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.

Mountain Hike

Rustle took his people for a hike in the mountains. It's not as much fun as he thought because he has to stay on leash, but it's always nice to get out with the whole family and enjoy the splendor of the Rockies.

Exploring

This week, while all the neighbour kids were away on vacation, the girls and I did some exploring. We got to the Science Centre, rode bikes on the trails at Fish Creek park, and drove for an hour and a half to the beach at Sylvan Lake.

There was sand and swimming, which made the trip "definitely worth it" in the words of Sarah. Very crowded, but there was still fun to be had.

Swimming hole

The girls took Rustle down to a swimming hole off the Bow River where lots of dogs come to play and kids can splash and throw rocks and even.......


jump off bridges!



Alison couldn't quite get her legs around to actually get to jump off the bridge. She is not happy with being too little to jump off bridges. At least she agreed to wear the life jacket.