I don't know if anyone else will look at this again but I am going to use it for a bit of a journal.  So we are home from holidays.  Adelbert and Tabitha did a fantastic job of the reno's!! 

My fix it to do list when I got home - water pump in the suburban, water pump in the dishwasher, water pump in the washing machine, demand hot water heater (just had to put in a part that I ordered before we left), humidifier and school room furnace.  Waiting for parts for the dishwasher and washing machine.  Sure am glad I can fix this kind of stuff myself!

What an adventure.  Thank you to all who followed us vicariously and who prayed for us!  We arrived home friday night after a final days adventures.  It dropped to -7 on the way home along with some snow!  Because it got so cold I decided to stop an winterize the motorhome (31 feet long, bunk beds, 3 cameras, power awning, Ford V10 chassis if you know anyone who wants to buy it!).  I was about an hour behind Kendra as I had stopped in Red Deer at Costco for groceries.  She stopped at the Word of Faith church about 9:30 so the boys could say hi to some of their friends at youth group.  She pulled in to the parking lot and heard the truck making some pretty loud noises!  She talked to me until her phone died and I asked her to get Cory to see if he could figure it out or else wait for me.  I also called Adelbert (our good friends Adelbert and Tabitha stayed at our place while we were gone and did some renovations for us) and asked if he could check on Kendra on thier way home (they were going to go back to Tabitha's Dad's place so we could have our space to get settled back in).  He let Kendra know I would be there pretty soon.  Just ended up being the front bearing in the water pump and she finished driving home.  Maria was the first one in the house and came back out and told Kendra that our friends did a "big surprise" for us and it was amazing!  Maria thought that we didn't know that Adelbert was going to tile the school room and kitchen and redo the kitchen countertops.  She just thought they did it to give us a nice surprise kind of like the TV show "Trading Spaces".  She was right that it was amazing though - Adelbert is a perfectionist and is also creative and it was nicer than we could have imagined!  Maria also noticed that they even "made breakfast" for us (they had the table set with snacks for when we got home).  Anyways, the day was a fitting finish to our grand adventure.

 Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary - my Mom's siblings.

 Aunty Agnus - my Mom's oldest sibling.  She was born in Hungary.

Aunt Mary with Zoe and Maria.

Medicine Hat was the last stop on our epic adventure.  They all love it when we stop and visit and the kids bring a little life to Aunt Agnus' senoirs complex!

We crossed the border late this morning and are back in Canada!  Timmy saw the big Canadian flag and said excitedly "I see red leaves and there is snow - does that mean we are back in Canada!?!?"  The border crossing went quite well except for Joshua's BB pistol that he bought just 3 hours earlier in Great Falls.  He has wanted one for a long time but always wanted to get ones that used CO2 cartridges and I told him no as I knew the cost of the cartridges gets to be a bit much.  He found a spring powered one and when I gave him permission to get it he almost peed himself he was so excited.  He wasn't so excited 3 hours later when the border patrol officer confiscated it after we declared it.  He felt really bad and he took the time to explain to Josh that because it looked like it could be a real pistol that it was prohibited because if it got mistaken for a real pistol Josh could get shot by a policeman or a bad guy who would think it is real.  He was a very nice man and just doing his job.  So good to be back on home ground!!

I had a very good time at Aria's!  Before we got there I was so excited and couldn't wait to get there.  At Aria's I got to play Barbies.  I played Pet Shops too.  I played outside and in the park with Matthew and Aria.  I did fall on the bike though and got bad scrapes on my legs and arms.  I went to the circus.  It was so hilarious, but some parts was very bad dressing.  The girls that had bad dressing were very good at there tricks, they just needed to wear more clothes.  Once a boy was on a motorbike on a high wire and a girl was attached underneath doing tricks.  They spinned the motorbike in circles on just a tiny string.  There was a few other things.  I didn't like the chicken dance.  I think the girl was really frightened to dance with the chicken in front of the huge crowd.  It was really cool to see all the flags because there was a Canada flag.  That is our flag!  There was a funny part.  There were men who pretended to be police and a man was in jail.  A toy rat came in and the police were scared.  The criminal saved them from the rat, but he got free.  The police man went in the jail to hide. 
We got to go back to Aria's after the circus.  The day when we had to leave, I really didn't want to!  I cried and cried so much when we had to leave!  It was terrible!   We begged and begged to stay, but my mom just wouldn't let us so we had to leave.  She is mine and Zoe's best friend.  She lives in the United States now and we still live in Canada, so it is so far away from each other.  It took so long waiting to see her again and maybe it will be a long time to see her again. 
Now we are at another hotel.  We went to a few hotels on our big trip.  I like hotels.  The food is really great in the hotels.  Now I want to go back home.  I miss my friends at home.  I want to see Miah and Ava, and lots of friends.  I also want to see my family at home.  I miss my kittens so much!  Especially my big cat Angles.  I hope she is not wild by now. 

I got to visit Aria.  I liked it very much!  She is one of my best friends!  I got to go to her school with her to have lunch in the cafeteria, and to play at recess.  She gave me a tour around their new church.  It was really big.  Aria had a bunny.  It was fun playing with it.  It's name is Oreo.  We got to go to the circus.  I liked the bears that biked around and did other cool tricks.  I liked the sky masters too.  The dancing elephant was cool.  I just liked spending time with Aria and doing lots of things together.  I was sad to leave, and I didn't want to.  I am going to miss Aria again!!!  I am happy to see my friends at home though too. 

Nebraska - getting to visit Pastor Dan, Kerri, Aria and Matthew

Aria, Zoe, Maria and Matthew made some brownies.

Timmy is playing with Buster.  Poor Buster is probably going to sleep well for a few days!  I think having so much company played him out!

The kids were all hot after playing outside.  They did some running and playing in the sprinkler.  It was almost 30 degrees that day!  They have a beautiful yard with lots of space to run and play!

Timmy is trying to watch the action, but keep out of the sprinkler.  He didn't want to get wet.

Zoe, Matthew, Aria, and Maria playing with the sprinklers

Zoe and Aria playing games and watching movies.

Aria and Zoe making a decorated box for a gift for Aria's Nana and Papa.  They were arriving the day we were leaving.  We waited long enough to say hi to them and have supper with all of them.  None of us really wanted to leave! 

Kerri's parents took a picture of both our families for us.  We had such a great week with them!  It has always been wonderful times with the Olsons!  It was nice to see where they are at, meet some of the people in their new church, and to attend church there on Sunday.  We are so thankful for the opportunity to visit them again!  We love them and miss them greatly!!!  There were lots of tears leaving there!!!  Still some tears happening today!  We love you Pastor Dan, Kerri, Aria, and Matthew!  Thank you so much for letting all uf us stay with you! It was a great time!