Camping and a flying trampoline.....

We had a wonderful time camping in Kananaskis Country!   Only an hour away from home and we are in a remote paradise!    This creek is a few minute walk from our campsite...  you can walk along side it (or in it) forever!  I think it is Etherington Creek.

Casey had her first exposure to water... it was VERY cold... she kept lifting up one paw at a time out of the water.  

We camped with the Spooner Family - they have two little girls that fully enjoyed the creek!

After our big walk in the creek we started dinner over the fire.    Chilli is the perfect meal for mountain camping!  I pre-cooked the meat and had all the veggies chopped... just had to put it all together and let it cook.   It was fantastic!

I have to say, Reg loves it here.   He seems so at home in the mountains...

Casey fully enjoyed her first camping experience.  She had a virtual buffet of snacks right there on the ground, available whenever she wants!   Sunflower seeds, pine needles, pine cones, and sticks!  What more could a puppy want?   She slept a lot on Sunday... so the whole nature thing must have been overwhelming.  

Thankfully the weekend was free from snow.  It was very cold Saturday night and Sunday morning.  Our kettle full of water was frozen solid in the morning when we woke up!    This camping trip is our last for 2009.. and wrapped up a wonderful summer of camping.   Now, we just need to get the trailer cleaned out and ready for storage for the winter!   Not sure where we will store it just yet.  We may keep it in the back yard (where the trampoline is) and store the trampoline on the side of the house.  

Today when Roxy came home from school I got a very urgent phone call... the trampoline was no longer in our yard... in fact, it was three houses away marooned on a fence!   I guess the winds picked up here this afternoon and the trampoline went flying.   The sides (mesh sides that keep Roxy IN the trampoline enclosure) did not survive the flight... the rest of the trampoline (the important parts) are just fine... and thankfully, so is our neighbours' houses and fence!    Way too much excitement for a Monday night...

I realized when I arrived at work this morning that it is now less than 3 months until Christmas.   I can't believe that the year has gone by so quickly.   I wanted to make some Christmas gifts this year so I think I had better get my but into gear!   Which brings me to my next thought... has everyone made a list? 

First full day of fall... really?

So, yesterday was the first FULL day of Fall, and here in Calgary it was the hottest day of 2009 at 33 degrees. I have never really enjoyed the Fall Season, and last year I didn’t really notice that fall was here until we went to Ontario for Thanksgiving weekend. WOW what a difference! The fall colours here consist of green (evergreens), brown and yellow. Vibrant orange and red in the foliage does not exist! So... it got me to thinking... how is a person to know when fall is if there isn’t the usual colour signs to remind you? The weather here is absolutely no help... it has been mid to high 20's for weeks! In the last four weeks I think there has only been one day of rain (and it was only a few hours of rain). This too is vastly different from an Ontario Fall. The part of fall that I really miss is the small town fairs - especially the New Hamburg Fall Fair. Here, instead of agricultural fairs there are Horse Shows and Rodeos!

I decided to take a good look around and see if I can find some ways to tell that Fall has arrived... I am writing them down so I will know next year :)


1. Starbucks is pushing the uber-delicious pumpkin spice latte (and pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin spice scones and pumpkin spice cake)!!! YUMMY!
2. The new season of all my favourite shows are starting. Oh, and brand new shows are always previewed in the fall.
3. Kids are all back to school. Yay!
4. When I ask "what do you guys want for dinner" instead of Steak or Chicken on the BBQ I am now taking requests for homemade mac and cheese, pasta casseroles, shepherds pie and apple crisp. Fall = Comfort Food!
5. All the school supplies are now sold out and have been replaced with Halloween candy at Wal Mart. {if you can't bear to think about Christmas DON'T go into a Hallmark Store! The ornaments and decorations are out!}
6. The commercials are starting to advertise toys and video games and movies
7. The mountains are becoming more and more white (so WHY are we camping in the mountains this weekend???)
8. I find myself driving (on auto pilot) to and from Cheer practice. Roxy was asked to be on both Youth and Junior Cheer teams which means double the training for her (double the driving for me). She now trains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and four hours on Sundays. If we aren't home we are at the gym...
9. The crop farmers at home grow many different crops... here there is only one crop... WHEAT. And I can see why. The sunny and dry fall weather is just perfect for it; they are just finishing up the final crop harvests now. So passing a few tractors on the road is definitely a good sign of fall.
10. Hockey – Football – Nascar Chase for the cup. Need I say more?



This weekend we are off to the mountains for camping.  I am not sure why we are heading west… Maybe Reg doesn’t remember what happened last time we camped in the mountains in September???? Anyway, I am looking forward to it. Just going to make sure we are prepared this time! So the parka’s, hats and mitts will be packed!  Furnace WORKS and we are fully stocked with warm sleeping bags and hot chocolate.  Bring on the Snow! We are all pretty excited for Casey's first camping trip so should be a great weekend! We are camping with Al and his family so will have lots of kiddies around to play with the puppy! I decided this was a good weekend for campfire chilli so at least the cooking will be easy! I am going to take my camera and work on taking some shots of ‘nature’. I will post pictures when we come back! I will also get some pictures of Casey posted. It is amazing how much she has grown in the last few weeks! Today is her second set of vaccination shots so I am feeling very sad for her… hope it goes okay.

I wish...

I wish…
We would win the lottery.   Just enough to live comfortably (not lavishly… just comfortably) and enough to fly all of our family all out for a visit.

I wish....
I had more time... time to do all the things I want to, not just the things I have to.

I wish...
Cleaning fairies would show up when I go to bed at night and are finished when I get up in the morning, and once a week they bring the laundry fairies.

I wish...
Cheer practice was closer to home so I didn’t spend so much time driving back and forth.

I wish...
I would lose 50 pounds and still be able to eat whatever I want.

I wish...
Roxy would slow down on the growing up, I am not ready yet.

I wish...
The basement would be finished without Reg killing himself working so hard on it.

I wish...
I had enough vacation time to allow us to see family and friends AND go somewhere warm (guess I would also need enough money).

I wish...
Casey would magically become house trained, and learn that she shouldn’t chew carpet, furniture, laptops, electrical outlets, feet and the bongo drums.

I wish...
People would stop being rude to each other, what ever happened to the Golden Rule?

But most of all, I wish that someone finds a cure for cancer.

I love LONG weekends!

I think all weekends should be long ones!   I never seem to get enough done on a regular weekend... it's almost as if by Sunday afternoon I am just getting the list of must do's completed and then realize I don't have time for the things I'd like to do!   So when a long weekend rolls around I always look forward to getting around to the things I'd like to do!    We had a big decision to make for our weekend plans too... should we go camping (we had to deal with snow last Labour Day weekend camping...hmmm)?   Or stick around and get stuff done around the house?  Or be Okotokian's and participate in the weekend of fun here?   What to choose???  What to choose???   Well, here is how the weekend played out...

Friday night - Reg and I went to the Okotoks Pro Rodeo with James, Janet and Michael.   It was my first rodeo and I had a good time.   I have to say there were plenty of cowboys to keep the ladies occupied!   And I'm sure the boys had plenty of Rodeo Queens to look at!   My favourite event was the 'wild horse race' which is basically a race between 5 teams of 4 men trying to saddle and ride a wild horse.   They also run a wild pony race with kids!  So funny to watch!    Roxy decided to forgo the rodeo and stay home with her puppy.   I must say she is taking excellent care of Casey!   She is really taking this seriously and has done a fantastic job so far.   We are very proud of her!

Saturday - I decided to sign up for a course on using my camera so I could move away from relying on the automatic settings.   It was a great learning experience!   I want to learn so much more and will have to put it all to practice.    When I came back from Calgary we met James, Janet and Michael downtown Okotoks at the Chilli Cook-off.   Its a pretty cool set up that they have...  local ranchers supply the meat for the contestants and then to taste the chilli you pay a $5 donation and then you can cast your vote on your favourite.   All the funds raised goes towards a local charity.   The boys are convinced that we should enter next year.   If you ask me, I'd rather just taste the chilli!   We took Casey with us and she sure had her share of attention.   Lucky Reg was surrounded by the Rodeo Queens gushing over Casey!   The day was absolutely gorgeous!   So we all decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on the rooftop patio at Rylie's Cattle Barn.   It's a pretty neat place to enjoy a cool beverage on a hot and sunny day!  

Sunday - Janet makes horse blankets as a home business and was asked to make the blankets for the Canadian National Equestrian Team.   These blankets will only be worn when they are representing Canada... which will mean they will parade them in the Olympics!!!!  OMG!!!  She was honoured to make them and I am honoured to know her!   Before she delivered them however she wanted to take some pictures of them.. so naturally we went over to their place to take pictures too!   Roxy also had to opportunity to take a quick ride on Boots (Janet's show horse) and enjoyed every minute of it!   Here are some pictures...

Boots posing as a Canadian Equestrian Team Member!  

He really was not impressed with the photo shoot at all.

Roxy enjoying a ride on Boots!

On Sunday night we sat down and watched the race... Junior had a good run going but didn't finish well.  It was a decent enough race though and worth the watch.  

Monday - hmmm... we really didn't get much done this weekend did we?  LOL.    Well, it was time to get some stuff done around the house...  Reg continued to organize and clean the garage and I must say it is coming along nicely!   Roxy went to the movies with some friends and I did some baking and then went into work for a few hours.   It was a good end to a great long weekend.   Did we get many things crossed off on the LIST?   Heck no... but had a good weekend regardless.

Here are some pictures of Casey.   She had her first vet checkup on Thursday and is very healthy.   She is still learning the potty thing and I am sure it will take awhile.   Just need to be patient!  She also wants to eat everything she can get in her mouth.   I do mean everything... rocks, mulch, leaves, grass, feet, ankles, pants... everything.   She is now 8 weeks old!  Her personality is starting to develop and she can be really funny when she wants to be!   She can also be very, very sweet when she wants to be and that just makes your heart melt enough to forget the rest!    Our neighbours just adopted a golden retriever... and he is HUGE!   Casey tries to play with him but so far he really doesn't want to have anything to do with her.  Yesterday she was being her usual cute self and didn't realize he was lifting his leg for a pee and she was standing right in the line of fire!   Poor thing had to have a sponge bath! 

Casey playing with her favourite toys!

Nap Time!

So we start another week of work, cheer and school!   I wonder what this week will bring to us?   Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend, there simply isn't enough of them!

Our Newest Family Member

Roxy has been aching for a dog... and I mean ACHING.   To be honest, Reg and I have too.   So, we looked for a reputable breeder and found one pretty close to home.   We suprised Roxy with a visit to see the fresh puppies (about 3.5 weeks old) and decided to put a deposit down on a female yellow puppy.   The breeder lets them go home between 7 and 8 weeks old so it seemed like FOREVER until our girl would be old enough!   Roxy read anything and everything on raising and training a puppy.  We went shoping to buy the essentials to help our puppy make a smooth transition into our home.  We 'puppy - proofed' the house so our puppy would be safe.   And then we waited... and waited... and waited.    Finally, on Monday August 31st we were able to bring our puppy home!

So, without further delay let me introduce... Casey!

soo cute!   here are a few more....

sleeping puppies must be the cutest thing in the world!

uh oh!   that looks like Roxy's favourite flip flops!   Not a chew toy!

aw!  puppy paws!

So needless to say we are busy following the little monster around.  She chews anything she can get in her mouth.   That includes the lap top I am using right now!    So far things are going fairly well... except I think she thinks her name is NO!   Hopefully the furniture and flooring survive!

Back to School!

So, my baby started Grade Six on Monday *** GASP ***.  Can you believe it?   I am still struggling with it. We started the morning with a Mom-Daughter breakfast at Cora's and talked about Grade Six and what it means to her. Roxy is hoping that Grade Six is more challenging than Grade Five and hopes she gets more homework. This is the part of our conversation where my mind started to wander.... is she ours?  Perhaps there was a mix-up at the Hospital???   She is also excited that this will be her last year of Elementary School and is looking forward to the opportunities that being in the oldest grade will afford her.   She says "Did you know they let the kids in Grade Six work in the office?"   They can hone their customer service skills, telephone etiquette and leadership skills.  She is really hoping she is chosen to be an office helper!   There was also a lot of talk about what class she is in, are her buddies in the same class?   Did she get the teacher she wanted?   Well since today is Wednesday I can share the answer is NO.   Her friends are all in the other classes and she got a brand new teacher due to another Grade Six teacher going on Mat Leave. She was not at all impressed when I left school Monday morning but by Tuesday night she was happy with her teacher and her class.   I'm thinking this is a good thing!

Pretty grown up, huh.   She nixed the traditional backpack and instead chose a more grown up messenger bag.   Okay, confession time... This picture was not taken on the first day of school... I did take pictures on the first day but for some bizarre reason I had removed my memory card and had not put it back in the camera.  So needless to say I had to do a "re-shoot" of the first day of school pics on day 2.   She noted that her outfit was 'way cuter' on day one. She is still hoping for cooler weather to wear her new super cool clothes!   I am quite pleased that the Fall here tends to be dry and sunny.   The warm is a bonus!