Southern Ontario

Again, our apologies in not posting more often.  The campground we've been at x 6 nights charges for wifi and since our Iphones are self capable we've not bothered to request their service.
We left Illinois and drove through Chicago on our way to Durand, Michigan.  An impressive skyline for sure but I sure wouldn't want to have to drive those roads on a daily basis.  I'd have time to knit a sweater in the time it would take me to drive from one side to the other - and I don't knit so that's not saying a lot!  We spent one night in Durand, Michigan, backed onto a swimming/fishing lake.  The girls fed fish out of their hands.  Another highlight was the peanut butter and chocolate Bugels.  Yup, those Americans are sure capable of creating yummy snacks.
We arrived in Milton, Ontario last Monday and have been busy since.  (Oh, Lake Huron is BEAUTIFUL from the bridge over it which takes you to customs on either side of the border.  If I didn't know otherwise I'd think I'd crossed the Ocean to someplace tropical.) 
We spent a day at Niagara Falls (both the falls and the town), as well as a drivethru Niagara-on-the-Lake.  It's amazing how many wineries are in this area - I think I spotted 13 of them on the map. 
Another afternoon/evening we had supper with Scott's Uncle Blair and Auntie Anna and their kids, Daniel and Samantha, in Mississauga.  We had a good visit and it was neat to introduce the girls to their 2nd cousins. Emily and Sam are only 3 weeks apart in age but when they last played together Emily was only 17 months old.  Katie was 'on the inside' when we were last together.
Another day we dropped Roxy off with Aunt Mary (Toronto) where she puppy-sat for the day allowing us the opportunity to be away from the trailer longer.  We went to Casa Loma (a massive castle in Toronto - ahem... 39 bathrooms?!?  If you're not familiar with it please google it), and the CN Tower.  Okay, many people are impressed with the view from the Tower but I gotta say that while the view was available, I had no idea what I was viewing other than "City" or "Lake Ontario".  There weren't any signs letting me know what so many spectacular buildings were.  Oh well, no need to return.  We returned to Marys for a visit, supper and fresh baked cookies (and a care package!).
We had a very special visit with Grammee on Friday.  She is such a beautiful lady and one we all love catching up with. 
Yesterday we went to Waterloo to Scott's Uncle Ron and Auntie Dianne's.  We chilled there for about an hour before heading to St. Jacobs for their market.  YUM!  If I lived close to this place I'd be there every week for sure (they're market runs Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday and is HUGE).  Feel free to google that place too.  Oh, it's a mennonite community - as in horse drawn carriages complete with lanterns, as in homes without electricity (no computers, telephones or tvs), as in living off of the land and making what you need (from furniture to clothes to food etc).  From the market Dianne and I 'hit the town' of St Jacobs and visited some unique shops while Scott, Ron and the girls headed back to Waterloo.  We returned to Ron and Dianne's home for a BBQ complete with fresh veggies bought that day at the market.  It was all so yummy!  Shortly before we needed to leave, Dana and her boyfriend, and Kyle and his girlfriend, stopped by.  I'm so glad we had the chance to see/meet them all. 
Today we were back in Mississauga for some shopping.  We found a few good deals but honestly, with the extra tax (13% harmonized) you have to weigh the purchase carefully.
Scott and the girls have been in the market for the new Nexus tablet.  They too are hard to find but no doubt the search will continue.  Perhaps by the time we return home they'll be some in stock there and we can avoid all the other Provincial taxes.
I'll apologize again for not writing more often but now I'm more frustrated that I can't figure out how to add photos.  I think I've taken close to 700 so far and that doesn't include those with our Iphones. 
We leave here on Wednesday as we head for Dwight Ontario, near Huntsville and therefore in the Muskoka area of Ontario.  Those 5 days are all about relaxing while we'll throw in a bit sight seeing. 
Thanks for your continued prayers.  We trust you're all doing well.

Illinois

I'm so sorry that I've not been able to post sooner.  We've not had wifi since Minnesota (been in Wisconsin Dells x 2 nights until yesterday and now are in Illinois). 

So I told you we were going to check out Mall of America and we did.  We didn't see it all and didn't even do the amusement park area but I think West Edmonton Mall may have been better.  Course, WEM doesn't have Macy's.  Scott and I witnessed their Loss Prevention Officers 'take down' (okay, gently re-direct,) someone who'd already made it out of the store.  Well done!  Our campground there was nice, we enjoyed the pool and I had a great run one morning with Katie biking alongside me.

Wisconsin Dells - heat continues but we're loving it and limiting our exposure.  We did however spend an hour in the blazing sun on the North Wisconsin River (looks like a lake) as we'd rented a couple sea doos.  That was GREAT fun. 

The drive yesterday to Illinois was good - only 3 hours or so.  Most of our driving days have been like that but there are some longer ones coming.  I find myself killing time checking out my surroundings and specifically the crops.  I hadn't seen soy bean plants before so that was a new one for me.  Corn seems to be their main crop.

Today we enjoyed Six Flags.  It's an amusement park / water park with a side of Looney Toons, as in Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam and a few of another variety: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Scooby Doo etc., oh, and 14 roller coasters!  We've not firmed down plans for tomorrow yet but maybe we'll head to Chicago.  Because we've not had wifi we've not been able to search out cool places to go/see/do.  Perhaps we'll have a chance to do that in the morning.  It's about 10pm here and the mosquito's are feeding on my tanned flesh so it's time to sign off.  Hope you are all well!

Minnesota

It's so nice to get up this morning and not to have to close up the trailer for yet another day of driving.  We get to spend another night here in Minnesota and today we're checking out the Mall of America.  I didn't know this thing existed but many people I've spoken to have been here and think it's amazing.  It's the largest mall/amusement park in the USA - wonder how it compares to West Edmonton Mall.  Course, this one is 4 floors high but doesn't have a skating rink or mini golf - go Canada!  :)

I was up at 8 this morning and checked the temp before heading out for a run.  27 degrees - at 8AM!  Yowza, heading for 37 today. 

Katie found a tick in her hair yesterday; still very much on the move but clinging to a strand of hair.  I have to admit though it's been so long since I've seen one (ummm, maybe never?) that I thought it was a spider.  I remember thinking they were hard bodied dark grey or brown things that you can't squish.  This guy was brown with some markings up his middle.  I googled it and sure enough - a deer tick is what the officials call it - we just call it ICK. 

In the previous blog I mentioned we'd had a tire blow out.  I'd love to get a picture here for you to see just how bad it was but my iphone is having technical difficulties in sending the picture to my email so I can post it.  I'll try again later.

Enjoy the day!

Travels

What a ride so far!  We left home 2 days ago spending the first night in Medicine Hat.  We stayed at Gas City Campground which was fairly nice and didn't have a SINGLE mosquito - they were all married with families!  Yesterday morning I got up in search of a place to power walk or jog and I wasn't let down.  Scott's guess was that I did about 6-7km... it the HOT out and there was no reprieve from the sun but man it felt good to get out and move like that. 

We headed for Caronport Sask yesterday and about 30km before arriving, a passerby on the highway gestured madly at our trailer.  Scott got us stopped and headed out for a look noticing that we'd had a tire blow-out.  We had no idea when that might of happened but we definitely have some damage.  Not only did we need a new tire but we needed someone to repair the wire that got snapped by the flapping rubber.  We have many reasons to express our gratitude to God for even this incident; it could have been so much worse.

We spent the night at Latrace's farm last night and it was GREAT to connect with them again.  They live 2 miles outside of Caronport- she was my Counselor when I attended Caronport High School in grade 12 (one or two years ago) and we hit it off.  I haven't seen her or her husband in about 25 years, though we've stayed in touch and it was so nice to reconnect with them.  Emily said she wants to spend the whole summer there next year - something about great company, kittens and the Latrace grandsons who live in another house on the same yard. 

We're in Brandon Manitoba for the night and tomorrow we head south for Larimore North Dakota.  Good thing Scott remembered our passports!

Birthday plans

Emily's birthday will soon be upon us and her hope is that we have a Mantracker party. We decided that it would be quite cool to take her and her friends to K-Country to pull this off... and why not throw in a night of camping while we're at it?  Here's my game idea.

Since my thought of Mantracker is that it's a treasure hunt (trying to get to the X) while playing Hide N' Seek (not getting "tracked"), I came up with this. 

It's like a treasure hunt where they'll be given a clue which will lead them to the next and so on.  The hitch is that at each spot they will also pick up a puzzle piece.  When there are no more clues they need to put their puzzle together and flip it over where they'll find an "X marks the spot" sort of map.  When they figure out where the X is they'll find the prize.

Em would like the girls divided into teams and that may be the best plan... we've got some tweaking to do first.  Any suggestions?

Canmore

Canmore here we come! Thank you airmiles for giving us free accomodations at the Best Western Pocaterra Inn! My bag is the carry-on one on the left while Scott's is the full sized suitcase on the right. Need I say more? :)

I couldn't help but think of Scripture when I looked at the mountains. I thought of Matthew 17 when a man brings his demon filled son to Jesus. He was upset that he'd not been able to free his son from the demons and neither had the disciples. In frustration Jesus tells the father that because his faith is small, he'd not been able to do it. He said, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move." That's a mighty tall order hey? And how do you measure an amount of faith to know it's even the size of a mustard seed? I read that while it's not the smallest seed known now, it was in Palestinian times and in the right conditions could cause a plant to grown 10' tall.

This bundle of mountains is named Three Sisters and since I have 3 sisters too I think it's especially cool.

Upon arrival into Canmore we headed for a favorite hiking spot named Goat Creek. It's located just south of the Nordic Centre and will lead you all the way to Banff. At this time of year you share the trail with snowshoers and X Country skiiers alike - we opted for the road less traveled so Roxy could run amok.

I was surprised to see/hear so much running water given the amount of snow that was on the ground. Course, we didn't realize how much snow there was until we stepped into an area that hadn't been patted down. It was up to my knees in spots. I love the ice formations over the creek.

Hey Mel, I took this picture with you in mind - you need a new puzzle?!

You fellas ready for the ride of your lives? I suspect with the look on their faces they're asking the same of me. I made our reservations with Snowy Owl Dog Tours in Canmore - we met at their office, got checked in, hopped onto their coach and we headed up to Spray Lakes campground area. I think at this point we're all looking forward to this but when I saw all of the dogs I became overjoyed. The dogs greeted us enthusiastically as if they'd been waiting for us all day. Way cool!

I believe the owner said there were 16 teams which we'd be using, each with between 6 and 7 dogs. We had the option to mush our own team either with a guide or on our own. We were sized up and given the option to have a team to ourselves - no guide... as in one family potentially whisked away with no chance of return. Was I up to this? Katie said, mom, if this is how God wants to take us, I'm okay with that. Smart kid! (Gets that from her mom's side.)

Our instruction lasted about 15-20 minutes and then we were directed to, and met, our team. There was Hendrix, Harrah, Moon Raiser, Harley, Indian and one other (I'm sorry I can't remember!!). I had heard that they only use husky dogs but I didn't realize that there are 6 varieties. I expected the great big dogs with blue eyes but these didn't fit into that definition. They didn't look like the ones in the dogsledding movies but it didn't matter - when the command HIKE was given, they were off. Did I mention WAY COOL?!?

Us girls got onto the sled and were zipped up nice and toasty. Scott was going to be the musher. (I welcome all goofy terms that this can become for my husband.)

Indian and Harley (named after motorcycles) are ready to go!

Click on this picture - check out the dog over the right side of our sled and the howling dog toward the back. The dogs bark and bug each other, similar to children. What we were unsure of it when the dogs are running and carrying on like this. Ahhh, puppies, you're attached to each other, get along!

This pictures was taken at the 1/2 way point, 4km into our adventure. We had a chance to take a couple pictures and were encouraged to pet the dogs (like anyone had to tell us). This is also the spot where Emily stayed out and joined Scott as co-musher! Sadly it wasn't a longer trek or we'd all have had a chance. Maybe next time...

I'm hoping you'll be able to view a video which I took while Emily & Scott were mushing. The link is at the bottom of this post.

Isn't he beautiful!?

Destination Mount Norquay - skiing / tubing

The snow at Norquay was most excellent; by far the best I've skied on in a long time. It was not as packed as I've been used to and this added to the challenge for the girls. They did stellar though, working on their skills and gaining more confidence. Can't wait to go again!!

Tubing at Mount Norquay is always a good time. The sun was shining and we were together. The only negative was that other people decided that this would be a good day to go as well... and the line up to get the tow up was lengthy. The option is there to walk up and we did, but it's a tough steep trek.

It's too bad the chair lift was in the way but this picture shows the steepness of the run. That's Katie and her dad.

And the two of them again (same run) - this one lets you see the speed (check out Katies hair - the wind must have blown Scott's hair clear off his head!). You can also see a little of the ice that made the runs so quick. People were coming down too quickly so staff laid burlap at the end of the runs to stop so many people from going through the snow fence!

Yes, this is at Norquay. And yes, it's facing the sun... but still!!! It was a beautiful day.

The deal that I'd signed us up for came with a hot drink and while the weather didn't really call for something hot we enjoyed it anways.

Back at the hotel the girls begged to go swimming regularly and enjoyed each opportunity they got.

TADA!

Chill-axing... I hear the water was very cold course the girls didn't seem to notice. Scott was glad for the hot tub. I hadn't been feeling well so I stayed out of the water and bundled up on the 'sidelines', catching pictures for a blog such as this.

All fixed and looking good.

I just realized I'd not posted an update after our water damage so I'll get that done once I've taken some pictures. Stay tuned.