First Canadian Vacation

Last week we piled up the family and took our first Canadian vacation to Prince Albert National Park in northern Saskatchewan. Bella, Allie and I left on Wednesday with my friend Jackie, her 4 year old (Ali), her 3.5 month old (Carter) and her black lab (Bailey). Dan and Mike met us on Friday after work.

Here's here's how much stuff you need when traveling with 3 kids and two large dogs. Luckily, we have a suburban!

Unfortunately, Jackie and I forgot the key to this extra storage on the back of the car. Notice how we have all the diapers in here as well as the majority of our food and all of Carter's clothes. We made it less than 24 hours until an emergency trip to Zeller's had to be made in order to purchase more diapers. We tried "to make do" with some diapers that were left at our hotel, but they were a size 5 and our kids wear size 2's.

When we arrived at our beautiful resort we found online with a fire pit, BBQ's, a sandy beach, and loads of things to do, we were greeted by this beauty of a cabin...otherwise known as the Bates Motel. Not only was the cabin "rustic", the entire area that housed the BBQ's, fire pit, playground, etc. was under construction due to a sewage leak and there was no beach. The only thing that there was a lot of were mosquitos!

Jackie and I promptly loaded all the kids and the two dogs back into the car and drove into the national park to the town of Waskesiu to find better accommodations. The good news, we found a much more suitable cabin 1/2 a block off of Lake Waskesiu and about 1.5 blocks from the town. The bad news, we couldn't get into the cabin until Thursday night. So, back to the Bates Motel we went for one night with the mosquitos. We all survived and now have a good story to tell!

Once we got settled in our new digs, we had a great time. Ali C. spent a lot of time playing at the playground on Waskesiu Lake.

The dogs got to go swimming and run around after spending hours and hours in the car.

We relaxed in the cabin where Ali could always entertain us!

Once the guys met us we were able to venture into the national park more easily. On Saturday we took a boat tour of Hanging Hearts Lake.

Allie's first boat ride.

Carter's first boat ride.

We also got to see some loons.

And this lady liked to hang out in the parking lot of the marina.

Dan and Mike stayed after the tour to do some fishing.

Sunday was Father's Day and we rented a pontoon on Lake Waskasiu so both families could go and the guys could fish. It was a perfect day, other than the fact that Allie woke up with pink eye.

Ali was a helpful girl by driving the boat!

Of course Bella had to try to be helpful too.

Bailey loved to be in the front of the boat with his ears flopping in the wind.

Mike caught a big northern here....

but we all decided this fish takes the prize.

It was a great vacation and we can't wait to plan our next trip!

Yum, real food!

We fed Allie rice cereal for the first time last week and she loved it...for the most part. Can't believe our baby girl is already moving on to solid food. Time flies when you are having fun!

As usual, Bella had to be part of the action.

Allie wondered why we didn't start cereal earlier since it tasted so good and helped her to sleep oh so long at night. Mom wondered the same thing.

When she finished, she wiped her own mouth with her bib. She is perfect! :)

Best buddies

From day one Bella and Allie have been best buddies. Now that Allie is a little older, she is very interested in Bella and loves to pet her and watch her. In return, Bella won't ever leave Allie's side, loves to give her kisses, and has turned into quite the protecter. Here are some pictures of their love affair!

It's exhausting keeping track of my "sister"

Allie's new boyfriend

Allie left lots of potential boyfriends back in Minnesota since all of my friends had little boys. She was sad to leave them, but it didn't take her long to move on! Here she is with her new boyfriend, Carter who is the son of our friends Jackie and Mike. Mike works at the Cargill plant with Dan, and Jackie has been showing me all around Saskatoon. We are so thankful they live in Saskatoon with us!

Gagu and Pappee come to visit

Gagu and Pappee came to visit last week. Dan was working very long hours for Cargill's year end, so they came to keep Allie, Bella, and me company. We had so much fun!

We went to the Saskatoon farmer's market and bought veggies, bread, and flowers. I'm going to try my very best not to kill the flowers!

Bella loved our neighborhood dog park in Minneapolis, and it was sad for her to leave all her buddies there. But we've found a new one here that she loves. It's a HUGE off leash park that runs alongside the Saskatchewan River. Bella loves to swim in the water and run along the shoreline chasing birds. Pappee and Gagu wanted to check out Bella's favorite place in Saskatoon, so we all took a walk to the river.

We also went to the Berry Barn where Pappee and Gagu could try some Saskatoon berries, which are famous in this part of Canada.

Allie made out like a bandit throughout their visit. Gagu brought Allie a bunch of summer clothes from our favorite store back home, Target. I never realized how much I loved Target until I've been forced to shop at Walmart! Allie also got to take a trip to Babies R Us to pick out a new excersaucer and some baby DVD's. Lucky little girl!

It was a wonderful vacation and we can't wait to have Poppee and Gagu come back for a second visit!