Kissing Cousins: It's normal, right?

After waiting two weeks for some excitement to go down in this neck of the woods, the opportunity was finally here--May Long Weekend. The whole family was headed down the lake for the weekend, with some serious plans in order: a polar-bear dip in the lake, a game of capture the flag and some intense rollerblading and bicycling action.

There was just one problem. On Saturday morning, it wasn't just raining. . .it was snowing. (Well, just a little bit. But still! Enough that you knew that it was colder out than it should be on a long weekend.)

We needed to make the best of the day and there was only one solution. We loaded up the car with two cousins in the front seat, one cousin in the back seat and two boyfriends in tow. A road trip was in order.

To Saskatchewan, obviously. (Or should I say. . .naturally?)

After buying some fudge and moccassins at McClelland's General Store in Pierceland, we drove a little further down the road towards Goodsoil and hung out with the giant metal sculptures.



(I loved both these pictures so much that I had to include both of them.)

Saskatchewan's a friendly place. We made some lifelong friends there, like this creepy blue-eyed dog.

And this dead fish. Our time across the border was done. It was time to head back to Alberta.

We got back just in time to get a late lunch and head down to the bowling alley for a couple of games.

Alex Dodd worked on his game face while we waited for the rest of the family to show up.

Alex Dodd won for individual bowlers, but our collective team won both games. I was so busy trying to help out the team that I got a bowling injury. (I wasn't the only casuality. The next day, Katherine was complaining the her wrist was particularly sore. These are the lengths we're willing to go through to win.)

Okay, enough with the heart-warming family stuff. There may have been beer bongs of sorts involved in the weekend, too. And a game of "I Never," in which a number of unsavoury but nonetheless hilarious things about Katherine and I were quickly revealed.

Alex Dodd was pleased to go into the liquor store and meet Kandice. Before I even really had the chance to introduce him, she said, "I know. It's Alex Dodd!"

Andy (K-Flo's boyfriend) was the instigator of many beer bongs and apparently a tequila shot or two. Allegedly, they were requisite "bonding" activities for the boyfriends. (It's too bad they couldn't bond with each other later in the night over their mutual love of the friendly toliet seat head-rest.)

D-Dawg saw it coming all along.

At the bar, I ran into a few trouble makers who were brave enough to come out during Maple Flag. Tori and Kate were there. "Do you want to meet my boyfriend?" I asked Kate. "Yes!" she said enthusiastically.

"Kate, this is. . ." I was immediatly interrupted. "It's the Alex Dodd!" she finished for me. Apparently Alex Dodd is something of a legend around these parts.

I also ran into Chantel and Kara at the bar.

The girls and some random Maple Flagger.

I was proud of Alex Dodd for attempting to two-step, and for being patient as Flaggers pawed my ass, even when he was clearly holding my hand. The flask we filled with gin may or may not have been a factor, though.

The next day, it took a while to get going, but Alex's hangover wasn't stopping us. We picked up one of the cousins and drove out to the provincial park to work on our mad rock skipping skills.

We're pretty much professionals, now.



Alex Dodd chilled with his new friend, the unnamed lady bug. (Alex found the lady bug out at the lake house and brought it with us on the 10 minute drive out to the park. Yet, over an hour later, his new friend still hadn't left his side. They finally parted ways just before we left the park. It was a beautiful, tender moment that brought a tear to my eye. I'm sure the ladybug is enjoying its new home.)

Snow? Saskatchewan? Dead Fish? Hangovers? Hell, my family may be jamtarts at heart, but there's nothing stopping us on a long weekend.

(And, if you want a further conclusion to the story, on Sunday night we built a campfire, roasted some s'mores and even got in a game of flashlight tag with the Kasper kids. Also, we ate some mangos and birthday cake. And played Scattegories, bocchi ball and cribbage. Despite the snow, it was a pretty solid weekend.)