The Rest of the Story.

When I wrote about our visit to Pigeon Lake, I just showed the Village and the shops.  We didn't stop our journey there though.  Lloyd and I drove on down to the lake, which is huge, with half a dozen or so Summer Villages with all kinds of summer homes, from modest little rustic cabins to large multi-roomed mansions.  What a great place for those homeowners to spend the summer.  Here's a peek at some of the lakeside attractions.

A lot of the summer homes had cute names, like this one

This appears to be one of the older homes, a real summer cottage.

And then there are big elaborate ones like this, that still try to maintain
a rustic look.  You can see the lake behind the house.

This path leads from the road to the cabin and on
down to the lake

This sad looking property was once a store used by the summer villagers,
looking sadly decrepit now.

Someone has built a pier and docked their boat at it.

Although filled with algae right now, this must have been
prime property with the lake at the back and the creek at
the side of the cottage.

Isn't this a beautiful summer home.  I wouldn't mind spending a month
or two there with the lake in my back yard.

This is a larger boat launch area, with playground and park.

The only people we saw on our drive were those half dozen people
on the raft out on the lake.  They were just drifting and sunning.

We came across this family of Canada geese in the park.

As soon as they saw us approaching to take pictures, the mother goose
herded her children to safety, down to the pier

where she then coaxed them into the water

They seemed to want to test the water first by sticking their webbed toes in.

And they're off...safe from the camera snapping humans.  As soon as we were far enough
away from them, they all came back and waddled up the grass to their favorite
spot in the sun.

I like the look of this rustic cabin.  It looks like it belongs there.

This is the community center.

And one last look at one of the summer cabins in the woods.

We did meet two little girls along the lake road - they were selling home made lemonade so we bought a couple of glasses of it from them...good stuff.

A perfect summer day of exploring.

Scrappy Day

I had a fun day yesterday scrapping with my good buddy Mickey.  I did a bunch of happy pictures from my granddaughter's third birthday party.  Her mother, my daughter Sara, should be a professional event planner. Her kids have the most creative parties.

The theme of Quinny's party was Carnival.  Sara set up a carnival in her back yard with pennants, tons of balloons, game booths, face painting, fake tattooing, bouncy castle, popcorn, hotdogs and cotton candy, a photo booth with props, and more.  And I missed it!  I had to be in Lethbridge last weekend but thanks to Sara's pictures, I was able to enjoy it, sort of.

These are some fun layouts I've done of the party.  I'll be doing more when Sara gives me the rest of the pictures.

Three of my daughters - Sara, Amy and Emily

The birthday girl and her beautiful cake, made by a family friend.

Some pictures are worth scrapping twice.

These two clown sisters are the daughters of one of my daughters
in the first 'Silly Sisters' layout.

Doesn't that look like a fun party!

Pigeon Lake

Lloyd and I decided to do a little exploring one day last week and ended up at a lovely spot just an hour south of Edmonton.  I had been to Pigeon Lake several times for scrapbooking retreats but always in the winter, and Lloyd had never been there so that was our destination.

Our main stop was called The Village at Pigeon Lake - a lovely little spot on the road with nothing but a conference center hotel and a little strip of shops and restaurants.  Lloyd commented that it was no wonder I liked going there for our scrapbook getaways.  See for yourself...

This is the village street - lovely little specialty shops and restaurants

There were flowers everywhere.  There's a small fountain right
behind Lloyd that started spraying as soon as we moved away
from this spot.

While I was checking out the large gift shop full of quaint unique goods,
Lloyd wandered down behind the shops and found this lovely little
water tableau.

The green building in the background is part of the inn where our scrapbook
retreats were held.  It's quite a popular retreat and close enough to the city to
be used by many different groups.  It even  has its own spa.  It's so peaceful there
surrounded by the natural woodlands.

Nice benches along the boardwalk for sitting and people watching.
Do you notice how my shoes match the phone in my hand?  That's
entirely intentional.  Love that color!

This shop on the corner was extremely popular.  Lloyd even broke
his "I don't wait in lines" rule to stand in line inside for some
delicious ice cream.

But not before taking a picture of me outside the ice cream shop.

Facing the row of shops is a lovely park with lots of picnic tables and
quiet spaces for people to sit and relax and eat a picnic lunch if they don't
want to try the goods offered at several of the restaurants there.

Another shot of Daisy McBeans, and the rest of the Inn in the background.

And more treasure chests full of flowers

This lovely gazebo in the center of the Village is where Lloyd and
I sat to eat our ice cream...so quiet and peaceful.

We didn't try this new restaurant but I had to get a picture of Lloyd in
front of it.  He's Papa to our grandchildren, so it was fitting.

Another quiet spot.  There's a little brook back where the grasses are high.

If we had been hungry we would have stopped at the ECOcafe for lunch.
I've eaten there when on a scrapbook retreat and the food is
delicious, fresh and natural, ecologically sound as the name suggests.

 But since we weren't hungry, we went down to the lake...but I'll save that for another time...maybe tomorrow.

I hope you're having a lovely summer so far.

Canada Day, Fire Pits and S'mores

Grandsons Nathan and Micah

Yesterday we celebrated Canada's 147th birthday.  Lloyd and I began our celebrations with Mike's family in Lethbridge on Sunday and finished up last evening in Lacombe with Jenny's family.

Grandson  James wearing Canada red, standing in front of
a Canada camp chair while hugging a Canadian Maple tree
(and wearing an Arizona Cardinals t-shirt).

Canada Day always involves parades and picnics and barbecues and family gatherings, culminating in a night lit up with exciting firework displays.

Lloyd passed the barbequing duties on to son Mike.

This year Lloyd built a fire pit so we were able to sit around it toasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Fun!  I had my first s'more two weeks ago when Mickey made them for a scrapbooking day treat.  She couldn't believe I had lived all my life without ever having had these delicious campground goodies.  I guess it comes from being raised by non-camping parents.  Anyway, apparently my grandchildren are well familiar with the gooey stuff and eager to make some.

Avril oversees Hannah, Alex and Kenny as they toast their marshmallows

But they don't need any help eating them!

Lloyd had never tasted them before either and pronounced his first one delicious, if not a trifle sweet.

The next day we drove up to Jenny and Anders' home to spend time visiting them and their five boys and toast more marshmallows and eat more s'mores and watch the fireworks.

Lloyd watching the antics of the five grandsons.

While Jenn kept busy weeding the yard as we visited.

Nate and the boys toasted marshmallows and kept everyone supplied
with s'mores

Then the grand finale to Canada Day Weekend - fireworks over the lake on a beautiful clear night.

 I hope the rest of my Canadian friends had a great Canada Day.  And for my American friends, have a great celebration of July 4.

Life is good.