To Fairmont and Back Again

I love holiday's. They are so intensely family oriented, and filled with fun, that who could not love them? A couple of weeks ago we went to Fairmont in British Columbia and stayed a week. I posted different activities during the week but I never finished the trip, so, here is the Back Again story.

One of the first things we did when we got to Fairmont was to attend church in the little chapel they have on the hill. We loved church and felt it was a great way to start our holiday. As the week progressed we engaged in lots of hiking and exploring. On Tuesday we went over to a friends condo to play games. As we left she grabbed a coat and sent it out the door with us, Charity nearly left it behind. Well, the next day, Charity could not find her coat anywhere! I hadn't realized that Breanna had brought 2 and Charity had been wearing one of them for the past 2 days. It took us until Saturday when Charity wondered aloud if she had left her coat at the church on Sunday.... so we went to find out. Of course the church is locked but there was a window in the coat room and so we could see perfectly that Charity's coat was hanging nice and neat on the hanger inside the church. Lucky for us dad was there and would be attending church before he came home so the coat made it home but not with us.

The day before we left Fairmont we expected it to snow, so we went on a morning hike.

 Looking back on our condo

 Scenery on the way up

 Naomi, Alisha, Breanna, Melodee and Myles

 Exploring up close to one of the warm waterfalls. Below, Naomi is melting a chunk of ice she found

 Melodee

 The weather begins to change. This was our view on the way back to the condo

And a group picture of the kids who ventured out with us. Beth and Charity had opted to stay inside during the morning.

So that sums up Friday, Saturday morning we came home. It was snowy and frosty but the roads were good. We tied things onto the top of the suburban a little differently this time and as such we were able to leave the Bumble Bee Band behind. The drive home was beautiful. This is some of what we saw...

When we hit the Alberta, BC border the kids were getting a little antsy, so we pulled over and let them run around a little. It didn't last long because it was cold.

It would have been fun to leave a completed snowman on the border there, but the time we had was short and the wind was cold, so all we made were chunks of snow. Breanna was the most determined, but even she opted for the warmth of the car after a short time.

Once we got closer to home, we stopped by Shylah's and Alisha, Naomi and I went with her to Magrath. Chad and the rest of the kids ran a few errands and then went to surprise their cousins also in Magrath while they waited for us. This is what we were doing in Magrath... Yup, grad dress shopping. We didn't actually buy anything though, Alisha wasn't totally in love with anything she tried on so we will keep looking!

We got home late, but what a wonderful week we had had.

I love the mountains, the trees, waterfalls, and especially all the colors that come with it. It seems like the colors change with the light, and I love it!!! I find such joy when I am surrounded by the beauties of nature, it is absolutely wonderful, and made even more so when I get to share it with my family. What a delight it is to experience and explore through the eyes of a child. Life is good.