This year instead of going to the Alpine Stables, we went riding with our friend Bruce Johnson. It was really fun to go some new places and as always it was wonderful. After the ride we had a picnic lunch in a grove of trees. Southern Alberta is so beautiful. We did have a little bit more excitement than usual. Crew's horse took off and he was yelling, "I don't think this is supposed to happen!" as he galloped pass. Luckily Bruce caught up to him on his horse and got control of the situation. At the top of this hill as we were looking out over the amazing landscape, Aaron's horse rolled over. He had to jump off so that he wasn't crushed. It was so strange. It was definitely more entertaining than trail riding in Waterton.
There's a nice easy little hike along the border that we took the kids on. This year, since Emma and Rex didn't come up, we had to find another little boy, Josh, for Crew to play with.
This year the border guards insisted on passports to cross into the States at Goats Haunt so instead of going on the hike to the swinging bridge and rainbow falls, we hung out at this outdoor lodge. Here's a silly face picture. We really do have a bunch of crazy kids.
Layla waved this little flag they were handing out the whole time the fireworks were going. She was so excited.
You may be wondering why Gracie wasn't with us. She went ahead to Canada with Papa, Gigi, and Karly. 
Here's a picture from Gracie's camera at the entrance to Waterton, where we stay every summer. Don't worry she didn't miss out on fireworks. There is this little town in Canada that has the most amazing fireworks show that I have ever seen called "Thunder in the Valley". You are right underneath them, it's so loud and they are raining down on you. Truly awesome! Definitely worth going to if you happen to be in southern Alberta mid July.
He even asked if I could take a picture of his hair to put on the blog. Kids now live in a totally different world.
Gracie has been taking a dance class and totally loving it. While we were waiting for her class professional picture session, she was warming up with some poses she thought the photographer might like. I had to get some snap shots of that. Her first dance recital is Saturday and she is so excited. She had me download the song so she can practice her dance at home. All the practice has paid off, during her class today she did very well. I am looking forward to her performance too.
Crew had to miss a lot of school toward the end of the year due to doctor appointments for his broken arm and he was really worried that he was going to fail 1st grade. It didn't help that we got a letter from the school discussing his absences. He was so relieved when he got his Certificate of Promotion. He also got an award for the Accelerated Reader program and "A" Honor Roll. I recorded the ceremony but I barely know how to use our camera so I can't put the little poem they recited or song they sung on the blog. You will just have to imagine how adorable it was. Way to go Cruzzer, you're in 2nd grade now!
Mrs Pike, Gracie, and Miss Sarah. They are such amazing teachers. They were so fabulous and did so many wonderful things with the kids throughout the year.
Our new graduate with the certificate to prove it. Layla could barely wait to get on the stage! We had to get a picture with the proud siblings too. 
Crew was intrigued by seeing the pins sticking out of his arm and he couldn't stop looking at them. I had to snap a few pictures on my phone; how often do you get to see pins sticking out of your child's arm? I am hoping this is the only time.
No surprise that at father and sons Crew caught a creature. That boy finds pets everywhere he goes. Aaron emailed this picture to me from his phone. This little pet toad didn't get a name though because he was only a pet for one night. I guess Crew has some pet protocols. 
Poor Layla has the worst bedhead that I have ever seen. These pictures just don't capture what a mess her hair is every morning. I hope that it is a bad hair phase that she will outgrow.
We went in to get Crew's cast on Tuesday but his bones had shifted and rotated. Dr. Yu, the orthopedic surgeon, was very surprised with this outcome. I guess I didn't keep Crew mellow enough, also apparently with the severity of Crew's break and the amount of swelling he had, it is common to have shifting. That is part of the reason we had to wait so long to get a cast. The rotation however is just a fluke. So once again we left the office with NO CAST! Instead we had an appointment for surgery. Dr. Yu made an incision on the inside of his wrist and moved the bones and put in some pins to hold the big bone in place (you would think by now I could remember which bone was the Radius and which was the Ulna, but I can't) . The little bone seemed to be stable enough that they didn't have to pin it at all. After the surgery he finally got a cast. They just put a cast right over the pins. He has been in some pain but doing pretty good. We have a follow up appointment May 19th where Dr. Yu will cut off this cast and look at the pins and then re-cast. I am hoping that the pins will come out then but that will only happen if Crew is a very fast healer so I guess we will see. I had no idea that a broken arm could be such a hassle
Crew's arm was too swollen to put a cast on so he had to have a splint instead. He ended up having the splint on for 2 1/2 weeks but now it is finally time to go in a get a real cast. I am excited for him to get a cast with more protection. It has been really stressful trying to limit his activity. Crew wants a green cast if not green then blue, if they are out of blue then red and if there isn't any red then yellow. He has everything all planned out.
Here is what his arm looked like when he tried to lay it flat on the exam table. There is something definitely wrong!
Here is one of the x-rays. That bottom bone had to be yanked back in place to meet up with the wrist and you can't really see from this picture how off center the top bone is. I was sure glad that Aaron was there for the resetting process since I couldn't even look at his wrist without feeling sick. Aaron is the emergency room parent. I don't know when I became so queazy, but I sure don't handle medical issues very well. Friday he will get his cast and hopefully things will only get better after that! Gigi took him to Target today to get him something to do with only one hand. He of course got a Lego set and is doing amazingly well putting it together with one hand. We also had to pick up some elastic waistband shorts. He can't button his pants with one hand and it's not cool when you're 7 to have your mom help you when you go to the bathroom.
I don't know what our obsession with Anderson Dairy is? Although, it might have something to do with their ice cream. While Daddy was golfing with Richard (which was probably the highlight of his trip) the rest of us headed to the dairy. Gracie has been so excited to take Grammy to Anderson Dairy because when Grammy was a little girl she lived on a farm and because we like the ice cream they give you. The tour was fun for the kids but getting their picture taken was not.
Here we are with the generators that create the hydro-electric power. It was amazing how many they had and how gigantic they were. Crew was so inspired that after we got home he built a replica out of Legos. It was pretty impressive until Layla, in one of her tantrums, destroyed it.
Crew was also pretty intrigued by the construction of the freeway overpass. Finally they are building a road across the canyon so traffic doesn't have to go over the dam. I can't tell you the number of hours we have waisted waiting in traffic crawling across the dam in only two lanes and stopping for pedestrians all the time. 
By the end of the trip though, we were all ready to go home. Thanks Dad! It was really amazing!
