THE ROAD TRIP- An Essential guide to crossing it off your Bucket list.

A Road Trip is an experience that everyone has on their bucket list.  However surviving the summer road trip can be a challenge, The Russell's were able to experience the challenges and tribulations that a good old fashion road trip poses this June.  Here is a hind-sight is 20/20 guide for those families that will be braving the unforgettable experience that is "THE ROAD TRIP!"

STEP 1- SECURE TRANSPORTATION:
Our adventure started about 3 months ago when we bought our "new" truck.  Our vision was to have a nice family vehicle that would safely and comfortably transport us and our trailer.  For those who have seen our new transportation, I think you would agree our goal was achieved!  ;) 

STEP 2- ARRANGE ON-ROUTE ENTERTAINMENT:
This is a crucial component to any road trip, especially those that involve children.  Our family could not live with out Williams "Little TV".  The portable DVD player has put on many km's.  It ensures the happiness of our little family group.  The "little TV" is usually accompanied by many snacks, gallons of water, and usually some special treats (e.g. the coveted 'cars' Candy's!) that make an appearance during crucial moments through out the trip.

STEP 3- ARRANGE DESTINATIONS IN A ORGANIZED MANNER:
To ensure that maximum fun is had, try to arrange stops in a sequence that limits back tracking and detours.  We found a southern heading allowed us to maximize the time we had to visit with both sides of the family, our friends and minimized distance between stops.  So when we arrived in Drumheller at the DINOSAUR TRAIL campground, we were well rested and eager to start a new adventure.

STEP 4-VISITOR CENTERS=YOUR BEST FRIEND!
Its kinda stupid, I never realized how important and helpful Information or Visitor centers were until we travelled to New Zealand and I never really paid attention to the tourist services that Alberta/Canada had until this last trip.  We arrived in Drumheller and quickly found the Visitor Center at the site of the BIGGEST DINOSAUR in the world!  There was tonnes of free resources for attractions not only in Drumheller but for all of Alberta/Saskatchewan and even BC.  The worker at the information desk was super helpful and pointed us in the right direction to find a great campground, and maximize our time in DRUMHELLER.  We were also able to find great family friendly things to do for FREE!  Like the great free splash/spray park right near the Big Dinosaur!

William is a little upset...He really wanted the "little ball" at the souvenir shop

STEP 5-WEEKDAY CAMPING/ATTRACTION VISITING IS AWESOME!!
 Campgrounds are near empty! By camping Monday-Friday you have your choice of site and don't have to worry about disturbing others (or having others disturb you!)  We had a great site with absolutely no one around!  Except for maybe wildlife, like WILD TURKEYS! 

Visiting attractions like the ROYAL TYRELL MUSEUM when they first open is well worth the early wake up!  Especially if you have younger children (since your probably up early anyway!).  If you are doing your visiting during the school year an early visit popular attractions will help decrease the traffic/volume and allow you to see what  you want to with limited disturbance.  And although travelling with a small child doesn't allow you to see or "read" everything, William was able to run around and be excited about seeing the exhibits with out disturbing the other visitors. 

STEP 6- EXPECT DIFFICULTIES AND REMEMBER ONE DAY IT WILL BE HUMOROUS!:
In every family vacation there are times when you wish you could just go home!  Every family member either secretly or not so secretly wishes this at one point.  (Even a 2 year old!)  Recognizing these times and allowing your self to push past them is pivotal to the success of "The Road Trip".  Our trip was not immune to trials and tribulations.  It turns out that weaning a child off sippy cups (intentional) and his beloved blanket (accidental) while taking a FUN FAMILY vacation is not a great idea!  Needless to say we were not equipped to handle the baffling world of TEMPER TANTRUMS!
 
STEP 7- REMEMBER TO SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY THE SIGHTS!

Hiking and Biking are great because they allow you to get outside and enjoy the scenery!  Not to mention they can help augment the calorie intake that tends to increase significantly while on vacation!  The Russell's enjoyed lots and lots of scenery on our road trip!  We experienced the vast and... vast land called Saskatchewan.  Claydon Saskatchewan was the furthest south that the Russell's journeyed this trip.  And we defiantly enjoyed the contrast of landscape during our journey to celebrate the Marriage of our friends Brooke and Matthew.

The First tree we saw in Saskatchewan!  About 10minutes after entering the province.

Claydon Saskatchewan.  I did ask the happy couple if they were really getting married or just getting everyone one to drive out to the middle of no where to kill us!

The Post office.  The other buildings in "town" include, the run down old grocery store, this post office, a run down old house, a hall and lots of farm equipment.

STEP 8-KICK BACK AND HAVE FUN:

Road trips can become allot about the miles and less about the fun! Its important to kick back, take a breath and have fun! Give your self a day or two that is less about schedule's and time and more about eating, drinking and having fun! The Russell's mastered this step! Claydon

The Joy of children!  Can fall asleep anywhere, especially after eating only candy and running around like a crazy man during the entire reception.

Stetson, Chilling in the lake!

Hunter and William hanging out and chowing down.

Crossing off a "FAMILY ROAD TRIP" from your bucket list is very rewarding.  Keep the previous steps in mind and although the definition of "successful" may differ depending on the family, you too can enjoy the tradition of the "Road Trip"!

CANT TURN YOUR BACK FOR A MINUTE.... Just a couple pictures to round off the summer so far!

Happy Canada Day!

This is all from my GARDEN!!!

Summer is Here

Hey everyone!!!

As I'm sure you figured out SUMMER IS HERE!!!! And with summer comes busy days, BBQ nights and lots of FUN!  Unfortunately its a short season in this part of the country!!  Therefore I will just warn you that I may not write many blogs over the next few months, as I attempt to squeeze every ounce of summer out of June, July and August!!!

As a quick up date we are all doing well.  William and Clayton's Farmer tan's are coming along nicely, Mine is not quite started, but should be coming along nicely by the end of the June.  We have been busy busy in the yard.  We undertook a big project and made a garden along the back fence in May, which took a lot of evenings to dig out the countless large rocks and clay to make room for 'growing soil'!!!  Now that all the planting is done we just have to watch it grow!!! And pick weeds!!!  we have already taken the trailer out 2 times and are looking forward to a few more camping trips this summer!

Ill end this short blog entry with a couple pictures of our yard, I'm pretty happy with how things are looking right now!  Just have a couple bags of mulch to spread and a couple other things to do this week!
Hope everyone has a GREAT SUMMER!!!

 Looking kinda straggly right now, Started some of these from seed and they still are kinda sickly looking.

 My 6$ find!  Love it!

 Doesn't look all that wonderful now, but have tonnes of tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce and carrots planted!!!  Actually this is a very bad picture... It looks much better then this in real life!!! lol

 Calla Lily's!!! so pretty, started Sweet peas from seed around the lily, still super small!  The other two pots have strawberry plants.

 All my perennials came up nicely!  And check out my 2 new hanging pots!  I heart these cone shaped pots!!!

My $10 find!!!(2 planters for 4.79 each!) A quick project to add something different to the front door!  I really like the way this turned out!

CANT TURN YOUR BACK FOR A MINUTE!!!

 He was out playing in the dirt.



When we were camping last weekend, William and Tessa chilling out!

One Wedding and the Disaster

I'm not sure if you all know that I'm a hopeless romantic.  Well maybe not HOPELESS.  I don't really follow the Royal Family.  I have loosely followed Prince William's shenanigans over the years, (like most women my age); I will admit to have some "ideas" regarding meeting Dear Wills and capturing his heart with my 'carefree' attitude and realistic ideals.  However it seems it was not meant to be, our paths never crossed and now he is a married man. (SIGH)

Although I had to tend to a minor fracture to my fragile heart I had to watch the royal wedding and ensure that my Dear Prince William married well.  My wonderful cousin Teal traveled the 5hrs with her two kids to celebrate this historic occasion with me and William.  So we put together a "Traditional" English day to ensure that the momentous occasion was celebrated properly. 

It started with DECORATIONS!  What is a wedding celebration with out some decorations?

Wedding Bells

They boys helped decorate. 

Stetson helped too... Even though it looks like he just decorated him self HAHA

More Bells!

As with most Weddings there was some ups and downs.  2 weeks after the day I have still not been able to classify this next event as an 'up' or 'down'.

My friend Heather, (whom Teal and I both know from our elementary school days) lives in Whitecourt.  It is actually pretty crazy that we both ended up living in this small town at the same time!  Anyway she came over to have a couple drinks the night of the wedding.  Our intentions were pure... A couple drinks after the kids went to bed, make it an early night because we had a big day of festivities planned for the next day and the PVR was set to record the Royal Wedding which was on LIVE at 430am.  Well the next series of photos will explain what happened....

Heather... The turning point in my mind was around 1030 when Heather turned to me after we finished Bottle one of Wine and said "So are we going to do this?"

We finished the wine and started on the beer... the beer was all gone by the AM too...

Not sure what time this was taken at... Some were between when we tried on my wedding dress and when Prince William arrived at the Church.

The Script we wrote Heather for her to call in sick to work... It took about 3 hrs for her to get the guts up to call... We are still unsure why we had to call at 3am and not just wait until we got up the next morning... She didn't have to work until 8am.

About 3am... shortly after she called in sick to work.

Proof that we were up at the beginning of the wedding!

The suspense... Waiting to see Kate and the "dress"!  I shed some tears.  In the end we watched the first part of the wedding ceremony LIVE.  And went to bed around 5am.  Hunter (Teal's 2yr old) was up at 530). 

Needless to say we had a rough morning.  I wont go in to specifics as it was a very difficult day.  But we survived.  And we were able to do the special things to make the Royal wedding a celebration.

The Morning... And getting ready for our Traditional ENGLISH BREAKFAST

Our Breakfast... Sausage, Beans, Fried Toast and tomatoes and fruit.  As you can see the traditional dishes were a hit. 

After watching the rest of the wedding, a walk to the park and NAPS!!! We had a Traditional ENGLISH TEA with my good china and fancy table cloth!  The menu included mini Beef Wellingtons, and a ham appetizer, Cucumber sandwiches, fruit, scones, shortbread, and TEA of course!

Stetson is such a good eater!

Our Wedding cupcake tribute to the Married couple.   Note the blue sprinkles, my tribute to 'Princess Kate's" sapphire engagement ring.

 In the end It was a great couple days! I think that the kids enjoyed them self and even though they may think that we were crazy for having a party for a wedding we weren't even invited to. 
I'm in love with Prince William and Catherine The Duchess of Cambridge.  I watched the wedding about 3 times and cried each time.  I am so happy for the couple.  The wedding was so intimate even with the spectacle that it was.  I loved seeing the intimacy between the bride and groom.  And really in the end Prince William ended up with the perfect match.  Kate Middleton is just like me, just skinnier, prettier and richer... oh and of course now she is ROYAL!  LOL!


CANT TURN YOUR BACK FOR A MINUTE...  I'm considering writing a book on this topic.  So from here out I think I will be copyrighting these segments. 

Permanent Sharpie Marker.... Art work courtesy of William Alan Russell

1 Hysterical phone call to my Husband, several tears, lots of yelling and 3 hrs of cleaning later...

It looks pretty good here, but you can still see light blue and pink lines in the carpet.

3 bottles of Nail polish remover and the "little green Carpet spot cleaner".  I could have used one or two more bottles of nail remover.

Williams still has hints of his "beard"