Morning came quickly at the Pocahontas Cabins… the last one up out of the kids was Trinity, though I woke up with Echo first and then after a bit of a snuggle and letting Ken get in some more sleep went back to bed. This coincided with the boys waking up so we were able to shuffle them out of the bedroom and not wake up Trinity. 

Trinity sleeping in

Well they did get up for a bit and then fell asleep watching tv

We had a route already mapped out the night before and a plan to put into action so after cobbling a breaky for the kids together out of the night before’s supper (Trinity’s) and the travel rations it was time to pack up and say good bye. Chris and Chris and Jocelyn were going on to the west coast and we had our drive through TWO national parks (well not the whole of Banff National Park, but some of it) to accomplish before getting home. Off we went with a van full of kids VERY unsure of how much fun was actually to be had in a vehicle for that long…

Don't the clouds look marvellous?

Our first stop was Maligne Canyon, 15 min from Jasper the information we had called it a “startlingly deep canyon”… well they were right!

All ready to walk the canyon path

A little info about the area... and the only animal we actually saw was the squirrel!

Out in the sunshine with Fat Sheep as well

We learned about lichen….

Reading the lichen info... the boys were quick to point out the example right in front of the sign on the mountain itself and its bright orange colouring

Crossed TWO bridges…

View from the bridge

And saw a squirrel eat a nut! 

SQUIRREL!!

With a quick walk through the gift shop to get two educational postcards and two children tripping and scraping knees (Trinity and Zander, thank goodness I had bandaids in my purse) we were off again. Next stop – Jasper and gas and food.

Such a pretty sign

Gas was 1.22 a litre (OUCH) but you HAVE TO fill up there as the road we were taking to Banff National Park had no commercial traffic allowed on it so no gas stations. The best we could do for “cheap” fastfood was an A&W that was pricier than any other we had been too. Great quality food though and HUGE ketchup packets. 

Ketchup

After Jasper it was on to Banff National Park. We were going to stop at some falls but were unsure of the access road and instead opted to drive through (with potty stops) to the Athabasca Glacier… of course we were super prepared… NOT… all of us in shorts or skirts (Trinity) and sweaters for me and the kids… and the only people crazy enough to drag 5 small children up the un-paved path to the toe of the glacier. BUT we did it! It was a slow progress and I was amazed that no one ended up wounded but it was well worth it! There were even signs showing the progression of the melting. Two stood out – one the year my brother was born and the other when a certain cousin was a year old! 

From a distance so lovely

1982

1992, the glacier actually shrunk rather quickly

There was a nice man who offered to take a family picture for us (they were just as crazy – two small children AND the wife was pregnant!).

Up at the glacier toe

Reading about the glacier

One of the signs talking about the dangers of going onto the glacier... the other sign mentioned 3 different rescue attempts on the glacier last year - all 3 were failures.

Yet so many ignore the warnings and climb on in

After trekking back down (VERY carefully) it was time to start the real drive home… with some stop offs to cool the breaks and see the sights of course…

Until in Banff National Park we hit a lovely potty stop and Trinity was SURE she had to go… and she DID! She was so proud we had to take a picture! And then Ken ran off to the vantage spot solo to see what was there…

Potty!!

At the scenic vantage point Ken checked out solo

The view

From then on it was home home home. Except when we stopped at a gas station before Nordegg for snacks and a nap for Ken. Then it was time to let the kids wiggle in the van while they ate snacks. Poor Kenny was a bit worn out already. We had been on the road since about 10:30 am and done numerous stops WITH hiking and kids… 

Kenny enjoying the mountain drive

Of course post nap we had a bit of a van scare (seriously is ANYONE who knows us surprised?? I think NOT)… what we later determined was water vapour came pouring into the van on my side of the dash so we had to pull over and pop the hood. After a very careful examination of the vehicle and a somewhat frantic texting on my part to Cousin Veronika and Karyn so SOMEONE knew we were having a van worry we figured driving on would be best… and while yours truly was tense (but then when am I not when it comes to vehicles?) and a little cautious and VERY unhappy in those patches of road where cell phone reception was NONE we had no further issues. 

Echo on the big rest... pre van scare

A first for us we drove through Rocky Mountain House on our way – Tim Hortons potty break with coffee and hot chocolate for the worn out adults. And then the last hour home. And you know, the kids STILL got excited over seeing cows??? Go figure! Their moods and attitudes while unsurprisingly crabby were MUCH better than when we had to drive on through places without all the stops. We managed to learn a lot about our province and the mountains… see places NONE of us had seen before and go on a family adventure. 

On the way UP to the cabins we drove past an interesting sign – Scenic Route to ALASKA!! OH how tempting! But no passports and too many children on board for that. Maybe a future adventure when either everyone is bigger and we have a trailer OR when we can go without all 5 in tow? 

It was about 7:30 when we got home, our camera full of pictures, our kids less than enthused. There was a van to unpack, kids to feed (yay for the leftovers we sent home with our lovely ladies that were there waiting for us) and Ken’s folks to call. Of course Ken called them while *I* was unpacking things and chasing kids and then talked for an hour… do I love the man or what? As shown by the fact that when he DID finally get off the phone I DIDN’T kick his bum! 

The kids did up pictures on our drive (thank goodness I did pick up crayons and colouring books especially for this weekend) and were very excited to explain what they saw.

Some of the "van art"

We are planning a special poster just for Maligne Canyon as well as our usual Adventure File pages… maybe do a mini book with the pictures made, there are some ideas rumbling around in my head! And once we get all of that out on paper we move onto our next year of schooling and our September focus – dinosaurs!!! But first – I promised ALL of the kids ONE DAY OFF… Minecraft, tv and NO school. 

A few more mountain photos

So beautiful

Sunshine in the mountains by the canyon

I have the right to make the choices I want to in regards to my family just as you have the right to do the same for yours. What I do NOT have the right to do is to expect or pressure YOU to make the SAME decisions or choices. And in turn I expect the same from you. What I am trying to say is friend or family, close or far, it is up to ME and KEN to make the best choices for the family we have created based on what we know about ourselves, our children and our situation. I think it is KEY to remember that we are all on the outside looking in when looking at other’s choices. There is NO WAY to know all the ins and outs of someone’s daily life when we are not there living it with them. Instead we need to have FAITH that they are doing the best according to that life to create a positive and prosperous environment. In fact, I believe I am! What I cannot prove to the world outside of our home and our support system is that it works. I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that there could potentially ALWAYS be someone friend or family as dear as they are to me that refuse to back us in this choice to homeschool, to have a large family, to live where we are and not here or there. I have had to face facts that perhaps I need to be less someone’s daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend and more the mother of 5 and the wife of Ken… We have not jumped into the decision to homeschool blindly, in fact friends AND family should remember that I have been talking about homeschooling since I was pregnant with the twins in 2003. I honestly think people were assuming I would just give up on that “nonsense”… instead I spent months and years researching, collecting information, learning the legalities, talking to homeschoolers and the homeschooled alike. I was raised well (in my opinion), and have learned to ask questions, try and see things from all the angles, be adventurous AND not walk into anything blind. 

For all that negativity I have to draw attention to a bright light among the family (merely one of many if I am honest) in the form of my sister in law. She (and her mother actually) is very supportive of MY decision to homeschool our 5 (eventually) and in turn I am very supportive of HER decision to put her son into the public system. Our children have different needs. Hers is a VERY only child. He really needs and enjoys the socialization public school offers as well as the fact that he pushes all her buttons when they tried schooling BEFORE he was of age to enroll. My 5 are very social kids, able to welcome in another kid easily or join a group. What my twins require is one on one time to do their work. This is something those larger classes simply can’t offer them. I know my personalities here – Gavin is VERY sensitive to criticism… something I work on daily… and Zander is easily into being the more aggressive, assertive bullying type. This is another thing we struggle with but are making headway. I CAN put Zander into time out and take away things to deal immediately with the behaviour and with Gavin I can sit down and explain how being wrong is ok and correctable… after all there is NO red pens or permanent ink here!

I have reached out to the online homeschooling community and have found amazing support. It is crucial to realize that I am NOT alone in the issues with support with our family… that sometimes you simply have to go beyond being someone’s daughter, grand-daughter, niece, sibling and be the mom… the teacher… the adult. I need to realize that I am not going to get everyone’s support and adulation… it simply isn’t possible to appease everyone NOR is it really reasonable nor important to do so. Instead I have begun to rebuild our social and support system here in our new place as well as continue doing things that work and altering those that don’t… I have the freedom to do so here and am really enjoying the evolution of our schooling day by day. 

But enough about that! Now onto what I am SURE everyone has been waiting for – the past two days in the Reinsch-Johnson clan. Sunday was a HUGE excitement for all involved… first we bought some minutes for the pay for cell phone and activated it (thanks so much Adam!!!) and then took a portion of the pay for minutes and got me TEXTING! Woot! That covered us for our drive an hour and a half south to go pick up my nephew Jimmie for the first half of the week. We lucked out and Lauralee was free to spend a nice chunk of the day at our house watching the 4 bigger kids so that I could go with Ken (and Echo too). We only wanted to take as many people as could fit in any of our emergency contacts’ vehicles so that no one was stranded. We trust the van repair but we dislike going so far out of the city less than a week after a repair. This all had us out after noon. (thank you to everyone who said they would watch their phones)

We got TO my brother’s before 3 (remember we had to go to Tim Hortons to get a snack… of course!) and Ken had a nap while Echo got some one on one time with her Aunty Holly and Jimmie unpacked a few things to show me. We packed him all up and got out the door in pretty good time with a quick stop off at 7-11 for drinks and a big bag of pretzels and then home it was. We actually made it home right around 5 pm to be regaled in all that happened while we were gone. Apparently Lauralee is an AWESOME babysitter who played with them, fed them AND took them to the convenience store for treats (I made sure to leave some cash in case she wanted to). She has already been requested for a repeat performance by the masses!

Aunty Holly and Echo

This left us with dinner, play time, tv time and then BED TIME! Can you believe it Emanuel and Jimmie were up until midnight!! I stayed upstairs way longer than I usually do – until Karyn came over to share her folk fest adventures actually! And the little buggers waited until I went downstairs and then TURNED ON THE LIGHT! When Ken and I went up for our super late super he went in, had them clean turned off the light and BANG asleep in minutes!!

Supper!

Post midnight crash

Even so they were up decently early this morning! Ken fed them breakfast and then woke me up to send them outside to play in the backyard… was that ever a great idea – burn off that energy… which apparently they have an unlimited supply of today!!

Mini trampoline!

 Just as quickly it felt like, they were back inside to play play play… over the span of the morning we went through crafts, play doh AND trains… 

Fun at the craft box

Gavin's play doh creations

And then in the afternoon trainsets, colouring, marbles and kitchen set… bang bang bang… I finally  gave up at Echo’s short and late nap time and turned on the cartoons so I could escape upstairs to eat something and regroup! 

Extensive train set work going on here

You add in one more high energy kid and it is like EVERYONE’S energy triples!! CRAZY. But even crazier was Echo in there on her own following along and plowing in. She had a blast until she got worn out or hungry. 

Future soccer player??

My one quiet child today was Gavin who has come up with a new project… He is working on individual illustrations, whatever he wants, on lined paper… and then we are picking out some words  that are in the picture, sounding them out and writing them in. These are all going to go into a binder. He does so much art this gives him the chance to really keep it all together instead of papers strewn everywhere!

Not one of the book illustrations but a definite on the fridge masterpiece

There has been some requests to see work by the younger two of our very mobile 4… so here goes! First is a fridge favourite – Trinity’s colouring (in marker) of Lightning McQueen off of Cars… I am so proud of how hard she worked to stay in the lines.

Trinity's finished colouring... note the random o's...

And here is Emanuel (and Jimmie) with some of TODAY’S art! He is getting much more into scenes and such for his pictures and less random shapes!

Both proud to show off

So I DID sneak off, once Echo was down for her lunch time nap and the kids busy where Ken could watch and work, I snuck off to the convenience store and picked up milk (expensive) and a slurpee (to make me feel better about the above first few paragraphs). The walk is brief but it was blessedly quiet! Tonight the plan is to work on as many unfinished projects as possible… stocking, tutu dress, tidying, hunting down the still missing box of photos in frames… Tomorrow it is our busy day all over again (did I mention the boys let the neighbour boy in the yard without asking and then proceeded to fight… well Emanuel and Zander so we had an early back into the house after supper… not sure if it is the kid or the reaction to the kid that is the problem but with Jimmie here too I wasn’t about to test it). So today was a wild and crazy at home day… I think tomorrow we may do the same… the baby is a napper and going solo with 6 anywhere is daunting when she is so tiny. I may just have to pull out more boardgames and maybe a bucket of long lost toys… be a good reason to actually face the ever daunting tv room closet with its unknown contents! Stay tuned to find out! 

Oh, I also managed to finally paste down the pieces for a scrapbook page… Echo and Anna’s last visit before we moved. It feels good to get some crafting in!

The ones on either side are just paper and pics waiting to be played with!

But here’s hoping the kids are all asleep BEFORE midnight… hmm maybe?

Cute as a button in the middle of chaos