OH,CANADA

My bestest friend lives in Canada. It is quite inconvenient for me. It would be much better if she lived next door. I finally got brave enough (and had Lacey and Aaron to do one leg of the trip with me), applied for passport cards for Luke and myself, changed the oil in the car and made the trek to Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada in early June. 

I dragged this little guy out of bed at 6 am. I think that is the earliest he has ever been up in his entire life!! We gave our Daddy a hug and kiss goodbye and settled into our seats for the next 13 hours. 

I was SO grateful to have Lacey and Aaron with me. They did ALL the driving and I just entertained this person. He watched movies, played with toys, ate lots of snack, napped and cried a little. He actually did really great considering we were in the car for 13 HOURS!! 

My favorite couple driving and driving and driving!

I think this is Sandpoint, Idaho. There was lots of beautiful scenery along the drive. Especially once you get to Spokane it is beautiful all the way to the prairies of southern Alberta.

We made it to the border. I haven't left the good old USA since 1997. Back then you didn't even need a passport to enter Canada. I have to admit I was a little nervous. Everything went well at the border and it only took us like 10 minutes to get through. 

Notice the actual border that is cut in the trees! I thought that was pretty cool.

Unfortunately this  wonderful red and white maple leaf did not mean we were home yet...I think we had another 4 hours or so until Fort Macleod!

Luckily the drive was incredibly beautiful from the border to Fort Macleod. 

Once we finally made to Lacey's house I was SO happy to be out of the car and I know Luke felt the same way. I think he played with the boys a bit and then we got all the little people tucked into bed and made our first Tim Horton's trip! I have to admit that I think I had a bagel or donut from Tim Horton's every day I was in Canada.

There was a CRAZY storm while I was visiting and the Old Man River experienced historic flooding. We ventured out the morning after the great storm to see the floods. This area is usually all walking trails and it was completely covered. It was quite a tragic storm and there was a whole town that was destroyed. We almost died a few times on the highway when we were driving to and from Lethbridge, but somehow we survived to tell the tale! 

The TINY town of Fort Macleod was pretty amazing to me! It's crazy to be a small town of 3,000 people! They have a very cute little Main Street area and that about sums up the town! There is a larger grocery store on one end and a few schools and churches, but it is small. This is the Poytress Chiropractic Clinic! Very cute building. 

I got a terrible cold and Lacey was getting over the same cold so we did spend a bit of time napping and watching movies, but that is what we do best anyawy!With all of us being sick we tried to lay low and made it to the park before the crazy rains came. Luke had so much fun with his Canadian brothers. 

On Saturday we made the trip over to Waterton National Park. It was quite a site to behold! It is BEAUTIFUL and WINDY!! The wind was so intense! I was feeling pretty sick this day and I think Luke was a bit under the weather as well, but we still enjoyed Waterton and hope to go back with our Daddy next summer. 

This is the Prince of Wales hotel. We went inside and it was gorgeous! It has the most incredible view of the lake. 

It was hard to get a good picture of me and Luke because he kept hiding from the wind. 

Lace was getting hungry so she decided to eat a carrot :) 

We had a fun filled Saturday roasting hot dogs, throwing rocks and balls and the two little boys crashed within minutes of getting in the car. 

We went to Grandma Moj's house and the boys loved watching a movie in the movie room! 

The boys enjoyed bath time together

The Mom's took some selfies. 

On my last night we hear Miles whining in his bed and Lacey goes in to find THIS!! He had handcuffed his legs together and we laughed and laughed! 

The day finally came when it was time to go home. It was a bittersweet day. We missed our Daddy, but did not want to leave our family in Canada. 

This time I had to do the 13 hour drive by myself this time. My cousin lives right outside Spokane so we broke it into two days and stayed the night with them. They were so kind to let us stay and it was definitely a huge blessing. Luke did better than I thought. I rigged up a system where I tied his sippy cup to my chair so I could throw it back to him when he dropped it. He watched lots of shows, slept a few hours and ate lots of snacks, suckers, yogurt melts and NUGO bars. We finally made it home on Monday afternoon and it felt great!