Earlier this month we took our "big trip" of the Summer to Washington state to visit Matthew's cousin and her family. They live in one of the Tri Cities which is about a 10 hour drive from Calgary. We booked the pups at the kennel for the week and packed up the camper for our adventure! We bought the travel trailer back in May and have enjoyed the new experiences it brings... However, we joked about jumping from our sole experiences of visiting campsites a half hour away to an ambitious half day drive across the border... through the rockies... with a 3 and almost 2 year old... To our surprise, we left early in the morning (no really, that's an impressive surprise ;)) and made the drive in one day! The girls made awesome road trippers and the travel was enjoyable. The trip home, not so smooth, although we did repeat the one dayer... But first: tales from our Tri Cities trip!
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​The girls were so excited to meet and spend time with their cousins! Their ages are 2, 5 and 7, so the youngest fit between Halle and Autumn's ages. It was interesting to temporarily live in a house with 5 kids. There were many a "mine" arguments between the 2 year olds, (followed by random make up hugs,) and lot's of princess dresses for Halle to borrow. It was nice to experience a different pace of family life. More relaxed in ways, like playing on the farm, and more strict in others, like table manners and chores. It did our girls good in all kinds of ways to have new play partners, be exposed to a new environment, to "share" us and to listen to others.

This vacation was a good pace. A mix of waking up slow, seeing and doing things, but not too much. Basically normal kid and family stuff, in a new place. We visited some beautiful parks - like a wooden treehouse playground and went swimming in a river at day campground. On a rainy day we all went to the trampoline park and had too much fun! Followed by too much food at Carl's Jr - Matthew's American fast food request to try. (It was good ;))
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That evening us mamas enjoyed some time alone. I don't have photos to document it, but I snapped this shot of the sunset from the back porch that evening to remind me of our peaceful afternoon. We went to a free yoga class. It was both of our first time taking a Yin class and it was like the perfect Sunday style of less flow and more stretches held for longer periods of time. We were feeling zen... And continued the blissful solo time at dotdotdot Target. (My American must stop since they packed up and left Canada.) I stocked up on dollar spot goodies for the girls and cute business supplies.
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To our surprise, the area we were in was a desert. And apparently it gets super hot there in the summer. Luckily for us it was 'cooler' during our stay but still like summer to us, so we enjoyed lots of water play in the backyard and had fun checking out a spray park one day near a beautiful community garden.
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After some fun in the sun, we enjoyed some family time with just the four of us. We had sushi for lunch and stopped at this local espresso place for dessert. Mocha milkshakes, yum! And smoothies with whip cream & sprinkles and a lollipop in the straw! Yum, yum!
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After some busy days, we slowed down to have a chill out day at home. We were missing Calgary Stampede week while we were away. (Although apparently not missing the terrible weather, as the city had rain and thundershowers the whole time we were gone.) So, it was fitting when for us to have our own rodeo experience with pony rides at the next door neighbour's. Keeping with the stampede spirit, Autumn found some cowboy boots, a few sizes too big, and had fun modelling them.

​Keeping with the chill spirit, later that night, Matthew and I took an impromptu drive to the corner store. We wended up buying a rather large collection of chocolate bars you don't see in Canada. Most were yummy, and totally unnecessary ha, but the Almond Joy was my fav cause I'm a sucker for coconut.​

Next up was our date day! We spent the afternoon kidless in downtown Richmond and Howard Amon Park. We rented sea doos and had fun racing up and down the river for an hour. Well, I'm more of a put put rider, Matthew's  the adrenaline driver doing donuts. But it was super fun and I'm proud of myself for getting up to top speed ;) Then we ate way too much food at a local BBQ spot called Porters. So much meat, but so good. We walked it off around the park then went back for dessert at an adorable bakery called Frost Me Sweet. It was a great afternoon of sunshine, adventure and good eats.
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We packed up that night, ready to hit the road early the next morning. We planned on camping for a night in BC on the way back. However, plans went sideways when we had a minor mishap hooking up the camper, causing a three hour delay before we left town. Autumn had crashed minutes before, despite our efforts to keep her going until she could nap on the drive. The waiting around hadn't done any of us good, besides the little bit of extra cousin time... Already, the drive back wasn't starting off so smooth. We missed a couple of turn offs for gas and food but we made good timing on the road and the girls did okay considering. A quick stop for lunch, some slow traffic through towns, and an in and out drive through the border office later, Autumn, who had been restless and unable to catch a long stretch of sleep, threw up all over herself in the backseat. Never lovely, but especially gross when you still have a 4 hour drive and have to go back in the seat you just covered in vomit. After the clean up, she finally fell asleep for a good rest and we decided we wouldn't be spending the night. We would keep on trucking back to Calgary. It had been a super long day. It was getting dark and we began driving in to the rain and thundershowers we had heard about, but finally we made it. We were happy to be home!

The long route back gave me time to think about all the fun we had had over the past week. I hadn't realized how much I needed a trip like that. And truly it was sort of our first family vacation. Aside from going home to Newfoundland, which is always a blast, but busy. Then there's road trips and camping, but with two toddlers and two dogs, those aren't always relaxing. This was a good trip. Sweet and simple. It did us all some good to spend time with family we don't see often, to have a break from routine and to add some summer fun to our season.

​Now, to convince them to visit us in Calgary ;)

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​As always, thanks for reading!

​PS. Part of the reason the trip felt like a vacation is because it was an unplug from all the projects I have going on at home. Lots of exciting things in the works right now for me and my family. I'm really happy about it and excited to share here (hopefully more consistently) soon!

<< There's a good chance this post doesn't look the way I want it to because I'm publishing it from my phone app, instead of my laptop, due to computer problems :( but there's also a good chance many of you are viewing the mobile version anyway... So carry on! I shall edit later... >>

We just dropped Matthew off at the airport and he is back to work for another week. I am currently sitting in our truck, typing this as a note on my iPhone, because both girls are napping in the backseat. It sucks that his flight is right around Halle's nap time because she almost always falls asleep on the drive back from the airport. I made the mistake last drop off day of waking her after a 10 minute car snooze in attempt to go inside and put her down in her crib. Apparently the quick siesta was all she needed that day because normal nap time didn't happen.

So today I am taking advantage of this break! Both girls asleep. And stuck in the car. The perfect setup to make time for writing. Which can be hard to prioritize when you have limited down time and chores to do. But this is me "choosing time." One of my goals I want this blog to inspire. Making time for me or for something I enjoy.

So here's a little look at our past week when Matthew was off because I don't know where the time went...

We picked him up Thursday morning and had a low key day at home. He had just gotten off night shifts so he napped during the day. When the girls went to bed we decided to have a drink. Which turned in to a few drinks (& junk food snacking, for me,) and late night chats. We talked about all kinds of plans and fun, random things. We facetimed friends. We laughed. It was so fun! It felt like a date. And also seemed like forever since we had done something like that. And I think that's why it was so good.

I could have stayed up (& drank more wine) except that I really couldn't have because unfortunately I had to fast for routine blood work the next morning. Bummer.

We decided we would make a habit of this kind of evening when Matthew gets off from a week of night shifts. It is always a challenge because he wants to sleep in the day and is then awake all night. This throws him off from normal sleep times for his whole week off which can really suck. Having a couple drinks together did the trick of keeping him up that first night so that he could have a proper sleep and get up at a decent time the next day. It made his week off so much better than trying to play catch up sleep and napping all the time!

On Friday we spent the afternoon together at the lake sliding and playing at the playground. It was a beautiful day but, unfortunately, the warm weather made the ice unsuitable for skating. We are hoping to get Halle on skates before the winter is over!

Saturday morning we did a little shopping. Matthew and Halle did their thing while Autumn and I hit up Target for their store closing sales. I am sad to see them go! Always enjoy their festive items, home decor and sales. In the mean time their closing deals helped me score some make up I was in need of at 30% off!

After that we went to Earls for lunch. Their feature Thai coconut carrot soup - delish!

*** note: this is when Halle woke up from sleeping in the car while I was typing this. I need to work on this drop off day car sleep gamble... ***

Saturday night was Mom's Night Out! I met up with some of the ladies from my mommy group. To be honest since the babies turned one we have been spending almost as much time together, just us moms, as we have for play dates. And these girls have become some of my greatest friends here in Calgary! Which makes them more than just a "mommy group" :) I'm so grateful to have met them and joined their gang when we moved here.

We met up at Amy's house and had intended to go bowling at National, but we were later heading downtown than planned. We ended up at Craft Beer Market and had a blast! The last time we had a mom's night out for drinks, I was pregnant... I actually suggested this night out so that we could enjoy some bevvys together before everyone else ends up pregnant and they're the sober ones at the party ;)

Apparently Matthew had a bit of a rough go with Autumn while I was out. She had been sleeping when I left so I hadn't nursed her since a couple hours before. Luckily she takes pumped milk in a bottle fine! Although she probably woke up thinking where the heck is mom?! He did manage to get them both in bed and they both slept through the night! Woop woop!

I was up early Sunday morning but lucked in to going back to bed after feeding Autumn and having breakfast. Then I had another late morning breakfast of pizza as to properly enjoy my hangover ;) and cuddled up on the couch while Autumn napped and Matthew took Halle swimming. (Thank you, daddy!)

Eventually I decided to seize the day and make the best of it by getting a shower and attempting to do something... But the downtime was nice while it lasted.

We spent some more time together as a family on Monday and took Halle to Play-A-Latte. Then I enjoyed my *guilty pleasure night* by watching The Bachelor and eating sweet treats :) Tuesday, Matthew went skiing. And before we knew it, it's Wednesday again and he's back to work.

Another week of solo parenting. Although I don't mind it that much because we are finally getting our groove and routine. But it still gets lonely and we always miss him, especially Loki.

There's a lot to look forward to this week to keep us busy though. Like hosting a Valentine's party this weekend and warmer temperatures in the forecast! Yippee!

Hope you are all having a great week :)

Thanks for reading xo

*** another note: I managed to get Halle inside and down in her crib after waking up in the truck. Then I finished typing this. She's still awake, just resting. But not crying. (We have a video monitor.) Sometimes "quiet time" is just as good as a nap even though it leaves me feeling somewhat guilty... That's a story for another day, I suppose! At least she got a half hour car snooze this time. ***

*** annnnd side note: (because I can't resist) My sister got a new puppy this week! Meet Cole. Another husky in the fam. And now I have puppy fever ;) Can't wait for Loki to have a buddy during our next visit home!! ***

I’m considering this to be one of our last weekends of the Summer since we woke up today with a temperature 25 degrees cooler than yesterday and snow in some parts of the city! SNOW! In September. Please, oh please, don’t skip Fall. It’s my favorite… and even before that arrives I still want to soak up the last couple official weeks of Summer.

I’m glad we got to do that this weekend. It was a goodie – sunshine, time with family & friends and yummy eats!

So here’s a recap.

Friday evening the Farmer’s Market hosted an event called Sundown Chow Down. They invited a bunch of local food trucks to pitch in their parking lot for the evening and set up an outdoor seating area. There was also live music and a beer garden… but we stuck to the family friendly side ;)

I have been wanting to check out the market since we moved here, and what pregnant lady wouldn’t want to choose from a selection of food truck goodness, so now I had an extra excuse to go! Plus Matthew was off and it was a beautiful evening.

We chose Greek souvlaki pitas for supper, which were delicious, and hot mini donuts for dessert, double delish! Halle loved it just as much as we did! Before leaving we picked up some fresh fruit from the market. It was a great evening with my little fam. One of those that makes you so thankful for where you are in life right now :)

Saturday morning we made a family trip to the dog park. Usually Halle and I take Loki for walks and save the trips to the park for daddy, so this was our first time going to the off leash park as a family. Loki loves playing with other dogs and Halle loves to watch other puppies!

In the last few weeks of Summer, Halle has finally gotten comfortable with walking outside on uneven terrain, ha! She has
been walking for months indoors, running even, but has been really hesitant about moving on grass and sand. It seems like we are officially out of that phase now, as she has grown to love trips to the playground and was excited to get out of her stroller to explore the park with Loki.

That night we had some friends over for a BBQ. I wish I had been on the ball with photos but sometimes you forget when you’re enjoying the moment… or busy in the kitchen. I made loaded potato skins for an appy and apple crisp for dessert with some fresh apples from the market. I then proceeded to polish off this apple crisp when everyone left me to go to the bar later that night… Hey, if I can’t have a cocktail, I’ll eat double (ok, triple) portions of dessert ;)

We had a slow Sunday morning. Halle had been up late so we slept in a little [and daddy slept in a lot ;)] But we were on the go for the afternoon to take advantage of another hot, sunny day! We hit up the spray park for what will probably be the last time this year! Halle had a ball running around the sprinklers. They have a great playground, too. Our little monkey has gotten so brave about climbing and wanting to go all by herself like the big kids. She is quickly turning in to one of those “big kids” and it’s crazy to watch her making her way through the jungle gyms. Where has the time gone?

Seriously, with her growing, and the summer ending, where has it gone? But all in all, this weekend was the perfect way to end off the season! And I like that time is moving along because we have so much to look forward to coming up – family visitors, less than a month til baby, holiday fun and more! Which I can’t wait to share about on here! So, thanks for reading and following along :)

Happy September, friends!