Talk about a BUSY day!!! We left the house a little after 9 to head up to the mountains. This was the kids’ first experience with mountains as well as KEN’S first in Alberta.

On our way!

It took us quite a few hours but it was well worth it, lakes, mountains, trees… the kids were so excited and determined to climb a WHOLE mountain. Trees, rocks, snow and all! They were amazed by the size, the quantity and the colours. We stopped at a gas station for a quick potty break and of course had to take a couple pictures…

Then on to the mountain… with another stop to take pictures of a lake/reservoir.

When we got to the site we had planned to hike from we took a picture in front of the war memorial.

The kids were especially impressed by the large rocks along the edge of the parking lot. We had to drag them away from the smaller rocks that they were ALL intent on piling and moving around to have our picnic lunch (and they said BEFORE that that they were STARVING).

With the wind and no picnic tables available we improvised. With our stow and go and our big blanket we had our picnic in the back of the van! Trinity thought it was an amazing adventure and lost no time with exploring and playing in the back. We had sandwiches (whole wheat pita for me), fruit (everyone ate up the pineapple before I even got a chance to decide if I wanted to try it! So apparently FRESH pineapple is a win with this family… I suffered with strawberries.) and veggies.

When we packed up for our picnic we forgot one crucial item – a knife! So at the convenience store we hunted down a camp set – spoon, fork and knife. Karyn and Ken said it was IMPERATIVE that I include this picture of our “Stainless China” knife! Not exactly a fine cut but it worked!

After a nice, healthy and filling picnic in our impromptu picnic site we headed off down the path. So many trees, flowers, rocks and birds… butterflies… the boys were in hiking heaven.

The first big obstacle was actually a pretty major one… a suspension bridge! Something that is FAR from my favourite mode of crossing a busy (albeit beautiful) river.

Trinity was safely out of the way in the backpack carrier on Ken’s back (she didn’t want to be there at first but after we got her situated it was all good. After all where else can you get the best high up view?).

The twins and I went across together – it was a little dicey for me as as soon as the motion of the bridge changed I started to get nauseous, but we made it safely. Ken had Trinity and Karyn took care of Emanuel. Apparently he was chatty the whole walk and took it like a trooper. Definitely not a bridge I would want to cross OFTEN but it was quite the experience!

On the other side of the bridge by the edge of the river was a great tree that we took advantage of to take some special maternity shots. I would have loved to have had my dress from the weddings on or something fancy but being there, pregnant and with my family was special enough!

After the tree there was a boardwalk which totally intrigued the boys. Apparently the path was too worn from countless feet that they had to build something substantial to keep the environment safe.

After the boardwalk was ANOTHER bridge. This one not a suspension but still had a bit of motion. A decently easy cross.

Then the path just went ON AND ON… we ran into some friendly hikers who told us about a little turn up ahead that had a lovely view of the river since the waterfall we originally were planning to see was just that bit too far for this pregnant woman. The little river vantage point was well worth the extra walk up though!

We let Trinity run free for a bit too… which had her in total joy. She held hands with people, ran along the path… stopped to look at bugs and tripped along the rocks.

On the way back we moved the carrier to the front and got Trinity in a little power nap. Those little legs are just not yet meant for hiking. So Ken got a double work out… walking and packing our little girl along!

About 3/4 of the way back to the van we had our first and only accident – Gavin got distracted by a brightly coloured butterfly and didn’t lift his foot high enough over a rock, tripped and down he went! both elbows and one knee scraped and a few tears shed. After everyone gave him a hug and we checked the damage we were able to get the family contained and motivated and back on the way to the van. Of course I was out of bandages… but we made use of some bottled water and a bit of the hand sanitizer Karyn had and cleaned him up for the ride home. Of course the wounded party got the FIRST glass of lemonade to make it all better.

All lemonaded up and packed back up and we started the lengthy drive home. Not surprisingly Ken and the twins fell asleep not too far in, Emanuel after that BUT little miss Trinity was up the whole way home! Chattering and stealing my veggie crackers and water she was as happy as could be. We dropped Karyn off where she had parked a town away from where she lives and then headed the rest of the way home. We ended up gone around 12 hours! And that night EVERYONE slept soundly!

I had to stay up later than I wanted to to clean up, get organized and cool down so waking up this morning to do my testing before breakfast and then HAVING a breakfast was quite the feat. Ken made me food and then sent me BACK to bed. Other than having to continue diabetic testing and keep the kids from destroying the place we were also charged with taking some baby photos of our god-daughter Miss Anna. She is now a month old and a bit more squiggly than I would have liked but I think we got some AMAZING shots. Ken will do a bit of editing and we will see what we have. Once she is holding her head up I want to do the ones in her diaper but for now we settled with dressed and asleep. It was fun to snuggle a baby again though Baby #5 did some kicking back to remind me (and Anna) that this is her/his future snuggle spot. I can’t share the portraits but I CAN share the two favourites of myself and Ken with our newest godchild.

So, mountains, family time, baby time AND some VERY good numbers for me… this was certainly a weekend to perk up someone who I must admit has lost a bit of the joy and wonder of her pregnancy. It is hard to feel that euphoria when you are feeling stress about the food that goes in your mouth and my irrational fear of needles whenever anyone even MENTIONS insulin. I ALSO got in some sewing time on a surprise project for a friend who has been working VERY hard on her Etsy business. I wanted to do SOMETHING to support her and this is what I have come up with… of course you all won’t see until AFTER she does but I am hoping it will be a nice gift.

I have to say the past 7 days have kept us hopping but I am feeling like maybe, just maybe, we are doing well! Ken is busy with work, the boys are still learning (though slowly with the lovely weather)… in fact, tomorrow we are incorporating our mountain experience with our camping lapbook and starting to put it together. Our gardening is still going strong and hopefully THAT lapbook will be sorted out soon too. My plan is to have the rest of the summer be completing the stuff that got pushed off to the side when I was so worn out earlier in my pregnancy. This is the week we contact our board to register!! Yikes!

But I have one more page worth of photos to work on, and two calendar pages to make up for our baby shower next weekend. Karyn came up with a great craft idea for the shower that I need to sort through my own supplies for and apparently Mike had an accident at the cabin and is a bit laid up with a broken rib so I have get well soon cards to print out for the boys to colour! Life never stops in our home and I love it!

On my post lunch walk with my two big boys! (Zander left)