Mexico

After Rob and I got married last summer, we packed up our van with two 1-year olds and a bunch of camping gear and called it a honeymoon.  We had a lot of fun but still it wasn't the relaxing vacation we had in mind to celebrate our marriage.  We came up with the idea that someday we would go on a "real" honeymoon-somewhere with palms trees and beaches and marjarhitas...somewhere like Mexico!

And so we did!  We spent 7 days at Barcelo, (an all inclusive resort in Los Cabos, Mexico) with our friends Manny, Elaine and their little guy Cody.

It didn't take long to get used to living the life of luxury.  It was a sweet 7 days of swimming, soaking up the sun and drinking mudslides (and/or mojitos, margaritas, pina coladas...you get the picture).  The boys had so much fun...they were made for Mexico!  They could spend all day playing in the sand and never get bored.  Their only complaint was applying sunscreen.

On the balcony

Swimming with a little Liam on my back

Cool Dude Casey

Liam by the ocean

Cody and his truck

Having lunch and checkin' out the view

One day we ventured out of the resort and took a taxi to the near by city of Cabo San Lucas for a little sight seeing.  We shopped around a little while getting bombarded by locals trying to get us to buy something from their store, or go on their boat tour, or even take a picture with their donkey (yep, there was a real donkey tied up, just waiting for some tourist to take a picture with him...poor donkey.)

:)

Got a picture of this fake donkey instead.

But one thing we were sold on doing, was a glass bottom boat tour out to see the famous Cabo Arch.  After scoping things out, we picked our guy, bartered a price and hopped aboard the "Corona".  At first we were a little sceptical...there were no lifejackets (sorry mom!), you couldn't see anything through the glass on the bottom of the boat because it was so dirty and the engine was cutting out as we went in reverse...but there was no turning back now!

About to go aboard our glass bottom boat tour

It ended up being an awesome tour though.  We stopped to feed the fish, got a nice tour to the point where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez and then we made a stop off at Lovers Beach and the boys all played in the sand and explored the cool rocks.

Feeding the fish

View from the boat

At the beach

Liam exploring the rocks

Casey rolling in the sand

Our boat waiting for us while we stopped at the beach

It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for us.  There's never enough time to see and do it all though, I can't wait to go back someday.

If you'd like to see more pictures from our trip (because it's hard to fit it all into one blog post) you can click here to see a full slide show and click here to view the movie trailer version.

The Hunts Hit Canmore

Earlier this month, my parents came out for a nice 10 day long (but not long enough) visit.  We spent our time well and jam packed as much fun and adventure as could into one visit.  The boys hadn't seen their Nana and Poppa since our wedding in July but it sure didn't take them long to get reacquainted.  

With each visit my parents take out to Canmore, it gets harder and harder to show them something new.  This time we went to some of the usual places they've already been to but still had a few new experiences.  Like a dinner buffet at the Banff Springs Hotel; hiking Johnston's Canyon in the winter; taking a sleigh ride in Lake Louise and skating on the clear ice of Lake Minnewanka...just to name a few. :)

It has become a bit of a tradition to go to the sunday brunch buffet at the Farimont Banff Springs Hotel when my parents are around.  This time we switched it up a little and tried the dinner buffet instead.  It was just as good, if not better.

At the Banff Springs Hotel

Outside the Banff Spings Hotel

We've hiked Johnston Canyon in the Fall with my parents before but to see it in the winter is a whole new experience...

Liam fast asleep before starting our hike at Johnston Canyon

A clear green pool in Johnston Canyon 

Casey with Poppa and Nana

Casey and Poppa going through the rock tunnel at the canyon

Johnston Canyon

They were lucky enough to have beautiful weather on their trip too.  There was only one cloudy day in Canmore and that day we drove out to Lake Louise where the sun just so happened to be shining brightly...

Liam and Poppa, the bird whisperers in Lake Louise

Casey and Nana

Casey scoping out the ice sculptures from inside the Hotel Restaurant

The ice on Lake Minnewanka was clear and smooth.  The wind blew away all the snow on the lake, so you could skate all the way to the other side if your heart so desired...so that's just what my Dad did.  My $8.00 garage sale skates where hurting my feet, so I stuck closer to shore but it was still fun.

It was a great visit and we're already looking forward to a trip to Ontario in June.

...but first a trip to Mexico! This Monday! :)

Cold Snap

Last week was really cold (minus 30 cold)...even the herd of elk near our house were huddled up.  But we survived it with the help of some good soup and hot springs to warm us up.

I've been wanting to make this corn chowder ever since my friend Chloe made it for us for lunch one day a little while ago.  It's sooo good, and really easy to make. And at least one out of two liked it!  

Casey chowin' down on mama's bowl of corn chowder.  (Apparently Dada's was too hot, Liam's was too cold, but Mama's was juuuust right.)

And, I'm not gonna lie, there really isn't a better way to spend a minus 30 day than sitting in the hot springs...we're way too lucky to live here!

Here's the recipe for the soup.  It doesn't make a huge pot, so if you want left overs or have lots of hungry mouths to feed, you might want to double it up.

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

1 green pepper diced

1 onion diced (I used 3 cloves of garlic instead)

1 cup cubed potato

3 cups frozen corn

2 cups of chicken broth

1 cup of cream or milk

1 Tbsp flour

2-3 strips of bacon cooked and chopped

salt and pepper to taste

How To:

In a pot, cook pepper and onion/garlic until done.  Add chicken broth and potato and bring to boil.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Add corn and simmer 10 minutes.  Whisk flour and milk together then stir into soup and simmer a couple minutes. Stir in cooked bacon at the end.

Keep warm! :)