June 2014 The End of Grade Seven and Four, the start of boating season and summer vacation!

June began with ScoutJ heading out to camp with his troop in our new one person tent! Surprisingly, the tent is really for two people, but I figure that it is for two people without gear. Once you have a bedroll and backpack in there it is warm and cozy for one. It was a great weekend of cleaning up at camp, hiking, building fires and generally enjoying being a Boy Scout. What a great weekend thanks to our AMAZING Scout leaders.

 

Next up was my Mommy trip to Montreal to enjoy the Grand Prix! This year like last year was an amazing race. There were fast cars, track records, surprising twists of fate and great weather. As the cars engines have become more fuel efficient, quieter and smaller, ironically they have also become faster! It is nice to see that Formula One is trying to keep up with the changing times and adapt to our ongoing understanding how we impact climate change. I can honestly say, I can see the day when I will be watching a near silent electric car race that will be as exciting as my first race with v16 thunderously loud engines.

FIFA Woman's World Cup Trophy

View from on the track of the winners ceremony!

Enjoying and amazing evening at Cirque du Soliel Kurios

Upon my return, I had the opportunity to go with GuideJ on a class field trip to Heritage Park. This was one of the best field trips I have been on in long time. We had a scavenger hunt of information to find out from various areas and time periods from around the park. The absolute highlight of information was that which we gathered was from the lady at the Synagogue. She was a delightful person, passionate about her role in sharing basic information about her religion and the incredible sense of community that these rural houses of worship provided to the pioneers. She had the children’s rapt attention for more than 15 minutes which is no small feat. For me I most enjoy this field trip as it is highly unstructured which makes the learning feel organic!

 

The next weekend we took the boat out for its first trip of the season. While the water was still quite cool, we enjoyed exploring the lake from the comfort of the BabyJ. That was except for the one of us who needed to jump in to the water to push the boat out of some surprisingly shallow water. The good news is that this would lead to us buying a depth gauge which has come in super handy!

 

After a relaxing weekend, it was time for some serious studying for finals on ScoutJ’s part as we headed into the last ten days of classes for the kids. All of this studying was met with a fun break on the boat in the sun enjoying the water with a view from the tube the following weekend.

 

One of the highlights of each June is the arrival of 4GFamily! We enjoyed a fun visit before UncleD headed back to Houston, AuntieL and CousinR headed off to the Crowsnest Pass to be camp cooks while CousinC waited for SuperStructures to start. This photo of the four of them hamming it up is one of my favourite!

Once ScoutJ was done exams (two days after GuideJ was done classes) we were ready to start the party! We headed out to lunch to our favourite Mexican place for some yummy yummy guacamole. Here I learned that ScoutJ can do an excellent impression of the invisible boy/Flat Stanley when he nearly comes face to face with girl from school! Ha, silent ScoutJ is a sight to behold.

GuideJ learns to cross stitch!

Did you know that you can dye hair with gel food colouring? Well, it turns out that is really very simple to dye your daughters light front hair with pink food colouring, some plastic wrap and gloves! I must say, somehow pink streaks are really very attractive.

Monday, June 30^th was the start of SAIT Super Structures camp for CousinC and ScoutJ. How fantastic that the boys could have the opportunity to hang out together all week while at summer camp. It turns out that this year’s shepherd’s pie at lunch day one was a little lack luster. Accordingly then, the month came to an end with a trip to Peter’s for milkshakes for the kids!

 

Shakes for my friends!

May 2014

 

May 2014 saw us visited by TbayTel, one of DaddyJ’s oldest friends and the keeper of all of the good stories about his antics in University! TbayTel was out in Vancouver for a conference and stopped in for a long weekend. Our four days were jam packed with showing him the sites in Calgary, eating at our favourite places and hearing the Wolf of Wall Street speak. Needless to say, despite the freezing weather here a very good time was had by all. Thank so much for making the time to visit us TbayTell.

 

Tubby Dog post Wolf and Beerfest

 

Enjoying the Food Trucks in a winter storm!

The beginning of the month also saw ScoutJ leave on his school trip to Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa. It was a weeklong trip where they flew into Montreal, rode their coach bus to Quebec City and Ottawa before flying home. ScoutJ saw many things we had not seen on our previous trips, visited Quebec City for the first time and had a great adventure!

 

May 8th – May14TH, 2014

Itinerary

Day 1: Montreal

Depart Calgary at 7:00AM on Air Canada. You arrive in Montreal at 1:08PM where a guide will meet and immediately transfer you to Pointe A Calliere for your tour beginning at 3:30PM. From there you will proceed to be checked into your hotel before having dinner and then heading to the Old Port area for the Cirque du Soliel show Kurios!

Day 2: Montreal

After breakfast you depart for the Montreal studio of the National Film Board. There you will have a workshop on stop motion animation with puppets. After lunch you will visit the Olympic Tower and Biodome (we are attempting to arrange a visit with a local school, if that is succesful then we will substitute that this afternoon). Afterwards you will have a late dinner at one of Montreal’s famous smoked meat restaurants.

Day 3: Montreal - Quebec City 

After breakfast you will visit the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Once done you will travel by coach to Quebec City. Along the way you will stop for lunch at the St-Hubert BBQ Restaurant. Once there, students will have a bit of free time to shop and walk around in Old Quebec.  Dinner will be in Old Quebec followed by a Ghost Tour.

Day 4: Quebec City

The day begins with a walking tour in Old Quebec. Then after lunch the group will visit Montmorency Falls and the Copper Museum where the students will enjoy an interactive workshop. Dinner  will be held in a local Sugar Shack for a traditional meal, inclduing maple syrup, and live music. That evening you will visit a local theatre to enjoy one of the latest movies in French.

Day 5: Quebec City - Ottawa

This morning you will visit Artillery Park where you can go in an re-inact history. From there you head on to the Plains of Abraham. Your last stop will be at a Huron Village where you will have time for more interactive activities. It will then be a late departure for Ottawa where you will arrive in time for a late dinner.

Day 6: Ottawa

Today will be full with sightseeing in Canada’s Capital. You will start with a drive by of the Prime Minister’s House and numerous embassies.  Then there will be guided visits of the Parliament Buildings and Canadian Mint.  You then walk over to Byward Market where students will have lunch and have a little free time. Afterwards you will visit the War Museum for a guided tour. Dinner will be late back near the hotel.

Day 7: Departure

Your last morning has you taking a guided visit of the Museum of Civilizations before heading to the airport for your flight home departing at 2:35PM. You will arrive back in Calgary at 5:03PM. 

Saying Goodbye at the Airport
 

Bottom Left pic is from Ottawa

I must say it was crazy standing there at the airport that first morning. I have know that this trip was coming for the nine years and suddenly it was upon us, how could he be old enough to be doing this, were we not just dropping him off at pre-school last week!? Time sure flies when you kids can sleep through the night!

Return of the traveler with gifts for everyone!

GuideJ enjoyed the end of the Guiding year with a district wide ceremony at Baker Park. We got to recognize the efforts of the people who make the year come together, see many of the girls move up divisions and meet more Calgary Girl Guides. It was a great evening of fun for everyone.

 

 

Her final activity of the year was a weekend camping trip to Bow Valley Provincial park for some tenting fun in some pleasant weather for the end of May. We are very lucky to have joined such a great Guiding troop, our leaders are wonderful and have gone out of their way to make this an incredible year of learning/fun for all of the girls.

One of the other very nice surprises of May was ScoutJ’s nomination for a band award (most improved), an award for playing on the badminton team and being on the honour roll! He set the bar rather high for our first visit to the Gala des Méritas, great work at school this year ScoutJ!

 

Our May long long weekend saw us touring Alberta. We began the weekend with a day trip to Canmore. There are few things as relaxing as a walk in the shadows of the Three Sisters’ after a great meal at the Grizzly Paw! Following that, we went on overnight trip to Edmonton where we visited the pool, ate at the Sugarbowl and relaxed while DaddyJ went to meetings.  I must say, it was a wonderful weekend spent enjoying Alberta.

Looking back it was jam packed month of fun from beginning to end!

Checking out the lake where we rented a slip for the BabyJ

March and April 2014

March saw GuideJ head off on her first school trip, with an overnight trip to Drumheller. It is hard to believe that our little girl is already in grade four! After all it was just yesterday that ScoutJ was going on the trip.... where have three years gone? While there was a major snowstorm and a massive car wreck on the highway while she was away, a great time was had by all. Unlike when ScoutJ went in May of his year, the timing of this trip left the kids unable to do a hike in Horseshoe Canyon and unable to make a visit to Reptile World. None the less, the kids all had a great time.

 

~ As a side note, it was with the best of intentions of a very small group of very vocal Mother's from GuideJ's year that the kids were able to get an overnight trip to Drumheller in. This past year, the trip had been only a day trip which allows for a great experience which is very different to the historical trip. That being said, with winter in Alberta being as unpredictable as it is, this trip put a huge number of students at risk with poor road conditions that in the end cause the postponement of half of the grade's trip and led to the death of four children with their parents in a vehicle hit head on in an accident! I feel that this really highlighted to me that while I would love for my younger child to have all of the same opportunities as her older sibling, sometimes we need consider all of the part of the picture before we charge into the administrations offices with our hair on fire. Yes, in the end the kids got home safely and the other group got over the disappointment of having to wait two months to go on their trip and everyone will have amazing memories but at what potential cost?

During the month of March, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to hear Hillary Rodham Clinton speak here in Calgary. It was a positively electric affair! She is a great public speaker who engages her audience, has an effervescent personality and keen wit. Having heard her husband speak, who is the most charismatic speaker I have ever heard in person, I would say that she truly holds her own. This chance to hear her publically allowed me to see just how much she has to bring to the table as a world leader. I do hope to see her ascend to the highest office in her country.

Best Mayor Ever!

Near the end of the month, we had the chance to go for dim sum with AuntieE and CousinS. Sadly AuntieA was out of town walking the red carpet at a friend’s movie premier so we only had the chance to catch up with two the three O-Q family. Our time at the Grand Isle restaurant for dim sum was wonderful. ScoutJ and CousinS had a great time playing on their iPads creating pictures and lightly snacking while the rest of us ate our body weight in delightlyfully fresh little bites of heart. One of our favourite things about going for dim sum is that there are so many of our favourite Chinese foods on offer, not to mention the amazing company. It seems that despite all of the means of communication, I never seem to have the chance to catch up with AuntieE as often as I would like. It means so much to me to really have a connection with one of my father's siblings.