Big Events

Posting on the blog has suffered as of late since I've been tremendously busy at work with a government audit and I've turned old. Rustle and the girls managed to keep some very big secrets around that big birthday, too. Rustle because he can't speak English, and the girls because they only knew one big secret and it was only for one day.

The biggest, bestest secret surprise ever was a whirlwind birthday surprise visit from the famous Auntie Mary. Yes, I cried. It was so great to have a weekend with my sister. We did lots of girl stuff, including a spa day at the Banff Springs. It was a wonderful birthday extravaganza.


Bob and the girls picked out a beautiful new mountain bike for me, too. We all went for a ride across Nose Hill Park and Rustle ran alongside us. It was way too long a ride on rough terrain for the puppy and he ended up with a sore paw. He visited the vet who gave him some medicine and he's feeling way better already. We'll still hold off on big bike trips with the dog for a while.

Alison Tries Waterskiing

I noticed a new fancy Blogspot button that might let me bypass YouTube and put up my movies directly on the blog. So.....

My first Blogger movie is from this summer, chronicling Alison's many attempts to try to get up on waterskis.

Enjoy.

Yamnuska

Sarah and her dad tackled Mount Yamnuska today. Sarah had done it all before she started her self-injury campaign, but today, Dad had a camera. A couple of shots:

Four stitches

In an effort to top herself in the injury department, Sarah managed to cut her ear, requiring our first ever trip to the Alberta Children's Hospital on Friday. She was playing hide and seek and slipped on the carpet at our neighbour's house. She hit the desk beside her with the top part of her ear. Hard. She actually cut the cartilage. It was awful! And painful! And her mom almost fainted watching her ear get re-assembled!

The phone call at work asking to meet at the emergency department is not one I ever want to get again.

I'm not sure if she'll want photographic evidence. She's removed the bandage that gave her the classic "Van Gogh" look because she was getting too many questions about it. We have anti-scarring cream ready for when the stitches dissolve.

I think we are assuming that she's going through an awkward growth spurt. Either that or she really needs to start paying attention!

Happy First Day of School

Fashion girl Alison and Lovely Sarah waiting for the bus on the first day of school.

Back to School Haircuts

Just a trim for Sarah, please.


A lovely braid to last just a day, too.


For Alison, "Fashion Girl," a stylish bob. Lovely!

Phew! It's not broken

On Monday, Sarah scaled Mount Yamnuska, using pads to scramble up on her hands and knees, and slid down with a shoe under her bottom and the other foot sliding ahead. Impressive!

On Tuesday, she ran down the path beside our house and smacked her hand on the corner of the chimney. We thought she may have broken her knuckle.

After a solid 4 hours of waiting in a medical clinic, we found out it is not broken. It is seriously contused and swollen and causing her a great deal of pain.

Here are some pictures of the colourful bruising 48 hours after the incident:



And here are some photos of the x-rays of my girl's hand:




The painful injury hasn't slowed her down too much. She still went mountain biking in Kananaskis the day after she got hurt and is heading back to do more climbing tomorrow. She is one tough little girl!

Vacation Photos, Part 3: The Lake

There was a big family reunion at Lake of the Woods this summer. Nine kids, ten adults, one camp and five days meant for tons of fun.


Here's the whole group: 3 grandmothers, 3 sons, 2 daughters, 3 wives, 1 husband, and 11 grandchildren. Phew!


The girls got to do some new things, like driving a boat and water skiing!



Don't they look great in those wet suits?


We think those kids had a good time, don't you?

Vacation Photos, Part 2: Old Friends and New

Aside from hanging with the cousins, we did manage to meet up with some old friends and their young children.

Lissa and Ken and almost-2 Ben have bought a house which we checked out, along with the Beaches Jazz Fest. Ben loves fans and has the cutest way of saying he wants to try something. Sarah and Alison mimicked his "Ben do?" line frequently.



Suzan and the Frasers (sounds like a band, doesn't it?) invited us to visit up in Muskoka. Emma and the babies (sounds like a band again - is this a theme?) were excellent hosts at Littlecroft and Rustle's girls had lots of fun. They also liked having a chance to play with Olive, since it had been over a week since they'd seen their own puppy.

Here's the group getting ready to take Olive for a walk:

Swimming from the dock:

The girls loved helping with the babies. Here's Sarah feeding Busy Miss Lizzie a bottle:

And the gorgeous, almost-2 Emma, showing us the way to the dock:

Vacation Photos, Part 1

We kicked off the vacation with a great visit with Gramma and Grampa, Sue, Alex and Mackenzie. The girls were busy running around with the cousins at Gramma's house, so much so that the only photo I got of them was a solo of Alison in the back yard. Hmph. I did get some beauties at Wasaga Beach, though.




Then we got to spend time with the other cousins at Mary and Ed's house. Lucas, Jack and Sam were lots of fun in the pool. As an added bonus, Nana and Papa were there too. Yay.