Relaxin' In Saskatchewan

We've finally made it -- it's the last post about our summer vacation. Whoooo hooo!!! My apologies that this has taken so long but I really enjoy having the memories on the blog to look back on.

After we visited the dinosaur museum, we celebrated my aunt and uncle's 60th anniversary. Only one other of my cousins was there, besides the kids of my aunt and uncle. However, it is the cousin on my mom's side whom I was closest to when we lived in Edmonton. Sam and Rachel love and adore these older second cousins and it was so good to see them again!

 The last time these four kids were together was three years ago.

 from August 2016

The next we drove back to Saskatoon to spend a few days with Mom and Dad. We had to stop and get some pictures at the best provincial sign in Canada! :)

Rachel took some of Dave and I and this picture makes me laugh so much! Considering she took it on our DSLR, it's a pretty good picture but they were all slanted like this. I can't tell if it was Rachel's artistic vision or unintentional!

Being at my mom and dad's is pretty much like being in paradise, especially for the kids. My dad made bacon like twice in the four days we were there, my mom cooks all their favourite foods, and we have happy hour every day. Okay, it's kind of like paradise for Dave and me too!

I haven't mentioned this on the blog yet but, in the months leading up to our trip, my dad kept telling Sam, "When you come to Saskatoon this summer, you're going to get to drive" and Sam was super-excited. He got to drive my dad's truck (only on their yard or in the fields) on the one day we had in Saskatoon before we left on our trip, and got more driving in the week we were back. He LOVED it!!!
Rachel was sad she couldn't drive so Dad let her drive the lawnmower. She loved that but is still counting down to Summer 2021 when she'll get to drive the truck. Ha! (Sidenote: HOW is it that SAM is DRIVING already?!?!?! Ahhhhhh.)

Dave and I enjoyed our daily happy hours and it was quite the readjustment when we got home and no longer had a live in bartender -- also known as my dad! Ha!

Even the kids enjoyed their daily (non-alcoholic) happy hour :) And a weiner roast.

After barely reading any books during our road trip, I got quite a bit of reading done during our few days in Saskatoon. It was lovely!

The kids (and Dave) liked getting rides in the back of the truck too. This day, Dad and Sam (but mostly Dad) replaced Sam's tree. When Rachel was born, my parents took Rachel's placenta back to Saskatoon with them. About a month later, we planted a tree for Rachel and buried her placenta. Mom and Dad also planted a tree for Sam and we planted a tree for my cousin's son who had died in utero a few months before Rachel was born. You can read about the tree planting here.
Unfortunately, Sam's original tree got sick so Mom and Dad had to pull it out. Sam got to help Opa plant another tree. 

So that wraps up the end of our trip -- good, mostly relaxing time at Mom and Dad's.

Now we've been home for a little over a month and I will start blogging about some other things. Thanks for sticking with all these trip recaps though!