27/52 Weeks

27/52
1. She loves sitting in the driver's seat.
2. Always the slowest, most thoughtful eater.
3. Camera ham.

Canada Day 2014

One of our favorite things to do on Canada Day is head to Banff. This year Jason was at work so I headed out with my parents, my sister and her family. We hiked Johnston Canyon, which is gorgeous no matter how busy it is. I was walking with my mom and the twins and the only time there wasn't a bunch of other people around a young, black bear came galloping out of the trees towards the river, just a couple of inches behind me. I was telling Jason the night before that I had never seen a bear in the wild, it pretty great.
After that we headed to the town site where the twins and I met up with my friends Adam, Amanda and their newborn Caitlin, she's such a doll. We stayed for the parade but just before it reached where we were sitting the twins wanted to go find my parents and the three of us didn't see any of it.
I'm sorry about the picture overload, it was just a perfect day.

We had lunch here, horrible right?

The sunset was spectacular.

25/52 Weeks

25/52
1. My run companion.
2. Playing in the rain.
3. Amaya LOVES native drumming and dancing. She is entranced every time.

Walks

One of the girls' favorite things to do is take Kona for a walk. They don't get to go every time, three children while walking a big dog is not fun on my own. Brin didn't get to go this time because she was in school and we just thought the twins needed to be tired out a bit.

There is a field a block over, like there is everywhere here, and they love to chase Kona and play hide and seek with him.

He really likes sticks.

A dreamboat and his dog. *sigh

24/52 Weeks

24/52
1. Waiting very impatiently to go fishing with Daddy.
2. Turned 4 this week. Wants to stay with me forever.
3. Turned 4 this week. Wants to leave me ASAP.

23/52 Weeks

23/52
1. She  has been waiting for the pool to open for months.
2. Audrey has discovered Harley Davidson love.
3. She is the female Brannan Stark.

Natural

On Sunday, just after my mom left from spending the weekend we decided it was time for Brin to try out her own little .22 rifle and her bow. My uncle bought my younger cousin a bow once and she never got into so Brin now has it.
It seems that my child is a natural when it comes to weapons. She can quickly hit her target, in the case of both her's and Jason's rifles, her shots always find their mark. The bow took her a whole four shots to get the hang of but she got it and LOVES it. She said she loves the bow better than the gun.

 These three were stuck near the trucks most of the time. They still had fun watching.

 Bones! We were on a friends land, they have cattle.

 Her .22 had some repairs done and this was the first time she tried it out since.

Brin is Amaya's hero right now.

Disclaimer: Yes, we have firearms in our house and yes our oldest is allowed to handle them. My husband takes great care to ensure that she treats these weapons with respect and handles them in a safe manner. At home they are locked away safely, unloaded, with trigger locks and all ammunition is stored in a separate safe. Our children never have access to these without supervision, even I can't get the keys to the safes.
We strongly believe that giving our children the knowledge, experience, caution and respect is key to them behaving responsibly around all types of weapons.