December 2012

 As soon as we arrived back from Cozumel, we went right from the airport to Greg & Julia's place.  Greg's company was sending him on a business trip to London, England, and he was able to take Julia with him for a long awaited holiday.  So, we stayed at their house for the week to look after the girls.  It was a cold, snowy week, and we have had our fill of snow shoveling for many years to come, but our snow angel just couldn't get enough.

 

We spent lots of time playing, baking, bathing and doing some Christmas shopping, and of course we just had to get all dressed up and make a visit to Santa Claus. 

Amelia trying on Grandpa's shoes for size!

On our way to see Santa in our new Xmas dresses !

The week went all too quickly, and on our way to the airport to pick up Mum & Dad, we stopped in at Blue Grass and had a quick reindeer ride.

The following week, we went to a Christmas Party with Owen & Evan.

Christmas morning with Evelynn & Amelia, then off to Pam & Howard's where turkey chef extrodinaire, Howard, cooked up a delicious bird for all of us.

Since Shannon is back in school, trying once again to finish Chemistry so she can go on to the Veterinary program at Olds College, Santa thought it was time to upgrade her laptop computer.

Owen had received a keyboard for his birthday in July, looks like we might have another budding musician in the family.  

All the kids and dogs together on Christmas Day 2012

Fall and Winter

Evelynn's birthday turned out to be a beautiful fall day and we were able to enjoy the day outside.

Our little Amelia went from the Baby Bucket swing at the beginning of the season, to getting up on the big girl swing by herself and waiting for a push from Grandpa who she never lets get too far out of her sight.

Since we were going to be in Cozumel by Amelia's birthday, we spent and early birthday with her and Evelynn making a Halloween Haunted House

And Evelynn doesn't even mind helping with the clean up

 and then she got to show off her new Halloween Princess Costume

More Summer in Calgary

Returned from our camping vacation and back to work on the duplex.  New carpets, new paint etc then spent a long week-end interviewing prospective new tenants.  Then more play time!

Evelynn came to our house for a sleepover and the following day we took her to the Circus. 
It wasn't quite the circus I remember from when our kids were little, but she seemed to enjoy it !

Next was Evan's 8th birthday.  Evan loves his Grandma's pumpkin pie, (or any pie for that matter) so we celebrated with a birthday pie instead of a cake.

A trip to the Calgary Zoo is always in order, and this year there is a new penguin exhibit that we just couldn't miss.

 Dino the Dinosaur still calls the Calgary Zoo his home, and I'm sure I have pictures of all the kids with him. I even have a photo my Dad took of me with Dino when we visited Calgary 50+ years ago.  Keeping the tradition alive.!

  For those of you who know my niece Kimberly, I just couldn't believe how much Evelynn looks like her in this picture.

Play time is over again, now we have to replace the shingles on the roof at the MacEwan house.  We had a really bad hail storm this summer, and I tried calling many, many roofers, and of course they are all so busy, and we really wanted to have this done before we headed south again.  We were able to talk Greg and a friend of his, who used to be a roofer and still had all the tools etc, to come and help out.  Don and Shannon stripped most of the old shingles, then the boys, and Shannon worked like crazy the whole weekend and got it done...of course, this had to be one of the hottest weeks of the whole summer, so my job was to keep the cold water bottles flowing steady. 

Summer time is here again!

This year we have had some great summer weather! Before heading out camping, we took in the special fireworks event in  honor of the Calgary Stampede's 100th Year.  Fireworks were set off simultaneously in five locations across Calgary....quite spectacular !  Howard was able to get us all tickets to Heritage Park for the evening and we had a great viewing spot.  

We had purchased a tent trailer last fall and had never had a chance to try it out.  So our first camping trip this year was out towards the badlands near Drumheller. 

The trailer went up without any problems, and the screen house was a god send !!!  The mosquitoes were as big as dragonflies and they were ferocious.  The screen house kept us away from the bugs, and gave us a bit of shade from the 34 degree temperatures.  

Next, we spent a few days with Pam & Howard and the boys at a Provincial Park near Brooks.  It was a great location...beautiful views, bird watching, boat rides and a beach !

This is Evan buried in the sand, but it sure reminded me of Greg some 25 years ago!

Next stop Mazenod, Saskatchewan...a town of about 3 remaining residences, but they have a great community hall which is used by many of the neighbouring communities...one of which was Vantage where Don's Dad's farm was located.  This year was the 100th anniversary of Mazenod and they were putting on a big party.  We were able to pull our trailer up onto an empty lot and take part in the free food, entertainment, parade and fireworks.  Apart from Don's brother Bill & Judy, there were very few people that Don recognized....guess he's been gone from the farm for too long !

Free camping site in downtown Mazenod!

Front row seats for the Parade

Jed Clampet move over!!

After the festivities in Mazenod, we took a little side trip to the farm.  Don says he has never seen so much water in the slough, and the crops were huge.  Lets hope the weather holds thru harvest.

The barn, built circa 1920, is still standing

and the house, of the same era, looks a little worse for wear !

 Next it was on to Greenwater Provincial Park in Northern Saskatchewan, where Eileen and Rudy spend the summers at their cabin. 

Then it was back to Calgary and back to work!!.  Our upstairs tenants are moving out, and we will take this opportunity to replace the old carpet, screw down the flooring more securely and get the place painted and ready to rent out again. 

Spring Time in Calgary

May and June found me back at work at BlueGrass and Don tinkering with LED lights for the boat and doing chores around the house.  He painted the ceiling in our suite and brought some of our furniture from the shed.  He found a nice office desk and has set up a "man cave" at the back of our suite where he has his computer toys and a small work bench.  It's finally starting to feel like home !

Our weekly visits with the girls found us baking, swimming, gardening and playing at the park.  Evelynn must take after her great-grandma Ruth...she loves to bake !

Evelynn does the measuring, Grandma does the mixing

and Amelia helps with the clean up!

Every Friday afternoon Evelynn and I have been going swimming while Grandpa stays with Amelia during her nap.  She has learned to put her face in the water and do the dog-paddle, but still is a little hesitant to go down the slide or jump in by herself, but she has already graduated from full life jacket to just little arm bands to keep  her afloat. 

We also like to spend lots of time playing outside and making visits to the park.

The backyard swing set that Grandpa built last year is getting lots of use now.

 But the school park is only a few blocks away, so it makes for a nice walk and a little play time with other kids.

Whenever Pam and the boys find time out from their busy schedules to come to our side of town, we take advantage of the proximity of Nose Hill Park and get out for a hike.  This time, Owen & Evan brought their new puppy, Kipper, and took him for a long walk.

Evan is starting to take an interest in the plants and flowers, but his preference is still BUGS!
and the wasp nest that Grandpa had knocked down from under our deck was most intriguing.