I enjoyed the scenery on the drive up. We went through a corner of Glacier National Park. I developed a new way to pass time: trying to take speeding pictures with my camera out the window as Sean zipped along and around corners at high speed. You never knew what the photo would turn out like.
Here is my favorite shot from the game... a train going along the east side of Glacier.
Sean and I went to the Cardston Temple together Saturday morning. Back in Raymond, Grandpa Brad took the kids to a community pancake breakfast, and on a walking tour of the Center of the Universe (as determined by Great Grandma Jane.)
That afternoon we enjoyed watching Sean's uncle Ron and other cousins play for the Walker Family softball team. Various families from the town formed teams and held a tournament over the weekend.
In the evening, we had a small family picnic at a nearby lake. Unfortunately there were no pictures of the fierce water fight battles in the lake afterwards. Asher said that was his favorite part of the Canada trip.
Sylvia made friends with a second cousin, Maira McMullin, from Edmonton. It was so fun to watch them playing together all weekend. Here is Great Grandma Jane (Walker) McMullin, age 91, with her two cutie girls after church.
We found the words to some of the old songs Grandma Jane's husband (Nolan) had made up 70 years ago. He played in a dance band when they first met. . The problem was, that we don't have the music, just the words. So, we got Brad and Grandma Jane to sing the melodies of a few songs. If I figure out how to load clips of video... I'll put it here.
Nola joined in, with tears, as she remembered her mom singing her the songs half a century ago when she was a little girl. This was my favorite time of the trip. It was like a look back in time. Grandma said Nolan would make up the songs at work, then sing them to her in bed at night. It was very romantic.
Another fun time was after Sunday dinner, we got Grandma talking about things like hanging up laundry properly, and singing Happy Birthday to President Hunter. I secretly turned on my camera, and got some fun video of it. Here is a shot where Brad is describing hanging up the laundry to freeze dry in the winter.
Sylvia enjoyed the attention her second cousin, Shay McMullin gave her. Shay is a great gymnast and cheerleader in Canada. She is showing Sylvia how to "Monkey Stand" here.
Sean's cousins, John and Spencer were at home (Ron and Mary-Roses's house) for the summer. They are so tall! Paul is 6' 6", so when they decided to join the gymnastic fun, it was pretty funny to watch. Here is Paul trying to get up on John's back for a piggy back ride.
I couldn't believe Shay had the muscles to hold a backbend with Sylvia sitting on her!
Shay taught her two cousins how to hold her in a cheerleading pose. It was a good thing the living room has a vaulted ceiling.
Jess McMullin (Sean's cousin) joined the boys in the kitchen to play test a new card game Sean has been working on, Deck of Thieves. Jess gave Sean some good feedback. But, they missed the gymnastic show going on in the front room!
Monday morning found everyone dressed in Canada colors and wearing stickers on their faces. Below is Hudson, Maira, and Sylvia McMullin, ready to get a lot of loot from the parade.
Ron and Mary-Rose's house is perfectly situated on the parade route, we had front row seats. The big boys had Shay spray paint their hair red and white... Asher wasn't quite ready for that level of patriotic expression.
We were only a small group of the all the distant cousins who put up chairs on the lawn for the parade. It was a Walker-relative-only front lawn... but it still filled up quickly. Chairs were set up two days in advance.
The parade was fun. I loved all the horses and carriages. In other parades I've been too, it has become just cars driving with a sign on the side. Raymond had clever floats, and lots of horses. It was fun to watch.
After the parade, the backyard filled up with hundreds of people, all claiming descent from Sean's Great-Great grandpa Walker. This has been going of for decades. There were several long tables with meat sandwiches, salads and desserts. There were several kiddy pools full of soda pop. The food was great, and it was fun to see Sean's extended family hugging and exclaiming over each other.
Uncle Ralph, Grandma Jane, Uncle Faye, and Aunt Mary shared the center tent. It was funny to see them yelling at each other to turn their hearing aids up. I had a good time listening to Uncle Ralph telling horse stories.
We were sad to leave, but felt richer for the trip. What a neat family to be married into. We definately hope to get back sooner in the future. I think it has been at least 10 years since we've been up for the 1st.
On the way home I found more scenic places to try high speed car photography with.
Beautiful scenery, great people... my favorite part of the trip so far.
2 comments:
Love it, great pictures. I may steal some of them, like the gymnastics ones, I didn't have my camera out that night. And I wish I had heard Grandma Jane and Brad singing Nolan's songs - I'd like to record that next time we're down.
We loved having you! and it's so fun to see your pics of the family dinner-- we never have time to take any! Love you lots! Come back soon!
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