waterton and A BEAR

We actually had quite a peaceful sleep in Osoyoos, took our time leaving and then headed out to complete our drive to finally meet up with Daddy. The boys were getting pretty squirrely and I knew it was because we had been away from Daddy for so long.

The drive went .... well.

We drove about 9 hours through the beautiful Okanogan. We stopped and got cherries. We talked. We looked at the beautiful scenery and .... Evan didn't sleep at all! I mean, nothing! Not one long blink!!!! He didn't cry either which was pretty awesome.

Landon was a different story. If he was awake he was SCREAMING!!!!! Crying, yelling insanely loud at his brother. He was as loud as loud can be. He wouldn't eat, and he really didn't sleep very much either.

The closer we got to Waterton the more deer we saw having a party on the road. We almost nailed 3 of them. Every time this happened, Evan thought it was the greatest and funniest thing ever. He kept asking for me to do it again :-) I tried really hard not to appease his desires since I wasn't a fan of the adrenaline that raced through my body after each close encounter.

I bowed out for a couple of hours to drive with my mom to Cardston where there was a reunion for my Dads side of the family. I went so I could visit with people but I felt like I needed to be with my kids at Justin's family reunion. I got lots of pictures (that I don't have) of my Grandma's siblings and visited with lots of other family. It was fun. Mom stayed for the full two days and met up with us after that reunion was over.

Waterton was great!!! I don't think I have ever experienced nicer weather in Waterton. It was beautiful. By far my favorite thing to do in Waterton are the natural waterfalls at Red Rock Canyon. With the weather being so nice it was even more amazing!

The last day in Waterton we went on a short hike. I will tell you now that I am very much an out of sight, out of mind girl. I hear about the bear encounters. I have a bear bell and I am more than a little paranoid about using it. Unfortunately I forgot to bring it on this hike. I just never, I repeat, NEVER want to see a bear unless it is at the zoo or from my car.

The hike was beautiful and we had a great time at Crandell lake. We turned around and at this point I didn't have any of my children. I was up ahead with my mom when I heard a very LOUD rustling in the bushes on the very small cliff to my left. I look up and see a black bear running. Do you know how freaky it is to see a bear that close, running???? I turned around soooo fast and ran the other direction. The problem was that we had to continue hiking in the direction that the bear was running. Can you imagine how annoying I was on the rest of the hike using my special clap and special bear call that a ranger taught me. I can't believe I saw a bear!