Me and my Buddy Takai

 E-Town or Bust

     As soon as school was done on friday, we packed up and jumped in the van and headed to Edmonton for the time that me and the kids had off from school. It is GREAT being a school teacher, there always seems to be some kind of holiday from school. The drive was as great as it possible can be with 3 kids in the van bored out of their minds stuck in rush hour on Deerfoot in Calgary. We really needed to plan ahead about when to roll through Calgary. For some reason Kristi and I have been blessed with the only kids in the entire world that NEVER sleep in a car at anytime. My kids absolutely never fall asleep when we drive anywhere. It could be early in the morning or in the middle of the night, either way, they are staying awake and yipping and yapping the entire ride. Even Tyson our youngest decided to only nap for about 1/2 hour in our 5 hour drive. Thats a long time to keep a 18 month old happy in a van. Lets just say Tyson loves Skittles, cause that was the only thing keeping him happy.

      We always stay with Ryan and Brandi Harris when we go to Edmonton. We have been making this trip for years, and it is always a good time had by all. As soon as the kids arrived they were into their costumes having a good time with Ryan and Brandi's kids (Koji, Takai, and Kaz). Its great because the kids play together and they are not just glued to the TV or playing video games. They were upstairs playing with the toys or making up some game with their costumes. Its good to see the kids using their imaginations and not relying on technology to make the fun for them.

     So most of the time when we are up in Edmonton we have no plans and are just in hang out mode. BUT this has changed a little in the last year or so. Kristi's sister Tracy and brother Barry both moved up to Edmonton, and my brother lives in Edmonton as well. So, there are more and more people we have to see when we go up there now. We tried to plan a couple activities that everyone could get together and we would not have to split up our time in driving around seeing everyone individually. This was going to help save some time, and make sure we were able to see everyone at the same time.


          On saturday we went to the West Edmonton Mall, which was probably not the best idea on the family day weekend. There were so many people in that mall, it was Crazy. I honestly couldn't believe how many people were jam packed into that mall. So we got in there and out of there as fast as we could.

     After the mall we went out to eat. It is always an experience when you go to a restaurant with 7 kids (6 of which are loud boys). Long story short, I am sure everyone around our table didn't get the nice peaceful dinner they were looking for. Especially when Koji and Haydn were laughing so much that Koji started to choke on a piece of brownie and ended up puking onto his plate with all the tables looking on. Ya we are pretty classy people when we go out to eat. Thats why we are so popular.

Me and Brandi just having a nice peaceful
dinner together....hahahahaha 

 

     We had a big Sunday dinner at the church because Ryan and Brandi, Tracy and Winslow, and Steve and TJ are all in the same ward in Spruce grove. Reggie and AJ, and Kari and Tav were also visiting Edmonton at the same time so they were able to be there as well. Leanne and the girls also came over, but Barry was not able to be there because he was doing some stuff for his work. It was fun to have so much family around, and it was good for all the kids to play and get to know each other a little better. Good food, Good Family, Good Friends, Good Times.



     One of the nights I went to work with Ry. I have been working with Ryan on and off for the last 6 or 7 years, and I can honestly say that it has never felt like work. Even when we worked for basically 48 hours straight one time and lost our minds a little in the process. Some of the funniest stories that I have come from working at Waterbodies with Ryan. Painting banana lines, sleeping on the sweeper, sleeping in the truck, wheelchair races, slurpees with ice cream and late nights watching trailer park boys. OH, and Ryan's tendency to have road rage.

The Pig Roast

Hutterites helping tie the pig

Anyone want to see what
a pig in a hockey bag
Looks like?

     The second family activity that we had was a pig roast. Ryan's knows one of the missionaries in the area that is from Tonga and they had a pig roast a few weeks ago. So we thought that it would be a great idea to get all the family and friends together and do it again. So on Monday morning at 7 am we set out to the Hutterite colony that was about an hour and a half away. When we got there the Hutterites were ready for us and helped us tie up a 75 pound pig in the back of the truck. Now it was a pretty cold morning and we had a long drive back to the house........SO we decided to put the pig in a hockey bag and wrap it in a blanket. This seemed like a good idea at the time. It was pretty funny to watch the pig try to figure out where it was in the bag. I am sure that it was a bit interesting for cars that were parked next to us at stop lights watching a hockey bag moving around in the back of our truck. I can only imagine what was going through their heads, and how many of them thought about alerting the authorities. hahaha.

     The first step was to make sure that we had a raging hot fire for the rocks to heat up. The rocks have to be super hot so they will be able to cook the pig over the time that we leave the pig. To help heat the fire up, Steve used a leaf blower to super heat the rocks.

     Then we had to put the pig on the fire so we could burn and scrape off all the hair and top layer of skin. This is usually done with Hot water or a torch, but we did not have either, so putting on the fire was our next best option.

     Then we had to gut the pig, but I will save the pictures for some other time so I don't gross everyone out. After the pig was gutted, we cut it in half and placed it on the fire to cook.


     The pig is then covered in a blanket and the blanket is covered in dirt to trap the heat in and cook the pig. we put logs around the outside to trap as much heat in as we could. 2 hours (and a little) later we were ready to dig the pig up and eat. It was GOOD!!! well all except the last quarter of the pig that did not get cooked enough, but we left that alone, BUT the rest was great! haha.

     Everyone had a great time from the picking up to the eating of the pig. It was a great time to get all the family and friends together and enjoy an interesting meal. Many had never had a pig (or anything) cooked like that, so it was a new experience for many. For me, it brought me back to my days in New Zealand. I ate many of meals that were cooked in the ground.

     The pig roast night was topped off with a tradition that we do every time we are at Ryan and Brandi's, CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!! The kids love it and they ask for it every time that we are visiting. Its a good way to get them to eat a ton of fruit, even if it is smothered in chocolate. By the end of it the kids faces were covered in chocolate and the table was in need of a good clean, but the kids had a blast so it was worth it in the end.



 Chuck E. Cheese

     The other tradition that we have with Ryan and Brandi, is taking all the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Its a place where you can spend $80 and come out of there still hungry and with 3 toys you could have bought at the dollar store. BUT the kids love it and have a blast using there tokens to win the tickets, so I guess it is worth the money in the end (I Think). The best part about the trip this year was that we went on tuesday at noon so most kids would have been in school. It was just us and a few other families, so the kids had a good time running around and playing the games. The only down side was that the ski-ball game tickets were always low.

Brody won one of the grand prizes
which was 280 tickets

Ryan and Takai racing.

     The Rest of the trip was all about beating the girls at Hand and Foot (a card game), eating junk food and drinking as many Pepsi as possible. On the way home we stopped by the "Candy Store" in Nanton and spent a little too much on candy and treats. We arrived home to some snow that my beautiful wife volunteered to shovel off the drive-way. All-in-All, it was a great 5 days in edmonton hanging out with family and friends.

Thanks for Reading Partner