July 1st Festivites!!

So before I get into the July 1st festivities, I just have to record that we moved into Richard's grandparents house on June 24th. They went on a holiday and we were house sitting!! We stayed there till July 5th! It was a nice break from the trailer.

July 1st ended up on a Tuesday this year. So on Monday, Richard surprised us and announced that we were going to Waterton after breakfast! We were all surprised and excited to go! So away we went. It was a little chilly out but we had fun anyways! We stopped at Cameron Falls first and did the tiny hike up to the look out!

Richard and his girls by Cameron Falls!

Crazy picture of me, Brianna and Abbi by the Falls!

Love my crazy family!! The falls was a little loud, can ya tell!!

I finally got DJ in a picture. He kept running away from me, so I head locked him!! ha ha!

Then we walked around the townsite and the kids all got a lolly pop stick. Then we walked around the docks and beside the lake for a bit. The water was really high.

Aahh, a cute picture of Richard and I! Love that my kids can take decent pictures!

Our crazy kids with their lolly pop sticks!

By this time the kids were all getting hungry so we decided to go check out the new Hotdog store. We all got some yummy wieners for lunch. We got there just before the lunch rush. It was perfect timing. We were able to eat inside the warm building instead of outside on the picnic tables!

Yummy hotdogs and fries for lunch!

After lunch we drove up to Cameron Lake. We thought it would be fun to do the little hike halfway round the lake. We walked up to where the building were. We noticed there were a lot of people standing around. I looked and there was a bear about 10 feet away from me. Nobody said anything, it kind of startled me. So I quickly took a picture and backed away. Even though there were still people a lot closer to the bear. Crazy! The bear took off down the pathway that we wanted to go! Darn it!

There's the brown bear we saw. Crazy people, getting really close!

So we just went onto the dock and looked around. Then we went the opposite way and played around on the shore for a bit. The kids and Richard were getting brave and putting their feet in the freezing cold water! Brrrr!!

Cool picture of Richard and our kids at Cameron Lake.

Playing by the lake, Abbi being the only crazy one to go in!

Richard and I with Cadence coming in!! Ha ha!

Brianna showing us her big boat!

Cute Cadence!!

We decided that enough time went by so we slowly went down the path. We didn't go very far, just to the little bridge. Then we just looked around and took some pictures. It was a very relaxing and fun family trip to Waterton! On the way to our car we ran into my Uncle Scot and Aunt Angelica from Utah! It was fun to see them. They were with my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Ralph. Then we headed back to Cardston! Fun times!

Richard and DJ sitting on the bench by the bridge.

Me and my beautiful girls!

My handsome boy!!

Look we match!

Anyways, back to July 1st. We left there house at about 9 in the morning. All my kids were super excited for the day, and even more excited that they were wearing red and white!!

We went and watched the Raymond parade at my cousin, Rachel's house. It was perfect. Her house is right near the beginning of the parade. It was super crazy at how much candy was being thrown. My kids were in candy heaven. They had a blast waving and cheering at the floats and then running around like crazy getting candy.

DJ, Brianna and Cadence ready to race for some candy!

Brianna and DJ getting some candy!

There's our group. Abbi is crouched down in front of Uncle David!

At one point there was some older people beside us and they wanted to switch candies with my kids. So my kids went over there and they did a switch. Then every once in a while they would take some candy to them. It was really funny!

Brianna sharing her candy with the people beside us!

My kids showing off their huge loot!!! Crazy!

What a good looking bunch of Canadians! Grandma and Grandpa Paxman with some of their grandkids!

After the parade we went out to my parents house. We had all the Paxman's over at my parents house for a pot luck lunch. It was so fun to see people I haven't seen in a long time. I haven't seen my cousin, Jessica in quite a few years, and she was there with her fiancé. They are getting married on Aug 2th. Her kids are getting so big too! So fun to catch up!

People dishing us, out of my parents deck.

More people eating and visiting.

All my dad's brothers were there and 1 of his 2 sisters. We were just missing Aunt Dixie. So it was fun to see them all together. Of course we had to get a picture of all of them together. They all crack me up!!

Love this picture of my dad`s siblings!! So back row is Randy, dad, Reg, John, Gary. Then front row is Scott, Brenda and Lloyd! Dixie is missing.

After lunch and a lot of visiting most people packed up and left. A few stayed behind. Mike and his wife Lindsey showed up near the end. So they stayed for quite a while. My Uncle Lloyd stayed too. It was so fun to visit with him and tell stories and share laughs! So fun!!

Grandpa Paxman and Abbi relaxing in the garage.

Then we had a light supper and went into Raymond to go swimming at the pool. My cousin Ron rented it for the whole family. It was a blast. We had it from 6-7pm. The kids were in heaven. DJ even got brave and went down the slide a whole bunch of times!

Then we all got out and got dressed and went to the street fair that was right in front of the pool. We didn't stay super long. It was really busy so the kids picked a few games and we went and stood in line. My mom and dad were in charge of a booth and my kids all wanted to go to theirs. So we did that one last. Then we headed back out to the farm.

Richard and I with our kids! This is at the street fair!

Cadence playing a game.

DJ was a little tired and grumpy. He relaxed on his dad`s shoulder as we were waiting in line!

Now who`s looking happy!

Abbi doing Grandpa`s booth!

Cadence`s turn! It was so bright out!

Brianna`s turn to try to get the ball in the fish bowl.

DJ had fun trying too!

We just relaxed and had popcorn and a movie. All the kids really wanted to see the fire works. I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to stay awake. But they were all determined. But at least we had a few quite hours watching a movie. They all stayed awake too!

Happy kids on the way back out to the farm, eating their candy!

Everyone laying down and relaxing, watching a movie!

Then we headed into Raymond to my grandpa's house. He moved into Lethbridge in June, but his house hasn't sold yet. So we went and sat in his back yard. It's perfect for the fire works. We all got cozy with our blankets and waited till the fire works started.

Grandma with all my kids ready to watch the fire works. That big lump in the background is Megan and her boyfriend, Chris!! Ha ha!

They started with a bang!! All my kids loved it!! It was so fun to do with them. I love that they are getting older and we can do fun things like this!! So fun!

Yeah we loved watching the fire works!

After the fire works we took off for Cardston. The kids were all in their jammies already, so that was helpful. We told them that they needed to go to sleep. The first 10 mins of the ride they were so wild. DJ could not settle down, he would burp or do something funny and then start laughing, which would make all his sisters laugh. We told them everyone had to be quite. Then they all zonked!! We didn't get back to Cardston till midnight! It was a super long day, but so fun!

Oh my, such tired kids! I had to laugh at this picture! Brianna with her mouth wide open and Cadence still holding her candy!

Calaway Park and Color Me Rad!

So on the weekend of June 27 and 28th, I decided to drive up to Calgary Friday morning with all my kids. I entered the Paxman running team for the Color Me Rad race up in the Calgary on Sat, June 28th. We went up a day early so we could go to Calaway Park with Emily and her kids and Trayden, Mikah and Shaylee. They came down for the summer. We love doing things with them. Makes life so much easier!!

We stopped at COP (Calgary Olympic Park) on the way to Calaway. We went and got our race packets for the next day. Then off to Calaway we went!! Everyone was super excited. Our first stop was the famous Egg rides. We could all go on it!


Shaylee, Mary and Brianna riding in an egg together.

Cadence and I rode in an egg together!

We had fun going from ride to ride. DJ was super excited to go on the Carousel, and go on a horse. We had just watched Mary Poppins and that was his favorite park when they raced the horses!! He kept telling his horse to go faster!!

Cadence and DJ driving the boat around!!



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Everyone getting ready for it to go!

Abbi, Shaylee and Trayden on their horses.

Brianna, Mary, Emily and Evan all ready to go!

Cute DJ! He had a blast on his horse!

Trayden and Abbi went on the ride, Chaos! That's when I was so happy that Trayden was with us!! There's no way I would of survived that ride!! Abbi looked a little scared, but after she said she loved it!! Brave girl! We all sat and waited for them to go on it and watched them.

Trayden and Abbi ready to go on the crazy ride!

You can see Trayden and Abbi in the two middle seats. She was looking a little terrified by this point!!

Evan, Brianna and DJ in the cool sign!

Then we split up. Trayden and I took Brianna and Cadence on the roller coaster. We had to wait for quite a while. Then it was our turn. We were able to sit in the very front. Well Abbi and Trayden did and we sat right behind them. It took off, and we went around once. It comes to a short stop and then it goes again. The guy asks everyone if they are OK to go again. Well Brianna kept yelling, "I'm not OK, I'm NOT OK!!" Ha ha, he didn't hear her though. I asked Brianna if she could do it again. She said yes. So away we went. We came back and she was laughing. Such a change from the first time. She kept saying she loved it and would do it again. Of course Abbi loved it, my crazy girl!

Then we met up with the rest and just kept going on all the rides. I loved having the older kids, because I could just watch them go on the strawberry ride or any other twirly ride. So nice! We just let them keep going on rides. Everyone was excited to go on the big swings, but DJ and Evan didn't want to go. So I took the two boys on the truck ride right beside it. They both loved it. DJ went quite a few times on that one!

Riding the fun bouncy cars....even Shaylee liked it!! ha ha!

Cute picture of most of the kids lined up for a ride!

DJ flying the plane! He thought this ride was so fun!

The crazy needle ride!

If you look closely you can see all our kids screaming!!

Everyone else sitting and watching the kids on the needle ride.

Evan and DJ on the truck ride with me.

Cadence and DJ ready to drive their bumper cars.

Then it started to rain. So we went to go wait at the bumper cars. That one had the longest line. But all the kids wanted to do it. The bigger kids went on the bigger ones and I took DJ and Mary and Cadence to the smaller ones. Of course that was a huge hit!

Then we called it a day!! Because it was still raining. We were there all afternoon. We drove to a McDonalds with a play place and had supper there. It was perfect. We had a fun day! Then we went back to Cody and Em's and set up where we were all going to sleep. It was a huge slumber party!!

The next morning we got up and most of the adults got ready for the run. Mom and Dad came the night before and volunteered to stay at the house with the kids. That was a huge help. We got ready and took off for COP. We had to park at a train station and get on a shuttle bus to take us to COP. We were all excited and a little bit nervous.

We met up with Brent, Tiff, David, Jill, Megan, Chris and Keira there. We all got on our cool "Team Pacman" shirts! We had to take some before shots. Then we went over to the stage and did a little zumba to warm up. It was a lot of fun!!

Here we are in our nice clean team shirts. Then front is a picture of Pacman and the back says, "Team Pacman!!

Doing some awesome Zumba dancing before the race!!

Then our heat started at 11am. Away we went. The race was 5kms long. I ended up running it with Cody and Emily. It was a killer to run up the longest hill ever. But then easy going all the way down. But we made it. So much fun. We would run through different colored tunnels all the way through out the race. In those tunnels they would throw color bombs at us. We even got slapped with hands that were covered in paint!

Here comes Shaylee and Brent to the finish line!

Here is Emily and I racing to the end. I was very focused and wasn't looking anywhere!! ha ha!

Cody doing the Superman into the finish!!

Megan, so photogenic, coming into the finish!

The big group at the end. Love how colorful we look!

 

Me posing with the Rad poster!!

All us awesome girls...Emily, Me, Jill, Shaylee and Megan!

A cool selfie on the bus ride back to our cars! What a fun race!

We made it to the end!! Yeah! Then we each got a color bomb that we could throw at each other. It was a blast. So much fun to do with my family! So glad that I did it! Then we had to take some after pictures!! What a blast!