Trip to Neerlandia

On Wednesday morning at 4:25 we left our house to visit Shaun's sister Kerry, her husband Matt, and their little guy Levi in Neerlandia, a small town about 2 hours north of Edmonton.  We went through Jasper and were happy to drive through there during the day, so we could see some wildlife and the beautiful Rockies.  It was a clear drive the whole way, except for slippery slushy snow for a little ways on the Coquihalla.

This occurred right outside of Jasper.  It amazed me how unconcerned they were with the traffic.  I hear this is a common occurrence.

Shaun and I seemed more excited about the wildlife than the kids.

When we got there at 7 Alberta time, the kids were excited to see the snow, although they didn't play in it until the next day.  We have only had I think two snowfalls in BC this winter, which of course melt fairly quickly, so this was a real treat.  Seth spent hours outside exploring by himself, chasing after cats and the rabbit, tromping through the snow.

Seth and his cousin Levi.

Shaun took the kids out on their first snowmobile adventure.  It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday, hovering around zero.  This was before I went out and got the snowmobile stuck on its side... Matt had to trek out quite a ways to rescue me (much to the relief of Shaun).  Thanks again, Matt!

Lyla wasn't too impressed with this adventure.

The kids became good friends with Sam during the weekend.

Lyla wasn't that impressed with this adventure either.

The skis on the snowmobile were worn out which made it extremely difficult to steer, so here is Matt turning it manually.  This problem contributed to my "stuck-in-the-snow" incident, as I could have kept going and stayed out of the powder, but then I would have ended up in the creek, as I just couldn't get it to turn.  Afterwards when I was watching, the guys were actually standing on one side of the snowmobile to get it to turn.  And there ends my experiences with winter motorsports!  Just call me a greenhorn I guess.

 Because why wouldn't you have one in your yard?  Apparently Matt killed the biggest antlered buck of the season out of the church hunters.

Gilligan the pony and his flock of sheep.

Here they all come!

Here's the reason they're running!

Here's Levi, the King of the castle :)

On the way home we drove through Calgary and then Canmore, where we stopped at a hotel to swim and sleep.  The day we left it started to snow and blow and the roads ended up pretty bad the next day, so we were thankful we left when we did.  This picture of Lyla is her showing off her new birthday bathing suit from Aunty Lorene (and Uncle Randy, I guess, but I'm sure he had nothing to do with it!).

We had a great trip, and the kids definitely enjoyed the wide open spaces and outdoor adventures of the weekend.  Something we'll have to do more often then every three years!  Or maybe next time, it will be their turn to visit us in Brazil :)