Oh Canada

The Wednesday after school was out we headed up to Canada for 10 days. I was quite apprehensive about how flying with 4 kids 4 and under was going to go, but our kids surpassed our expectations and did fabulous. There were a few tense moments with check-in and security, but overall it went awesome. God blessed both Kevin and I with calm spirits and patient words and I think our kids could sense that and so they remained calm and obedient. It went well. We've been home for a week now and we're just settling back into the routine at home. Here are several pictures from our time there.

Morgan loved her superbubble bubble baths in Oma's tub.

One morning Kev and I took Ethan and Morgan to a park in the city. It was fun to just spend some quality time with them. We ate a picnic lunch and fed the geese.

Hudson and Daddy. We were all recovering or in the middle of a pretty nasty cold/infection. The kids and I all had ear infections (yes, 32 and an ear infection) and everyone but Morgan ended up on antibiotics. About 1/2 way through our trip there Ethan announced, "Mommy, I can hear out of my right ear now!" That's always a good thing:) Thankfully we had antibiotics along for Hudson because he ended up needing them a few days into our trip. He started feeling much better within 24 hours.

Whenever we go up to see Kevin's family we always make time to see his friend Frank and his wife Denise. They recently adopted 2 kids from Africa. It was great to meet them and watch our kids play. Olivia and Morgan really hit it off. They shared with us that this was the first time Olivia has gone off to play on her own with another little girl with out Alex by her side. That was so fun to hear that she was comfortable with our sweet Morgan. We wish we lived closer to them because our kids really hit it off.

8 kids 7 and under....who would have thought.

Omama Bodewitz finally got to meet Hudson and Brooklyn. I think it's safe to say she was pretty content holding those two:)

Omama Schenk with Brooklyn and Omama Bodewitz with Hudson.

Kevin's parents had both of their families over for lunch on Sunday. It was so great to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins again. Our kids were champs meeting everyone, being passed around and staying up way past their nap times. Again, they exceeded our expectations and we couldn't be more proud of them. Here's Morgan and two week old baby Sophie. Such a cute little peanut and so hard to believe Hudson and Brooklyn were ever that small!

A long overdue family picture. The last one we had was at Ryan and Jessica's wedding. We've added 3 kids since then!

Omama Bodewitz and 4 of her 5 great grandkids. Yep this is the best one we got.

Opapa and Omama Schenk with 6 of their great grandkids(I'm not 100% sure on the total number of greats they have, I better not put a number in case I get it wrong) Again, the best we got with 6 kids 4 and under.

I think one of the best things about Canada for the kids was playing with Uncle Ryan and Auntie Jessica. They LOVED all the attention. Jessica came over on Monday to help mom with the kids since Kevin and I took off for the night.

Another highlight was the bonfires we had. More fun than the fires was going out into the forest to collect wood and haul out fallen trees. Kevin's parents have a couple acres of undeveloped trees on their land. They have several paths going through the trees. The kids loved to go hiking in the forest.

We were lucky enough to be able to get away for a night. We headed to Banff for a relaxing couple days away from the kiddos. We had such a great time, it was much needed. We stayed at a great place called the Fox Hotel and Suites. We did a little window shopping, had a great dinner and then did a great run/hike the next morning. What a beautiful place. We were already making plans for the next time we go! Thanks mom and dad for watching the troops for us!

Mowing the lawn with Opa. Notice the coats in June! It was so refreshing to enjoy some cool temps before coming home to 100 degrees!

The day after we got home we took the older two off Oma's hands so she could rest:) We took them to West Edmonton Mall. The biggest mall in the world. It was fun showing them the ice rink, water park, pirate ship and roller coasters all inside the mall.

We let the kids choose one thing to do. We paid admission to a kids area that had big slides, ball pits, climbing nets and bounce areas. They had a great time. Morgan wasn't so sure about laying down in the balls though:)

All in all it was a great trip. So wonderful to spend time with family and let our kids get spoiled a little bit. Oma also took the older two to the zoo and a dinosaur park. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of that. It's pretty special to watch them form relationships with their relatives far away. Thanks for a great visit Opa and Oma!