we couldn't ask for anything better.

This was my sons first boat ride. He kicked and scream for the first five minutes until he realized he could reach down and touch the water. After that he was as calm as a clam.

You'll see lots of pictures of him. He's mum's right hand man (and attached at the hip)

This was hilarious. Grandad's idea of 'tubing', only he doesn't have a power boat but a putt putt. The girls thought it was pretty amazing to be towed away from the shallows behind a boat, even if they were going less than 5km/h. Ha ha!!

Just as he did last time, my husband surprised my with a bouquet of wild weeds. He tied them up to the rear view mirror and waited until I noticed them (which wasn't until after a lot of throat clearing and maybe even a clue!!) He really knows how to turn on the charm!

All in all, the kids were really happy that we had a chance to go and spend time with their Grandad. His cabin has been in renovation mode for quite sometime, so we're glad we could come up and see all the improvements. Fire beside the lake is pretty cool.

~ Annalise ~

Last month I took photo's of two lovely baby bellies. Naturally those babies would make it into our world eventually and so...

I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Annalise on September 3rd. She has quite the personality for such a wee one...

She wanted nothing to do with the pictures we were taking and just wanted to be cuddled, tightly.

I think I mentioned that Desiree and I had been friends since the 8th grade and we've been friends for about 16 (ish) years now, seeing her become a mum was pretty special for me, and her little princess is just so precious.

This last photo is BY FAR my favorite out of the bunch. Annalise was finally so content.

She is the most aware newborn I have EVER met. In most of the pictures, she was staring right at me and this one is no different. She is living my dream with those big blue eyes and dark brown hair. I can't wait to watch you grow.... xxoo