Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[PlutosRHM55]

Oh my gosh... I can't even... That photographer was sneaky, if only the fairy wings had shown up, those would've been pretty funny pictures, at least you got a little posing show happening and then more fairy wings later.

I was SO glad when Boston Rob finally won a survivor, they seemed to continue to bring him back, losing many times, when he finally wins. Go Rob!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great pictures of your trip to see your Dad. Wow, I would love to live there looking over that landscape every day.

My dad definitely lives in an ideal location, very scenic and the weather is great.

Seems like it took a while to get the speakers/video working since you took so many pictures of the sun setting

Well, you know me, where most people would be happy taking one picture I have to take 10. It did take awhile for them to figure out the speakers etc. Why do things have to be so complicated?

I'm afraid to find out how the trip to Banff went....

Not as terrible as you would suspect. I do tend to the dramatic though in my retellings where the step is concerned.

Too funny how the fairy wings didn't turn out It makes for some silly pictures.

Yep, I was disappointed they didn't turn up in the picture but it gave me a good laugh anyways.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Oh my gosh... I can't even... That photographer was sneaky, if only the fairy wings had shown up, those would've been pretty funny pictures, at least you got a little posing show happening and then more fairy wings later.

It was very funny as I had never heard of the Fairy Wings Magic Shot which meant Erich didn't know what he was posing for, made it even funnier.

I was SO glad when Boston Rob finally won a survivor, they seemed to continue to bring him back, losing many times, when he finally wins. Go Rob!

Can't wait to read more!

I was so happy when he finally won. I still believe that he and Amber were robbed of their Amazing Race win. Production manipulation! No way an airplane pulls back to a gate to let people board once it has pulled away, especially not in the post 9/11 world! I really shouldn't let myself get so worked up over a tv show.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I tell you, I learn new things every day. I had no idea that the photopass photographers will put fairy wings on you! I must not be very entertaining.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I tell you, I learn new things every day. I had no idea that the photopass photographers will put fairy wings on you! I must not be very entertaining.

It is all about finding the right photographer.

 

[Mysteria]

I tell you, I learn new things every day. I had no idea that the photopass photographers will put fairy wings on you! I must not be very entertaining.

I don't think I knew this either.

More great pics from your dad's place. Sorry you had to endure the stepmonster more than expected.

Don't feel bad for Rob and Amber. They have won what, 2 million? Plus whatever money paid from other sources for being reality celebs.

 

[marvali]

Hi Lessa! Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but when we got back from our trip it has been a whole lot of extra hours at work on a big project! Hope to get a little free time this weekend with the holiday, although I have on call duty at work so I may have to go in at any time!

Not completely caught up, but made it through most of your pics! Some wonderful shots as usual! Love all the special Pixar characters. We did Le Cellier for lunch this trip too. We also ended up getting pizza one night from Flippers!

Great pictures from Canada! Such beautiful scenery!

And I don't know why Jen was making a big deal out of those two dresses. That blue one looks a lot like what she wore the day we met at DHS!!! (j/k Jen!!!)

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Lessa. Erich is a hoot with his poses.

I love the fairy wing poses.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I don't think I knew this either.

More great pics from your dad's place. Sorry you had to endure the stepmonster more than expected.

Don't feel bad for Rob and Amber. They have won what, 2 million? Plus whatever money paid from other sources for being reality celebs.

I don't feel sorry for them, I just feel that they should have won that season of The Amazing Race. It was obvious production manipulation to get that plane to come back to the gate so that the last leg would be "interesting".

And I don't know why Jen was making a big deal out of those two dresses. That blue one looks a lot like what she wore the day we met at DHS!!! (j/k Jen!!!)

No worries! I know you have been busy and I will be too very soon! Classes start on Wednesday for me and my hospital shifts probably start next week as well so this TR will be slowling down a bit!

Great update, Lessa. Erich is a hoot with his poses.

I love the fairy wing poses.

You should have seen me laughing, I was crying I was laughing so hard.

 

[orangecats2]

I was also happy Rob finally won Survivor. Did you see who's coming back this season? I'm really excited about one of them. I won't say who in case you don't know yet and want to be surprised.

 

[All7OfUs]

Well, once again, I'm caught up with the boys shenanigans and some spectacular scenery in Canada! My hubby's family is from the Calgary area, and I've been on many an annual trek up through Banff and BC up through the Montana way. I've never seen such lovely places- wild and raw kind of. Lake Louise was always one of my favorite stops!

Your brothers are so nutty! Love it!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I was also happy Rob finally won Survivor. Did you see who's coming back this season? I'm really excited about one of them. I won't say who in case you don't know yet and want to be surprised.

I did see the news. I hope you are happy about O and not C! I can't stand C although C does provide ridiculous entertainment.

Well, once again, I'm caught up with the boys shenanigans and some spectacular scenery in Canada! My hubby's family is from the Calgary area, and I've been on many an annual trek up through Banff and BC up through the Montana way. I've never seen such lovely places- wild and raw kind of. Lake Louise was always one of my favorite stops!

Your brothers are so nutty! Love it!

I agree, I just love Banff! I don't know if I have ever been anywhere more naturally beautiful. I am lucky that Dad is only four hours away, hopefully he will take us back although some adjustments will need to be made if we camp again.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The Crazy Stepmother Chronicle: August 2011

Our second day in BC would be a hiking day, our first of the trip. Dad had scheduled us to go hiking in the Monashee Mountains, Pinnacle Lake Trail. The hike would take approximately 5 hours round trip and the drive is 2 hours each way.

We woke up around 6:30 and we were on the road around 7:30. Maria actually managed to find the highway this time, she is improving!

We didn't take The Beast, instead we took their older SUV so Alek, Erich and I were squished together in the back seat and Marcus rode behind us in the trunk.

Isn't that sweet?

Remember how I said above that Maria's navigational skills were improving? Well they hadn't improved that much. Dad repeatedly told her that she would need to turn off the highway onto the side road immediately after passing a certain cafe that is well known to them. Well, she drove right past it so she proceeded up the road a bit and then pulled a U-turn. She should have no trouble turning onto the side road now since she now knew exactly where it was, right? Nope! She drove right past it again! She turned around at the cafe and the third time was the charm and she managed to turn onto the side road. I felt like applauding.

The hike we would be going on is not in any sort of official provincial or national park. Instead it was created by people who live in the area. To get to it you have to drive up the mountain on a forest service road created by logging companies. These roads are not paved and are rather bumpy and are only big enough for one way traffic. Lucky us, there was a big logging truck on the road so we had to back up to a spot where we could get off the road and let the truck squeeze by us. Luckily that was our only encounter with a truck on the road.

We got to the trailhead and we were the only ones there, not surprising since it is probably not a very well-known hike.

Erich is ready to go!

I smeared my bug cream on (mosquitoes love me!) and we were off. The first part of the trail was not a whole lot of fun. It was very wet and muddy. I am not the most graceful person out there and I always managed to pick the wrong part of the path to step on and my feet got sucked down into the mud a few times. Luckily I was wearing hiking boots or my shoes would have been sucked right off when I extracted my feet from the mud!

The trees in the area were enormous! Couldn't fit the whole thing in the picture!

See the mud?

It didn't seem as though anybody from the Outdoors Club that Dad belongs to had been on the trail that year to clear it as it was very overgrown and there were several downed trees that we had to scramble over.

First picture of the step from this trip! Don't you just love her fashionable mosquito net hat? I shouldn't talk though, I don't wear the nicest stuff when hiking either but at least I take off the really ugly stuff for photos!

See where the snow is? That was our destination.

When we had started out that morning it had been sunny but as the hike progressed it got rather cloudy and cold. That is mountain weather for you, changes at the drop of a hat!

See Erich and Marcus?

Zoomed in

Waterfall in the distance, doesn't look very tall in the picture but we had to climb to the top of it.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Marcus was having a grand time running back and forth between us all. We were in bear country so we would randomly call out "Yo Bear!", Marcus would think we were calling him and would come running. You want to make noise when hiking to warn the bears that you are coming so that they are not startled. Sure it really decreases your chances of seeing one (good and bad, depends on how you look at it) but better safe than sorry! Side note: bear bells are useless, they are not loud enough to be effective, don't waste your money buying one if you go hiking in bear country.

Looking out over the valley we just crossed through

You can sort of see how far my legs sunk into the mud in this picture. My boots and the bottom of my pants were filthy. "Six inches deep in mud!" Anybody know the reference?

At the top of the waterfall, we followed the stream to Pinnacle Lake

We are there!

Unfortunately, the beautiful colour of the lake was not easily seen due to the cloud cover. Made the water look rather dark and dull in the pictures. It was also freezing cold up there. My teeth were chattering.

Somebody had fashioned a picnic table out of big rocks and fallen trees so we settled down for lunch.

Notice how Alek and Erich are wearing their matching shirts that they bought from the T-Rex Restaurant in WDW?

After we scarfed our food down (too chilly to have a leisurely lunch) we walked around the edge of the lake so that we could get to a little island.

In order to get to the island you had to cross a bunch of logs and sticks that were lying in the water.

Looks easy right? Not when you are clumsy like me!

I started to cross, my foot slipped and down I went! I was very lucky that I did not end up in the ice cold water. It hurt! My knees slammed down onto those logs and were sore for days afterwards. It took me several minutes to get back up. It was rather tricky getting back onto my feet without submerging myself in the lake. I eventually managed it and when I stood back up we saw that the brand new hiking pole that my Dad had bought me had broken in my fall, it was bent at an odd angle. I could still use it for the rest of the hike but it was pretty much trash after that. Dad, of course, being the loving father photographed the incident.

Looks fun right?

That ugly hat I am wearing is not mine by the way. It is Maria's, I only wore it to help protect my face as I didn't want to put sunscreen on it and breakout in hives like I did at Disney.

I was very relieved when I made it onto the island and I was not looking forward to crossing back over those logs.

The sun broke through the clouds for a few moments, hurray!

And then disappeared again

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

We spent maybe 45 minutes at the lake and then we started to make our way back down. Of course, on the hike back, after we left the lake, the sun made a permanent reappearance.

Alek, Erich and Marcus were playing around in the stream/waterfall and Alek slipped. Luckily he wasn't hurt but he did not come out unscathed.

On the way home from the hike we stopped at a farm as Maria wanted to buy some of their fresh cheese. I went into the little shop with her and sampled their gouda and I had to buy some too, it was delicious! I bought two large hunks of cheese. One was mild gouda and the other was gouda with chili pepper. The prices were very reasonable.

Once back at the house we all had to hurry to shower and change as we had to visit Grandma and then we had dinner reservations in Kelowna. Maria had picked the restaurant that night since it was her birthday.

I changed into a dress and my sparkly flip flops. When we saw grandma she asked if I had hiked in my outfit.

Dinner that night was at a little Mediterranean restaurant called Ricardo's. It was really nice! It is kinda pricey but the atmosphere is great and the food was wonderful. There was a live jazz band playing while we were there. They were very busy but the service was excellent and we were never rushed. I had gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce for my entree and then cannoli for dessert. Yum yum! If you are ever in Kelowna I recommend Ricardo's!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 16th

This was going to be a relaxing day. We did not have any set plans for most of the day. The only thing on the agenda was an evening at the Magic Kingdom.

We "slept in", meaning we probably woke up around maybe 8ish. The shuttle launch was scheduled for the morning. The day before we had briefly discussed the possibility of going to see the launch in person but it would have pretty much required that we spend the whole night camped out in the car out at Cape Canaveral, not very much fun. We decided that we would just try and see it from Orlando as we knew that on a clear day you can see it launch from a distance. Well, it was fairly overcast that morning and so I knew that there was no way we would be able to see it outside, Mom was not as convinced. So Mom headed outside while Alek, Erich and I stayed comfy cozy in bed in the room and watched the launch on tv. Guess who had the better view. Mom did meet a few other silly people outside hoping to catch a glimpse, they were all disappointed.

When Mom came back to the room we decided that we would head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to check it out as Alek and Erich had never been.

We arrived around 10am. Walking into the hotel Alek and Erich were not overawed. They said it was just like the Wilderness Lodge. I explained that both hotels were designed by the same person, they thought it lacked originality. Guess we won't be staying here with them in the future.

We wandered out past the pool to see what animals we would catch a glimpse of that morning.

What was the most exciting animal we saw? Baby ducks! I admit it, I am obsessed with baby ducks, they are too dang cute!

The ducks were hanging out with the angry flamingos. Anger seemed to be a theme at Animal Kingdom Lodge that morning. The animals were all picking fights with each other.

Video: Angry Birds: Animal Kingdom Edition

At least these guys were pretty chill

Awww!

I miss the green tinted pool, it looked so much nicer. I hate that they changed it to the standard blue.

More cuteness!

We made our way over to the main lookout and I witnessed some more angry birds! This guy was a big bully and kicked the other birds off the log.

Video:More Angry Birds at Animal Kingdom Lodge

We were disappointed that there were not many animals out, last time when Mom and I visited there were many more.

Since we had no set plans we(I) decided to go check out Kidani, maybe there would be more animals over there?

We entered on the far end of the building it seems as it felt like we walked for ages before we reached the lobby and the main lookout for Kidani. There seemed to be a lack of animals here as well.

Underwhelmed with our visit to both sections of the Animal Kingdom Lodge we made our way back to the car. Where would we spend the rest of the day before heading to Magic Kingdom?

[post=42513144]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[IheartDDuck]

Woah, that was a big update!

Your hiking trip looked great. It looks so beautiful. I did learn something new though. I need to remember that if I ever hike and there is danger of bears, all I need to yell is "yo, bear!"

How loving of your dad to take the picture of you on the logs. Sounds exactly like what my dad would do to me.

Too bad there weren't many animals out when you were exploring AKL. I've found that it's been hit or miss all of the times that I've been there. I guess it just depends on their mood.

 

[Mysteria]

What beautiful scenery on your hike! More power to you because I couldn't make that hike uphill anymore. I could probably barely make it downhill!

Love the angry bird videos. It was the same way for us last time we visited AKL.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

The scenery on your hike is gorgeous! I really want to go see Canada someday, hopefully I'll be going to Quebec this year with school And I must say, the best pictures have Marcus in them, he is such a cute dog

I actually think the animals you saw at AKL is the general amount of animals out there, though it looks like you didn't see any giraffe, so maybe that was what you missed :/ And I love the Angry Birds videos, especially with the Flamingos, they actually sounded like the ones from the game lol

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Moira222]

I might post about this trip here within this TR when we get back or I might create a thread on Canadian boards and provide you guys with the link. What do you think would be best?

i am late but vote that you just TR right here!!

The best part about the days we will be spending in Banff? The stepmonster won't be coming! Since we will be driving back with Aunt Mary there wouldn't be enough room in the car for her so she is staying home.

sounds like a great trip already!

We will be hiking trails in the Lake Louise and Moraine Lake region. I have been wanting to see these lakes in person for years.

Moraine Lake

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omg I painted that picture once - it is one of my favorite shots of Lake Moraine. I've never been there but just love that scene.

Your photos look so great. I was just thinking how much I have missed camping this summer (Disney in May sort of drained the budget) and then I saw your awesome photos. LOVED them, thanks for sharing.

back to reading but I had to post!