Oh Canada!

Jared grew up visiting Canada every summer. It's something that his family just did. His grandfather lives in Raymond and that place is sort of magical for the McInelly family. It's just a small town, and yet it's so much more. The first summer we were married, we decided the trip was too far and our old truck might not make it, but then last minute Jared just couldn't not be there. We drove all night and arrived the morning of July 1st, just in time for the parade and the traditional Canada Day activities. We rode horses, went bridge jumping, fished, and had a wonderful time. We've gone back almost every year since. This summer was our 9th trip.

Grandpa Bill has the coolest house. Hunter hardly wanted to leave because he was having so much fun "discovering" it. And to top it off, Grandpa fitted all my kids with cowboy boots and hats.



Right out back were some horses. We arrived in the evening while it was dark so first thing the next morning my girls were dressed and heading out to see the horses, breakfast could wait.

This is an old truck that Jared's grandpa has had around for a long time. Jared has lots of fond memories in it, many of them fishing adventures. I think this truck knows how to drive itself to Corner Lake.
And this is Corner Lake. It's a couple minutes away from Grandpa Bill's house and you are pretty much guaranteed to catch Pike.

Here's another early morning trip.

After visiting Raymond, we headed up to Waterton National Park. It's always beautiful and the weather couldn't have been any better. In the years past we've only spent a day or two in the park, this year we stayed for almost a week. We had plenty of time to do all of the fun things at a relaxing pace. It was perfect!

We stayed at a cozy little cabin with Jared's parents and grandfather. It had plenty of rooms, beds for everyone, and it was even well stocked with kids toys, books, movies, and decorated in a kid-friendly way.
We got to use these electric scooters which were perfect for cruising around the small town of Waterton.

Not far from the back door of our cabin was the Waterton Park which has recently been redone.

There's even a water park there.

We explored lots of lakes and did some hiking.

The girls bought toy lizards at the souvenir shop and spent the entire week playing with them. More than once, people asked them if they were real.

Jared's dad brought this fun raft for everyone to play in. Grandma Jeanne took the kids out for nice, pleasant rides.
Jared took them out and did donuts... who knew you could do circles in a raft. He got it going so fast I had to get out because I was dizzy.

One morning Jared and Hunter got up early and took a father/son fishing trip. They caught a bunch of fish and had a great time. Now that Hunter is older, he can cast his line out and reel a fish in all on his own.
One day we hiked on the Bertha Lake trail to see a waterfall. All of the kids did great, but Emma especially was a trooper hiking all of those 3.8 miles without having to be carried even once.

We saw plenty of wildlife, one morning while I was out running, I counted 9 deer and it hadn't even been five minutes.

This little family of deer sat at the edge of a lake, they didn't even move as we set up nearby and were still there when we left.


One morning Jared, his mom, and the kids went on a short hike while I stayed home to nap Austin. As they came around a corner about 20 feet in front of them, there was a BEAR! He was startled by someone from the parking lot starting up their loud engine and scampered part way up a tree. He turned and looked right at my little family, got down and started slowly moving in their direction. Jared ordered everyone to get behind him as he yelled out to the bear and banged sticks on trees. It didn't seem to even phase the bear. Jared asked his mom to take the kids and slowly head back the way they had come and he continued to holler and wave his arms, but that bear didn't mind one bit. Jared slowly walked backwards until the bear was out of sight and then he caught up to the kids and with Emma on his back they raced back to the car as fast as they could, looking over their shoulders the entire time.

Thankfully they never saw the bear again, but what a scare. We went back later that day and could see his claw marks on the tree he climbed.

If you look closely, you can see 3 claw marks

We also did one of our favorite Waterton hikes, Red Rock and we spent a kid-free day fishing. Thanks Grandma Jeanne and Papa. Those pictures are stuck on Jared's waterproof camera so I'll post them later.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip and we can't wait until next time!