first family vacation

After spending a little bit of time with his Mom, Aaron decided that we needed a family vacation. And what would you know, we had a place to go and people to go with. Whenever Anna-Mae and Ron have time off work (three weeks on, 10 days off) they spend at least a few days on Ron's family's property near Pigeon Lake. So we decided to tag along.

As soon as we arrive, we are warned about the screech hawks. With the babies coming out of the nest and learning to fly, the parents are quite territorial. Ron discovered this last week when the male swooped down and attacked, leaving three holes in the back of his head. We were told to carry something taller than us when walking over to the outhouse. Barry demonstrated and we watched the hawk come down for ourselves. Luckily for us the babies were getting strong enough to fly, so they left the area and we didn't have to deal with them for the rest of the weekend.

After the hawk situation is discussed, the first thing Aaron did was get to work building a fire. Chopping wood for a bit, and then using a single match to get it started. That was the first thing Aaron always did when waking up (see picture) or coming back to camp over the weekend. Get the fire going. Sometimes it just took some fresh logs and a few big breaths to reignite some dieing coals. I was won over by all his manliness. If only we didn't stink like campfire smoke.

At some point I brought out the cookies I had bought on our way up for snacking. Oatmeal raisin and peanut butter. I got to see the territorial side of Barry. hehe. Apparently I picked good flavors.

A really nice part about this place is the trailer. We get all the perks of camping (the nature, the fire, etc), but with electricity, running water and shelter big enough to cover everyone. Hooray for generators and trucks for hauling water. I would gladly sleep on a futon rather than a sleeping bag on the ground. Either way though, I still got a dozen bug bites. Lucky for Aaron, apparently mosquitoes don't like his blood. He never put on bug spray and he could go without a jacket and be just fine.

We spent a lot of time around the fire, so of course I had to take pictures. This picture is the coolest, because it looks like a dragon!

Besides chatting around the fire we also played a lot of games. I got to play my first real games of horseshoes and did pretty well. It took a while to get the hang of it, but ended up getting two ringers in the four games we played. We also played a little bit of ladder golf - more throwing with accuracy, only with two golf balls at the ends of a string. But mostly we played bocce ball. The most interesting games of bocce ball I've ever played. Instead of picking out the flattest parts of the area we played through tall grass and up hills and down the road. Half the time we couldn't see the point ball and had to play blind. And at night, after it get too dark to play outside (sunset was around 10) we would play Aaron's game of Gift Trap. Good way to get to know people (or test your knowledge of people you think you know!).

On Saturday afternoon we headed into Rimbey, about half an hour away. Aaron's grandmother lives there, along with a majority of her eleven children. So we spent some time with her, one of Aaron's aunts, and later in the weekend saw another aunt and uncle. Most of the family was out of town or working, but at least we got to see grandma. She's a sweet lady approaching 80 years old, with lots of stories about coming to Canada from Holland when she was a teenager.

She even came out to the camp on Sunday afternoon, and joined us around the fire. We were grateful that the rain let up enough to let us be outside at all. It was extra fun because Ron's mom came to visit as well. It was fun to watch them chat together. Oh yes, and Ron had to show off pictures of his newest little granddaughter, born at the end of June.

One of the best parts about being outside in the middle of nowhere is all the animals you might see. Aaron and I saw a coyote running across a cow pasture on our drive out there, and then got greeted by the hawks when we arrived. Apparently there's just one little squirrel left in the area that the hawks didn't get. He's a brave little fellow. We spotted him eating pine cones in the tree, and he sat there for a good five minutes letting us take pictures. They are definitely the best squirrel pictures I've ever gotten!

One afternoon we went out on a couple of 4-wheelers across the property (five quarters of land - no idea exactly how much that is, but enough for a long bit of riding). There were some awesome trails, surrounded by trees and bushes. Got to see lots of flowers starting to bloom - a couple of tiger lilies, lots of Indian paintbrushes and bushes full of Alberta wild roses. We also came across this new little flower. Not sure what it is.

Aaron has sharp eyes and spotted a deer through the trees. He stopped the quad and slowly backed up through the tall grass so I could get a look too.

We also came across a group of horses in a pasture. Had to stop and take pictures! I don't think I'd ever seen Clydesdales in a field before. Way cool.

The ride back to camp was mostly on the road - part of it paved, part of it dirt. Aaron loved to pick up the speed. Probably so we could keep up with Ron and Anna-Mae leading the way in front of it (they had a better vehicle, and they REALLY like to speed) and it was starting to rain. As we're going down the road Aaron's baseball cap flipped off his head. I wasn't fast enough to catch it before it disappeared. We stopped, turned around and looked along the road and in the ditch to see if we could find it. No luck. So I figured I'd get off and poke around some more .. but there it was, stuck to some cords behind me.

So after three days of family, friends, games, campfire and nature, we packed up Monday morning to head out. It really started to rain then, so it was definitely time to go. Ron and Anna-Mae headed north for their next stint on the rigs, while Aaron and I followed Barry back to Cremona where we enjoyed the hot tub, a movie, and some delicious homemade stew (thank you Aaron) before going home.