Family Vacation: Part I

We just got home on Tuesday from a fabulous family vacation. Last Friday we loaded up my parents car and took off for Cardston. We spent the afternoon/evening at the Cardston, Alberta Temple. It was a beautiful day. My awesome sister and her friend babysat the kiddos for us so we could do a session, and later in the evening Mr. Stannix met up with the youth to help out with baptisms. It was so nice to be there and admire the temple.

The girls did a great job watching the kiddos and even snapped some cute pictures of Camilla and her little buddy Isaac together. While we waited for Mr. Stannix we sat out on the cool grass in front of the temple and enjoyed the lighting and beauty all around. This cute old Grandpa even asked the two kids if they wanted a ride on his walker. I love Cardston.

We finished up there in the evening and then picked up a few groceries for our weekend of camping. We then drove to Waterton to find us a campsite. The drive was breathtakingly beautiful. The sun had just dipped behind the mountains and the sky was orange and pink above the winding highway. I'm pretty sure I was talking about how beautiful the drive was every two minutes. Waterton stole my heart that night and I would move there in a heartbeat! We pulled into our campsite rather late, and set up our tents in the dark. It was chaotic and stressful for a bit while we made up beds and dinner and got the kids to sleep. We have such good kids, they slept so awesome in the tent. 

The next day we slept in a little, had breakfast, moved campsites (carried our tents while they were set up), and then decided what to do for the afternoon. Camilla has been having fun singing songs lately and has quite the repertoire from "Sing, sing sing" to "Twinkle Twinkle" to my personal favorite, "Mr. Golden Sun".   I just love the way she says "Golden". It always brings a smile to my face!



In the afternoon we actually drove into the park for some hiking and adventure. We went to a little place called Red Rock Canyon and did the 2 km hike. We then let the kids play in the water in the canyon for the rest of the afternoon. They had a blast together. Even the "big kids" had fun in the water. We were all pretty wet by the end.

After the kiddos were done with the water, we took a drive into Waterton to walk around and check things out. The weather was beautiful! We eventually made our way to the lake shore just as the sun was going down. We spend most of our evening skipping rocks in the lake and watching the kids play in the water again. I love the evening glow of the sun!

I think Mr. Stannix held the record with 12 skips in a row, but we're still unsure as they both cheered at the same time, it wasn't ever clarified whose rock it actually was.. It was fun to sit back and enjoy as the boys competed and laughed together. 

Camilla was picking on Isaac, so he took her shoe and threw it in the lake. I got a kick out of watching those two together. They get along pretty well, and they are so stinkin' cute together! On Sunday morning we packed up camp. I went into the tent to start packing and my sleepy boy woke up and grinned at me, then turned his head and went back to sleep. I'm pretty sure I washed Camilla's face a bagillion times that morning before we attended church in Waterton. After the first meeting we said good-bye to our friends as we parted and went to our next destination.

Farewell Waterton!