Jumping July

Tomorrow marks the first day of July which is also Canada Day and even more importantly to hockey fans - Jarome Iginla's birthday and free agent day! It also marks quite possibly the busiest month of our year.

We are headed out to Jasper bright and early tomorrow morning to go camping with my cousin Jimmy, Nancy, Madi + Tanner.  Finley is beyond excited to hang out with 2 of her favorite cousins tomorrow for 3 whole days!  We return to Calgary on Sunday afternoon where we will have dinner at Greg's Dad's and Stepmom's as Aunty Marleen + Uncle Ken are visiting Calgary on their way back to Chicago.  They haven't met Penelope yet and haven't seen Finley since Xmas 09 so we are excited to see them.

We are then back to Calgary for a few days and we will be attending Wicked.  I am beyond excited to go see it live!  I have been waiting for years!!!  The following day Me and the girls are off to Saskatoon for the weekend as it is Kristen's bridal shower + stagette.  Greg is not joining us on this trip and is instead going backpacking in the wilderness somewhere with Brad + Jack.  After watching 127 Hours, I will most definitely have their itinerary for the weekend.

We return to Calgary on the 11th and on the 13th I will be going to NKOTBSB with one of my dear girl friends Jenn.  I am so looking forward to this concert and hanging out with her before she gets married in August!  We are taking the girls during the day before the concert so that they get to experience all that is Stampede.

On the 15th we leave for our 16 day camping adventure in the USA.  We will be hitting up Wyoming, South Dakota + Montana.  On the agenda is Yellowstone National Park, The Black Hills, State Capital of MOntana, Mt. Rushmore and most importantly - an ABUNDANCE OF TARGETS.  I have already been perusing their online site for items that I  want  need to buy.  I heart target.

Of course, I will be blogging all about my Jumping July but in case my posts are random and few + far between that is why.  Or I am spending WAY TOO much time on Pinterest.

Anyways happy summer to you all!

Lake Sikome

On Wednesday, we met up with my friend D (not sure if she wants her name on da blog) and her two little girls C and K.  They are such sweet little girls and Finley adores them both.  Penelope will too once she is old enough to adore other kids.  It was stunning weather here in Calgary so we hit up Lake Sikome which is in Fish Creek Provincial Park.  It's about a 12 minute drive from my house!

 After unloading our wagons, we sat down for a yummy lunch of sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, + crackers.  It was the first time Penelope had peanut butter and her own sandwich other than grilled cheese.  She LOVED it.  It's not surprising since both her sister and I are peanut butter freaks.

 The girls played in the sand for a bit before we hit up the water.  It was cold at first but soon became very pleasant.  Penelope LOVED the water and the sand.  Finley also enjoyed the water but did not enjoy when her feet + hands got sand on them when she ran out of the water onto the sand.  She is so ocd about the sand that she made C wash her hands before she would hold them because she didn't want sand on her.  Such a funny kid.

 Penelope refused to keep her hat on of course.  Finley impressively kept her hat on until she dropped it in the water and it was too wet but she had dropped it 3x before and since it wasn't too too wet she wore it.  I was uber surprised with this!

I remember coming to Sikome Lake as a kid with my Aunty Patsy.  I remember very vividly coming to Fish Creek for a picnic and wanting to go swimming at the lake.  It had been closed that summer because of some bacteria or something in the water.  I had a temper tantrum and spent a lot of time pouting in the car.  I know that those who know me are really surprised by this (sarcasm people).  It seems smaller than I remember or maybe it's just because I am bigger?  Not sure!

 I thought that the cold water might bother Penelope but not a tear was cried. She splashed, moved around, played with sand, ate some sand - got splashed by other kids and loved every minute of it.  So different from her big sister!  Finley and her pal C are 1 day apart.  Isn't that crazy?  They get along super well + seem to communicate without problems as well.

We all had a great time at the lake.  The weather was great - beautiful while in the water but man did it feel stifling hot while on the sand.  The sand was so hot that it burned your feet when you walked.  It was also Finley's first experience without a swim diaper which was a major success.  We were close to the washrooms - which she used once and was good to go the rest of the day.

The kids decided they were done and walked back to our blankets and immediately started undressing and once they were all changed + dry Finley + C hoped in their prospective wagons waiting for us to leave!  Silly kids.  We all hoped that the sun would cause all kids to have afternoon naps since I know both D + I needed them but unfortunately only Penelope followed through.  Although, it is 9am Thursday morning and Finley is still sleeping!

Can't wait to go back next week!

South Glenmore Park

On Monday morning we took advantage of one of the 7 days without rain this month (this according to Nenshi's tweet yesterday) and head to South Glenmore Park to play at the playground and take a walk.  The playground was uber busy so no pictures were taken but I did manage to grab a few while we went for a walk.  There was a sailboat in the water that looked pretty awesome.  

Heritage Park

This past weekend Grandma Gail (greg's mom) was visiting from Saskatoon so we thought that we would do something fun and headed to Heritage Park.  Heritage Park is very similar to the Western Development Museum but outside for all the Saskatoon folks reading this + who have never been to Heritage Park.  It got a little windy at times but the weather stayed good with NO rain!

 I loved the green chairs that were on one of the trains.  It was interesting to see some of the style from the early 1900s so prevalent in today's times.  The above photo with the rug + sewing kit I took because I remember both items growing up.  I think my grandma or one of my aunt's had the brown wooden knitting box and I remember my Aunty Sandy having the rug.  In fact, she gave me a smaller blue version of this rug when I moved into our house in Saskatoon because my bedroom was so cold and we had hardwood floors.

 Finley nearly had her fingers bitten by the rooster.  It was trying really hard to get her fingers when she stuffed them into the cage.  Finley enjoyed all of the animals but especially the birds.  She has a thing for birds + dogs it seems these days.  It was interesting also to see that the HBC blanket that everybody wants (or at least I do) was the most expensive item to be traded for  back in the day.  It took 7 beaver hides to get one.

At the end of the day we took the train around the park because Finley had been obsessing about it most of the time. The girls seemed to enjoy it but it was too long and kinda lame.  But it was fun to do at least once!  Thanks Grandma Gail!  Gasoline Alley was pretty cool and I really enjoyed all the gas pumps, signs and cool cars.  I especially loved the pricing on Safeway's sale board - if only things were that cheap now!  One of my favorite things I saw was one of the first motorized bikes.  It was made of all different kinds of manufacturers parts.  It kinda looks like the pastal coloured bikes with baskets you now see around town!

As we were leaving, I ran into my friend Joanna.  We both worked at Scotiabank together and I absolutely love her.  It was so nice to see her as I hadn't seen her since I left the bank back in 2007.  Thankfully, social networking has let us keep up with each other!  How lucky am I to have made such great friends while working at Scotiabank - especially since I am still friends with them today!

Anways I seemed to have digressed a bit from the actual point of this post so I apologize.  We had a great time and we were all so tuckered out that everybody was in bed early Saturday night.  No jokes - I was in bed shortly after 9!  If you have never been to Heritage Park, you must definitely go!  You will not be disappointed and you can get coupons on Calgary Attractions

Then + Now

Lake Louise Edition: 2008, 2009 + 2011

Red Rock in 2008 and then in 2011.  It was the only picture i had of myself at red rock and it's terrible and you can't even tell that i am alone. 

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

June Afternoon

Today was just the most perfect June afternoon.  The sun was shining, the sky was clean of clouds and there was NO rain in the forecast - at least until tomorrow!  We had Giggle Toes this morning and then we made a quick trip to Ikea before heading home for lunch and outdoor fun.

I have been struggling to find a good collage program - I had tried picasa which I hate everything about with exception of their web albums and picnic which has some cool features but you have to pay $25 a year for.  So I thought to myself, does Apple have an app that would help me?  I checked out the app store and found Collage Creator.  I tried the lite version and made the first 2 below but that was all I could do in terms of layout.  So I checked out the upgrade + it was only $3.99 so I bought it and did the last 2 photos with the paid version.  

Anyways,  here are some photos of our June Afternoon...

I am so happy we made this purchase last summer.  It is one of the best things that we have in our backyard and both kids love to swing.  Finley swang on the teetertotter thing for 30 minutes straight.  She would have kept swinging but my arm was hurting so I made her go play with other things. There is a sandbox underneath it which she was playing in until she kicked the sand and it got in her sandals + on her feet.  She was not happy with this.  She also tried to go down the slide head first which I promptly put a stop to.

Penelope doesn't do too much outside except swing and sit.  She refuses to be mobile on the grass so if you lay her on her back or tummy she gets mad very fast.  I keep telling her that she is arm crawls instead of belly crawls she would be much happier.  Even walking I told her would be more efficient but she refuses to listen to me.  She didn't want to be in the swing today so we played a game of me putting her hat on and her taking it off.  She hates wearing hats.  I distracted her from taking it off for awhile with some object I found.  It didn't last long and soon she was putting that on her head. Finley also hated hats at that age but now she loves them.  Fingers crossed this occurs with Penelope too!

After I made Finley give up the swing, she ventured over to her playhouse where she made lunch for her posse, she mowed the lawn and had a quick break from said lawn mowing and sat down at her picnic table.  All work and no play makes for a "tired" little girl.  She also made sure to "water" her lawn after mowing it - not that we need to considering all the rain we seem to be getting!

And of course, the most perfect part of our June afternoon (aside from the weather) was watching Finley + her beloved Sisi play together.  They had lots of hugs and kisses for each other!  Finley also tried to keep Pippi's (trying out some nicknames here.  Greg prefers Pippa, which is ironic because that was on my baby name list and he vetoed it.  He doesn't seem to remember but maintains it is a nickname not a real name.  Anyways back to the point of the blog) hat on with no success while Pippa (real hard not to just call her penelope but that's a real mouthful sometimes) tried to steal her sandals while Finley cleaned out the sand.

All in all it was a perfect day.  After Penelope went down for her nap, I brought out a few puzzles and watched as Finley, full of pride, finished each one.  She loves to do puzzles!  It was a nice distraction from a phone call or text that I am waiting to receive.

Now it's time to go find something for supper since I forgot to pull the chicken that was on the meal plan for today.  Wish me luck!

Hope you all enjoyed your day no matter where you were!

Frank's Slide

I have wanted to go to Frank's Slide for a very long time.  We always pass it on the way to Seattle and we always say we really need to go and see it but never seem to.  Since we were down South going to Waterton we decided to go on our way back to Calgary and I am so happy we did.

the memorial in the parking lot.

The deadliest rock slide in Canada.  Over 90 people were killed.  You can see the missing rock.

and here it lies.  The rock goes on + on + on + on.  It is ridiculous.

We ended up going to watch a documentary on the events of that night.  I didn't want to but I am glad Greg made me.  It personalizes the events and tells  you the names of families and what they did before and after the slide.  It gave you a story, a picture and the connection and it made everything that much more real.  I wanted to cry at the end of the video.

Broken houses

Actual broken china pulled out of the wreckage.

A really cool memorial to the victims.

Finley and I colouring Frank's Slide pictures.  They are now hanging in her room.

Looking at the ridiculous piles of rock.  There are still bodies under the rock - although considering it was in 1903 I doubt they is anything left of them.  The crazy thing is that they expect another slide on Turtle Mountain.  It's basically not if there is another slide, but WHEN there is.  They have all kinds of radioacative measuring stuff at the top of the mountain so they can monitor it.  This place is without a doubt something you need to witness first hand.  I will definitely be going back again when the kids are older.

On the way back to Calgary, we cam across some cool water falls so we stopped to take a  look.  This is basically in the backyard of a house.  How cool is that?

The perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Waterton National Park

We were camping in Waterton  National Park for the weekend.  It marked the first time Greg and I have been there since I was about 6 months pregnant with Finley.  It's kinda crazy how our life has changed.  I think I might do a now + then blog. 

After the Buffalo Jump we stopped at a recreational site to have lunch.  It was a disaster.  The mosquitos were so bad we gave up and ate in the car.  Finley has 3 bites on her forehead and now has a irrational fear of all bugs because of it.

This was the first thing we saw as we entered the Park.  It seriously does not get much better than this!

Pip hanging out while everything is set up.

Finley doing what she loves - helping Daddy set up the tent.  I also love this because it means I never have to help!!  We camped in Crendall Mountain Campground which is about 10 minutes from the actual town of Waterton.

Finley got a ring toss for Easter from Grandma Toot + Aunty Kristy so we set it up and played with it all weekend.  We both basically suck at it but it will continue to  be at every campsite with hopes that we improve by summers end.  I shall keep you posted.

Come on guys!  I am ready to get going!

Above and below are photos of the deer in our campsite.  They were everywhere and they were so calm.  The people didn't even phase them.  I really enjoyed having them around as did Finley!  Penelope couldn't care less yet.

Finley helping daddy unload the firewood.  This girl does everything!

We saw tonnes of animals everywhere.  it's a real treat to see when you camp in Banff a lot.

We hiked red rock canyon which is a nice little hike.  we did this hike when we were here last time. It has been improved since because it is part of the Gov of Canada's Action Plan so it was given a bunch of money to do improvements.  I noticed that a lot of areas in Waterton are part of this plan.  It is a beautiful hike regardless.  The rock really is amazing.  And all the rock in this area are all foreign to the area because it was all swept down or up (can't remember) the stream during spring runoff.

Another cool shot of the canyon.

Me with the girls.  I was a bit chilly.  Love how full of colour and shapes Finley is!

cameron falls.  It was beautiful and no pictures i took could give it justice.

Snow we had to walk through to continue on the trail to Bertha Falls.  When we first went up it was hard and easy to walk over but on the way back down it had warmed up and I ended up sliding down it - while carrying Penelope but we were both a-ok.

At the end of this lake you can get to the USA.  You can get there by hiking along the path we were headed but you turned off to go to Goat Haunt.  You can get there by a boat as well.  They have a border crossing in the woods and you need a valid passport to cross.

A cool shot of the town of Waterton.  One of my favorite photos I think.

Bertha Falls!  We made  it to the top!  We enjoyed our picnic lunch in front of the falls. The weather was beautiful and our fruit and sandwiches hit the spot.  Much better then the picnic we tried to have the day before!

Greg and Finley checking out the water over the bridge.  Finley walked all 3k up to the falls and part of the way down before Greg forced her into his backpack much to her dismay.

Penelope and I hanging out while waiting for Greg + Finley to catch up to us.

Finley was out cold once they did.  She was done but insisted on walking. Greg forced her into the backpack while she was screaming.  I am sure the entire National Park heard her.  But it worked because she was out cold.

After a long day of hiking, we stopped at the playground where Finley played and had lots of fun.

We headed out to Cameron Lake to check it out.  There was still snow.  Everywhere!

I wasn't kidding.  There is tonnes of snow.  In fact, the Saturday was the first warm day they had and it was maybe 13 or so and the residents were in shorts + tanktops.

Last time we were here, Greg + I kayaked right to the edge of the lake which is also the USA.  It was August long weekend and WAY nicer out.

It was definitely much nicer in the town of Waterton.  We went for a nice walk along the river, bought a magnet (we collect one from every new place we go), Finley got a rock from a lady in the store and then we headed back to the campsite for supper.

It was a pretty good trip and we did lots of fun things.  The next day we packed up the campsite and headed to Frank's Slide.