Santa Update

If anyone out there is curious, Alison sat down with Santa for a little Q & A session today.  She had wondered if he had any peanut allergies and if we could offer apples to the reindeer instead of carrots.  Santa confirmed that peanuts are okay, and the reindeer do enjoy fruit.

He also told her to clean up her room.  I like this guy.

Band Concert

Sarah, seen here as 1st clarinet in the grade 7 band, performed at a large church in northwest Calgary on December 10. They performed a couple of numbers, including a selection from The Nutcracker. It was lovely (except for those squeaky oboe players!)


Here's our girl:


The critics loved it!



I'll add video later.

Alison's birthday party

I know these are almost a month overdue, but they are funny. Just like Alison.

For her 9th birthday, Alison and 9 of her friends went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, and then to a party room for food, presents and ... cake.

The cake eating was a highly creative event.

Handbell Concert

Alison performed 5 songs in the Banff Trail Christmas Concert tonight. She did a lovely job.

If it will let me, here's grainy video of Silent Night (sadly, the batteries were dead in my good video camera, so the trusty still camera had to make do).

Okay, Blogger uploading is still problematic. Here it is from YouTube:

Oh, yeah

Here are the halloween photos. I'm a bit behind these days...

Happy 9th Birthday Alison

Alison spent her 9th birthday on the ski hill. It was her first day of training as a KD (which contains no macaroni OR cheese) and she was clearly giving it her all, since she ended the day with a shiner.

It was a good year for birthday gifts. She got her Lake Louise ski club soft shell, a lovely pink hoodie jacket from grandma, a cool pink fleece long jacket from Nana, and a red Canada Olympic vest from Daphne. She looks great in all of them, and cozy, too! Rustle watched from the sidelines, but Alison found some cuddle time for him, too.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

K1 Legends Camp

Guess who qualified! Congratulations, Sarah!

http://www.albertaalpine.ca/index.php?q=node/2478

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the first part of the weekend at the Banff Springs Hotel, during the first snowfall of the season. We felt very spoiled! Especially me, who got to spend an afternoon at the spa. In the evening, the girls and I floated in the hot pool outside, looking up at the stars in the mountains. Amazing.

When we got home, we began planning for Thanksgiving dinner. Sarah and Alison decided to take a big part in the meal. They decorated the dining room and put up barriers to keep the grown-ups out until dinner time.

Here's the big reveal:
They also baked an apple pie for dessert:





The beautiful pie. Notice the turkey design poked onto the top!

Hiking

The ski club took the various groups of kids on a hike at Lake Louise (the actual lake, not the ski hill.) Sarah's group went off one way and I went with Alison's group to the top of the Big Beehive. It was a cool day, but all that climbing made us really hot. Somebody even got a bit short-tempered - actually, both brunette females in the family did. It was definitely a lovely view - see:


That is Lake Louise way down there. We climbed really high!

Can you see the crazy switchback we climbed down? I don't like watching children walk down loose gravel on a narrow path along the side of a mountain.

Cave and Basin

I can't believe how long I've been away. I apologize for letting my life get in the way of my blogging! Rustle's girls have been busy with school and dryland training, now up to 4 times a week for Sarah, Bob is busy at work, although that is nothing new, and I've been busy with work and a Master's course. Rustle has been busy wagging his tail when we finally get home.

So, to start with some recreation. The girls and I took Alison's friend Charlotte with us to Banff one day. We hiked about the Cave and Basin in Banff. If you'd like a brief history lesson, the discovery of the hot springs at the Cave and Basin started such a turf war that the Government of Canada stepped in and declared the area a National Park. Not only do we hike, but we are always learning, too!

The girls posing on the hike:


Inside the cave:



The fancy pool that is no longer in use:



The girls searching for the endangered Banff Springs Snail in the original basin:

Fruits of our labour

Our cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen! Alison enjoyed eating the first tomato, which she named "Fred." I think she enjoyed it.

Summer Vacation, Part 4: The beach

We spent a lot of time at the beach. Sarah, Alison and Mackenzie created a beach side hot tub and a complete sand city. Rustle chased sticks and water splashes. On our last day, Alex and Sue joined us, as well as Mary and the boys. It was the nicest day of the whole vacation. A perfect beach day.

Summer Vacation, Part 3: Littlekroft

After our guests left the cottage, we noticed that Princess Emma had left her glass slipper (also known as a pink jelly shoe ) behind. In true Fairy Tale Fashion, we headed up to Littlekroft to fit the slipper back onto the birthday girl's foot. What four year old should be without her glass slippers on her birthday?

Rustle and the girls took advantage of another opportunity to go swimming and help celebrate with cupcakes.




Rustle was extremely well-behaved. Best dog ever!



Playing the soon-to-be-classic birthday party game, Bury the Mom:

The lovely Lizzie:



The charming and somewhat bashful William:

What do you mean, it's the first day of school?

Seriously. I still haven't finished posting pictures from the vacation, our day at the cave and basin, or Mary's big surprise. Yikes.

Here are the girls and their puppy on the first day of Junior High (Sarah is in grade 7 - I can hardly believe it) and Grade 4.

Summer Vacation, Part 2: The Guests

We had a great time at the cottage unwinding as a family, but we also got to spend some time with some friends.

Mary, Ed, Lucas, Jack and Sam spent a couple of days with us. The lake was seriously colder than the pool Chez Mauro, but we did get in for some splashing about. Rustle proved to be a fun friend for everyone.


Susan and her trio came up for a visit with a few extra friends: Lisa, Linden and Jemma from North Carolina. What a great surprise! The dynamics were a bit different with the addition of 5 children under 5, especially for Rustle, who frightened poor William so much that the poor boy ran as fast as he could back up the road to escape. Once the children found out how much Rustle likes to catch water splashes in the lake, he became a much bigger hit with the younger set. I'm working on editing the movies from this holiday, where I'll share just how entertaining our visitors were... For now, a couple of photos:

Summer Vacation, Part 1: The Cottage

We began our summer vacation at a cottage in Muskoka. It was lovely to be on the water! Although the cabin itself was not exactly what we'd expected, the property was gorgeous, and we spent a lot of time outside. The weather wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. The girls learned to play chess, Alison learned cribbage, Rustle was a swimming machine, and we had some great family time. Some photos:

Man's best friend!

Alison has been put to work. With proper supervision, of course.