Time to go to Uncle Malcolm and Auntie Ramona's woo hoo. Couldn't wait to see them and the girls and have some home comforts...
So to get there, we took the ViaRail train from Vancouver through the Rockies to Edmonton; all 26 hours of it. We wanted to try a different method of transport, having done planes and buses and knew that the train could take us a route that cars can't, so hopefully we'd see a little more of the place we loved.
We passed a gorgeous waterfall, Pyramid falls, only visible from the train, we went through longest North American valley stretching from Montana to Yukon, we passed Moose lake, the second largest in Rockies (after Maligne), we saw Mount Robeson, highest peak in the rockies, passed yellow head lake, and yellow head pass, the continental divide. Got to stop in Jasper one last time too for a wee break. Along the way, saw some deer and elk and even a bighorn sheep. Got talking to a guy who was taking the train from Vancouver to Halifax, complete opposite sides of the country and it was taking him 6 days!! Crazy how big the country is.

Arrive in Edmonton and uncle Malcolms there to pick us up. Great to see him again, he hadn't changed a bit. And he has Tim Hortons for us, yummy. We tell him abit about our trip, but were just soo excited to get back to the house to see Ramona and the girls. Ramona waited up, even tho it was after midnight, so lovely to see her again, and poor Malcolm has to get up at 5am for work. So we call it a night and we sleep like logs!! Aww it was great to have a nice comfy bed.

We wake in the morning and can hear a little voice chattering away. Ella!! She's just soo cute and getting soo grown up. I think she looks like Nicole when she was younger. Molly gets up shortly after and she's soo grown up too. Both gorgeous girls, and soo intelligent we quickly learn. We took it easy today, getting the washing done and going for a walk; it just what we needed after being on the go for the last two months. Lovely to relax in there new hot tub at night.

We get to spend a night at the cabin, which is great as we didn't have enough time last time we visited. But this little trip didn't come without its drama. Kenny and Malcolm are bringing the groceries into the cabin when all I hear is, 'aaaahhhh!!!' And two mad men jumping around like crazy. What is going on?! It was like something outa the Hunger Games. Kenny has two stings on his legs and a few on his arms, poor Malcolm has one just underneath his eye which immediately started to swell. Turns out they hadn't been near the cabin in a few weeks and in that time a wasps nest had formed in a little whole in the decking wall. This was one if these moments when I was glad I was female; 'I'll just stay back here with the kids.' So they kill the nest and we make our way inside; lovely wee place and they've got electricity now. The beds are super comfy. We spent the evening by the campfire with our 'smokeys' (hot dogs) and s'mores for dessert, playing games like 'Jonny whoops' (which I remembered from camp, go me!) and 'I like this bit I don't like that.' (That took me a while to get!) With the moon shining brightly, the girls were soo excited to have us all doing 'midnight jumps' on the trampoline. Was great fun and took some good pictures.

The next day, we got to gave a try at shooting targets. Well I must have stood for 5-10 minutes, I just couldn't see the target through the hole. Eventually Ramona was able to figure out what I was doing wrong and I hit the target, first and last time, woo hoo. Ella was really good at it too. We also when for a little canoe trip with the girls which involved Malcolm having to machete us a path to get there. The water didnt look too appealing so we resisted the urge to jump in and just had fun splashing and rocking the boat, bad cousin I am. And we saw a beaver swimming around. While we were canoeing Malcolm found us a surprise for our return; a garter snake!! not my favourite surprise I have to admit. Then just spent some time chilling on their newly decked patio and amazing comfortable hammocks. Before we left, we gave Molly's tree Bob some eyes nose and mouth an were greeted with a little visit from a hummingbird and a woodpecker. As soon as we were done at the cabin, it was straight to a sushi restaurant for some dinner (not to Kennys liking but he's too polite to speak up) then a wee stop at Tim Hortons for some coffee for the journey to Calgary. Malcolm was working there for a couple of days so he took me and Kenny with him so we could go exploring. We ended up in the exact same hotel room as last time, freaky. Great to have some time with Malcolm and hearing lots of his stories, esp about my mum and aunties and uncles. Calgary consisted of a lot of walking, some shopping and an unsuccessful fishing day on the Bow River. It had recently been dramatically changed by the flood so the guys in the fishing shop couldn't really tell him whereabouts he was more likely to catch. I also learnt that magpies aren't always just black and white; they can have dark purple, green and blue in their tails. Kenny had been wanting a good steak for months now and he remembered Malcolm taking us somewhere before, so when to the Keg. Steak was AMAZING!! Perfectly cooked, yummy. On the way back to Camrose, Kenny got to go to his favourite shop, Bass Pro and I went and got myself some running shoes as I need to start exercising.

Back in Camrose, we took it easy for a few days, delighting in Ramona's lovely cooking, drinking tea that actually tasted like home (home tea bags of course, but there water must have been nicer that we'd previously had), get accommodation and car rentals booked, did some thrift shopping and getting some photos onto the blog. Also went to a cookie decoration class and it was really fun. Decorated a flip flop, a cocktail and sunglasses, and best of all we got to take them home. Molly and Ella had a great time too.

On the weekend, we went to support Molly at her first triathlon, after forgetting her swimsuit and nearly missing the start. She did really well, I'm a proud cousin. Wish I was fit enough to do it. Then to Ramonas parents farm to see the lovely Gerald and Suzanne, and play some Phase Ten. Had a go on the quad, (Ella sandwiched in the middle), done some fishing and some colouring, a very relaxing hobby.

In our last few days there, we went to Drumheller, to the dinosaur museum and the badlands. Great little day trip, I really enjoyed it. Even got to experience a real storm; lightening while we were in the hot tube scaring us inside, then keeping fingers crossed that the hail didn't cause them to loose any roof tiles or ruin any plants.

Saying goodbye is never easy, I'll miss them all but hopefully see them all soon. Thanks got having us :D