Day Six and Day Seven (July 2-3) of the Fabulous Vacation

Day Six:
The boys decided to golf on this day. So the girls had to figure out what to do. Because we still had all the children. As if they couldn't go golfing or something. Anyway...
After some squabbling, it was decided that my SIL and sister were going to go walk around Henderson Lake and feed the ducks, whilst my future SIL and I went out to lunch with my friend Mandy. I think this plan worked for many good reasons:
1. My sister, SIL, future SIL and I were very tired. And we were sick of each other.
2. Nobody was offended for dividing up activities.
3. Mandy got a babysitter for our kiddies, so lunch was kid-free. Oh, yes. Kid. Free. (Cue the angelic choir!).
After said activities, we met all the men and headed out to Pavan Park for a large family Reunion my maternal grandmother planned. As I said before, she is the youngest of 11 children, but I might not of mentioned that she is the only one that is still living. I believe there might be 2 or 3 spouses of her siblings still alive, but as you can tell, there's not much of that generation left. So, my grandmother, in her 86th year, decided to plan a large family reunion. There were only 150 or so that came (out of 700 plus descendants), but that was still good.
I wish I could provide pictures of people for this part, but unfortunately, everyone was wearing name tags. First and last names. And since this blog is public, I can't do that. Sorry! But I can show you these (I wish I had some of the river that was nearby):

Isn't it beautiful? Yeah, well don't let it fool you! Not for a moment! The rain brought MILLIONS of mosquitoes to the area. I mean, southern Alberta is already covered --literally, people --with mosquitoes, but this was the worst I had ever seen it. And they didn't care about our Deet! They sucked on us anyway. Obnoxious, I tell you! Obnoxious.
Ooh! Fun story:
Brandon showed up early! Yes! He had flown in to Calgary on Canada Day, and had to spend the 2nd (this day I'm talking about) working with his clients, but he was driving to Lethbridge as soon as he was done. I wasn't expecting him until after the reunion; he was going to meet me at my paternal grandparent's home. Well, as I was talking with my cousins, someone came up behind me and hugged me tightly around my waist. At first I was all "What the?!" and then I heard his voice! Before I even saw his face I knew it was him and I hugged that guy so tightly. Here are some photos right after he surprised me:

I was excited. I'll admit it.
Another funny story:
That night, I forgot to ask Mandy for another pillow (for Brandon). They were already in bed for the night, our kids were in bed, and we wanted to go to bed, but there was only one pillow between the two of us. I tried to sneak away #3's pillow, but he woke up and cried for his pillow. Like he needs one! Sheesh! So, Brandon and I did what any other tired couple who hadn't seen each other for a week would have done: we slept on one pillow. Oh, yeah, the cuddling was nice, but man alive! My neck sure hurt the next day. And he kept stealing the pillow in the middle of the night. Rude!
Ah, well. Whadderyagonnado?

Day Seven:
This began the Family Reunion portion (as if there hadn't already been one going on) for my mother's side of the family. And to start it off right?? The guys went golfing again.
Typical.
This time, Brandon went with them. I was okay with this, only because he hadn't gone the day before. But my SIL and future SIL put their foots (feet!) down, and so my brothers weren't so lucky. Ha!
(Side note: next time, the girls are going to the spa. What's up with us having to sit around with the kids while the men play? Many times? Exactly, dear reader. Exactly.)
We drove to Cardston that morning and met everyone at the golf course. After we dropped off the men (and left them a car), we went to Dave's Drive Inn. I think it's called Dave's. Michelle, was it called Dave's? Anyway, we went and had lunch. They were fast, fabulous, and holy cow! I hadn't had fried food in so long. It was awful and wonderful all at the same time.
To digest the food, we went to a local park and let the kids (and adults!) run around and play. When we decided we had enough of the mosquitoes (blasted little things!), we turned ourselves south and headed to Waterton!
Hooray!
We all met at the far end of Waterton Lake (near the Bertha Falls hike trail head, but --obviously--down by the lake). The kids spent a good hour throwing rocks into the lake. And it was a gorgeous day! Here are some pictures:

After the lake, we took the kids to Cameron Falls. It's right on the edge of Waterton Village, so it's walking distance from most hotels, etc. I've seen these falls five-gazillion times. But! I have never seen them so full before! And in July! I couldn't believe it. We took a nice jaunt up the trail (a 3 minute hike) to the top of the falls. On the way, we enjoyed some time with a young buck (Waterton village is covered with wildlife --the deer are everywhere! And you won't believe what else we saw later in the week! Yes, yes, I am leaving you in suspense.):

Since we didn't want to do too many other exciting things without the men, we decided we'd better just go shopping and get some ice cream. Waterton Village is small, but there are some fun shops and food places. The Big Scoop is famous for it's ice cream, and it's always crowded. But we were lucky! No lines. Hooray! The weather, however, was kind of strange. It was very sunny, to be sure, but the small amount of wind we had made for a lot of Cottonwoods' cotton floating around; not good when it lands in your ice cream. But we survived.
After a fun afternoon in Waterton, we headed back to the small town? Village? of Mountain View. It's about 10-12 miles north of Waterton. We were staying in the Mountain View Inn and had reserved the entire Inn! That meant the main living area, the kitchen, the game room, the loft, and all the rooms were for our entire family. The golfing men met us there, and it didn't take long for everyone to find their rooms, (then switch rooms), make dinner, set up Guitar Hero on the flat screen TV in the living area, and proceed to have a fabulous evening.
Last anecdote:
I wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but in our room, Brandon decided to convince the girls to sleep in the walk-in closet. There was just enough room in there for two people to sleep on the floor. We got cushions from some couches upstairs and set them down to make a bed for them. It was actually pretty adorable.

Days Eight and Nine coming up...