This was the first time that I have planned a family reunion....well I co-planned it actually with my bro Justin. It was stressful for me to plan as I had just moved across the country and I was planning meals, sleeping arrangements and activities for 50 people but it all worked out great. We decided this year we would include a "pre-union" so that all the family could enjoy Calgary fun. The first stop was Calgary Olympic Park where they have the fastest zipline in North America and Zorbing.
Here is the group before we went on the zipline. It was SCARY! They drop you off the top of the ski jump and I screamed if you can imagine.
We also went to the Stampede which is always a lot of fun. We took Austin in the morning and here he is in the Canadian Army truck wearing a beret. He loved looking at all the horses, which he calls "hoo hoos". Too funny. He also LOVED the dog show. Hans took him home for a nap and I stayed with all the crazy cousins and went to the rodeo.
Here we are at the rodeo looking all sad because it rained but luckily we were inside when the downpour started.
We all tried our luck at this one game where you throw the balls into the barrel. I was trying to win Austin a new cow stuffy because his was getting old and ratty. All the adults tried and I think we put down about $30. No luck. Then as we were walking away the carnie said "If you put $5 more down I will give you the cow even if you don't win." Done! I let Michael throw the balls because I was going to win anyway. He got them both in the first try!! So Angie wanted a giant banana and there was one at the barrel game. She gave the carnie $5 and of course Michael got them both in again. Can you tell we were excited??
Then we were off to Waterton for the reunion. The first night everyone slept on Bertha Beach. We have family memories here as my grandma took us all here one night to watch a meteor shower. The little boy to the right is cousin David. Austin was in LOVE with him. Everytime he saw David his face would light up and he would say "HI!!". It was too cute.
The two year olds chilling on the lawn- Austin, Eva and Carter
Michael helping Austin to the start line of the race at the Family Olympics.
This is a new game my cousin David thought up. It's call "swing your thing". It entails putting an orange in a stocking and tying the stocking around your waist. No hands allowed while hitting the ball into the net. It was hilarious!
This is one of our family traditions- Launching children into the air with a parachute. It is a very safe sport :-) We also went canyoning this day but did not bring the camera because it would get wet. It is Hans' favorite thing to do in Waterton.
Another tradition is hiking a mountain "Bears Hump" in the dark. In Waterton it doesn't get dark till 10:30 so we got to the top at about midnight.
Here we are at the top of the mountain.
Here is Hans hiking up to Wall Lake (aka most beautiful place on Earth). He pushed that double stroller two hours up and two hours back. What a trooper!
Austin on Papa's shoulders during the hike.
The boys always take off their shirts at the top and yell WONDERBAR, and of course eat wonderbars while doing it. All the family fishes at the lake but we took Austin back down.
The moment we put him in the stroller, this is what happened and he slept the whole way down. He was such a good boy that whole hike.
My brave cousin Teresa brought her 8 month old twins sans husband across the border and we were so happy to get to meet them. Aren't they the cutest!We had such an awesome time and we are now exhausted from all the fun and the planning of the reunion. Cant wait for another 3 years till the next one.
This is the waterpark inside Great Wolf Lodge. There are plenty of slides for kids AND adults. We made the boys watch the kiddos so Heather and I could enjoy some thrill rides too. It was funny because the rule was you could not go down the slides with your toddler but you could send them down alone. Interesting rule.....
