The greeting, "Happy Stampede!" had Conor and I cracking up. It was said in a way akin to, "Merry Christmas." We did have a happy Stampede. We hit it hard. Conor and I went one evening to see the Vance Joy concert and watch the fireworks. We went one morning with the whole family. And we went another day without the little kids. It was fun and busy! My favorite stampede day was the night we went to the concert. I feel like we got our Stampede fill for at least 5 years.

When we were in Calgary, I got to spend a lot of time with my sister's kids and man, do I love them! One morning I took them and and my youngest three to the park to play. My big kids make fun of my Auntie Persona but being an Aunt is one of my favorite jobs!

A stand-out part of our trip - the Calgary Stampede parade! It was fabulous and I love benefitting from my sister-in-law's wild tradition of sleeping downtown overnight to secure seats. The kids are really just happy to show up to anything that includes cousin time.

My parents have so much honey this year! We lucked out and were able to spend a day extracting honey from some of the frames while we were in town. Each of my girls really loved observing and learning about the process. And the smell! Yum, honey smells so good! I've wanted to participate in this process for a while so it was just great. Bonus, we brought home honey.

These are my people, this is where I come from! Maeve adores Quinn and Theia. In her dream world, Maeve lives with Quinn and Theia and plays with them all day long. It's no easy task to round up this gang and attempt to get everyone looking in the same direction, but it can sort of be done?