Summer Trip 2015 - Winnipeg, Manitoba

We drove back from Lake of the Woods on Sunday, August 9th. Chris spent most of the summer working in Winnipeg, so we stayed an extra week in Winnipeg while Chris worked. It was fun staying at his hotel downtown. We were right across the street from the Forks, and it was fun to play tourist in the city I grew up in. Plus they hotel had a great continental breakfast, and surprisingly the girls did ok sleeping in the hotel and even sleeping in a bit!

On Monday we walked to the Forks and hit up their splash pad and park. We met up with James, Jamie, Tyler, and Ryan. We then met Chris for lunch at the Forks Market.

Macy the bird. She just loves to run around and flap her wings!

Rachel is also a little bird, as all she does when we get to a park is find the snack bag and eat all the snacks.

Once she`s full, she does go out and play.

Check out those muscles!

A shot from the hotel room. I think they were just watching TV during the day, because Rachel did sleep in a pack and play.

Monday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa`s and celebrated Uncle James` birthday. We had the best BBQ steak, and black forest cake for dessert!

On Tuesday we went swimming at the hotel pool. In the evening we went to Thunder Rapids with Grandma and Grandpa, James, Jamie, Tyler, and Ryan.

 Macy and Tyler had so much fun driving on their own. Macy is pictured below.

 Wednesday we went to the Children`s museum. The girls had fun running around and playing. Grandma, and the James Cutts family met us there. It was a good day to be inside as it rained on and off all morning. Again we met Chris for lunch at the Forks Market. The Winnipeg office is just a couple of blocks away, so it was easy for him to meet us. Plus the Forks Market has great food vendors. I got Indian food one of those days and it was so good!

 Wednesday night I also met up with my friend Alissa. It was nice to see her new place and catch up.

Thursday I can`t remember much of what we did, I think mostly hang out at Grandma and Grandpa`s. The James Cutts family left that day. Macy and Rachel slept over at Grandma and Grandpa`s, while Chris and I had a date night. We grabbed some food from the Polo Park food court, and then went to see Jurassic World. 

 Part of Macy`s birthday gift was to go horse back riding. I had found a place that did it at Bird`s Hill Park, so the plan was to go riding on Friday. However, when I called just before we were going to leave, they said they weren`t bringing the horses out because of the heat and chance of thunder storms. We were so bummed! But Grandma came to the rescue! She called a friend who has a hobby farm about 10 minutes away from their place. Her friend graciously had us over to look at their two ponies, and wander around the farm. Macy had a blast! (And I suffered from hay fever!)

 This was their cat, Oreo.

 They had a huge pile of hay, and helped Macy climb all the way to the top!

The rest of Friday was spent getting ready to head home. We all left bright and early Saturday morning. The drive home was alright. The weather turned cool and rainy, and we were pretty cold at our pit stops. It was nice to be home again, and have Chris around for a few days before he had to leave again for Winnipeg.

Summer Trip 2015 - Oneida Island, Lake of the Woods Ontario

We started our summer family trip of 2015 on August 2, the day after Macy's birthday. We woke up early to make the drive from Sherwood Park, Alberta to Brandon, Manitoba in one day. I had lots of food and treats, and activities for the girls to do in the car, and for the most part they did ok. We stopped in Brandon, only 2 hours away from Grandma and Grandpa Cutts', but their house with pretty full with other families, so we enjoyed a hotel room to ourselves. I think we got in around 7 pm, ordered Pizza Hut, went swimming, and went to bed. It had been such a long day, the girls were great in going to bed. 

We woke up Monday, August 3rd, ate breakfast, and drove to Headingley.

Cousin Maggie Cutts was insistent that Grandma have cupcakes for Macy, so they did, and everyone sang to her before we (John Cutts family, James Cutts family, Grandma and Grandpa, and us) left for Kenora, Ontario.

 Since I took forever to get this post done, I don't remember all the details of day to day life while at the lake. The pictures are from Chris' phone, my camera, and Grandpa's camera. Some might be out of order, but oh well. Looking at them again reminds me of how much fun we had. I'll try to narrate what I remember!

 Here we are driving out to Oneida Island in Grandpa's boat. Look at all that cereal!

 Like 2014, we didn't have the greatest weather for the drive out, but at least the dock wasn't under a foot of water!

 You can see Tom's boat behind us. The Tom Cutts family met us in Kenora shortly after all of us arrived. This year Tom had his own boat, which was great in shuttling people around.

 Chris and Henry on one of the boat trips!

 I think we went to Kenora on one of the first days at the Island, I`m thinking either the Tuesday or the Wednesday. Can you find Uncle James in the picture above!)

 Grandpa treated us all to Kenora fries, and what a treat it is. We walked around the farmers market and through the town of Kenora. We ended up with John and his family and James and his family near the end. We all got ice cream before heading back to the island.

 These two pictures are from the last day, Sunday, August 9th. You can tell from the messy hair it is the end of the trip. We grabbed some fries again with just our family before driving back to Headingley.

 We also stopped for Dairy Queen before we left and played on the trains just outside the shop.

One of Macy`s highlights was catching a Northern Pike on her little Dora fishing road. I believe the story goes like this, Chris, Macy, Grandpa, and a bunch of others went out on the boat fishing. Chris was the only one to catch something near the end of their time out. They got back to the island and Macy and her cousins get off the boat and sit on the dock to fish some more. Within minutes, Macy catches this pike. It was exciting!

 Here is the before shot, she doesn`t look like she`s trying too hard!

 After cousin Jacob`s near miss from last year, Grandpa was ready this time. Macy says she caught the fish that got away from Jacob.

 Looking good!

 Thursday night was the last night for the John Cutts family, so all the cousins put on a little talent show program. All I`ll say is it was fun to watch!

 Macy dancing while one of her cousin`s played the piano.

 I got to say, Uncle John and Aunt Alicia were so great. Aunt Alicia did hair and nails for the girls, and arts and crafts. Uncle John was always holding somebody`s kid. We had such a fun time with them!

 Rachel (21 months), Uncle John, Maggie (7 years), Eden (7 years), Macy(5 years), Alice (4 years), and Jackson (a month away from being 5). Aunt Alicia (I won`t disclose your age) and Grandpa (60 years!) in the back.

 We spend a lot of time on the dock swimming, boating, paddle boarding, and canoeing. Here`s some pictures of the fun! 

 Mom and Rachel!

 Dad and the girls!

Alice and Grandpa on the boat.

 Eden, Alice, and Rachel.

 This lily pad was so much fun. Kids and adults all loved it!

 Chris and Maggie.

 Macy getting warm after falling off the tube (second year in a row, no wonder she likes to only go slow!)

 Heading back up to the lodge.

 We had great food the whole week. I`m sure we all gained weight..at least I was pregnant and that`s to be expected!

 It was either Wednesday or Thursday that we went to Coney Island beach. It was a cooler day, too bad, but we had the beach to ourselves. 

 Rachel and Henry.

 I love the pictures of these two!

 Chris by himself, and Tom and Julie on the other tube. 

 James and Jamie having fun!

 Grandpa with Eden, Alice, and Macy.

I love this picture of Chris and Macy.

Some other things we did not pictured, canoeing and paddle boarding. Chris and I snuck away on our anniversary and canoed around the island. Another time we canoed while Tom, Julie, James, and Jamie all paddle boarded. We went hiking around the island, and Chris, Julie, and Jamie showed us all up by running around the island. James, Tom, and I swam across the channel while Julie paddle boarded and Chris canoed. I drove the boat a couple times (I had just got my pleasure craft license). We played games and had a night of minute it to win it games. I read a book. Grandpa, John, Tom, and I did our late night dip in the water the first night out. Chris turned 30! And did I mention that we ate a lot!

The John Cutts family left on Friday (or maybe Saturday - I could be forgetting), and the rest of us left Sunday morning. Tom and his family left for their home and James` family and ours drove back to Headingley.

All these pictures are making me excited for another trip this year!