Maelle turns 8!!

I don't think I have ever come across anyone that has been so excited about a pending birthday than Maelle.  She had been counting down for weeks until her special day, and at 6:00am (note the "am" part) on this past Sunday, a little, and very excited, voice came out of the dark...."I am so excited, I can't sleep.  Can I snuggle until it's 7:00?"  Cute...very!  Sunday morning snuggles with this very excited and perhaps not so little girl....how could we say no?!
Maelle was a bundle of energy all day...bouncing to and fro, grinning from ear to ear.  She raced to the phone whenever it rang, chatted at a hundred miles an hour with whomever was on the other end (many of you witnessed this first hand!) and giggled and giggled and giggled....all day!  I'd say that this was a pretty successful birthday for one very special little gal!

Happy Birthday Maelle!  May you always be the fun loving, hug giving, artisitic, and free spirited little girl forever and always.  We love you bunches!

Double digits!

And just like that...he turned 10! 
On November 11, we celebrated Aidan's 10th (yes, 10th) birthday.  Crazy! 
It was a full day of birthday fun...starting with a giant birthday breakfast, followed by gifts, followed by a chilly tobogganing outing, and then a great dinner at a family favourite restaurant, and then, there was cake.  A birthday with all the fixins' I'd say.  Even Grandma Werkman got to join in the fun, an extra special treat for sure to have her visiting the chilly west.

This was a big birthday for Aidan.  No longer being in the single digits is a pretty big deal, both for us as parents, and for the birthday boy himself.  He seemed more mature, perhaps even taller than the day before.   Some may say...even wiser.  Whatever the reason, I don't think I can refer to Aidan as my little guy anymore.  I think back over the years from his first steps, to his first skate, to his first step onto the curling rink, and even his first paddle.  I tell ya, ten years goes by really fast.  Here we are now, in what seems like a blink of the eye, and Aidan appears all grown up. 

Happy Birthday Aidan!  You continue to amaze us, make us laugh, and inspire us.  This is gonna be a big year dude! 
We love you buddy!

Happy Halloween!

From our crazy clan to yours...have a Happy Halloween!

fall paddling

Usually at this time of year, I am growing very anxious for some cooler weather to settle in (not for the snow we had two weeks ago now), and to restock those warm and cozy slippers and blankets, and settle down for the evening in front of the fire.  Now.....this year is different.  I am holding on to this warmer weather for just a little bit longer.  
This weekend we ventured out on an exceptionally warm day (for September) to Upper Kananaskis  Lake for a day of paddling, and then a beautiful drive home to see the golden larches....signalling that winter is in fact just around the corner.

The lake was like glass!  (For those unfamiliar with larches, they are similar to evergreens, however, for a short time every year, their needles turn a brilliant gold colour.  You can just make out a cluster in the pic below. )

Exploring this area by kayak, allows for some interesting areas thus inaccessible by foot.  And just so you know....don't be deceived by the pic below, that water was frigid!

Another reason why I want summer to hang on just a little bit longer.....I was able to finally kayak!  After spending the majority of the summer watching from the sidelines the ability to get back in the kayak and paddle was exactly what I needed!

And to end the day off paddling a mountain lake that was like glass, left me grinning the entire way home.    Have I mentioned just how much I love these mountains?!

Craziness!

Taken yesterday morning.  We will be back to flip flops and shorts by next week.  It may look pretty, but the reality of this storm is heartbreaking.  There are so many huge trees that came down all across Calgary that it's really hard to take in all the damage.  In the time that we have lived out here, I have never seen or been through anything quite this crazy.

do you want to build a snowman?

I am literally lost for words for this one!  It's September.  It's still summer.  And....it's snowing.  And snowing.  And snowing.  The funny thing is....we are supposed to get another 10-15cm this evening and into tomorrow.  Then by the weekend....we will be back in our flip flops.  Yes friends, this is how we roll in Calgary!


This was the scene at about 5:00pm yesterday evening....about 2 hours later, we had four inches.

These two thought it was hilarious!  I mean it isn't every day that you go from 28 degrees and sun, and 24 hours later it's minus one and snowing.  This is one for the record books!
Today we built snowmen, by the weekend we will be back to building sandcastles!

first day!

I can't believe today was the first day of school.  Didn't summer just start?
Needless to say, there was excitement around here early this morning!  I was shocked that everyone was up, eating breakfast, and dressed and ready to go - all on time!  In fact, we were all ready early!  Nice!

Here's this year's line up:

Aidan: Grade 5
Maelle: Grade 3
Bree & Jenna: Kindergarten (What?  I know!)

waterton wrap up

Well, it's that time of year.  Time to wrap up the camping season and add it to the books.  As tradition holds, our camping season always finishes up in our favourite park - Waterton.  As you know, this park has become a family favourite over the years, and it is a perfect way to end off another season of camping.  I may have over done it on the pictures for this post - so sorry about that - there were a lot of good ones between both Brent and I.  So, I will let the pictures tell most of the story so as to not turn this post into a short novel!  The bottom line is - we had a blast!  As per usual, Waterton did not disappoint.  The weather could have been better, but hey, I am all for the fall season and chilly weather!

The tradition of the surrey bike rental and cruising the townsite with a surrey full of hooligans.

We decided to check out the "going to the sun road" in Montana as a day trip down to Whitefish.  This road - even in the rain, and very thick scary fog - was beautiful.  Scary.  But gorgeous.  I mean how can a road that literally clings to the side of a mountain with a plunging valley not be gorgeous?

See that mass of white?  That's the fog I was referring to.  At one point we could barely see five feet in front of us.  Comforting - as the well maintained two foot stone wall was all that separated us from the mountain and the empty abyss beside us!

Bear's Hump hike!  Bree opted to hang back and keep me company as my hiking was not an option this year.

With the weather clearing up, and the temps warming, we headed up to Cameron Lake for a morning of paddling.  And, ya know what?

I got to canoe!!!  Yay!  My stubbornness paid off and I spent a little over an hour and a half paddling the crystal waters of Cameron Lake!

See!  That's me!  Maelle and Bree were my paddling buddies, as Brent, Aidan, and Jenna explored the waters by kayaks.  This totally made my summer!

That's Maelle in the pic below.

Our last night was spent down on the shores of Upper Waterton Lake.  

Despite the rainy weather for a good half of the trip we were still very fortunate to do all that we did while down here.  We geocached, we paddled, we hiked, we ate ice cream, we looked for bears - saw one grizzly, and 1 moose, we road tripped, we checked out new places, we biked, we were even lucky enough to meet up with some friends we hadn't seen in a couple of years - so needless to say the kids were thrilled!  We even enjoyed a round of hot chocolates at The Prince Of Wales Hotel after a cool day of geocaching and exploring Red Rock Canyon.  Total awesomeness I tell ya!  Time and time again, although we are always sad to leave this place, we still leave with smiles knowing that we will return very soon.

See ya next year Waterton!!!

(above picture courtesy of Brent and a very curious chipmunk on the summit of Bear's Hump!)

BC Camping Trip

Well hello there friends!  Happy summer to you all!  It has been a while hasn't it?  Well....to say that it's been a tad crazy in these parts would be an understatement.  Summer has literally kicked off with a bang, and this is how it started.....

Yeah, so you can see why I have been a little preoccupied as of late!  A lovely knee injury that resulted in surgery, has left me side lined for the entire summer and into the early fall.  Bummer.  Oh, I know.   But....never fear.  I am trying to be optimistic and believe me when I say "it could have been much, much worse".  At least I can still be outside, and that is exactly what I have been doing.  Nature is totally the best medicine!

Although we had a bit of a bumpy start to our first big camping trip...a week late leaving, cutting our trip down to two weeks instead of three, with some clever seating arrangements in our truck, we all made the trip and still had a blast!  Our destination this year was the BC interior, and to re-visit some old favourites from a few years back, and to add some new destinations into the mix.  Now....most of my time was spent sitting, so the majority of these pics are from Brent....who may just capture the "husband of the year" award for managing not only me (not a good patient!) but for constantly entertaining the crew while we were away.  He picked up my share of "camp duties" along with taking the kids on many new adventures.  Thanks Brent!

First stop: Williamson Lake - Revelstoke BC

Due to our change of plans, we started our trip at the half way point.  We missed heading up to Jasper, but we will totally save that for another year.  We spent two days at a small private campground in the Revelstoke area, an area that we always seem to drive through and never pay a visit to.  The first day we basically arrived an got organized, and spent some time playing in the local swimming hole.  This was a cute family owned private campsite, that gave us a few days to relax and make sure I was ok before heading on further into the trip.

The second day, we took a lovely scenic drive up Mount Revelstoke.  The viewpoints were breathtaking, and although we couldn't go all the way to the summit (road was still snowcovered) we still enjoyed the little side trip.


Second stop: McDonald Creek - Nakusp BC

This destination was the main goal of the trip.  We spent an entire week here, and could have spent longer!  I think the kids averaged a total of eight hours a day in the lake - whether it was paddling or swimming.  I think there was even one evening that they were still swimming at 9:00 in the evening!  This was a HUGE hit with the kids, and a place that they are already talking about coming back to.  I mean how can you go wrong with a campsite that is right on the beach with amazing views?

Many of the days were spent hanging out with awesome campsite neighbours at our little section of beach, and paddling across to a sand island which was a fabulous place to swim.

I honestly forgot just how beautiful this area was!  Even from my comfy little "set up" at the site, I still found myself lost in thought gazing out at this gorgeous lake.


Third stop:  Moyie Lake/Kimberly BC

Moyie Lake is a campground that we have been to before.  Not as nice as McDonald Creek, but a good base for exploring nearby towns like Kimberly.  The mosquitoes were horrible here (I think they liked me!) so I spent a fair bit of time inside the trailer.  The kids were able to get out on the water and take advantage of the shallow beach and warm lake.

We spent a good part of a day exploring the nearby town of Kimberly.  This was a blast!  We had a great lunch at a local German pub, Aidan and Maelle tried there hands (and legs) at a local climbing wall, wandered the cute shops in the Platzl, and checked out the ski resort for a possible winter vacation.  Needless to say that won't be this year!


Fourth stop: Lost Lemon - Blairmore, Alberta

The last stop on our itinerary, was Blairmore.  We stayed at a small private campground owned by a lovely Dutch couple.  The kids were thrilled with the swimming pool, and it even had a great little creek that was part of a 6km float route that ended at our campsite.  Brent, Aidan, and Maelle, walked a short way upstream and were able to put in the boat and "raft" right to our site!

The main reason we stayed in this area, was so we could pay a visit to Frank Slide.  It is mind boggling that an entire side of a mountain cracked away and buried an entire town.  Very hard to fathom as the shear size of some of these boulders is immense and just how far the rock slid is amazing.
















Brent took Aidan and Maelle on a tour of the Bellvue Mine to get a better understanding of the process of mining for coal, and the dangers that go along with it.  They entered the mine and walked about 300 metres inside with headlamps to get the full experience of what is was like to work in a coal mine.

Despite being cut a little short, the camping trip was still amazing!  It was the perfect place to relax, unwind, and play, for everyone.  We are already anticipating our next adventure which has us heading down to another favourite destination in a few weeks - Waterton Lakes National Park!  Can't wait!!