Crazy Busy...But Fun....!

To say we've been busy is an understatement.  Not blogging is only due to the pressures on our time.  It  has been fun visiting with everyone but like all the fun stuff, it too comes to an end and it is time to think about heading back for home.

St. Paul, Alberta - 1967 Centennial Landing Pad

St. Paul, Alberta is the town I grew up in.  I have two siblings who still call this area home.  As previous blogs stated, Jeanette' s mom still lives near the St. Paul area.  In fact, her facility is only 30 minutes south of St. Paul in the little town of Two Hills, Alberta.  My mother in law lives in the long term care facility there.  It is - in our opinion - a first class facility.  Mary is very happy being there.  She is well respected and very well cared for.

We had to move over for several large and wide loads heading for the oil fields of Fort McMurray in north eastern Alberta.

We had two objectives  with this trip: one was to spend some time visiting with our grandson, Owen, and the other was to celebrate Mary's 87th birthday.  We did both with gusto.  We also got to visit our respective siblings.  What fun!

Mary is accepting some congratulatory wishes from her friends.  On the telephone, several called to wish her a very special happy birthday.  Hey, 87 years is something to celebrate!

A calm North Saskatchewan River meandering through farming country in central Alberta.

My sister, Paulette, invited us for a special Friday evening dinner celebration to congratulate her grand daughter on her most recent engagement.  Shania was the guest of honor....and, sadly, her partner, Cory, was busy working.  We celebrated with gusto but.....silly us....we were so busy enjoying the dinner and festivities that our camera sat idle.

My sister Paulette and her husband Rick's farm home in Lake Bellevue country.

When we did arrive on the Friday evening though, Jeanette did capture the photo below, before the celebration began.

L-R  Shania's brother, Brenden, me, Brenden's girlfriend, Juliana, and my sister, Paulette.

My mother in law wished to visit this little country church on Saturday past.  So, that's what we did.

We toured the country side where Mary grew up and where she and her husband farmed for so many years.  She enjoys the drives and we do too. 

Leaving there though, I noticed what I thought was a small white rock in my front passenger tire but, sadly, it was a small white metal lag screw.  Sheesh!  Thinking it might be short, I tried to remove it and, when doing so, I heard air escaping.  I quickly tightened it up.  We drove back to town and the only local tire shop was closed.  Aaargh!  I called St. Paul and my brother worked the phones to discover that one tire shop was open all day Saturday.  He passed on the telephone number and, following my call, the tire shop agreed to take me in as their very last long weekend client.  

Dropping Jeanette and her mom back at the long term care facility, I drove the 30 minutes to St. Paul to have the tire repaired.  Jeanette's sister and brother in law offered to collect Jeanette and we then met at her sister's home on the farm for a family dinner.

When in Algodones, Mexico, Jeanette picked up this little rusty road runner for her sister, Darlene's garden. 

Darlene was thrilled with he little road runner and is looking forward to finding a suitable place to put it in her garden.

Three of the four sisters with their mom for the Sunday 87th birthday celebration.

Jeanette, sisters Darlene and Deb, wishing their mom a happy 87th birthday when she arrived at Tom and Darlene's farm this past Sunday.

Four almost alike combines await the anticipated fall work when harvest happens in earnest.

Tom and Darlene were exceptional hosts.  An outdoor barbecue was offered up and the Traeger smoker was put into action to cook up the burgers, hot dogs, veggies and more.  Although the smoker does require more cooking time, it sure keeps the flavours and tenderness.  We ate like kings and queens.....knights and princesses too.

Darlene is checking to make sure the boys are looking after things.

L-R  Tom with Bob:  Although Tom was hosting, he was busy with farm work too and kept running away from the festivities to check out the seeding, rolling, cultivating and more.  He took Sunday of - sort of - but he did have friends manning the heavy farming equipment.  Brother in law, Bob (Deb's husband - from Calgary) managed the barbecue detail and rewarded us with some fine food fare.

L-R  Our son, Deni, me (with our grandson Owen), Bob

Deni, Courtney and Owen made the two hour drive from Edmonton to attend Mary's birthday.  They also brought the other sister, Georgina, out with them.  She lives in Edmonton.

Four generations:  Baby Owen, Jeanette, Mary and Deni

Of course, many photos were taken with Mary and respective familes.  Ours is featured in the photo below.  Missing in action though is our daughter, Ginette, husband Trevor and their two kids, Easton and baby Brie.  They had to stay back home in Langley, BC.

L-R  Owen, Jeanette, Deni, Courtney, me and Mary (seated) with her special birthday cake.

Deni, Courtney and Owen left shortly after dinner back for Edmonton.  We were staying later and offered to drive Georgina back to the city.  We were driving back there on Sunday evening, so it was not out of our way to offer up the ride.

All four sisters with their mom:  L-R  Georgina, Deb, Jeanette, Darlene with Mary (seated) and the special birthday cake.

We also chose to take a few family photos too......!

This photo with Owen, Courtney and Deni turned out quite nice......!

Before leaving for Edmonton, Deni had Owen say his bye byes.....and great grand mother, Mary, relished the special play time.  Owen just smiled and enjoyed the finger tugging.

One last photo with Baba Mary before Deni, Courtney and Owen headed out.

We all got to say good bye to our little man.  We would see Deni and Courtney much later in the evening with our planned arrival at their Edmonton home.

Getting the bye bye wave as Deni, Courtney and Owen drove off.

It was a fun five days of visiting with Jeanette's mom, my siblings and hers too.  We enjoyed every moment. But it was back to some reality today (Monday) when Deni and I had a full day of planned work related projects to tackle.  Following a hearty breakfast, he and I loaded the required tools and off we went to complete the planned tasks, at our rental properties, here in Edmonton.  It was a full day....but it sure went by fast.  We did complete every task we had set out to do.  Yeah to that!

Back at Deni/Courtney's home, we enjoyed a lovely barbecue and are settled in for the evening.  Tomorrow morning - after Deni leaves for work and we get to cuddle with Owen for a bit - we will leave Edmonton for our drive back to Langley, BC on the BC west coast.

We'll be back in Edmonton next month but, for now, it's back home to our routines.

That's it from Alberta for now.

Thanks for dropping in.