A Day at the Zoo

Between all of the getting-ready-to-go stuff, we took time for a day at the zoo with some friends. Our kids had a blast with their kids, who line up pretty closely in age to ours.

We were rather entertained by the fact that one of the gorillas is named Kira! A zoo volunteer pointed out which one was Kira. She was a funny one, playing with a blanket and running all over the place. Her mom was sitting right up at the glass, just wishing she could play with all of the kids. The youngest gorilla, Kira's sister, was a ham! She stood by the glass turning flips, standing on her head, and generally showing off for all of the kids.


Here is Kira (the person!)with the friendly mom behind her, and the youngest sister just showing behind her head. In the very back you can see Kira (the gorilla!) playing. Silas was just fascinated with these guys, and couldn't get enough of watching them.

Here is Kira with her buddy.
And Elayna with her sweet friend.

The Smith Clan

Here's the whole Smith clan with one more in the oven --- Aunt Sarah's oven, not Krista's.

Pirates & Princesses

While we were at Fairmont we had a "Pirates and Princesses" party for all the kids on the Smith side of our family. The girls were the fair princesses and the boys were the rough and tough pirates. They started off with a treasure hunt. As they followed their treasure map, they searched for clues and treasure in places like this phone booth. They also had to watch out for the sharks (Uncle Ben, Kevin, and Papa) who were trying to get them.


Their treasure hunt eventually led them to the racquetball court, which turned out to be Pirate Joe's (aka Uncle Jonathan) pirate ship! He had even brought a special treasure chest just for them. Of course, Pirate Joe had stories about his adventures on the seas and a hook in place of one hand.


The kids love Pirate Joe, who has shown up at each of our last two Smith family gatherings. Poor Uncle Jonathan always seems to miss seeing Pirate Joe, though.


At last the treasure was released from the treasure chest....


Young Pirate Silas decided to show off his sword fighting moves.


While on Pirate Joe's ship, the kids got to play some games. First off was a game of Pirate Pirate Princess (you might have played a similar game before called Duck Duck Goose).


They also played Musical Islands (maybe you've played Musical Chairs before).


Of course no party is complete without some cake. Aunt Amanda pleased the masses with her new cake decorating skills. Here's the Pirate ship cake sailing the seas with the faces of each of the Smith family on it. Nice work Aunt Amanda!


There was also an island cake with a treasure chest on it full of treasure.

Fairmont Hot Springs

Our last week in Canada, we headed into the mountains for a week-long get away with all of Krista's family. Our destination was Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia.

Along the way, we drove through the beautiful Canadian Rockies.


We stopped in Banff to look for some coveted treats....


One important treat to find was fudge. They have really good fudge in Banff. Silas liked giving high fives to the friendly black bear at the fudge place.


That bear was fake (at least no longer alive), but we did see some real wildlife as we drove. Kira was the only one in our vehicle to spot these elk on the side of the road. She has eagle eyes. Way to go Kira! We came back around to them so the rest of us could enjoy these creatures as well.


The views along the way and while we were in Fairmont were incredible. We enjoyed every minute of it as we don't get to see mountainous scenery like this in Niger.


None of us missed seeing the group of 20-30 mountain goats on the side of the road near Fairmont.


How could we? The group of mountain goats had sent their crossing guard into the middle of the road to make sure we didn't miss them.

We all had a great time just being together and playing together. The kids went sledding and swimming. They also did crafts 3-4 times during the week run by the place we stayed. The adults had fun too. We played lots of games and enjoyed the hot tubs at the pool and the hot springs. There's nothing quite like sitting in a hot tub outside in the middle of a snow storm. We also tried our hand at darts and racquetball. The guys headed off one night to go night skiing after a fresh snow fall of 6 inches of powder. We were all smiles. We even walked away afterwards injury free.

Silas turns 2

Silas turned 2 last week, so we celebrated his birthday with some of Krista's family: Nana, Papa, Aunt Boo, Uncle Ben and Aunt Sarah and their kids. First up was an outing to enjoy some of the winter festivities in Carstairs, AB. We started off with a wagon ride.
Here's Uncle Ben with his boys and Brynn on the wagon ride.
Silas went sledding for the first time. He liked the free ride down the hill and back up again!
The sleds didn't always turn the right way. For Elayna, though, wiping out, rolling down the hill, or knocking Daddy over were just as much fun as sledding.
Then it was time for the Dog Party to begin. Each of the puppies at the party had to roast their own hot dogs to eat.
They ate on the floor like dogs. Each one had a dog collar with their puppy name and dog ears. They also ate puppy chow for a snack.
The puppies all came out of their dog house and dig "dog tricks" for rewards.
Then there was Silas' puppy birthday cake. We all enjoyed that and then the little tired puppies went to bed.

Take a ride

We've been in the Calgary area visiting Krista's family since the end of January. A few weekends ago, we headed south and west through the mountains to visit the new location of Moody Aviation in Spokane, WA. Along the way, we enjoyed driving through the beautiful mountains (a sight we don't get to enjoy in Niger). We also saw lots of mule deer, elk, and a few mountain sheep.
One of our main reasons for going to Spokane was to visit our friends Tyler and Jessica and their sweet little girl, Mia. Our kids roped Tyler into reading lots of books to them. Tyler and Jessica were in SIM's candidate orientation with us as well as our co-workers in Niger short term. He's now in school at Moody Aviation.

We laughed so hard it hurt visiting with three MKs from Niger one night. Our kids loved seeing Anna, one of their favorite babysitters from Niger.
We got the red carpet tour of Moody Aviation and were encouraged to hear the direction and vision of the school. I was so busy visiting with people and asking questions that I forgot to get any pictures of the new facilities. The only picture we left with was this one of me trying out one of the 2 all terrain Segways that were donated to Moody for getting around the airport. I was impressed and could definitely find a use for one in Niger.

What's in a Name?

A little while back, SIMAIR got the approval to change the registration numbers on the new diesel plane. As you can see in the picture, the new numbers are N182MR. These numbers are a tribute to my (Kevin's) mom. The "N" is what all USA registered planes begin with. The numbers "182" where chosen because the plane is a Cessna 182. The "MR" at the end stands for Mary Rideout. My mom was a missionary teacher in Nigeria for 18 years. After that, she started a private Christian school (preschool - grade 8) in MA. Throughout her adult life, my mom had two passions: 1. seeing children learn 2. introducing people to her Savior and also helping them grow in their knowledge of the Lord. Before my mom graduated to her heavenly home, she and my dad decided that gifts in memory of her should be given to the diesel plane project for SIMAIR. They also decided to complete the project using her life insurance money. Two and a half years later, this plane is doing the bulk of the flying for SIMAIR. Our other plane uses Avgas which either costs $17 per gallon or isn't even available. The diesel plane uses Jet Fuel which costs $6 per gallon and is widely available. Many people and ministries have already been blessed by having the diesel plane in Niger. We trust it will continue to be a great tool for helping missionaries carry out their ministries in West Africa and touching people with the love of our Savior.