I love being in control- I think

Hockey season is well underway, I'm sure most of you know. I'm actually loving it this year because I'm the manager of JJ and Connor's team and that means I'm in control. I actually feel important and that I know whats going on around the hockey world. I think I'm going to end up being a lifer with this hockey thing, because I admit I'm a control freak:) SHHH don't tell my hubby I admited to that fault- is it a fault?? ;)

Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving here in canada, which just seems plain dumb to me.. That is the American coming out in my blood, I suppose. But the beginning of october is supposed to be about me and turning a year older. Anyhow- we celebrated the long weekend by heading to Calgary- just the 7 of us- our happy little family. I had a few things up my sleeve planned as surprises for my kids, but I must say I was more excited then the kids, I think. Anyhow, we stayed at a really nice hotel with a waterslide. The great part about this hotel is that the waterslide wasn't in a water park so it was just the perfect size and not any people there- we had it to ourselves most of the time! The room was perfect with enough areas to sleep! We arrived friday and the first thing we had to do was waterslide! After watersliding we all dressed and headed to RED LOBSTER- yum yum! I love that place! It was awesome and all the kids LOVED their sea food- I wish we had a Red Lobster here:(

I made reservation's at a farm to go on a pumpkin hunt saturday afternoon. So we spent the morning at IKEA! Loved it, but refrained from spending too much and buying too much- maybe because we only have an expedition and with all the kids, there is no way we could bring lots of loot home. The kids enjoyed themselves because Ikea has a killer play area that they're allowed to hang out in for an hour. After Ikea, we went and bought a really nice roof rack for the expedition- when I go shopping in the states I can bring more stuff back now! thank you JASON! Then it was off to our pumpkin hunt. I must admit it was a little chilly as the elevation is a bit higher then the city of Calgary itself. We were all a bit cold- but I still loved it. This is what I was looking forward to the most out of the whole trip. I think I enjoyed it WAY more then the kids, but hey, a moms got to get her kicks somehow!




After the pumpkin hunt we came back to our room for some more family fun! We all played a board game together. I can't tell you the last time that the 7 (okay 6 cause Karley isn't old enough) of us all sat down together and played a game! We loved it! It was SO SO SO fun. I hope we get to do more stuff like this together. My favorite part of the game was Connor trying so hard to look UP at his card and couldn't see it to save his life:)

On sunday we went to the ZOO! The kids have been asking us to go to the Calgary zoo for a long time now, and we finally did it. We didn't tell them where we were going. As we were driving on the highway Alyssa noticed a sign that said 'zoo' and right away knew where we headed! They we SO excited and it was so nice at the zoo. Again in the morning it was COLD (i even bought karkey a hat (touqe for you canadians) and some mits. Still her nose was RED! Anyhow- we so
enjoyed our time at the zoo. The great part is that there was hardly anyone there. We had so much space to play and look! And of course it was nice to let the kids have some freedom to enjoy the animals without being afraid of them getting lost. My fav. part of the Zoo was when the kids fed the ducks! I love the pics! Jameson had the most patience and the best duck come to him to eat out of his hand. He then got to teach the other kids how to be still and feed the ducks from their hands. For some reason the pics and the act of him teaching them simply melts my heart. I think the kids' favorite part was the dinosaurs. We saved that for last and although we were ready to go, the kids wanted to stay with the dino's the longest! Anyhow we had so much fun as a family and I HOPE HOPE HOPE we get to go more of this family stuff!















*** just a note for all you photographer people out there... I did NOPT edit these photo's- they are direstly out of the camera- so please go soft on your thoughts of their quality!!!!***