Family bike riding

We had a great day biking at Kananaskis with the kids.
Kananaskis valley has an array of mountain biking trails for the fit and keen bikers and it also has a paved trail for families and children to enjoy as well. Heather had a quick go on her two wheeler with stabilisers and then decided that she would be quicker on her run bike....!! and quick she was!!










We then enjoyed some time at Ribbon Creek, doing things that the kids love best, throwing stones, fishing with sticks and paddling in the water before heading up to the village for ice cream by the waterfall and a spot of climbing







And the end result...... a peaceful journey home for Mum and Dad!!!!

RESULT !!!!

First Camping Trip

We had a camping trip arranged for Dinosaur Provincial park and up until a week before we were going to be tenting it. There had been a few adverts for second hand tent trailers being sold locally in Canmore and as time got closer, the idea became more appealing.
So we have purchased a 9 year old tent trailer for under $5000, easy to tow, easy to store, and easy to sleep in !!! And technically still under canvas!!!
Dinosaur Provincial park is the furthest east we have ever been, about a 4 hr drive. After leaving Canmore, 3.5 hours of the drive is across flat prairie lands. Lots of green fields, lots of big blue sky and very little else of interest to note except the conscious thought of " What the heck do people do out here!!"
Then all of a sudden you enter a landscape in a valley with strange land formations rising up on all sides sculpted by wind and water into hauntingly beautiful shapes. These are Hoodoos, spires of sandstone and iron ore which have been and continue to be sculpted by the wind .

The kids had a great time. First night they were up until 11.30pm and still woke at 0630 the following morning.
They loved just being outside playing in the long grass, dry leaves and a small stream.They enjoyed camp fires and quickly became a fan of the Canadian camping tradition of Smores.
Smores is a camping dessert of toasted marshmallow, placed between 2 crackers with chocolate in it. They are very tasty in front of the fire.


Heather enjoyed a visit with the Dinos before our Fossil walk the following day.



And Finlay seems to be a bit of a twitcher and spent most of the evenings chasing his "Chee chees "around. There was a particular Robin that frequently flew into our camp just in sight of Finlay and would hop around with Finlay running behind calling out "Chee chee!!!" He never did catch up with the bird !!

All aboard the Dino bus

One of the highlights of our camping trip was a guided fossil walk which took us to a protected area in the park that only guided tours are allowed to venture. The primary reason being, I'm sure that there is a high chance of becoming very lost in this desert like, hoodoo landscape. Something similar to how you would expect the surface of the moon to appear.
There was great excitement from the kids as they ventured on the bus .

After a short hike from the bus we came to an area which 75 million years ago had been part of a warm temperate coastal plain and subsequently a place rich in fossil findings. Apparently this resulted in the park being designated as a UNESCO world heritage site and is in the top three places in the world to find dinosaur and prehistoric bones.


Finlay was however more interested in the safe keeping of his little T-Rex. There was a boy of Finlay's age on the hike who had spotted Finlay's T-Rex and kept coming up to him and trying to take it out of his hands. This was okay initially until the wee boy started to push Finlay and became quite persistent throughout the hike. James put T- Rex in a trusty little pocket for safe keeping and we continued on. The funny thing was that Finlay would be enjoying playing in the sand and dust, then suddenly go to James ,voice a few sounds and touch Jame's pocket to make sure T-Rex was safe!!!

Monkey's at the childrens festival

This year heather's friend had her birthday party at the children's festival and the theme was little monkey's...chosen by Sola herself, but Ohh how appropriate.

At this point granny took the opportunity for some peace and quiet to go and do some well earned retail therapy.
The kids at the party enjoyed a child entertainment show followed by a birthday picnic and monkey cake. Then we were free to enjoy the clowns, the bouncy castle, crafts and face painting. Even Finlay wanted a go on the bouncy castle, however once he was inside he decided very quickly that perhaps it wasn't for him and perhaps he should stick with the dress up tent!!!

Kananaskis and the hike to Troll Falls

Again we kept Granny and the kids busy with a trip to Kananaskis. This is a beautiful part of the valley that we don't take enough advantage of and it is only 45 mins from Canmore. There is a hike there called Troll falls which we did at the end of winter and at the time Heather had been very disappointed to get to the frozen waterfall and not see a Troll.

So this time we went with granny in tow and were prepared for Troll hunting.

This time we made sure that we were prepared and the kids were not disappointed. When we arrived at the falls the kids enjoyed hunting for little baby trolls to take home!!!
The things you do!!!


Again, the kids did well hiking all the way and after the hike we went to Kananaskis village and enjoyed another stroll while Heather and Finlay ran around the park playing ball and we all enjoyed delicious ice cream!!

Weekend break at Baker Creek

Heather's favorite place for holidays is about an hours drive from here. She has a couple of friends there that she loves to visit and so was excited to show granny her cabin with the red key. However when we arrived there she soon discovered that Leah and Flynn were away visiting their granny too!!! Tears to begin with and that was quickly resolved with a red key.

At Baker Creek we enjoy peace and quiet and good family times. The kids enjoy playing by the river, looking for passing trains, having camp fires and of course ice cream from the red door. There are swings to relax on, trails to meander through and some hikes not too far away.


We all enjoyed a hike up Johnstone Canyon a 5 km hike through canyons and water falls. Heather walked the whole distance up and down and Finlay enjoyed the run down

Pleasant walks along the rivers

heather and finlay love to go for walks along the river. There are 3 main places that we venture to and we took Granny along to show her too.

Bow Falls in Banff

Shore of the Bow River in Canmore.

Throwing stones in Canmore.

The kids also enjoy nature walks along the creek where we live, although these days it seems to be adventure runs!!

Potty time

Finlay is almost 23 months and is almost ready for potty training. The problem is the only time he expresses his need is when he is about to poop and he will voice a grunting, pushing noise. Up til now I have been listening for this and then whisking him off to the potty to find that he has usually just beaten me to it in his diaper. Well today I heard him doing his usual grunt and push , abandoned Heather at the sink while doing her teeth and whisked Finlay to the potty. Great no poop in the diaper, sat him down and asked him if he was going to sit and poop in the potty. I quickly returned to help Heather finish her teeth and just as we were finishing, heard crying from the other room. We both ran back to find Finlay standing by his potty, crying and pointing at his poop. Heather and I were enthusiastic, clapping and cheering for him, hugging and high fiving, while Finlay was still upset with tears running down his cheeks and pointing. He was evidently unsure what to make of the situation...was this good?.....was this bad? What has just happened? It took a while for him to realize that this was a good thing and then proceeded to march around proud as punch.

Don't ask me how long this will last. I have a feeling that this is going to be a longer process than we had with Heather. The only verbalisation from Finlay is when he is pooping, no indication of peeing, no pee pee dance to alert me and less time to observe him.

However progress has been made and mum got him to the potty on time!!!

Happy Times with Granny

We had lots of things organised to do with Granny and it all started a few hours after she landed with a visit to the circus that had come to town. Heather had fun dressing in her new Tinker bell outfit, getting her face painted, eating a snow cone and also wearing the snow cone and coming home with a Dora balloon.

We took Granny to Banff a few times and enjoyed walks by the river, walks in Cascade gardens, with beautiful trees, bridges and little paths with steps which Finlay enjoyed running over and jumping down.We enjoyed relaxing and swimming in the hot springs, where Heather spent most of her time under water twisting and turning, ducking and diving and swimming to granny under water.and Heather's favourite, going for lunch at the Rimrock.

Dddd deadline day!!

The arrival of Granny sent a flurry of finally completing the basement. Six days before there was bare plaster on the walls, no toilet, no shower or sink, no flooring and a lot of dust and mess. It is amazing what can be accomplished in six days when you know you have guests arriving.



The day before granny arrived I had a trip in to Calgary to buy bedding, lighting, shower and bathroom accessories, meanwhile, painting and shower fitting were being completed. The day that granny arrived, the carpet was fitted, we dismanteled our bed to put in the basement and our new bed was delivered for upstairs. I took the kids in to meet granny off the plane and on our arrival there were still people coming and going. Two hours of being at our house we had an outing to the circus that had arrived in town and then it was back to assembling bed, laying new bedding out and putting the final touches to our little sanctuary in the basement. We celebrated and relaxed with a glass of wine. Granny was here and the bedroom was complete.

Who's your Grand daddy!!!!!

Genetics is so amazing and it made me smile when I watched Finlay walking with his hands behind his back, just like his Grandad. If he was seeing his Grandad regularly, I would have sworn that he was copying him. However with him living 5,ooo mile across the ocean...that ruled that thought out. Just watch this.........