O Canada/Part 3

After camping, we drove back to Orton Saturday night to sleep one more night at the Cedar Log Cabin. We went to church with my grandma and then we went to her brother, Keith's, house for a little lunch to mingle with more extended family we don't get to see very often. It was then that I learned that one of the homes Grandma's parents and brother's and sister lived in still existed on my Uncle Keith's property. I got totally excited to check it out! It's been restored, but the rooms are still pretty much the same. My mom remembers going to visit her grandparents in this home and she gave us a tour and an idea of what it was like before the restoration. It was so interesting!

My mom, Alicia, Lily, Addi, Luke, LaNae, Gavin, and Aunt Joanne in front of the restored homestead.

Here we are with Grandma Alta in front of her Cedar Log Home.

On the way to Lethbridge Sunday evening we stopped by the Orton Cemetery to visit a few of our ancestors. Here we are pictured with my Grandpa's (my mom's dad...Grandma Alta's husband) headstone.

At the gate of the cemetery. My Grandfather made the iron "Orton Cemetery" sign.

We went back to Lethbridge to spend more time with my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Wayne. On Monday morning, their oldest daughter, Karla and her family came to visit from Calgary. It was fun to spend some time with her and her family. We had a gourmet dinner at the park, then let the kids play, and then had a delicious steak dinner. Aunt Evelyn was also so sweet to constantly satisfy Addi with reading lots of stories. Even though she is a school teacher and loves to read, I think reading the rainbow book 50 times over would get a little tiring, but she was a great sport! And Uncle Wayne didn't disappoint with his constant distribution of treats to kids and adults alike. They were perfect hosts!!

My kids and Lily with Karla's son, Cam, and daughter Lauren.

Of course we had to make a stop at Costco to load up on our favorite Canadian chocolate bars. Here we are dividing our boxes. We also stopped in Wal-Mart to get our favorite flavors of Old Dutch potato chips! YUMMMMM!!!!

We also got to spend some time with Opa, and his wife, Grandma Germaine. Cari got to dig through some of his old photo albums that she scanned and put on a zip drive to share with everyone. We also were able to acquire copies of Opa and Oma's life histories, which have been very interesting and entertaining to read! Again, I am honored to be amongst their posterity. I marvel at the faith and determination of all my grandparents.

Here we are with Opa visiting Oma's grave.

Me with my Great-Grandma Stewart's headstone (Opa's mother)....another amazing woman. Lily's comment after visiting all of these cemeteries and headstones was, "Everyone is dead." I guess in the mind of a 5 year old, that would be pretty accurate!

Cari and I at the Coulee's by Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Wayne's home. I've always thought these rolling hills and gullies were so beautiful and unique.

Alicia, Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Wayne, Addi, me, and Tristan the morning we left Canada. I think Aunt Evelyn was less than impressed being forced to take photos in her robe, but it's all about me isn't it???

I must say I really enjoyed our trip. I have a confession...about a month before our trip, I called Cari and told her I might back out....I'm SOOO grateful that I didn't. This trip was absolutely priceless. Granted, next time I would love for Daniel to come. He was very jealous after seeing all our pictures...but somebody has to bring home the bacon so I can galavant cross-country! We spent 6 full days traveling in the car. I have no idea how many hours we logged or how many miles (although I did get an oil change right before I left and I am already 0ver 1500 miles overdue, so I could do the math, but choose not to...too depressing) we traveled, and the trip home was definitely harder than the trip up, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! And don't worry...my summer travels are STILL not over!!! We (meaning the kids and I...of course) go back to Kansas City at the beginning of August for a week when my little brother comes home from his mission!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! Then Daniel leaves on August 15th for 5 weeks on his Africa trip; he gets back in mid-September. We take a small breather during October, and then have a baby in November!!! LIFE IS BUSY!!!