The Missing Month

In August we finally took our long over due trip back to Calgary. We had a total blast! It was so good to get to visit with family and let the cousins play. We were able to meet baby John and baby Ivy, spend time at the cabin, attend cousin's baptism and baby blessings and see good friends. We even made it to almost all the spots on our top ten list. I've been negligent in posting because we have hundreds of pictures (THANKS Jessica). I can't choose which ones to post and which to leave out.

I came up with an idea .... Jessica is great about posting. She has a few posts about our visit that you should take a look at here and here and here. They are full of great commentary and her wonderful pictures.

There, now it doesn't seem so overwhelming to summarize 3 weeks of fun (thanks for allowing me to plagiarize Jess). These are a few pictures I had on my camera of the trip.

Dave and Brady enjoying the flight! Big thumbs up to Air Canada for the individual TV screens.

Lay over in Vancouver

Excited to arrive

Sharing some tunes while we wait for the flight

These girl cousins have to stick together! They are slightly outnumbered

(baby Ivy missing from the picture)

girls - 5 VS. boys - 11

Geocashing exploration

Ida enjoying the lake

Riding on the C-train 2010

look at how they have grown since the picture below

Riding the C-train 2006

Olympic Plaza

Enjoying downtown

Our favorite bookstore has closed and is now a SportCheck - Booo

I walked into the laundry room at Dave's parents house and this is what I saw out the window... can you believe it? A mother moose with her two babies. We watched them from the deck for a while - amazing!

Audrey got to visit her good friend Lauren for the afternoon.

The Saunders and Miller clan getting some ice cream. That's a lot of kids!

Crazy cousins

Family fun - the reason the trip was so great!!

Thanks so much to everyone for letting us interrupt your routines to have some fun. A lot had changed in Calgary in the two years since we moved, but a lot remained the same. I had a few surreal moments like when we drove by our old house. Memories of watching it as it was built, bringing home Carter and Brady as new born babies, the wonderful friends we made and the sweet neighbors we lived next to and lots of other special times. I also had a a similar experience running into Sobeys (our grocery store) of all places. I was pushing Brady in the cart as I looked for a few things and turned back expecting to see a little Carter in the seat rather then Brady. It seemed like just yesterday and at the same time a very long time ago. Strange!?? Everyone had grown but the fun times we always have together are still wonderful experiences. We can't wait to have everyone together again. Thanks again for a great visit!!

Thunder Storm

Saturday was Soccer's Opening Day. Audrey belongs to "Blue Thunder" and Carter is a proud member of "Storm". Sounds like some pretty tough teams wouldn't you say?!

The night before the big day Dave was getting the kids uniforms together and Brady would follow him from room to room saying, "me to, me to". Brady gave that heartbreaking look that said he would be crushed if he was the only one left out. Super Dad Dave came up with the perfect idea - let him wear Carter's old uniform. I died laughing when he ran into the room looking like he was ready for kick off. Surprisingly it wasn't too giant on him and he was smiling from ear to ear! Brady truly believes he is an official soccer player. The kids thought he needed a team name so it was decided he is the lone member of the "Mint Chip Maniacs".

Saturday morning came and all three kids dressed in uniform and brought water bottles to the games. It was a good start to the next few months. They all had a great time running hard and playing with new team members. If you ask Brady he had fun in his "game" and even scored 2 goals.

warm ups

half time break

Brady taking a water break

of course Brady needs oranges at half time

all smiles after a good time

Count Down to the First Day

This year I decided to "celebrate" the start of school rather then dread it. Don't get me wrong, I love all that school brings but the idea that the easy going summer days are over is always a little hard for me to swallow. The thought came to me to end the summer with a bang rather then spend the last few days kind of bummed. So what better way to do that then create an excuse to have a party. I got the party idea from a blog and put our own spin on it. I let each child plan a day. They choose what we did for the entire day. Then the weekend before we would hold the first annual "Saunders Back to School Family Pizza Party".

Carter's day was first. He choose to go to the the Big Red Bucket water park with our neighbor Travis. He played computer games with Audrey while Brady took a nap. We finished the day with a family bike ride to a new bakery in our community, Cinnamon Production, for dinner and dessert. We had a lot of fun on the ride and dinner was yummy!

Carter and Travis drying off at the Big Red Bucket

On her day Audrey decided she wanted to meet Dave at work for lunch. All the kids had fun on a tour of the office and then we went to Knott's Berry Farm for their famous fried chicken. That afternoon while Brady took a nap they played in the sprinklers. Audrey wanted a girls night at the movies so she and I went to see "Ramona and Beezus". It was a cute movie! We finished the day off with dinner and a shake at Rubys.

On Sunday after church we held the family pizza party. There was a rule that everyone at the party had to wear a crazy hat. Audrey and Carter came up with some creative headwear! After dinner we marked their height on the wall in the office. The night was a success. We decided this is a tradition we plan to continue!

Carter's Star Wars Hat

Dave and Brady's hats

Audrey's Princess Builder Hat

My Flower Report Card Hat

Making Pizzas

1/2 cheese 1/2 pepperoni

The works

Well the plan worked! After all the fun celebrating the first day of school was a lot easier to accept! Audrey entered the 4th grade and Carter started Kindergarten. This was the first year that Audrey returned to the same school so she was very excited! She had fun showing Carter the ropes. With day 3 under our belt things are off to a great start! It's going to be an excellent year!

4th grader

Kindergartener

Flag salute line up

Kindergarten line up

Excited students