Gummy

Alison has lost two more teeth. The first top tooth came out a couple of weeks ago, but we saw that it's neighbour was dangling. In fact, I was thinking she might want to be a witch for Halloween since her dangly teeth would be the perfect look. She fooled me though, and came home from school today with her other front tooth in her pocket. Now she has a HUGE gap in her smile, and if they keep falling out at this rate, she will be gumming her meals again.

Here's the gap + crooked tooth:



And here is today's spacious look:

A Foggy Day

Where did the bottom of the hill go?

I think I'll stay up here with my people.

Sparky goes Outside

On a beautiful September day, the Sparks went for a day camp. Lots of crafts, snacks, and hikes later, the new Sparks were officially welcomed to the unit. Alison, as the only 2nd year Spark in attendance, was in charge of welcoming the new girls. She was very impressive as the Spark Enroller.

The Amphitheatre

The naturalization committee at the girls' school has opened up an amphitheatre in the school yard (or, as Alison called it, "the place where we learn outside.")

The inaugural event at the grand opening was Sarah's dance group's repeat performance of the dance with ribbons. Unfortunately for us, Sarah was in the back of the group, but here is a photo of the dancers in the amphitheatre to share anyway. Sarah is behind the girl in white, beside the one with the blue shirt sticking out. Just imagine her face!

Making the most of it

Such is life in Calgary. Monday it's hot and we are wearing tank tops, on Friday it snows. What can you do?



Try to catch snowflakes.

Back to School

It's the first day of school! Hurray!

Sarah is very excited to start Grade 4 and has been doing a great job trying to get her sister excited about Grade 1.


Rustle walked his girls to the bus this morning and has been wondering why it's so quiet around here ever since.......

Vacation 2006

We went on a trip to a beach at a mountain lake.

Rustle drove.

(only on the ferry)

The girls played in the sand, swam in the lake and ran along the beach. We stayed in a little cabin and had a good week away.

A trip to Banff

Rustle and his girls took the Hoch cousins to Banff for a little hike.

We went to the Upper Falls at Johnston Canyon -


Sarah was not all that impressed -


and to Lake Minnewanka to skip some stones.

River Rafting

We took a long rafting ride on the Bow River with our friendly neighbours. It was a lovely day, not too hot, not windy, just perfect for a relaxing float through the city. The children swam along, snacked a lot, and we even got to see a deer. Didn't catch any fish, though.

Picnic at the fountain

Sarah and Alison wanted to take their bikes to the fountain to have a picnic. Here is photographic evidence that Mom is not completely unfun.