Canadian Thanksgiving in Alberta (long)

On Thursday we flew to Alberta, Canada for Thanksgiving. On the way to the airport we stopped for a view and some jumping jacks:

At the Airport

When we arrived in Calgary, Alberta there was Nana and Grampa waiting for us. Much to everyone's surprise, Rachel, squealing with delight, ran straight into Nana's outstretched arms.
We stuck around for Joel's Mom's parents, Gramma Ann and Grampa Henry to arrive. Then we all traveled to Nana and Grampa's house. On Friday Joel's brother (Jeff and his wife Mandy) and Joel's sister (JoAnne and her husband Shane, with their three boys) arrived. Below are some snapshots of our time with them.

Shane and JoAnne with Kaleb, Caius and Lucas

Caius (on left) and Lucas
(let me know if I'm wrong JoAnne)

Jeff and Mandy

Rachel holding Caius

Caius, Madelynn and Lucas
(Madelynn is one month older than the twins)

Cousins :)

Reading with Gramma Ann

Jeff with Kaleb and Joshua

Grampa Henry snoozing with Madelynn

Kaleb turned two at the beginning of October but we all celebrated his birthday anyway. Check out his way cool b-day cake: Ker-chow!

On Sunday Grampa Wentworth and Gramma Doloris (Joel's paternal grandparents) joined us. They enjoyed seeing their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.


Here is the whole family together on Thanksgiving Sunday:




Most everybody left on Sunday afternoon. So on Monday morning Nana and Grampa gave the thumbs up for Joel and I to take a date day and night along with our lovely nursing daughter Madelynn. The following pictures and video is of our time together enjoying the mountains and each other's company.

To the Mountains!


The happy parents

Ahh, beautiful!

Rocky Mountain Sheep came to lick salt off the road


Ready to go on a hike Madelynn? Let's go!


Hiking in the mountains, near Kananaskis Village.

Clouds started to roll in during our hike.

After our hike, we headed into Calgary. (yes we played the alphabet game, only we played together, which was way more fun.) I've wanted to go to a certain Mongolian restaurant, so that is where we ate our dinner. Madelynn was not happy, I think she wanted some ginger beef.

After dinner we headed to Cheesecake Cafe (can I hear a "yum"?) The next morning we headed back to Nana and Grampa's house. Our two kids were ecstatic to see us, which is of course always special.

The next day Joel was able to help out with the ongoing Autumnal task of gathering firewood.

Grampa

Those are mountains in the background. The view was just awesome, but cameras cannot capture the majesty of open space.

We had a great holiday and lots of fun. The trip home was another adventure, but that will have to be another story. We are glad to be home but wish we were closer to all our family, somehow.

Happy Thanksgiving!