The Keyes!: 2017 Keyes Summer Vacation

Well, another year and another summer vacation. Guess where we went? You guessed it, ALBERTA! (what a surprise ;)

Before I made the annual pilgrimage to Alberta I got to see the solar eclipse. We had up to 90% coverage in Coeur d'Alene. It was hard to photograph without professional gear, but here you can see the eclipse (the big bright light is actually lens flare)

The kids loved playing in grandma and grandpa Bullock's sand box

Nixon is way more confident in the water now. Look at him strutting around like he owns the place

They even dropped him off the diving board

And he has no problem going under water

Kim and her parents took the kids down to pot hole creek to play around. Grandpa made the kids little wood boats to race around

They saw some horses

It was really muddy and Lyza lost one of her flip flops in the mud

The kids got to go on an ice cream date with grandpa and grandma

Farmers (and people who live on farms) are the happiest people around. Even their gardens wear smiles.

Nixon fell in love with corn on the cob

Before I left I made pickles with a bunch of our garden cucumbers. Kim had me do a video call so she could supervise (yes, she does look concerned)

Kim picked me up in Missoula and we drove back together over Logan's Pass

I was so exited to see these kids when we made it to Welling!

In the morning Uncle Tim was driving this big truck around and following the combines that were harvesting barley. Nixon and I jumped in and had a great time watching the action

Nixon LOVES being on the farm. He is so interested in the machinery

Mason got to watch some videos with Grandma

Nothing better than help from a princess when you are trying to can peaches

We celebrated Kim's birthday in Welling with the help of the All American Chocolate Cake

This is the Raymond pool that the kids did their swimming lessons at

After the second to last lesson I took Nixon to the pool in the afternoon just to have fun. While we were there he decided that he could go on the water slide all by himself as long as I caught him at the bottom. He did it over, and over, and over.

On the last day of swimming lessons their class went on the same water slide and he went all by himself

They also had fun playing games

After swimming lessons it was off to Edmonton. We got to my parents' house and ate and caught up

I know this picture is silly but Nixon loves this Spider Man hoodie

Mason and Grandpa Keyes

Reading Nixon's new Spider Man book

When we got to Wes and Joanne's house the kids loved playing with new toys, especially Lyza playing with the little pet shop toys

The next morning was off to Ikea for breakfast, which I think is now officially a tradition

Playing on silly furniture

Peek a boo

Kim and I had an afternoon without kids and had a date at the Edmonton Fringe Festival

We had to get some poutine

We saw some performers and acrobats

We had lots of fun and it was nice to relive old memories

Almost exactly 10 years before I took Kim to the Fringe on her birthday for our first date (I only wear grey stripes to the Fringe)

That same evening we took fake engagement photos (photo credit goes to Mark Stringham who less than three months later took our real engagement photos)