What a way to end it!

 The first couple of days of quadding were awesome.  We were tired so we woke up later the third day and we decided to just go quadding where we were.  We were going to drive by Coleman and go where it was more rocky....that ended up being a huge mistake!

 Mud, Mud and More Mud!  Spring time in the mountains. (July)  We should have turned back when we could but of course we kept thinking it would get better after the next mud hole!  If you look at the above pictures you can see how the day went.  Sean would go first and test it out.  If he made it through he walked back and we each went through one by one. 

 We went down lots of trails.  They were narrow and this one was very steep!  I mean VERY Steep.  Sean stood at the spot we had to turn and pushed on our quads to make sure they made the corner rather than plunging down the steep cut line below!  It was so steep that you see the top of the hill here and then the bottom (above) the rest was straight down! ( this hill was probably a 1/8 of a mile staight down. The picture really doesn't show it!)  I was too scared to do it, so I walked and Sean drove my quad through.  This became the pattern of the day!

After we did that one, I said I never want to do that again and I would never try to go up that it was so steep....stay tuned...foreshadowing of story here!

 driving my quad on the cliff curb!

 After we white knuckled that part, we decided we needed a break and some lunch.  Some guys drove past us as we were dining.  As we waited there, I could hear the guys ahead and I could hear they were stuck.  So off to the rescue we go with our winches ready to go!  Winches not Wenches!  lol

 This is what we found!  A great big mess! There is no lake here by the way, this is the path and the only path further in!  Well, we pushed and pulled them out.  Moved the bridge over and then one by one we have to try and get over through this mess!  The one guy is wearing hip waders as he is going fishing. That was handy!  I think the picture of Sam putting the stick in to see how deep the pond is so funny!  See the size of the stick?

 Grandpa and Sean both love to solve a problem, so everyone was in there pushing us through!  It was still early enough in the day that we thought it was fun at this point!  I am starting to get a bit frustrated though.

 London almost went over here!  eek

 The wolf's turn.  It had to be centered perfectly or it would have gone off.  Good driving Grandpa!

 OK, NOW it is getting not fun for some of us.  Sean is still thinking this is an adventure.  It was one mud puddle after another the deeper in we went.  We would just get through one and then travel 1 minute and there was another set!  Mine is the biggest so it went through first on lots or had to go through to rescue Sean's because mine has a winch.  Look how deep the water is.  You don't know that until you start driving!  This one was crazy deep and it was a real challenge to get it out and us through.

 This mud puddle was special!  All three quads got stuck.  London rolled hers and it was leaking out gas.  I have to pause here to try to bring you to understand my frustration level.  It is now getting late.  We don't really know where we are.  I hadn't been putting way points on my GPS because I am an idiot!!!   We have now done 40 of these puddles...no word of a lie.  We went down a goat trail that was so narrow we were all scratched up and there was no way to turn around.  I was fearful that we would have to turn back.  I am scared.  Sean would go ahead and drive for 10 minutes or so while we waited and come back and say that way is impassible we have to turn back.  Only to do it again and say the same thing.  We were now trapped in my mind.  Sean, to this day, will say he wasn't lost or worried but we were and I was!

 At the end of this, a terrible accident happened.  Dad's Wolf rolled and he wasn't wearing a seat belt which may have been a good thing in this case.  But he was trapped kind of underneath beside the quad.  Sean is trying to lift it up.  We were all trying to pull dad out.  We (the girls) are all crying thinking Grandpa is dead (almost!)  then the worst happens. It starts pouring out gas and we are still miles from home so:

1) we could have a fire and burn up dad

2) it will pour all the gas out and he will be stranded as we didn't bring extra gas!

It was terrifying.  We all were praying for a miracle.  We got dad out, but still had to quickly right the quad.  London was trying to winch it up while laying on her side and it was to heavy for us to lift it.  We tied the winch to a tree and wounded grandpa (my hero!)  jumped on the one side like a gymnast and hanging on and leaning his weight to one side with the help of the winch we got it up and over.  He hurt his hand and so luckily we had a first aid kit and got him fixed up.  Good thing he was wearing a helmet. He really banged his head.    We had no choice but to keep going.  We ended up back at the horrible steep hill I told you about that I was terrified of.  Sean said we had no choice we had to go up it. All other ways were impassible.  I cried, he drove...we finally made it out.

We were all soaked, the sun was going down and we were cold and muddy.  Here is London showing off her mud.  She was amazing too.  She did everything her dad would yell at her to do.  She was the one in the mud with him pulling everyone else out.  I just looked on and stressed out.  Dad went into a little bit of shock, I think. He was so cold and just couldn't warm up.  I was so worried that we almost killed him.  He is such a trooper and is an amazing man.  I don't know if we will convince him to come again.   We made it and I was grateful to Heavenly Father for guiding us out.  I was so happy to see camp.  We were suppose to stay another day and stay for Thunder in the Valley but we were too shaken up (some of us) so we decided we better get everyone home.

Special note:  Sean is amazing and was so patient helping us all out.  Thanks honey!

Brrrr...frizz

 Lunch time!  Usually I have the cooler strapped to the front of my quad.  I am so glad that dad's Wolf was along I didn't have to pack anything.  It has a trunk in the back.  I love eating out of doors.  Everything just tastes better for some reason.

 This is at our campsite.  If you follow this little path it takes you down to the river.  The girls wanted to go down and check out the water and maybe take a swim.  It was to cold for this chicken but I went along to watch.

 Do you see what I see?  Sam spotted this right away!

 Built right into the wall was a nest full of these little birds.  Aren't they amazing.  They look just like rock!  The girls touched them so that I could see them move.  They were blended in so well to the wall even when you were right there it was hard to spot them.

 If you click on the picture they get bigger.  Here is momma and daddy they were a bit worried about us being so close to their babies.  Anyone know what kind of birds these are?

 There was this awesome little spot carved out from the river it was a little pool.  I wanted them to duck all the way in.  It was pretty cold so I ended up having to pay them to do it.  I remember my mom would always pay a loonie if you would go into the water when it was freezing.  I guess we are all motivated by some money!  Inflation is killing me it cost me $5!

 They jumped off this rock into the river.  It was moving really fast so I was a bit stressed.  London is a really strong swimmer but it is still scary in a river. 

 ready set go!

 Brrrr.....she got out of there fast!

 I told you I would do it!

 Sam took some convincing but she jumped into the shallow water.

All in all it was a really fun afternoon especially as I didn't have to get wet.

Let the Adventure begin

The first day we arrived and set up camp then went for a little quad ride.  The next morning after a big breakfast we were off to the mountains.  We took a trail that would have taken us all the way to Waterton.  It was a great trail with beautiful views!  It wasn't to hard and the road wasn't to muddy.  We traveled almost as far as we could go.  I am not sure how many miles?

I love the above picture.  Sean is helping me across a little stream and London is pointing where I should step.  My family really thinks I need taking care of and I am spoiled all around.

The terrain went from rocky to muddy.  London is a very good quader like her dad.  She doesn't seem to be scared of anything and has the skills needed to ride on difficult terrain.  I on the other hand have a big tank of a quad that goes anywhere but it is like driving a tank.  Plus I have another person on the back so it is way harder to maneuver.  London spent most of her time looking back and checking that Grandpa and I are still coming.

The quad train.

My sweetheart!  I never can get enough flowers!  This spring was really rainy so the wild flowers were beautiful up in the mountains.

Three days quading and these are the only wildlife we saw!  A butterfly and some cows!  I swear I heard a bear once though! 

Look at those muscles!

 While we were riding we came across a camp that must be a hunters or fisherman's camp.  They just throw a tarp over and they are set.  It was right by the river so we stopped for a little break and to take a tour.  They have it set up really well! 

 London has always loved rocks since she was a little kid.  It never failed on laundry day each little pair of pants had rocks in the pockets.  She found a cool rock that looks like and arrow!  Everything is looking up!

 Stream and river crossings are my favorite thing to do!  I just love them.  It was a beautiful day not to warm but not cold either.  You had to wear a hoodie to keep the chill off.

 Two cute girls we found on the trail.

 Grandpa was the keeper of toilet paper.  I love this picture.  He is teasing them that they can only have 3 squares.  If you look in the tree's you can see them finding their bathroom spot!  Boys have it so much easier than girls!  London would never go very far into the bush as she is scared of....I don't know what.  But she is a big chicken!

 The trail got a little dicey in spots.  This is Sam getting a little bit nervous.  What did she get herself into?

 Grandpa is A- OK!  Dad's hip has been really bothering him so we were worried that this would be too much for him but he was amazing!  I can't believe that at his age he is still going and going.  I am so proud!

Look at these beautiful views.  I am always way behind as I have to soak in everything.  The mountains are so beautiful.



The Start of Summer Quadding

Well right after Quest we came home, Sam moved in we packed up and we went on our annual quad adventure to Beaver Mines area. We drove and drove looking for a new place to camp but ended up with our old site as it was the best and is close to the river.

Here is the cast of this trip!

Grandpa Geezer...the Lone wolf

Samantha, Sammie also know as Sam. She is the newbie

London, Kiddo, Boo and Lonnie lue-00. She is the laugh maker

Sean the axe man! hee hee

Blossom the scrounger and guard dog (so scary!)

Big momma or the fun spoiler. I worry about safety. Yup London and Sean kept picking wild flowers for me so I put them in the zipper for safe keeping!

This is the place! Here is our annual camp site. We bought a folding picnic table and I love it! I love eating right by the river and listening to it all night.

The Beast! This is our awesome motor home! We love it she is an old girl. We love the growl of the beast engine. One night it rained and of course she leaked! So Sean had to sleep in the girls bunk and the three of us slept in the back. Before we could go the water heater had broken over the winter so we had to replace that $400 and then it ruined the wood floor so Sean had to put in a new one. She is really starting to cost us money so we may have to replace her.

*** Note to Sean I may be getting old, I know I leak and I growl but please don't replace me for a younger better model! Thanks

Here are our rides....waiting patiently to go see the mountains.

I have tons more pictures to share and scary adventure stories. I will add more tomorrow.

I'm back bigger than ever!

I hope everyone's summer was great! Mine was good/stressful and full of adjustments. Good memories were made and I have billions of posts to catch up on, so keep watching.

I need to vent today, so I will use my blog . I was going to vent on Facebook, but it spit it out before I could publish. It may be a good thing. I know that many people don't take the time to come to my blog and read it and my truer friends are found here.

Well, I just packed up all my clothes that I bought when I lost weight. They kept mocking me everyday and every pound I have put on, so I decided I needed to pack them up to be opened at a later date. That is a very depressing way to start the day!

It is hard to live in a world that values the outside of a person the most. It is a proven fact that fat people don't advance in jobs as easily, have lower pay and often are invisible or thought of with disgust! I have always struggled with my weight. I was so happy to be successful in taking off 70 pounds and keeping it off for over 2 years. The move and change in my life made it very difficult for me to cope without my need for food. I got out of the habits I had worked so hard to create, like the gym. It sure goes on quicker than it came off.

I hate seeing people I haven't seen for a long time as they get this look of disappointment, shock and pity. Fat people are looked on as weak. Those people are so wrong. It takes a lot of strength to carry on showing our weakness on the outside. I need to gather up the strength to start again, but to be honest I know how hard it was to get it off and even harder to keep it off. It is way harder the 2nd time around. I really don't know if I can gather the strength to start all over again. It eats up every hour of every day. I will start and will welcome the day when I can pull out those clothes again. I hope it is soon so the style stays the same!

Happier posts to follow, I promise

Crazy life!

Just a quick note to let you know I am here! This last month has been crazy! I was privileged to work at quest with the most amazing people ever but If you have worked on Quest before you know it eats up every minute of your life. In the end it is all worth it but it has been tiring.

That and the day we got home from quest Samantha moved in. It has been a week today and it has been great....mostly. It is an adjustment to have a bouncy hyper overly distracted talkative 12 year old come into your life. It make it interesting for sure! She is a beautiful girl and loves the animals and seems to be fitting in OK. London is struggling a bit this week....feeling a little pushed aside and maybe forgotten in all the hoopla of getting Sam included into our family. Oh..the green eyed monster rears its head on both sides. I pray for wisdom and help to smooth it all out.

How do you spread the love evenly all you mother of many? How do you insure all needs are met and all feel very special? This is a call for help and advice.

Lopsided

Poor London has had to spend some time in the Dentist chair the last month! I just love her lopsided grin. You can tell it went all the way up to her eye even! Poor kid....we just love to mock her pain!