Beauty, the Beast and Alison

It's Musical Time at École Banff Trail, and our intrepid drama queen Alison has played a big part in putting on the show. For months, we were regaled with tales of how the back stage was coming along, how she needed to know all the songs and parts of the play, and what props were going to be placed where on the lower stage.

Then, just mere weeks ago, a change.

Alison was needed in 2 critical, dramatic scenes. In scene 2, three wolves terrorize Belle's father. Later, Belle is attacked and the Beast is wounded, trying to defend her. Even though the narrators tell, the directors decided it would be better to show. Alison and her friends Logan and Amanda were pulled from their backstage duties and put into costumes. Ladies and gentlemen, we have WOLVES!

Alison took on the role of Howl #3 in the first appearance of the wolves. I was quaking in my boots, it was so spooky. I feared for the life of poor Gaston!

In the Beast scene, I was sure there would be blood gushing from the wound Ali-wolf inflicted on his arm. The whole gym was fraught with the tension.

She loved it. It was a great performance.

I did video the 2 hour show and set Sarah to task on taking some still photos. Unfortunately, we only got to see one performance and had an obstructed view of the lower stage, where the dramatic scene unfolded. Here's our best efforts:




Congratulations Alison and the rest of the cast and crew of Beauty and the Beast.

Track Athlete

So all that training in skiing and soccer isn't quite enough for our Sarah - she went out for the track team at school, too. She competed in the 300m and was anchor for her relay team. She came home elated with a 4th place in the 300 and 2nd in the relay. Way to go! Here she is in her Branton Tigers uniform (and inappropriate footwear):

Superstar

Alison does enjoy the drama. Here is her ensemble for Superstar day at school.

Timberrr!!

The weather in Calgary has been horrid lately. We had an incredibly dry winter until 2 big snowstorms with excessive wind on April 27 and May 5. Wind speeds at Canada Olympic Park were clocked at 94 km per hour.

We got a taste of how powerful weather can be in that April storm. I met our new neighbour when she came over to tell me that our tree was in her backyard. We were very lucky that it didn't land on the house or any furniture and just took out a small piece of the lattice on the top of the fence.

The lady from the tree company suggested that the reason so many spruce trees in Calgary fell during the storm was because after a long, dry winter, the tree roots were too shallow to anchor them in the big winds. I believe it.

Ski Season Finale 2010

In case anyone was wondering, I did in fact, beat Sarah in the fun race. So what if her coach held her back until I was 3 gates from the finish? I still crossed the line first!

Sarah disagrees with the overall fairness of this.

In the picture above, Sarah "Pyjama Girl" is on the green course and Alison "Shiny Wig" is on the yellow

Earrings

Alison has always been interested in fashion and anxiously awaited the time when she would be allowed to have her ears pierced.

The time has arrived! She has been fastidiously caring for her new pierced ears and is counting down the days until she can change out of the piercing studs and into some exciting, fashionable jewelry.

Before and after photos:

March Races, Part 4

Four weekends in March, four races.

The last weekend in March was devoted to the K1 Finals at Panorama. The one nice thing about Panorama is that we can get on-hill accommodations, which means it is a very social event. Most of the families on the team were staying within shouting distance and we got to spend a lot of fun time together.

The races were confirmation for Sarah that her hard work was worth the effort. She had her best ever GS finish - 14th, and was back in form for slalom - 7th and even the kinder kombi - 12th. That's 3 first page finishes! Woo hoo!

The Sunday evening banquet featured an awards ceremony where "Canadian Cowboy" John Kucera (World Cup Downhill Champ!) handed out ribbons and former World Cup downhill champion Cary Mullen gave an inspiring presentation aimed at the young athletes.

March Races, Part 3

The third weekend of March was taken up by the annual Doug Meyers Memorial Cup at Lake Louise. Doug was a racer and ski coach that grew up skiing at Louise. He died of cancer at the age of 31 in 2004, and together with his parents and sister, the Lake Louise Ski Club hosts a race in his memory.

It takes a lot of volunteers to pull off a ski race, before, during and afterwards. Both Bob and I were involved during the race, which meant I didn't take video - but I did manage to get my camera out!

Sarah was a forerunner for the race - she went down ahead of the racers to give the race officials an idea of what the course was like for a racer. I'm not sure what kind of preparations she and her friend Alex are making in the picture...



Alison was the first kid to go on the Gun Barrel course (part of Men's Downhill. Yes, that is where they have the World Cup races), so she wore bib 150. The littler kids had their own race on Easy Street, so the big kids started at 150! Why not?

The event finishes with a parade. Each racer is given a yellow Doug Meyers t-shirt (Doug's favourite colour) and then the children snake down the mountain. It looks stunning from the base of the mountain!

March Races, Part 2

Nana and Papa also had the pleasure of watching Alison race at the Caribou Cup. This time, we got to go to Mount Norquay, in Banff. So, no giant mall (whatever), but instead, BANFF! Nana and Papa were suitably impressed.

Alison did not have great results at the Caribou Cup, but enjoyed herself nonetheless, because ski racing is lots of fun.

I have a video of this too, but this one won't load for me. Maybe Nana and Papa could send me a picture or two from the weekend that I could post?

March Races, Part 1

Our March calendar was completely full. I've been running purely on adrenaline since.... November?

Anyway, a recap:

First weekend, Sarah raced at Rabbit Hill, a river valley hill outside Edmonton. The big thrill at that race (besides being all slalom events, which is Sarah's favourite) is that we get to go out for dinner at the West Edmonton Mall. And, of course, we had the pleasure of hosting Nana and Papa for the big event! They even got to stay in the Edmonton Airport Super 8 Hotel next door to Sarah, Rustle and I. Now isn't that just living it up?

If it will post, the video of the Rabbit Hill runs: