Learning what it means to be our family.

I've already mentioned that we travel to give our sons a better sense of what it means to be an American (even if being an American family in Western Canada means the privilege of collectively cheering for Cameroon, Ecuador, Italy, and Germany barely registers as odd). We also travel because it teaches the boys what it means to be a member of our family.*

Inquisitive learners with life size falcon and eagle wings.
The Peregrine Fund, Raptor Center, Boise

I'd like to think that it is in their genes to be inquisitive learners who love to eat, but there are somethings that must be learned.  It may be in their roots to appreciate mountains, growing things, and all forms of transportation, but why would we leave that to chance?  Better to let the boys ride "the mule" and the water taxis with grandparents, work in a garden at every stop, and view all kinds of mountains from all kinds of angles.

It took me years to learn that not everybody who travels travels the way we do. What if my sons expect vacationing to be lazing around on a beach for a week**?  Preventative measures were taking.  My sons are learning what it is to be one of us.

Water Taxi, Vancouver

VanDusen Botanical Garden
Apparently visiting botanical gardens on vacation is a norm for us.

Lake Louise Ski Area, Banff, right before we saw
the grizzles in the earlier post

Frozen treat and Glacier National Park

Eating in mountains is kind of what we do

Badlands.  Green.  I just can't get over that.

*Disclaimer: I should be clear; we mostly travel because the Mister and I enjoy it, and also because our town can be miserably stifling in the summer and because I will get asked to work (and not get paid for it) if I hang around too much in the summer.  

**As it was, we still got asked "are we going to do anything fun today?" after visiting Devil's Tower, eating pie and ice cream mid-afternoon, taking a cave tour, and discussing pizza for dinner.