OK, SO BECAUSE IT MADE ME HAPPY, MAKING MY SISTERS HAPPY, THAT I FINALLY UPDATED MY BLOG, HERE IS ANOTHER POST FOR YOU WITH MORE SUMMER PHOTOS! :) At the end of August, Duane had a week off, and we decided to pose as tourists, and "do" Calgary and Banff! So we went to the Calgary Tower, and the next day to Banff. These are some of the Banff pics. First we had lunch at Cascade Pond. The kids wanted to walk around the whole pond twice, so we did. They loved this little bridge that had a mini-waterfall under it! Near this bridge we saw (pretty close up too) a coyote running through the field beside it. We were all excited to see some wildlife, and as we got closer to the bridge, i was exclaiming to Jemma, "Look, Jem, another animal, right there by that bush, wow, we're getting really close, what IS that animal? Jem, go slowly you don't want to startle it, what if it's dangerous? What IS that? And guess what "animal" it was? A guy and a girl laying on the grass, making out in the bushes!! The thing we saw was the guy's leg up in the air!! :) HOW EMBARASSING! Anyway, after our picnic, we went on the gondola, and to Sulphur Hot Springs. Another embarassing moment for me.... you know how the hot springs has that little mini-pool for babies in the middle of the big pool, where you can let them sit in really shallow water higher up? Well, Kalle and two other babies were in there, and suddenly Nate shouts "Eeeewwwww!! Mom, is that POOP in the pool? YUCKY!!" I look and am instantly horrified that Kalle is sitting amidst someone's disgusting diahhrea floaties, and i say out loud, "Oh gross, one of those babies pooped in the pool!", and i whisk my precious daughter away from that contaminated water, concerned for her health and safety of course. In about one second i feel something funny all over my arms and stomach, and look down to the even more horrific realization that MY sweet precious innocent baby girl has chunky diahhrea gooping all out of her exploded swim diaper....ALL OVER ME!! Is there a hole somewhere i can crawl in? And we had only been in the pool for 5 minutes! Our swim was rather short! All in all, we had a GREAT day though, and another highlight was the cool automatic garbage cans in McDonald's that said in a deep voice, "THANK YOU" when you put trash in! Man, we seriously could've spent the day in there!...forget the big expensive activities....all they need is a talking garbage can (and shiny rocks from the shiny rock store) to fascinate them! :) I LOVE KIDS!

It was a gorgeous day for a picnic!

We took the kids on the gondola up Sulphur Mountain. I hadn't been on it for many years, it was so much fun! :) The kids were FASCINATED!!!!.....and these two had perma-smiles on!...they were just smiling and laughing the whole time! (Nate was SO fascinated, that his little curious mind told him to search out the spot where the gondola cars come into the building, at the top of the mountain, UNBEKNOWNST to his FRANTIC parents, who just happened to turn their backs for a split-second!! In a VERY short time he had run down and around the boardwalk to the well-marked "DANGER-KEEP-OUT!" area, and was standing, fascinated of course, eyes glued, to the WAY too close-for-comfort, HUGE, HEAVY gondola cars whizzing into the building!! YIKES! I just pray, "Lord,...just keep him ALIVE while he's in our care!" :). Of course, the whole time we're searching, 10 min. or so, i'm imagining him falling off a cliff, or being snatched...you know that horrible feeling in your gut! So then me and the girls started praying while Duane's searching, and this couple from Ireland say, "Are you praying about a little boy with blond hair?...he went that way toward the back of the building a little bit ago...we thought he must've been following his parents". THANK YOU LORD!!

Jemma had the best face of the day. :) I LOVE her expression!! She really did not know if she wanted to be in this thing...she was surprisingly quite nervous!

Even Kalle wasn't so sure about the whole thing. She looked a little leery!

Kalle had much more fun on the way DOWN the mountain! It was such an awesome day!

Here are a few more pics of the Sollid visit! "Little purple girl on the big purple slide!"

All-out war between Duane and Kari on the bumper boats! Nate was DEVASTATED he was half an inch too short for this ride...we pleaded with the worker (because after all, the little kids ride with a parent on it), but no go...they are quite strict. A bag of popcorn later, and Nate forgot all about it! :)

Sophie LOVED this ride...it was hilarious...she laughed the whole way through, and sat up tall like a little queen, waving to everyone! (didn't quite love the log ride as much...which is why she's covering her face on the previous post).

Mark and Kari also brought their new puppy, "Hershey", with them. We fell in love! :)

Kalle loved her new friend, "Huffy"! I came in and Sophie was "reading" books to Kalle. It was so cute! She asks about Huffy all the time! What a fun visit we had with them!