Summer Time Fun

Summer Time Fun: August and a Montana Road Trip!

This summer was the year that we finally made time to go to Glacier National Park, Montana. For me, this is the camping of my childhood. I have had wonderful trips to various campgrounds, lakes, rivers, remote logging hamlets, and so many other places since my first summer. While the way I arrived, what we camped in, the family units and duration have changed many times over the years, the trips have always been filled with happy memories.

Some of my favourite memories of Glacier include: camping in our family Tent Trailer, said tent trailer coming loose, dragging chains and bouncing on the beds! Riding on the back of a bike to the West Glacier Cafe and Laundromat with the black garbage bag of clothes on my lap and eating at the counter. Walking across fallen trees as bridges over more creeks than I can count, and the years AuntieL used her gymnastics’ skills to nearly drive G-Ma to an early grave! The clear cold water of lakes, the tree that grows inside the store, the fancy hotels on Lake McDonald and the famous Eddie's Cafe.

All of these vivid and gloriously happy memories have always made me want to share these places with my kids. Now, don't get me wrong, there were things I dreaded in Glacier, namely the Trail of the Cedars and the Petrified Forest. In all fairness, it turns out that I am wildly allergic to cedars, thus explaining why they smell like rotten meat to me not that wonderful smell everyone else seems to enjoy. That being said, it was important to me to try and balance out showing my kids my favourite things while ensuring that it was not going to become their personal Trail of the Cedars! So with that in mind, we tried out some great new things and I grew to love Glacier even more as I saw the enjoyment my family was having!

Day One: Leaving for Montana. With the little J's safely buckled up in their booster and car seats and an all important assortment of movies we headed for the boarder via Pincher Creek. After a quick crossing at the Carway/Piegan border, we were on our way to St Mary's lake.

For me, this is always the beginning of my excitement! There is always a stop at the shops by the lake, some gawking in the grocery store at all the things still not available on our side of the boarder and marvelling at the beauty of the perpetually windy lake. This is a lake that is most beautiful with the waves cresting with little white caps, the trees bent ever to slightly in defiance to the seemingly ever present wind in the glorious sunshine. There are not many places that I associate their beauty with a howling wind other than St Mary's Lake.



In an unprecedented turn of events, there was no wind on our journey around St Mary's Lake. I have never seen the lake so calm. Luckily it was still magically beautiful. During our pit stop, the kids enjoyed looking at all of the different treats, super sized versions of things and a chance to get a snack.

After a quick stop in St Mary's Lake, then the real fun begins as you start the journey of the Going to the Sun Road!

One of the most amazing highlights of Glacier National Park is a drive on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This engineering marvel spans 50 miles through the park's wild interior, winding around mountainsides and treating visitors to some of the best sights in northwest Montana

The Going-to-the Sun Road takes you through some of the most spectacular scenery in the park. Because portions of the road hug the mountainside, there are a few tight curves, but thousands of vehicles have safely made the journey from one side of the park to the other. Heading east toward Logan Pass and St. Mary from the West Entrance, passengers on the passenger side of the vehicle will be able to look over the edge of the road in a few spots. Follow the speed limit, drive carefully, and enjoy the majesty this road has to offer. http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/goingtothesunroad.htm

With that in mind, we were off! The weather was ideal, the sun was out, the sky blue, and we were able to see for miles along the Logan's Pass. We had the opportunity to get out of the car and view the road more closely at a construction delay. We all enjoyed the oddly sickeningly fun game of peering over the edge of the road, watching the weeping walls, and all of the waterfalls.

When we arrived in Montana, we headed right to our campground. This was to be one of the new 4J’s Family Adventures, and now a wonderful part of all of our memories!
The KOA was real eye opener for both DaddyJ and me. I had originally picked the KOA for its wireless access which seemed like a great way to ensure DaddyJ's happiness on a four day tenting road trip. Then as our trip approached, it looked like there might be two nights of rain! After the insane rain of our July Peter Lougheed trip, I was not inclined to be in a tent in the rain a half day from home. So at the last minute we changed our tenting site for a Kozy Kabin.

I must admit, the KOA seemed like we were wimping out in the first place. I mean, camping with fancy showers, an ice cream shop, swimming pool...... A mini log cabin (only beds, no bathroom or cooking facility) seemed over the top!

Were we in for a surprise! The cabin was lovely, the kids enjoyed the bunk beds and I loved the roof every second it rained the one evening! Now, it did rain hard enough that the mud took two days to dry out

While DaddyJ and I enjoyed trying out the local Huckleberry Beer (okay, huckleberry everything and anything!), sitting around our fire pit and chatting with the other very interesting travelers from all over the USA, the kids found their own fun. CubJ and BabyJ took to the park across the little road from our cabin, the ice cream parlour open in the evenings, and the swimming pool! It was an ideal way to enjoy a bit of fun for everyone while checking out MommyJ's must see childhood memory sites.

CubJ even enjoyed helping his sister swim in the rather cold pool!

After a kozy nights sleep in our kabin, where the kids enjoyed the bunk beds, we were off to have breakfast at the Huckleberry Patch. http://www.huckleberrypatch.com/ Home of the best huckleberry pancakes and preserves since I was a child. It was exciting to see that the kids enjoyed the large Hungry Horse heads along the way and pancakes as much as I did as a child. The restaurant was a great hit with the kids, so much so we made it back for another round before going home.

We all enjoyed our time in the Apgar Village. We visited the rangers’ house, examined the 3D topographical map carefully, watched some videos on the park and picked up a kids Junior Ranger workbook to help us learn more about Glacier National Park. We threw rocks in Lake McDonald, explored the old cabins, toured the store with the tree growing in the middle of it (still) and went for lunch at the family tradition of Eddie’s Cafe! http://www.eddiescafegifts.com/index.html

We explored some of the camping sites, shopped in Kalispell, and drove through Whitefish. All in all it was a great exploring trip for everyone. We all look forward to going back again!

Day 4, our last day: We had a final breakfast at Eddie's, tossed some rocks in Lake McDonald and toured the Apgar campground which seemed very much changed from my childhood. Our return drive on the Going to the Sun road offered a very different perspective with is fog, rain and an eerie mist. When we cleared the continental divide and reached St Mary's lake the sun was out and it was incredibly windy.

Our Montana trip wound up with an educational pit stop at the St Mary's visitor's center. The kids really enjoyed learning about how the Going to the Sun road was constructed, how it is being repaired and why it is a monument. After that we headed for the Chief Mountain border crossing. This allowed us to stop in spectacularly beautiful Waterton Park. It is one of those locations that is so beautiful that we could not help but wonder why we do not get down there more often.

We enjoyed watching the wildlife, crazy bike-rickshaw riders, visiting the lake on a very windy day, and a tasty lunch at Trapper's Grill.

It was an ideal trip, everyone enjoyed seeing the sights, I enjoyed visiting the camping areas of my childhood, and we all tried out the Kozy Kabins to our great delight! I feel a road trip on the horizon in 2010 with Kozy Kabins along the way! What a wonderful summer......

July Summer Time fun included a camping trip to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.

This was a new destination for the Little J's and Mommy to check out. Our camping site was a short walk through a clearing to the lovely Lower Kaninaskis Lake. The first day and night was beautiful. We walked along the lake, played in the creek, followed the nature path, visited the visitors’ center and enjoyed a fire. The second night we were in one of the biggest rain and thunder storms I have been in outside of the tropics! When we awoke to continued rain the next morning, we packed up and headed home.

Our trip started out with a stop at our very favourite mountain restaurant, the Grizzly Paw! http://www.thegrizzlypaw.com/

Greetings Friends and Family!

After a much needed break from blogging, I am back to report on the Adventures of the Futon Family. We hope that you are all doing well, have been enjoying some of your own adventures, and are looking forward to your next adventure!

The last year and a half, has given us pause to learn some very important things about ourselves, the people in our lives and all that is important at the end of the day. This has not been the easiest path for any of us to travel. Some of the most important things we have learned are:

Family is: everything, who and what you make it, it is worth fighting for. Love your family!

Friends: most come and go, true and good friends are rare things. Chereish your friends!

Happiness: find what makes you happy, fill your life with happiness, and don't be afraid to share it. Happiness does not just happen, it takes work, it is something you need to protect and it is not always easy, sometimes you need to choose to work at it. Find the happiness in your life and may it bring you love!

In the end, as the saying goes 'that which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger' best sums it up!

Where we are at: Please note*** all pictures can be clicked on to enlarge, you must then back click to return to the main blog page***

BabyJ has had a great year in preschool! Attending three days a week has taught her some French which she has enjoyed using. She also took up a new sport this year, golf. The "Big Dog" driver currently swings her as much as she swings it. All in all she is having a fun time with it, which is all we can hope for!

BeaverJ had good year in grade two. His french continues to blossom, he is enjoying science, improving in art, and learning to read both our national languages! This year he too, took up a new sport after enjoying it at school in physical education, Cricket. DaddyJ and I are doing our best to try and understand the many rules of game. BeaverJ continues to enjoy playing Cricket once a week. We hope this will continue as the sport is very interesting.

Living up to those Scottish middle names with the sports of Cricket, Golf and a little Football (soccer)! Who knew......

Recapping the Fall of 2008 to Easter of 2009:

BeaverJ's Birthday(s)

For the start of his birthday two weeks, BeaverJ had a very special birthday party and sleep over with one of his buddies. It was a great chance for him to have some special fun playing laser tag, watching movies until late and a sleep over. In the morning there was even a trip to Tim Horton's for muffins!

For BeaverJ's actual seventh birthday we took him to Legoland in San Diego California. It happened to be Star Wars Days while we were there. Very lucky since the Star Wars franchise was the hottest thing to happen to him since chocolate milk! We had a wonderful two days enjoying the park complete with BeaverJ's "It's my Birthday" pin, where all the staff wished him a very happy birthday.


His birthday dinner was his favourites from In-and-Out Burger: milkshake, cheese burger and fries. This ideal seven year old birthday meal was eaten, over looking the ocean in Oceanside. The roar of the waves, last surfers and setting sun were a perfect way to celebrate.






Upon our return, the turning seven festivities were capped off with Igor-riffic Clone Wars themed party with his school friends. A great time was had eating pizza and cupcakes before taking in the movie Igor (pull the switch) on opening weekend.

Thanksgiving/DaddyJ's Birthday



This year in celebration of DaddyJ's birthday we headed out to Kelowna for a weekend of fun on the Thanksgiving weekend. We took in some beautiful wineries, enjoyed our hotels outdoor watersilde and had a blast bowling!

Christmas BabyJ's Birthday

This year for a change of pace we did not go away for Christmas and BabyJ's birthday. It was instead BabyJ's first Christmas/Birthday at home. We all enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy the snow, home and I even enjoyed cooking Christmas dinner. It is nice to break out the Christmas china everyonce in a while!

Christmas 2008

BabyJ's 4th Birthday

BabyJ enjoyed a quiet and fun filled day of being the birthday girl. She had an "Enchanted" cake and received many of the things on her list. All in all, turning four seemed to be a great time for her.

Mid Winter Fun at Monster Trucks and Super Skills

Disney World 2009 Pictures

In March we were off to Florida for a visit to Disneyworld! This was BabyJ's first trip to this location after being lucky enough to have already visited Disneylands in California and Hong Kong. It proved to be just as magical a visit as wanted and remembered.

While in Orlando we stayed at the world's largets Marriott hotel. Even as seasoned Marriott travelers, it was MASSIVE. It was a great place to stay. The kids in particular enjoyed starting out their days with room service (Daddy) Starbucks from the lobby and ending their days in the million+ gallon pool systems.

Here is a sample of some of our pictures from the five parks we visited:

Magic Kingdom

Bilzzard Beach

Epcot

Typhoon Lagoon

Easter 2009

After returning from our respective trips it was wonderful to have to opportunity to spend time with Grandma at Easter. It was a wonderful pj wearing trip where we all shared in the fun of a holiday meal once we finally got dressed!

June brought us the opportunity to meet Grandma's new horse Bently, learn that BeaverJ would be heading off to grade three and excitingly that BabyJ would be heading into Kindergarten in September! YIKES, where has the time gone?

All in all we are looking forward to a low key summer. We hope to have a few adventures, explore new places and spend time with our loved ones.

We wish you all the very best and hope you too, enjoy a wonderful summer. Please check back soon to see our summer adventures.

Sincerely,

The 4J's

Good Bye for now.......

Well, in the spirit of new chapters in 2008, this blog will be coming to en end for the foreseeable future. It has been wonderful having you view the blog and keep up with the things going on in the house of the 4J's.

I wish each and everyone of you the very best in life!

Sincerely,
The 4J's

A new Chapter with BabyJ new sports adventures

BabyJ being less and less of a baby took up several new sports this year with a bit of joy, a few tears and a tonne of fun.

First on the list were skiing lessons over at our neighbourhood ski hill here in town. BabyJ took to skis and skiing like the preverbal duck to water. Luckily we had an outstanding instructor who was great with the little people, especially in the face of the very cool temperatures we faced on a few of the days. Thankfully I am confident that BabyJ will return to skiing this fall with zeal.

Next on the list was learning to skate. After we managed to find skates for BabyJ’s itty-bitty feet we headed down to Bowness Park to skate on the frozen pond. With the aid of a chair and a snowsuit MommyJ could use to hold onto, we were off and moving. I avoid using the term gliding as there was not a significant amount of time spent with her using her own feet to propel the chair. We had some great interludes where BabyJ did move under her own power or manage to balance on her own.

Unfortunately we did not get to the point this year where we had her skating on her own. Oh well that is what turning 4 is all about. All in all I think BabyJ was left with positive enough memories to be willing to go again this year, and after all that is the most we can hope for…

Finally this spring BabyJ started Soccer with our joint-community! BabyJ has a powerhouse kick when she lines it up and remarkable ball control. However like most three year olds, the attention span for an actual game is short when you could just run around having fun. It was a nice chance for her to meet some new friends and be introduced to a team sport. We are so lucky to have such dedicated volunteer organizers and coaches in our communities. All of their hard work makes the season a remarkable success each year and a pleasure for all of the kids.

Without a doubt BabyJ will continue on with Soccer this fall, and if BeaverJ chooses to play we will be on the field 4 nights a week! I hope I learn to love soccer soon. Actually if the truth be know I must admit that I very much enjoyed watching soccer at the Olympics this summer.

Ringing Out 2007

As has been our tradition, we rang out the year of 2007 with our dear friends the W’s. It was a lovely evening, enjoying the light displays of at the zoo and a fantastic fireworks show.

As we had just returned from Cancun we once again celebrated with Dick Clark at the W’s house. It was a funny evening of MommyW and DaddyJ building a friendship and DaddyW and I sitting back laughing at them.

BeaverW and BeaverJ played very well with BabyJ and all were sawing logs shortly after their sparkling apple juice at midnight. All in all it was a fantastic night despite several glowing articles of clothing as a result of leaky glow sticks. In an interesting turn of events I was actually familiar with the artists performing on the show this year to avoid last year’s humiliation! : )

I know I will always look at the pictures from this evening with great fondness and memories of an evening well spent.

In what would become the theme of 2008, we rang in the year in a new fashion. After a night in the guest room we proceeded to watch the Outdoor hockey game in Buffalo with Sidney Crosby. For those of you who know me, I was as colourful watching him play as I was touring Pearl Harbor. Not to mention that we all enjoyed bugging BrotherW who had rung in his first New Years Eve as a legal adult, needless to say he did not see the humor in our antics.

2008 the year of new chapters…..

Christmas in Cancun Double O'hhhh Seven

Well well well, life has been busy so it has taken me 9 months to update the FourJ’s blog, but here we go:

Our Christmas vacation to Cancun was outstanding. In a very un-FourJ fashion we spend the trip relaxing and doing nothing but having fun. There was no sight seeing, no going to museums, no historical sites of significance or anything else.

Basically for a week straight we gorged ourselves at the beautiful breakfast buffet each morning and then managed to drag our over stuffed bellies to the pools or beach. In particular DaddyJ loved his morning smoothies and nearly wept on the airplane as he realized the Jose was not going to be preparing him a fresh smoothie each morning, nor MommyJ. For me leaving the omelet station was almost as sad. Luckily the little J’s after gorging themselves on scrambled eggs, fruit and waffles had a much high probability of having those made for them upon their return home.

On the first evening of the day of our arrival the Maitre’d in fine dinning room preformed a trick for Julia’s entertainment. He made a linen serviette talk to her. From that point on Arturro, the Maitre’D of the main restaurant in our five star resort was referred to as ‘the talking serviette man’ by the children. I must say he was outstanding.
We have been very lucky on our Christmas/BabyJ Birthday vacations to have had the luxury of have the staff be an integral part of our wonderful experiences. Arturro, took the time to get to know the littleJ’s and went out of his way to make her birthday meal lovely. I would recommend the hotel on the basis of his wonderfully personalized service, the diplomatic and efficient way he manages his staff, and how he breezes through an incredibly busy time of year without once losing his smile.

Since we decided it was time to shake up the routine of going to Grand Cayman (after 4 out of the last 5 years) we picked a destination with a great looking hotel. It is difficult to branch out when you know that you are risking top notch service, people who know you and most of all people who are going to ensure that the Christmas and Birthday we celebrate while away are magnificent! I am pleased to report that we can now be assured of this at two destinations.

This year we chose to stay at the JW Marriott Cancun. Their pools were the hit of the entire trip. We spent no less than 6 hours a day in the pools. When we were not in the pools, the LittleJ’s were planning out what they were going to do in the pools tomorrow! We did manage to visit the beach, which was lovely despite the effects of a busy hurricane season. However, this was the trip the children decided to fall in love with swimming through the various pools. Thankfully their joy kept DaddyJ and I from getting board.

An important part of each Christmas trip is decorating our room for Christmas. The kids have a velcro tree they decorate themselves. Then we all participate in decorating a miniature tree with miniature ornaments and lights. This year we also tried making moonsand decorations which were more messy than festive. Oh well great fun was had by everyone.

Our Christmas Day was relaxed. We woke up and found that Santa had found us all the way in Cancun. There was some worry that he would head to Grand Cayman looking for us, but his trusty elves kept him apprised of our destination. Santa filled all of our stockings to near exploding. We all escaped receiving a lump of coal luckily! After we exchanged presents with each other it was off for a day in the sun, floating in the pools and digging on the beach. Ahhhhhhh how relaxing! Christmas Day dinner included a trip to the nearby Shrimp Bucket where gorged ourselves on shrimp. I think I might have gotten my annual fill of elements with all of the shrimp I at on our trip. The kids enjoyed that we ate out on a deck on top of the ocean water.

BabyJ’s birthday was wonderful. We spent the day exactly as she wanted. We had breakfast, went to the pool, proceeded to Kukulakan Kids to play, and then we went back to the hotel for more time in the pool and then we were off for a dinner of chocolate cake and singing. We lucked out and Arturo came to sing for BabyJ making her evening complete. Turning three in Cancun seems to have proved a great experience for her!

Our only adventures included: Two trips two Kukulakan Kids indoor playground which was a blast, A Submarine ride for BabyJ and DaddyJ, an outstandingly fun trip to Senor Frogs where we laughed out butts off (Especially when BabyJ was dancing on the stage, fearful indications of years to come & BeaverJ was the hit of the conga line) and Bubba Gump Shrimp. It would seem in my relaxed state I have even given in further to visiting those tourist traps.

DaddyJ and BabyJ on her 1St Submarine Trip

One thing, Senor Frogs was a fantastic place to take the kids for dinner. They had balloon artists, singing, dancing, water balloon tossing, swings, a waterslide through the restaurant and out into the ocean, and an indoor pool. The LittleJ’s were sure I had lost all of my marbles on the beach, to be allowed to play so hard during their meal. I admit despite the touristy nature of it, it made an impression on us, and will always be a part of our most excellent memories of Cancun

Christmas and BabyJ's Birthday would not be complete without a picture of the Snowmen!