Summer photos 2010

We saw so much beauty this summer I just have to share some nature pictures with you. We spent close to a week at Dutch Lake (in Clearwater, BC) and Wells Gray Provincial Park. The park is known for its magnificient waterfalls and we visited 5 of them - Moul Falls we did twice (those are the falls that us girls walked behind).

We were driving to a look out area and I had closed my eyes in weariness. When I opened them I spotted this black bear about 10' off the road. I ensured everyone in the truck knew ("BEAR, BEAR, BEAR!")... Scott stopped the truck, we put our windows down (Emily got a good hold on Roxy) and Mel and I snapped a bunch of pictures. The bear couldn't care less that we were so close.

The stairs were to help us get to the bottom of Moul Falls. So pretty amongst the greens, don't you think?

To the left you'll see Moul Falls. This is the set (why do they call them a 'set' of falls when there's only one?!) that we walked behind - some of us with our shoes on hey Mel?

And finally, Spahats Falls. The erosion is quite something to note in all of these pictures - whether it be at the top and bottom of the falls or just the bottom, there's some amazing power here. We also visited Helmcken Falls and do have the pictures to prove it. The editing ability of this blog is not allowing me to change settings and therefore I'm leaving that photo out.

On the left you'll see Dawson Falls & the Mush Bowl is on the right below.

Here are the lilies of Dutch Lake. What I've not included are the pictures of the Painted Turtles which live in this lake. If you gently moved your hand in the water (from the dock) the turtles would think it was lunchtime and would surface to have a better look. What a treat!

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Summer 2010

It's odd to be updating our blog now, 6 months after summer vacation began, but it's fun for me to go back through the calendar to remember the excitement of the year. We've been blessed - another year of more than 30 nights of safe travel as we camped in the

1) Kananaskis - about 30 minutes from our home is a small, quiet, well treed campground complete with a river (did I mention we have a lab?) and a playground. The name of the place that we've camped more than any other is Gooseberry (not that I've seen a single gooseberry bush there ever). One weekend Scott's brother and 2 youngest girls camped in the site next to us. We'd never camped together before and it was fun all around. Scott's parents visited each day.

2) Moyie Lake Provincial Park, located in southeast BC, just south of Cranbrook. Canada Day festivities were small but we did light sparklers at the campground!

3) Hope, Idaho - we reconnected with friends we'd made at the same campground 2 years earlier and enjoyed the 4th of July festivities. Kaitlyn took to tubing behind a friend's boat while Emily mastered the paddle board. Emily entered herself and our lab, Roxy, in a dog show and won BEST OF SHOW!

4) Revelstoke where we had a great time connecting my cousin Melanie & her husband Bob. A highlight for the girls was taking chickens from Bob & Melanie's coop and holding the willing birds on their laps while they sat by the campfire. I didn't know if anyone would believe us - I have pictures! :) We also enjoyed the climb to the summit of Mount Revelstoke (well, the last km of the climb...) where we stood in flip flops and sandals in the snow. It's a beautiful view of a small portion of God's amazing creation.

5) Vernon, BC, where I lived from age 6-10. We camped at Ellison Provincial Park - my sister Melanie met us and camped with us too! The campground is beautiful, which is typical of BC's Provincial Parks. We toured a bit of the town, enjoyed the Saturday evening service at the church we faithfully attended as kids (Vernon Alliance Church), and spent many hours on the beach or in the lake. Melanie, Emily, Roxy and I went to the offleash dog beach at our campground and long story short, another dog attacked and bit (held onto Roxy's left ear for 2-3 minutes). It is still very fresh in my mind and it's affected Roxy in that she's not as eager to meet other dogs. She's not at all agressive; perhaps more timid if anything. The offending dog had taken a lunge at another dog the day prior but they'd been able to call her off before anything more serious happened. They told me that they'd be putting their dog down the next day. Roxy got checked out and was given antibiotics for an infection; her immunizations are up to date so we're thankful we've kept on top of that. She is very much a part of our family - we love that dog!

6) Clearwater, BC - we stayed at Dutch Lake, a small, non-private (sites close together, very few trees) but beautifully set campground. The lake was a 20 second walk from our site and in one area was covered with flowering lily pads. If I had seen that part of the lake on their website I would have looked for another location but having seen it (and the area which we swam in which was clear of the lily pads), I'm thankful that we stayed there. There were at least 2 resident loons swimming on the lake calling... what a tranquil sound. All 6 of us (Mel & Roxy included) enjoyed the swimming, food (as always), and exploring.

Clearwater is located on the south end of Wells Gray Provincial Park which is (so I'm told) well known for it's waterfalls. We visited several amazing falls and one day Mel, Roxy & I hiked to one of them. Mel decided that she wanted to cross the river (shallow and about 15' wide), up the embankment to the other side. She took off her socks and shoes and set out. The rocks were very sharp and the water 'fresh'. I watched her and snapped pictures as she reacted to the beauty and power of the waterfall. She found a trail and ended up walking behind the falls... and out the other side right beside me. (Insert maniacal laugh here) I wanted to see what she saw... with my socks and shoes on and mostly dry I retraced her steps in the opposite direction. AMAZING. When we returned to the campground we told the girls about it and they came with us the next day and also went all the way behind the falls and out the other side. We were soaked from the mist but what an adventure!

7) Jasper, Alberta - I can't recall the name of the National Park we stayed in (Scott was sure it was Wapiti but after waiting in the long line up of campers, trailers and motorhomes to get checked in, we realized we were at the wrong campground). Anyways, I think they're probably all just as pretty as the one we stayed in; at the base of Whistler Mountain. We took the tram to the top of Whistlers Mountain and every now and again the rain clouds would part enough to give us a panoramic view. You can take the tram to it's dock or get out and walk further - we chose to see more. We shared the hike with others, two-legged and four. A very large marmot walked between Kaitlyn and I - it was about 3' in front of me. Just as when we were on Mount Revelstoke in the snow, I was able to get to a snowy spot and 'share the love' - AKA, throw the snow at the others.
Also while in the Jasper area we did another hike through Maligne Canyon and thanks to the erosion saw a number of drops in elevation which showed off the waterfalls. The last time we were at this location Kaitlyn was about 7 weeks old.

Disneyworld here we come!

We were blessed to be able to travel to Orlando, Florida during Easter break. We spent 2 weeks in a rented house which slept 10 people, had it's very own pool at the back of the home, and cost a mere $100/night. My sister Lynda and her husband Les spent a week with us.

While there we visited Disneyworld's 4 parks and 1 of their waterparks (twice!). As we celebrated our anniversary while there L & L looked after the girls while Scott and I went to a spa and relaxed... then went out for lunch. It was time well spent. As a group of 6 we visited Tampa briefly - it was nice to get to the Ocean. We also spent a day at Kennedy Space Center and from our rental house watched the launch of STS-131, a shuttle on its way to meet the International Space Station. That was a very cool experience and likely easier to see when it was pitch black dark - it was an early morning launch.

We'd never experienced Disney aside from the movies so this was a good thing to say that we'd done, and it was good, but we feel no pressure to do it again.

Snow Tubing at Norquay

On Jan 30, 2010 we had a great family day on Norquay Mountain as we spent the day snow tubing with our good friends, the Wulders. Here's the idea - you sit in your tube as it's attached to the lift pulleys - it pulls you up to the top of the run where you quickly get off and out of the way. There were 3 lanes, with dividers of 2' snow banks. At the top of the run you have the option of grabbing onto a friends tube and also you can ask staff for a push. It's an amazing rush - so much fun.