Oh Canada! part I

Well, as everybody knows I wasn't very excited about our trip to Canada because there is never time for our little family to spend together and have fun at the same time. So we left Temple on June 27 to spend the night with my little sister Dina, who by the way lives 30 minutes away from the Austin airport. Well Ian couldn't sleep well that night, so as you can all imagine neither could any of us. So the next day we had to leave very early to get to the airport and we were running late. Of all of us the people in the airport had to check JUST ME, and to make the scene more exciting they had to bring the most masculine female employee to touch all my body...ewww. Anyway after that we took our first flight to Canada. United was our airline and WE HATED IT. If any of you have had the chance to use a mexican airline you should try it, they bring you a whole meal and A WHOLE BOTTLE OF JUICE OR WATER. This airline barely gave us a cup of juice. We just hated it. Anyway we had to stop in Denver for 2 hours. We all were hungry so we bought a few sandwiches at Quiznos, which the cost was the equivalent to a nice dinner for Glenn and me. The kids didn't like the sandwiches and neither did I. It had a lot of onions which made me sick the rest of our trip. Ian to my surprise was very good on the way to Canada. He and Nickey were fascinated everytime that they would look to the window and see the sky so close to them. Anyway we arrived to Canada at 3:00p.m. rented our car, which was very small, the only that I could think of was, "WERE ARE WE GOING TO PUT OUR LUGGAGE?" For some reason the guy couldn't find the key of our small car and in his laziness he decided to give us another car...which by the way WE LOVED! We had lots of space in our trunk, and the kids didn't miss our mini-van at all since they had lots of space. We were supposed to drive for 3 hours to arrive in Cardston, but my honeybunch made it in 2:30 hours during which the kids and I took a nap. When I woke up we saw my mother in-law with uncle Gordon (her brother). She gave us a tour of Grandpa Woolf's house (her dad) and we stayed in the basement for the whole week and a half. The kids got their own room with a pack and play ready for Ian and a bed for Nicky. Glenn and I had another bedroom with a nice full bed. We put everything away as soon as we arrived then my father in-law came back from picking up Laura (Glenn's sister) from the airport. She flew in from Ohio. I was officialy introduced to Grandpa Woolf, which was very neat, too. I know how important he is for everybody and in this little trip I could understand why. He is an amazing and a great man. Full of love for his family, but especially for his wife. Anyway after that we all had dinner and after that the kids were ready to play. It was very neat and convenient to see that Grandpa Woolf's backyard connects to a great playground where the kids could play. After a couple of mosquito bites, we had the chance to meet Uncle Ross and Aunt Peggy (who by the way live a block away from Grandpa). We all were at the playground visiting and getting to know each other more. We all loved that moment, even with the mosquito bites. After that we came back home and to our surprise it was already 9:30 PM and the sun was as bright as noon day. Glenn told me that about Cardston, that 11:00p.m looked more like 7 or 8:00p.m. I didn't believe him but he was right AGAIN! Anyway it was neat for the kids to have blinds and curtains in their room. I layed them down and they fell asleep. We went to Grandpa's deck for a bit to visit more with the family. Next day was Sunday, so we were ready almost on time (their ward started with Relief Society first and the same as us at 9:00a.m.). I recieved a lot of compliments about Nicky (how nice she was with everybody and what a beautiful girl she is, so obedient, etc.). For a moment I wanted to believe it until of course I caught her fighting with her brother. Maybe she is just like that with new people, who knows. Anyway after church the kids played ball with their Grandpa and Auntie Laura played some hymns for the kids. They were trying to help her as you can see. After that we had a nice nap and then we all had dinner. After dinner we were invited to Auntie Peggy's house where we started warming up and meeting some of the members of the family. Nicky was thrilled to meet so many kids and so was Ian. It was very impressive to me and Glenn to see how nice all of them were with our kids, especially because Nicky and Ian were some of the youngest.

(Grandma Sharon, Savanna and Adam (second cousin)playing with Ian.

(part of the cousins)

Savanna (who is 7) made sure that Nicky as well as Ian were included in all the kids games. All of them were wonderful. Being without of the stress of how our children were we could visit and I had the chance to meet more of this new extended family that I have now...and let me tell you something: I LOVE IT! Each one of them was so nice to us. They have such incredible hearts and souls. So close to the gosspel without losing the fun of life. Just wonderful. Next day was Monday and we just used that day to relax so we went to the pool (Savanna helping Nicky in the pool)

and met there with part of the family you know to let the kids warm up for the rest of the week. Of course we also enjoyed the great weather.

Everybody arrived on Tuesday, July 1st: Canada's Indepence day. So officialy the family reunion got started at 4:30p.m. Before that the ones that were there already went to Raymond, another small town about 45 minutes away from were we were. They had a parade. It was very neat to see everybody, even the little kids, riding their horses, bikes, 4 wheelers, etc. While they were doing all this they were thorwing candies to everybody. It was funny to hear Nicky screaming to all of them"THROW ME MORE CANDY! THROW ME A SUCKER!" We loved every single moment. After that we went to have lunch with my father-law's family. Every year after their parade they get together at a Great Uncle's Glenn house (brother of Grandpa Walker) and they had a big lunch and trampolines for the kids and even a snake which by the way Ian loved. We got the chance to get to know more about each other. It was amazing to see that many people and weird to see that we all are relatives. The lunch was over as soon as it started to rain. So we went back to Cardston where we took a short nap and got prepared for the official Woolf family reunion. My mother in-law and all her siblings asked permission to use the church, so we all ate and after that we got to talk to everybody and introduce ourselves. Half of the group (including us) went to the pool and the other half stayed at the chapel playing some basketball while the little kids played with all kinds of toys that the family and church provided to them.

(Nicky and second cousin Katie)

(the guys playing basket ball)

After that we waited until 11:00p.m to go to Powerhouse Hill where the town was celebrating. We all went to see the fireworks. Nicky and Ian were so excited to see them. It was very neat. We had a great view. After that we all headed back to our places to have some rest since the next day was planned to be a day full of fun...

Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Jim, Glenn, Laura (sis), Harumi

and Misa (sister in-law and niece)

(Uncle Paul, Katheryn, Nicky, Rigdon watching the fireworks)
Me and my baby