Morning Commute

It seemed that my commute was never the same two days in a row. Sometimes I drove down to the river and jogged in, sometimes I biked in from home, sometimes I went to the driving range on the way to the train, and sometimes I even played 9 holes before going into work. I snapped a few photos along the way.

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma M hit a big milestone birthday this year so the kids wrote one thing they love about Grandma/Mom on one heart for every year and stuck them all over the house. She still shared her birthday weekend with the other August babies, but we hoped it was a little extra special this year.



Our kids spent some time drawing special pictures for Grandma, and they got nice big hugs in return. When you are dealing with Grandma, it's hard to give more than you get.

Play-Doh Love

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Scott's Perpective on the War Museum

R went out for lunch one Saturday, so I decided to take the kids to the Military Museum. Every time we take a trip down to the US we point out the dramatically-posed CF-5 Fighter near Crowchild Trail and comment on how interesting it would be to go visit the museum.

Aside from one frightening incident with the alarm system, we had a fabulous time. Even after I had been warned, I accidentally pointed too close to one of the displays and deafening alarms went off all around us. Katie had been doing pretty well up until that point, but she was a bit anxious for the rest of the trip. Scott reminded me every few minutes not to point at anything.

Scott brought along our compact camera and had fun taking pictures of whatever interested him. He really liked the miniature models of various warships. He also took a photo of a movie we were watching about jets. I omitted the close-up picture he took of Katie's (clothed) rear end.

Hair

Katie actually has enough hair to wear a ponytail. I admit that it is cute, but this sets off alarm bells: she is growing up. But if you put her back in her pajamas she looks like my little baby again. I think she is such a cutie.



Scott does his own hair now. He used be so terrible to work with whenever we needed to style his hair, so we would avoid it if possible. However, he is quite happy to take care of it himself. I wasn't sure how he gets it to stay up like that, but then I watched him pumping out hairspray by the gallon.

Floating the Bow

The Heritage Day long weekend was sunny and hot. We got a call from our friends the Robertsons to come out and canoe down the Bow River with them for the Holiday Monday. When K called me, he said they were probably going to borrow 3 canoes from his father in law, but I should see if I could borrow a raft, just in case his in-laws were going to come along and use one of them.



It's a good thing that I was able to borrow a raft, because when we got to his in-laws' place in the morning, we learned that two teenaged boys from church had borrowed one of the canoes the night before and had lost it in the river. Apparently, they got hung up sideways on some rocks and the canoe capsized and floated away while they abandoned ship and were helped to shore by a local resident. K's father-in-law seemed more amused than annoyed by it all.



We spent less than 2 hours on the water, floating from Bowness Park to Shouldice Park, but the real highlight for Scott was throwing rocks. We loaded up the boats with rocks before we shoved off and then used them to splash each other's boats. Strangely, no one was hit by an errant throw. Katie felt very unstable in the soft interior of the raft, especially as her posture was dictated by the oversize lifejacket. Basically, she was stuck in a reclined position, staring up at the sky. She bawled any time she got splashed, which was often.



We made a lunch stop on an island just after our initial supplies of rocks ran out. Joining their strength together, the three little boys managed to heave a very large rock into the water without smashing their toes. I think they threw rocks in the water for 1 hour straight.



How impressed are you with these muscles?

This Boy Loves Watermelon

Favourite Colour: Red
Favourite Food: Watermelon

Day 8: Leaving Kalispell

Day 7: Whitefish Lake

The town of Whitefish is just 15 north of Kalispell and sits at the foot of a ski resort and on the shore of Whitefish Lake. The public beach at the lake is nice and sandy and the weather was fantastic. The kids had a great time digging around in the sand and splashing in the water.

I mostly laid on a camp chair in the shade with a blanket over me. I wasn't feeling so well. Cam spent most of his time under the canopy as well, darting out only occasionally to slather sunscreen on children. However, he managed to get a pretty sweet sunburn on his chest in the shape of his open shirt collar.

It was a great final day together for our trip. We spent the evening lounging around the rented house while the kids played at the park across the street, followed by an encore viewing of Bugsy Malone. Scott was so spoiled with so many playmates that he went into withdrawal all the next week at home. Can't wait until Christmas when we get together again!

Day 6: Kalispell Woodland Park

More driving? Yes please.

Our wagon train headed further north to Kalispell, Montana, to spend a few days with our kinfolk who live there in the Flathead Valley. I absolutely love that part of the country. I also love Montana highways. Even tiny little two-lane roads had a 70 mph speed limit. We made good time to our rendezvous point, a cute little bungalow on the west side of town that we had rented. Then we headed out to Woodland Park to enjoy the playground equipment, feed the ducks, and rub shoulders with Kalispell's upper crust.