Banff Adventures

We slept in!  I actually woke up at some crazy hour and read for an hour or so before I fell back to sleep, but Lennard slept in until after 9:30.  He woke me up just before 10:00.  Gotta love it!  I don’t remember the last time we actually slept that long! 

We decided to do some touristy things this morning, so we went and explored the Cave & Basin site.  It was interesting, but wow – it stunk!  I’m glad that isn’t my summer job!  It was an absolutely beautiful day though and we enjoyed wandering and just visiting with each other.

We ‘hiked’ the trail above the basin and enjoyed the beautiful views.  It was past lunch time at that point, so we decided to head back downtown and try out a crepe at a place we’d passed by last night.  They were SO delicious!  Lennard got a breakfast crepe and I got a ham, swiss cheese and spinach crepe.  Yum!  We could have done so much more, but we decided to go back to the trailer for a nap!  lol.  Yup… a nap!  And we enjoyed it too!  I think just knowing that we ‘could’ was more incentive than anything.  I had to laugh watching the squirrels though… our water tap kept leaking, so the squirrel was having a nice long drink!

The best part of the day was dinner time!  We were so looking forward to dinner at the Grizzly House and it definitely didn’t disappoint us.  Wow.  SO good!  This was what we considered our anniversary dinner and gift to each other.  It was quite expensive, but so worth the experience.

We started with a cheese fondu (which I don’t like, but Lennard loves!).  Lennard loved every bite.  We then had our meat brought to us.  I just had chicken and beef and Lennard had that plus some scallops.  I had an oil fondu and Lennard had a hot stone to cook his meat on.  There were 4-5 different sauces to try too. 

We finished off our meal with a Toblerone chocolate fondu with all kinds of fresh fruit.  It was so good that I couldn’t just leave the rest of the chocolate once the fruit was gone… I ate the chocolate by the spoonful! 

Seriously one of the funnest and most delicious meals I’ve had in a long time.  It was truly an experience.  I look forward to going back and trying out some of the other items on the menu!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

The best gift we could ever be given – a whole weekend to ourselves!  My parents took the kids for us and we headed out a lunchtime.  We headed up to Banff.  We were really glad we were heading north, because the traffic was crazy heading south.  It took a little longer than we thought to get to Banff, but once we were there we got everything set up pretty quickly.  Unfortunately, somehow the bathroom faucet was left open.  When Lennard hooked up the water outside, we didn’t realize that the water was running inside!  By the time we went in the trailer, there was a flood out the bathroom and all the way to the back!  Yikes!  We used every single towel in the trailer (except one), to soak up the water.  What a way to start our vacation!  Oh well, at least it wasn’t worse and we caught it before it caused any permanent damage.

We decided that because it is our anniversary that we would enjoy ourselves and go out for meals.  After wandering around downtown Banff and being tourists, we stopped to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  It was so delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed just being able to sit and visit and enjoy our food with no interruptions!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been married 16 years already… and it’s definitely a little crazy to think what the next 16 years will bring!  I can honestly say that I love Lennard more now than ever.  He is my best friend and I can’t imagine life without him.

Family Time

I was helping decorate for a friend’s wedding this afternoon, so Lennard picked up the kids from Dina’s and took them on a bike ride! What a good daddy!  I met them at the park when I was done and played on the swings for a bit before we had to go home for dinner.

Lennard ended up getting called out for work as soon as we got home, so I fed the kids and waited for him to get home.  We barbequed some smokies and had my parents pop by to have something to eat too.  I love having them close enough to see them so often. 

Emma convinced Lennard to come jump on the trampoline afterwards.  She was trying to ‘crack the egg’, but I was getting a kick out of how crazy her hair was while she was jumping! 

The skies have been really hazy because of the fires in the States.  This afternoon was so smoky that it was burning my eyes.  So crazy!

Tips and Tricks

My parents have built so many airplanes that they have lots of little tips and tricks that are helpful.  Since this is our first attempt at building, we are more than a little grateful for their help and expertise!  Mom and Dad came in this evening and had dinner and then we all went out to the airport so that they could help us pro-seal the trailing edge on the rudder.  Apparently that will give us a nice smooth edge when we rivet it.  They also helped us bend the edge so that it curves where it needs to (does it sound like I know what I’m talking about… cause I really don’t!)  So glad that we have someone who really knows what they are doing!!

Building an Airplane

We spend quite a bit of time out at the airport and our hangar is slowly getting better and better for what we need and to be comfortable.  We don’t have heat yet, but are hopeful that we can get it in before it gets too cold to work on things.  The kids have the mezzanine as ‘their’ area and it is working pretty good.  We’ve got to get some old carpet to put down up there and maybe a little couch or something for them to sit on.  We have a TV and DVD player to keep them occupied, as well as Emma’s art table with coloring books and crayons.  We also have the train table up there and will eventually bring out all the trains so that Ben can play with that while we’re working.

We are working on the rudder and Lennard goes out in the evenings quite often.  Today, he was glad to have an extra set of hands so that he could finish dimpling the skins. 

We were at a good stopping spot when my parents called to invite us over for dinner. They are watching Rachel’s kids for the weekend and so Emma and Ben got to play with their cousins for an hour or two.  It’s been so nice having my parents home.  It felt like they were gone forever!

After we got home from my parents and got the kids in bed, Lennard went back out and worked on the rudder some more!  We’re getting really close to having it done to where we’ll have to have an inspection before we can continue on it.  One step closer!

Dinner in Waterton

The rugby girls gave us a gift certificate for dinner at Trappers in Waterton, so we decided to go use it tonight.  The owners used to own Zum’s where I worked all through high school, so it was fun to visit with them and catch up.  The dinner was delicious and we enjoyed every bite.  The kids were more excited for their cups than anything!  We were fortunate when it came down to pay for our meal that the owner had comp'd it for us!  Guess working for them for four years ended up being a good thing!  (Ha! Ha!)  So very nice of her.  Now we get to go again and use our gift certificate!

We wandered down main street and then through the campground for a while.  We’re going to try to get in to the campground next year and just hang out for a week.  The kids thought the little posts were great.  Ben stood up on one and made sure we saw that he was balancing.  Emma tried… and tried… and tried.  It was quite funny to watch!  She finally made it and was so proud of herself!

We let the kids throw rocks in the water for a while and then we had to head home.  It was such a beautiful night that we really wished that we were just staying there!  Next year, for sure!

Parade Day

The morning started early (especially after such a late night!).  We got breakfast ready for thirty people!  Thank goodness for lots of help!  We just set everything up in the drive way and it worked out pretty well.  Lennard went down early to save seats for us on the parade route and then he got the sausages cooked and started on the pancakes.  Mindy helped serving everything while I kept the eggs going. 

Lennard was asked by the Rotary Club to do a fly-over to ‘start’ the parade this year.  He and Dad went and did that while the rest of us went down for the parade.  We sat right by the Courthouse and had most of the family all together there.  Dave & Nysha came and we all got to meet baby Lucy for the first time!  She is so adorable! (I never did get to hold her though… boo!)  We attempted to get a picture of all the grandkids – even Trisha’s pregnant belly is in there!  Such a fun group of kids!

After the parade, we all came back to our place for corn on the cob, hamburgers, hot dogs, and salads.  There was lots to eat and the kids had fun playing in the backyard.

Before we knew it, and before we got everything cleaned up, it was time for Lennard and the kids and I to go down to see Mary Poppins at the Theatre.  We just left everyone else at our house and had to go.  Thankfully, I can lock the doors from my phone now so mom just texted me when they were done and everyone was out and I locked and armed the security system.  Pretty cool!

Mary Poppins was absolutely amazing.  Such a wonderful production.  We all enjoyed it.  I could go back over and over.  The choreography was great.  We had such a fun afternoon!  Then, as soon as we got out of the theatre, we had to head in to Lethbridge to sell our bike trailer!  We met the guy in the Wal-Mart parking lot, got our $$ and then went to get something for dinner at Boston Pizza.  Such a busy, fun day!