Road Trip Aug 2

 On Tuesday we had lots of time. About 5 hours of driving. We thought we'd gain an hour too...but were wrong and showed up later than we'd hoped at our destination! By then I was tired and didn't even think to pull out the camera...so I have no photo of our "family reunion" or cousin time, or second cousin time. Nonetheless, we had a great visit and lots of fun!

But before we left Saskatoon we thought we'd check out a conservation area.

 Prairies were a new concept for 75% of us, so we spent about an hour here.

 We didn't expect it, but the building was open too, and there were a lot of hands on items for the kids! Dress up too!!

But we were there for the grasses and river valleys, so out in the sun we went!

 Behold, Beaver Creek Conservation Area!

 Some really pretty wildflowers were in bloom.

 If we had more time we'd have walked down to the Saskatchewan River, but alas

 we had to turn back and head to the van.

 It was starting to get pretty hot out already though!

We had one more stop. Actually, we had another grain elevator in mind to stop at, but we stumbled on this one, which was part of a museum. Inside and outside, there was tonnes to see and not enough time to view it all! We stopped in North Battleford, and the grain elevator we were looking for was right off the highway...not out of our way at all!

 Barber, dentist, optometrist, bank, post office...each had it's own little building.

 And very cool old tractors and plows!!

 And we hung around the grain elevator for quite some time. The diagrams were not as clear as we'd hoped for understanding the operations of it, and it was not in great shape inside...but there was still enough to see to get a pretty good idea.

 Very amazing!

We only could give these a passing glance...

 as well as this...

But we were happy that we did get to stop here. We'd have learned a lot more if we had time to soak things in. But I think we got a bit of an impression of what life on the prairies might have been like.

Back in the van we hopped and zoomed off to Alberta, with Edmonton as our destination for the day. What a day it was!

Road Trip Aug 1

 Headed for Saskatoon. Only 8 hours of driving!

 Soon we were in Saskatchewan, checking out the sights there.

The children are holding out well, especially pleased that the driving day is shorter, and that there is a hotel with a pool at the end of the day! Funny how they all approved of sleeping in a little more, and fewer hours in the van!

The not-so-flat prairies. What a beautiful area to drive through, and such lovely weather!

The hotel had a family room for 7 people but let us squeeze in a little 8th person as well. It was nice to stay a family for the night. The only downside was we didn't have a "quiet room" for drinking coffee together in the evening.

Road Trip July 31

On Sunday we rested. We were warmly welcomed to the congregation we joined. I was starting to feel bad saying no to lunch invitations. We went "home" had a quick lunch and a long nap. Well, us adults napped. The kids enjoyed our hosts selection of new and exciting toys!

 After the afternoon service our guests began to pour in. (Note how full "our" driveway is!) A cousin of Philip's invited family from Winnipeg. It was so neat for the kids to meet a crowd of second cousins (which they connected with right away!) and for Philip and I to reconnect with cousins, and his Uncle and Aunt.

The kids ran and played 'til it was quite late. Our guests served snacks and coffee and dinner AND cleaned up. We were so spoiled!

Road Trip July 30

We were happy to leave our motel in White River. Saturday we had 12 hours to drive to get to our destination near Winnipeg.

We were looking forward to having lots of room to sprawl out at my bro's digs.

Some spots through the Canadian shield were worth putting down books to have a look. Beautiful views!

And sometimes we didn't always get along with each other. Why does Jennifer have the headphones again? Don't worry, everyone gets a turn!  A kind friend who recently went on a road trip with her 6 kids loaned me her selection of stories and music on CD, which we were very pleased to make use of!

And we cruised into the prairies. At some point Daniel (or was it Matthew?) asked why all there was to see were fields and fields and fields. ;) I guess he was expecting some water towers and stores and lots of houses smack dab against each other. :p But here, wide open spaces!!

We were thankful to arrive at our destination with hardly any trouble. (Some mild motion sickness which was cured easily and cleaned quickly, plus some squabbling between siblings of course. Oh, and the temper tantrum which resulted in the sliding door opening at highway speeds!) We had time to raid the cupboards and have a light/late dinner before we hit the sack. Couldn't shop as all the stores would be shut after 6 on a Saturday! We supplemented our supplies with KD and mushroom soup (in case our hostess is wondering what we nabbed in her absence. ;)

Road Trip July 29

 The first day of our road trip came up so quickly! We were ready to roll, with 10 hours of driving to get done the first day. Our destination was White River, a small half-way place between home and Winnipeg.

We don't normally have activities in the car, even for our drives to PEI, but this time, we had stuff to do! And seating arrangements to shuffle, and food and drink...

Ontario looks a lot like Ontario. :p We drove by our camping places, and just kept right on trucking. Some beautiful scenery through the Canadian shield!

And then we saw Lake Superior! Beautiful on a sunny day!

 Kids were still in pretty good spirits!

And believe it or not, we stopped on impulse, and went for a swim. After all, we were making good time. Weather was great, and our motel stop was going to be cramped and boring. 

 Bathing suits were donned, and we all swam in Lake Superior for the first time ever! (Except me, I only waded.)

The motel was okay. Sleeping with two little girls in the bed with me made me awfully sleepy the next day...but we only had to sit all day anyways!!