St. Louis and Fulton in June!

At the beginning of June we took a trip back home! We started our trip in St. Louis, where we got in about 7 p.m. on a Friday. To back up a bit, on the previous Thursday at about 3 p.m. I started to feel "funny." Wasn't feeling sick, but something just didn't seem right. Well, that "funny" feeling quickly progressed to me puking my guts out for close to 7 hours. Not exactly how you want to spend the night before you are supposed to fly, especially considering that there was still lots of packing and cleaning to do. Jeff swooped in and took care of lots of items that still needed to be done, while also handling Boone solo. I think without his organization and efficiency, we wouldn't have made it to the States. 

We also had a minor glitch before we got on the plane Friday morning. I had been driving a rental vehicle for a few weeks prior to our trip, because our car was in the shop for some minor body work. When the vehicle still wasn't finished the morning we were supposed to leave, we arranged with the body shop and the car rental company to drop our rental off at their "airport location." Jeff and I were pretty proud of ourselves that we finagled the situation so that we wouldn't need to pay for parking or ask someone to drive us the 30 minutes to the airport. Also, it would be easy once we got back in because we could just check out another vehicle and drive back to our house! Easy, right? WRONG! As we were getting ready to turn into the airport lot, the vehicle's gas light came on. "Phew," we thought! Lucky us that we have plenty of time and we can go fill up the car. So we pulled into the nearest gas station and filled it up. As we proceeded into the airport car rental area, both Jeff and I kept searching for the company name that we were looking for. We kept asking each other, "did you see it? No? Maybe we missed it, let's drive around again." After the second go around in the rental area, we decide to call the location we had taken the vehicle from down by our house. They quickly informed us that no, their "airport location" was not at all at the airport. It was 3 exits back on the highway, or a 15 minute drive. 

Panicked, we look at each other and Jeff proceeds to go full throttle towards the location. We were both so worried knowing that we only had a narrow window of leeway time to get through customs and security. It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour going through those two checkpoints, and it's sort of anyone's guess how it will be. There's no way to predict. Once we sped into the parking lot of the rental company, we ran inside and tried to hurriedly explain our situation. Well, we happened to walk in the door when there were already 6 customers in line and one extremely frazzled manager. Bad timing. The manager didn't know what to do. The phone would ring and he just kept putting more and more people on hold. Thankfully for us, a few of the customers understood our situation and gladly let us jump them in line. At about an hour and a half before our flight (we usually like to be entering customs 2 hours before) , another employee showed up to the location and agreed to drive us back to the airport. He was very safe (err... slow), but once he pulled up, we spilled out of the car and began to hustle our way into the airport. Thankfully, the machine at the ticketing counter still let us check in, which meant (as we were told by the airline official) that we were good to go on the flight as long as we could make it through customs. 

Once we were checked in, we grabbed our bags and went through the customs door. As we turned the corner, I braced myself to see a line zigzagging back and forth for a mile, but... there wasn't! There was barely 20 people in line ahead of us! So thankful! We breezed through customs and security with little fanfare and were seated at our gate with at least 30 minutes to spare before boarding! All that running and stressing for no reason. Phew. Glad I was able to get that all down, because at the time, not funny, but now, such a ridiculous and crazy story of the 24 hours prior to us boarding a plane home!

Anyways, now onto the actual trip! That was a lot of words, so I'll stick to pictures from here on out with a little explanation!

I ran a 5k with my brother and his girlfriend our first morning in St. Louis! 

Not my best time, but glad I made myself do it even after I had been sick!

Boone with his great-grandma!

Boone in a wagon for the first time! He LOVED it!

Pool time at the Younkins!

Boone with Nana!

At the St. Louis Zoo.

Getting all strapped in his new stroller!

Penguins!

Jeff captured us checking out the puffins from the other side of the room.

Jeff's dream job in retirement is zoo train conductor. 

The gorillas

Strolling in style with Uncle John.

He's out.

And onto Fulton:

A sad sidenote- Jeff was so excited to take Boone into the lake at his parent's farm that he forgot he had his iPhone in his pocket! See ya iPhone! :/

Hanging with Grandpa.

These two are big time friends!

At the columns! We love Columbia!

We got to see my friend Kelly and her baby Cooper! Boone was born 

10 days after Cooper so it's fun to see them together!

We also had the opportunity to visit with Boone's great-great aunt Nancy! She was in town for the Robertson reunion and she stayed at Jeff's parent's house. She loved hanging out with both of the babies!

Kelly and I with our boys. So glad she stopped by!

Jeff, his dad and Boone at the creek in Enon, MO where Jeff's grandma was baptized. We were in the area for the Robertson Family Reunion in Russellville, MO! Lots of Robertson family history in that area of Missouri!

Such good times! We love summer in Missouri! Let's face it, we like anytime of the year in Missouri because of all our friends and family there!

Thankful for the opportunity to head back for a visit!

Love, 

Emily, Jeff + Boone

Our first *real* hike!

We decided at the beginning of the summer that we were going to make a goal to go hiking quite a bit this summer. We figured it was a great way to be active and still have Boone with us. So we bought a hiking backpack on the local buy and sell website here in Calgary and tried out a bit of a hike in Montana, but we had no idea what a real hike was like.

Jeff found a site with some great tips for hiking near Calgary and on the site he found one called Nihahi Ridge Trail in the Kananaskis Provincial Park. It looked easy and a fun one to start our hiking career. Key words there were "it looked." It took us three hours round trip and it was a constant up hill trek, with few breaks. I thought the way down would be a piece of cake, but it was almost just as difficult. Different parts of your legs get a whole workout. That all being said, it was beautiful and I felt such a sense of accomplishment once we were all finished! Jeff hauled Boone for most of the trip, but I took a short turn with him as well. And it makes the hike HARD! But, he loves traveling in his backpack all the time now! We even use it to just walk to the grocery store for a few items or on an evening walk.

Here's a few pictures of us and our view on the hike!

This was taken for emergency purposes only in case I needed 

to refer back to signal at a helicopter if we were lost in the wilderness. :)

Taking a bit of a break part of the way up.

What a view.

Applying some sunscreen

So steep towards the top that they needed a safety fence.

At the top.

A little snuggle time.

Jeff loves to toss Boone up in the air, but he's very careful to make 

sure Boone is never in harm's way.

Almost back to the car!

We are blessed by the beauty that surrounds us! So thankful for the opportunities we have to enjoy it all.

From Cowtown,

Emily, Jeff + Boone

The Calgary Lilac Festival

At the end of May, it finally gets warm enough in Calgary to hold an outdoor festival, so they have what they call the Lilac Festival. Even after attending the festival, I'm not quite sure what the purpose of the festival is, except to get everyone outside to enjoy the weather (finally!!) being warm! But, we decided to get outside and enjoy a beautiful day and check out the festival.

We got to the festival around lunch, so we found a food truck and got some good ole' Canadian poutine! It was a new restaurant that opened in the neighborhood and also had a food truck, and it was GOOD! Jeff and I are fans of poutine anyway, but it was delicious! I had the pulled pork poutine and Jeff got poutine with pulled pork and bacon. Both were obviously delicious. If you've never had poutine, get your behinds up to Canada and try some. It may just seem like fries, gravy and cheese, but Canadians can do it up right. 

The food truck where we purchased lunch.

Jeff ready to dig in.

Boone is jealous of that poutine.

How cute are these two?

After lunch we walked around and checked out the booths. There were all kinds of businesses, charities and artisans. It was all very random, but it was fun to check out. The only problem we ran into was that it was so so SO crowded. And if you don't believe me, they said the crowd count was around 100,000 people who attended the concert. Can you tell that people had a little bit of cabin fever in Calgary after a long winter?? What? We can go outside and enjoy sunshine?? We are there! All 100,000 of us! But, despite the crowds, we had fun and enjoyed checking out a fun local event.

You can't go to a festival without getting some kettle corn!

100,000 people crammed into this street to check out the festival.

Not to end this post on a sad note, but as I write about this festival over 2 months after it happened, much has changed in this area of Calgary. The area where the Lilac Festival took place was heavily damaged after the floods in Calgary. It is truly amazing to see everyone in Calgary come together to help those who were affected by the flood. We are proud to be (transplant) Calgarians! What a strong, proud city.

Signing off on Canada Day,

Emily, Jeff + Boone

Heading to Whitefish!

In Canada, there is no Memorial Day, but there is May Long Weekend the weekend prior to the United States' unofficial start to summer! We decided to head to Whitefish, MT to get a little taste of the good ole' U.S of A. The main road through Glacier National Park isn't open until mid-June, so we had to head south through Fernie, British Columbia.

We headed out of Calgary a bit later than we were hoping, so we knew it would be a late evening. We stopped halfway through our drive in the town of Fernie to grab a quick bite to eat and got quite the surprise of an overpowering smell of fresh pine and cedar trees. It was such a pleasant surprise! Sort of like smelling the best air freshener possible, so I think their new town motto should be "Fernie... the best smelling town in the world!"

Anyways, once we ate a quick dinner, we jumped back in the car and headed toward the U.S. border as the sun slipped away from the sky. We drove the last few hours in the dark, and I have never seen so many deer perched on the sides of the roads. It was very unnerving, especially because every few minutes you would pass a cross tacked on the side of the road that I'm sure was to memorialize an accident that had happened at that location. Thankfully, Jeff drove like a champ, and we rolled into our hotel just before midnight.

The first day we ventured out for a morning hike in Whitefish. It was fun, and not too taxing, so we enjoyed our time. Boone liked riding in his backpack so much that he even dozed off to sleep for his morning nap in the backpack. Here's a few shots from our hike:

Later in the day, we went to check out the downtown area of Whitefish. It's a small ski town that has so much charm and beauty. It's surrounded by mountains and the people are so friendly. It would be a great place to call home. Plus, one thing Jeff and I love to do when we vacation is check out the local eateries. For a little town, Whitefish had lots of choices! We ate southern barbeque and cajun food, as well as yummy biscuits and gravy (they don't have that up in Canada) but our favorite was a little pizzeria called Jersey Boys Pizza. Jeff found the spot from his tried and true Urban Spoon app, and it did not disappoint! Also, Boone made friends with a few of the little local girls who were eating there that night! Like I said, people in town were very friendly!

Boone hanging out with Dad, while I grabbed a coffee!

The second day, we did a little shopping in Whitefish and Kalispell! On our way back to Canada, we decided to do a side trip to try and find a scenic lookout that I saw on a sign on the side of the road. It was quite an adventure. We drove and drove and drove and drove... and drove and we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere Montana! It was a crazy drive on a
gravel/dirt road, but Jeff was determined to make it to the outlook. The only thing that stopped him, was when we ran into a foot of snow and mud on the gravel road. But, he was bummed, so he said we should try and hike down to the creek since we were all the way in the middle of the woods! And we got a few pictures!

Boone looks horrified to be in the middle of Montana on a hike.

This was a good part of the road

Jeff took this lovely picture!

I'm still catching up with lots of our adventures! We are headed out to check out a part of Canada we've never been next month, so I still have lots to document on here!

Love,

Emily, Jeff + Boone

Mother's Day!

Boy, did I feel loved for my first Mother's Day! Jeff did such a great job to make sure I had a wonderful, special day! To start off, I decided to run the Calgary Mother's Day Race. It benefits the NICUs in Calgary, including the one that Boone was at in the Rockyview Medical Center. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to give back just a bit to a facility that did so much for our little guy.

Before the race! It was an early morning for everyone!

It was the first run I did since having Boone, so I was a little nervous. But I just made my goal to finish the race without walking and I did just that! It was great to have Boone and Jeff there with me!

Boone rode around in the hiking backpack so he could see what was going on!

The starting line! Someone said this was the largest number 

of participants the race had ever had!

Heading towards the finish line! 

I'm sure at this point I was thankful to almost be finished.

Boone had lots of love for me after the race!

My guys. Couldn't be more thankful.

Once the race was over, we headed home for one of Jeff's wonderful homemade breakfasts! He does a mean omelet or scrambled egg! :) It is becoming sort of a tradition to do breakfast one day each weekend! I hope it continues and it's something that Boone can look forward to as he grows up!

After that, we relaxed and played outside for a bit! Just had a fun day as a family. Couldn't really have asked for much more! And to top it off, Jeff had Boone "sign" a card for me and he let me book an appointment to get a pedicure when we headed to Montana the next weekend.

Being a mom is the toughest and most fun job I've ever had! It has already had many hard moments, but each day is filled with something that makes me smile. I'm so thankful that God entrusted me to be Boone's mom. It's a gift that is so dear and precious to me and each day I really try to not take it for granted at all.
                                                                                                         

And a little note to Boone if at some point down the road he decides to look through this: You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to your Dad and I! We love you more and more each day! I'm so honored to be able to say I'm Boone Robertson's mom and I can't wait to see all the amazing things that God has in store for your life!

Lots of Love,

Emily, Jeff and Boone-Man!