five on friday

Here is a list of 5 very Canadian things I will do this weekend to celebrate Canada's 149th birthday.

{one}  I will wear a T-shirt that proudly sports a Canadian flag.

{two}  I will watch a parade with the kids sitting on the curb. Well, they'll sit on the curb and I'll bring a chair to sit behind them.  There will be water spraying, candy throwing, horses pooping and all the other funess that comes with a parade.

{three}  I will drink a beer and clam.  Or two. Or three.

{four}  I will attend a traditional stampede breakfast with pancakes, sausage, eggs, and lots of syrup!

{five}  While I'd like to say I'm going to enjoy a Tim Horton's coffee over the weekend, the chances are slim.  I'm more of a Second Cup kind of girl.  Since we are enjoying Canada day in the moutains, it will probably be coffee from a local shop instead.

Just for fun, I am including this list of Canadian terms that apparently need defining.  I thought it was cute so thought I would share.

Happy Canada Day!

Canadian Term	Definition
ABM	Automated Bank Machine (used instead of ATM)
Biffy	Toilet
Chesterfield	Sofa
Double-Double	A cup of coffee with two creams and two sugars
Eh?	An interjection, similar to "you know?"
For sure	Definitely
Giv'n'r	Doing something well or enthusiastically
Had the biscuit	Dead; broken
Islander	A person from Prince Edward Island
Jesus Murphy	An exclamation of surprise
Kraft Dinner	Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
Loonie	The Canadian one dollar coin
Molson muscle	Beer belly
Nanaimo Bar	A dessert made of egg custard and graham crackers with a layer of chocolate on top
Oil Town	A nickname for Edmonton which refers to the oil refining industry in the region
Postal code	The Canadian version of the British postcode or the American ZIP code.
Queue	A line of people
Runners	Running shoes
Stagette	Bachelorette party
Two-four	A 24-pack of beer
Write (a test or exam)	To take an exam
Zed	The letter "Z"

Happy Birthday Canada!

Canmore is a favorite way for us to celebrate Canada Day.  There is something about that mountain air that makes you happy and feel like you are on a mini vacation.

Every year, the day starts with a pancake breakfast.  I like to think of it as a warm up to the Stampede breakfasts that next week will bring.

After breakfast we went to the park and the fitness area surrounding the park. Gotta work off those pancakes!

Next up is the parade.  The main goal for the kids is to collect candy.  Enough said.

They really do a good job.  It is about an hour and that is as long as my kids are able to sit and pay attention.

This year we decided to go to Quarry lake after the parade.  I love it there.  A lake in the middle of the mountain?  Yes, please!

Don't forget your superheros!

The kids got in the very cold lake water and James and I watched from the shore.  There are rocks that surround the swimming area.

This guy is very brave in the water these days.

I got Grady to take a picture of James and I with our matching shirts before we left.  We've never, and probably will never again, wear matching shirts.

Of course we got a family shot, selfie stick style!

Although only one day, it felt a lot longer, like I said, leave the city and feels like vacation!

Happy Belated Canada Day!

Canada Day Weekend

I'm behind. I know, I know. I desperately trying to catch up and I hope to be up to date by the end of the week. In the meantime, let's travel back to what we did over the long weekend. Technically it wasn't a long weekend since the holiday this year was on a Tuesday, however we took the Friday and Monday off to enjoy an extra long weekend to go and visit my family.

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the life of my uncle Rob, my Dad's brother, that passed away in the fall after a long battle with MS.  The service was nice and I got to see 3 of my cousins I haven't seen since I was a kid.  It was uber hot that day so after the service we went to Dad and Sheila's for burgers, drinks and a swim.

The rest of the weekend was full of fun.  I'll let the pictures do a lot of the talking.

There was hockey.  Of course.

We attempted a geocashe that is about a block from my mom's house.  It was our first fail.  We just couldn't find it.  James read after that someone tried to find it a month ago and couldn't find it either.  James and Madi gave up super fast while James, Grady and I stuck it out.  We are all disappointed to be unsuccessful.

We swam.  The kids love swimming at Grandpa Lorne's.  I loved it as a kid to.  My Dad keeps the pool super warm which makes it much more enjoyable for the adults.  Grady is getting so good in the water and Cooper has come along way to.

We hotubbed.  This visit the kids could go in on their own and we just stood on the outside.  They like to go in a lot so it is a welcome change to have to go in with them.

We blew lots and lots of bubbles and played in the back yard.  Taiya and the boys played great together and James even texted the next day to say that Tai was asking about her cousins.  Love to watch their little relationship blossom.

Kiptyn and Grandma watched from the safety of the shade.  Look at those squeezable little cheeks!

We visited some parks. This particular day was beyond hot and we forgot sunscreen and water.  We just weren't accustomed to the hot weather yet!

We ran through the sprinklers at GGs and played in her motor home.  GG has a fantastic yard with lots of flowers and a great little deck to visit on.

The kids rode home from GGs in their underwear since they were soaking wet!

We ran through the sprinkler.

We had lots of laughs. I think Cooper was spraying Grady with water in this photo and loving every moment of it.

The kids played in the paddling pool.  Often running between the ice cold pool to the extra hot hot tub.

Then it started to rain and we decided to go and spend the day at the lake anyway.  The lake was infested with caterpillars.  They were on all the trees. They were starting to make cocoons.  Grady was all over it since they learned all about the process in school.  My mom refused to walk under the trees as she was scared one would fall on her.

Since it rained all day at the trailer we got creative and played Charades.  It was a hit with all of us!  We would tell the kids what it said and they would act it out for the others.  Except Cooper would just act out whatever he wanted.

We also played some cards.

A picture to prove that I was there to!

We went out to Joel's place which is like a kids wonderland with a full rink in his backyard and a trampoline!  It was super windy out this day so we couldnt' stay as long as we would have liked.

The hitmen fans.  Blaire left her jersey for me to wear this season at the hitmen games.  Joel used to play for the hitmen so she has her very own jersey!

The kids are finally starting to pose together and I couldn't be happier.  Love these boys!

We also set off fireworks. Something you don't see in Alberta often. 

We set off one set at the lake and one set in the city across the street from my moms.  The kids had never watched fireworks so they were super pumped.  Notice it is daylight.  The kids don't stay up late enough to do them at night but they enjoyed them just the same!

Finally, we set off on our journey home on Tuesday morning with a planned stop at Deena's place just outside of Saskatoon. Well, James and I got lost and ended up 45 minutes off track so instead, we met for lunch at A&W with 6 kids in tow!  We snapped a quick selfie in the parking lot.

We crammed a lot into our super fun extra long weekend.  The lakes in SK are beautiful and worth a stop if you are ever in the area.  I have such fond lake memories growing up and hope to pass a few along to my big city kids!

Canada Day in Canmore 2013

We spent the long weekend in Canmore last year with the P family and had an absolute blast.  So a few months back we went ahead and booked this years Canada Day long weekend in Canmore with them again.

Then the flood happened.

The highway to Canmore was closed for 1 week.  Our hotel didn't have AC, the elevator was down, the pool was closed, and there was a boil water advisory for the entire town.  To go or not to go?  That was the question.

James drove the highway when it opened the Wednesday before and said it was pretty good and then they were busy paving, he expected it to be back to 2 lanes be the weekend.  It wasn't.  He also said that the side of the highway with the hotels and main street were back to normal.  So the decision was to go anyway and support the community of Canmore while they work to rebuild.

I'm so glad we did.  We had a great time in the mountains with our city kids and enjoyed all the extra time we got to spend with our good friends.

We left the city around noon on Saturday and our first stop was the park.  The kids ran wild.

Nothing beats a park nestled in the middle of the mountains.  Nothing.  I love how the kids are older this year and are more self sufficient.  We got to stand on the side lines for the most part and watch the kids rather than following them around and making sure then didn't hurt themselves.

This was the view from our balcony.

 

If you look closely you can see the highway - which usually wouldn't have been a big deal.  However... this weekend with no AC we had to sleep with our windows open and it was SO loud. I am usually not one to notice things like this but every time a big truck went by it woke me up.  It was that loud. 

 Speaking of sleeping - look who slept in a big boy bed for the first time this weekend!

 

I hate to admit that it is time to get our 'baby' a big boy bed.  It is on the agenda for this weekend.

Saturday after a trip to the park we headed out on a hike.  Well, we did as much of a hike that we could with strollers and 2 woman in flip flops.  It wasn't your typical hike - it was like an urban hike.    At one point we ditched the strollers and all of us walked down a trail.  In typical boy fashion, they quickly grabbed sticks that they held on to for the entire hike.

 

Eventually at the bottom of a hill we reached this stream that you can see behind the boys.

 

I was sure Cooper was going to fall in as his bottom was almost dragging on the ground. I am sure the boys (and John) could have stayed at the stream all day. The littles both had soaking wet shoes by the time we left.  It was nice to do something that we couldn't do in the city.

The rest of Saturday was spent eating lunch at the Mexican place with all the kids in tow, a walk down main street to shop for the ladies, a trip the toy store for the big boys and dads, and finally a trip to the pool.

We stopped to look at the pool at Elevation Place (since our pool was still closed) on Friday night and Grady couldn't wait to get there.  Since the first round of public swim was during nap time, we had to wait until 6:30 for the evening public swim.  He was so excited to go down the water slide.  We arrived and I went down first to preview it while G waited at the bottom.  It was fast.  Like I was kind of scared it was so fast, and I was sitting!  I told Grady I would take him down if he wanted but that it was fast.  He was unsure.  In the end, it turned out that you had to ride on your own AND that he was not quite tall enough.

I though he would be disappointed but he was pretty OK with it.  He had a blast at the pool with N&N. We rarely go to the pool with friends so it was a nice change for him.  He also got the watch Nicholas jump in the pool without an adult and I think it motivated him. Not enough to try while we were there, but maybe soon???

Cooper was a little under the weather Saturday after nap so he went back to the hotel with James while we swam. He woke up from his nap and cried on and off for about 2 hours.  He wouldn't eat and just wanted to cuddle with me.  He felt quite warm as well.  He figure he just got too much sun.  His white little body wasn't used to so much heat! 

Sunday morning we woke up to sunshine and the hottest day of the weekend!

I can't say Cooper was fully recovered.

He was still a little warm in the morning and not exactly the happiest camper.  We tried to keep him out of the sun as much as we could.  He did get rid of the tears for parts of the morning.

We snapped our family shot.

And our group shot.  You can't tell in the picture, but all the boys have the same shirt on.  A fun tradition we started last year.

Here is Cooper just before the parade started.

 

I usually roll my eyes when I see people walking down the street with an umbrella to shield the sun, but at the parade, we were oneof them!  Cooper just couldn't sit in the direct heat so I held the umbrella over him for the entire parade.

I love the Canada day festivities in Canmore.  They start with a pancake breakfast, then a fun run (which maybe we'll do one year), then the parade, and finally a birthday celebration in the park.  Our goal was to make it to the parade as it was such a highlight this year.    There were many moments in the hour before the parade started that I didn't think we were going to make it. Cooper kept asking to home. Grady was tired and cranky.  About 10 minutes before the parade started both kids were sitting in their chairs screaming their little heads off.  I just ignored them praying that once the parade stared they would stop.  And they did.

We enjoyed the full parade with the candy grabbing being the highlight. That and being sprayed by water by some of the floats.

I love spending the weekend in Canmore and hope we will do it again next year!  I hope you enjoyed your Canada Day weekend as much as we did!

Canada Day Festivities 2012

We had the pleasure of spending Canada day weekend in Canmore with our family Friends, John and Stacey and their boys. this was the view from our balcony. 

In my 8 years of living in Calgary I have never spent the weekend in Canmore. We have spent several nights in Banff but never Canmore. I wish we would have done it sooner! It is that much closer to the city and you don't have to pay to get in the park. Not to mention the views are just as spectacular!!

Upon arrival we checked out the place and Grady ran around screaming like he had never seen a TV, a phone, and even a garbage can before!  He was obviously excited for our 'vacation in the mountains' as he called it!

While Cooper napped, Grady and I headed to the hot tub both days.  All decked out in his McQueen suit and new shirt he enjoyed the too hot water by getting out and running around every so often.  If only I could have convinced him to go in the pool.....

While we were waiting for Cooper to rise from his slumber, Grady worked on his photography skills.  He took a few and this was by far the best one.

We are just going to pretend that he was trying to get the mountains in the picture as well....

Once the 'P' family arrived we headed out to dinner.  I didn't get a picture because the 4 boys were crazy.  There had just been a sun shower and lots of puddles on the patio.  The kids didn't want to eat, they wanted to puddle jump, look at the flower, and run.  We ate as fast as possible and headed to the nearest park.

This was a great park.  There was a little one for the young kids and a bigger park for the older kids.  Kind of like the water slides, Grady wanted nothing more than to go down the tunnel slide at the park.  All the other kids were doing it and Grady was just to scared.  When he was up top by himself, he would get on the slide than promptly get up when another kid would come running up.  This went on for over an hour.  Finally I went down with him.  He still wouldn't go down.  So I did something that would either result in him loving the slide or absolutely hating it. 

I put him in feet first down the slide and reached my arms down as far as possible and let him go.  We waited for him to come out the other side and it turns out it was the right thing to do.  After going one more time like that he absolutely loved it and couldn't get enough.

He was so proud of himself and wanted to go down over and over and over. I was so proud of him for overcoming his fear. He talked about this park all weekend and we went 3 more times after this visit. When we got home he even asked when we would go back to the 'tunnel park'. by far the highlight for him!

We got up first thing on July first and got on our matching shirts... well for the boys any way.  It took a little convincing to wear this shirt rather than the McQueen shirt he picked out but eventually he relented and put the Canada day shirt and we are sure glad he did!

Cooper was much harder to get a good picture of.  He can't be bothered to slow down and he especially can't be bothered to smile!

 

Canmore put on a great Canada Day celebration from the pancake breakfast, to the parade, to the afternoon festivities that took place while the kids were napping, to the fireworks that we could barely see from our condo.  I would for sure go back!

In between the pancakes and the parade we had some time to kill.  Boys will be boys!  There was lots of wrestling to be done.  Cooper is deciding whether he should break it up or join in!

 

The kids weren't the happiest when we stopped for a family picture but if we didn't do it now we wouldn't do it at all.  The kids did pretty well I think considering Grady was melting down before the picture was snapped.

This is the only picture I have of all 4 boys together in their matching shirts.... collecting sticks. Next time we'll plan that out a little better!

Notice that the sticks left the park and almost made it to the parade. The kids just loved being together for 2 consecutive days. The look on their faces says it all.

 

Then it was off to the parade. This was our first one ever and i wasn't really sure how the kids were going to do. Neither one is very good at sitting still so we just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

It turned out that the kids quite enjoyed the parade.  Before it started, Grady and i went to the toy store and he of course found some Cars 2 cars he didn't have. It was a pack of 2 I had never seen before so we bought them.  It was just a bonus that there was one for each of them.  I really think that is what kept Cooper amused through the parade that happened to be right at nap time.  He ran that car up and down the chair for most of it.

By the end of the day the rip in Grady's pants was unrepairable and they went in the garbage.

 The only thing that wasn't so great was the sleep situation. We had a 2 bedroom condo which will be great when the kids are older and can sleep in the same room but for the time being, we really need a third bedroom for us all to sleep good. Grady slept fantastic both night. He went to bed great and slept until at least 6am. That in my books is a great night!

Cooper on the other hand slept in a pack and play in our room right beside our bed. We contemplated putting him in the bathroom but somehow that felt wrong. When we went to bed on the first night, he heard us and started to toss and turn. I tried not to move and wake him up further. The result was a really crappy night sleep for me. Cooper got up at 5:45 making noises and we took him into bed at 6:15. He refused to watch TV in our room and wanted to get up immediately.

The next night was worse. He woke up at 3am crying and wanting to get up for the day. After what felt like forever trying to get him back into bed by rocking and bringing him into bed with us we finally did the only thing that was left. We left Cooper in the big room with the king size bed and James slept with Grady and I slept on the couch. So much for a good nights sleep! The only good thing was that Cooper slept until 8:30 the next morning so we got a bit of a sleep in.

Why don't kids know they are supposed to sleep good on holidays?

Other than the sleep situation, we had a great weekend.

Thank you for a great weekend 'P' family and we hope we can do it again inthe future!