Cookies and Crayons

What an exciting Halloween! Our neighbourhood was the perfect place for trick-or-treating! A combination of lots of houses that are close together makes a perfect place for little legs to go to get treats.

For the first year, in a while, Dougie was not Clifford. He didn’t express any opinion on what he should wear so it was perfect when Auntie Lou offered to loan us one of Molly’s old costumes. Dougie fell in love with it. He wanted to wear it to the grocery store in the middle of the month. He decided he was a bumble bee (“bungle bee”). Now, those entomologists in the reading audience may recognize this costume is not a bumble bee – but sometimes, those arguments are just not worth having.

Connie’s costume lends itself to less debate. She clearly is an elephant. Oh wait, no – a flower.

Dougie inspecting Connie before they leave

Okay, let’s go!

One more picture with Dad before heading out the door.

This year went really well for Dougie. He didn’t try to go into anyone’s house and he actually selected candies that he liked if he was given that option. He said thank you at almost everyone house too. It went perfectly until the second to last house. That house had someone who was trying to scare the kids as they came up. Clearly, not realizing that Dougie was 3, he jumped out and yelled as Dougie waited at the door. Scott said Dougie’s screamed so loudly that the neighbour came out to see what was wrong. The next house had some scary sounds and lights so Dougie decided they were done. In fact, they were so done that Scott had to carry him home.

Overall, a great day though and the kids both had a great time!

It’s a sunny weekend in Calgary, so you know we are off hiking. This weekend, we decided to tackle Jumping Pound Mountain. When we first started hiking around Calgary, we laughed at the idea of climbing a mountain. That was for people much more athletic. There were three mountains at the time that were brought to our attention that we said we would never climb. Prairie Mountain was the first, which we climbed on Father’s Day. Jumping Pound Mountain was the second.

It was a cold day for climbing. Fall is definitely here! We didn’t take a lot of pictures on the way up. It was mostly trees and forest so there wasn’t much to take a picture of. When we got to the top, it was SO windy! Dougie was cold and not in the mood for pictures so we just took a quick one to remember the summit and then moved on.

Scott and Dougie headed down from the summit

Dougie was pretty ready to head home at this point but we had planned to walk out along the ridge for a while. Fortunately, we saw a helicopter parked on the ridge. Dougie was so excited to see Harold the helicopter. We watched it for a while before it took off. That improved Dougie’s mood enough that we could continue.

Helicopter in front of Tiara Mountain

Fortunately, this mountain wasn’t too high and the ridge went right along the treeline so we decided to go back down so we could get out of the wind and have our lunch.

Dougie is happy again eating his “ham crackers”

Daddy and Connie post lunch

Only one more mountain to do on our “mountains we’ll never climb list.” Hopefully, we can hit Moose Mountain next summer.

Another weekend, another hike! You can tell that we’re trying to get as much outdoor time in as possible before the cold weather really sets in. This weekend, we decided on a rather long hike that went up Mt. St. Piran, one of the mountains that surrounded Lake Louise. By all accounts, it’s an exceptional time so we were very excited to go. Unfortunately, as is often the case, having the kids with us really slowed us down, so we had to change our plans.

Mt. St. Piran is the second peak from the right. It is almost a 10 hour walk there and back though so when it took almost 3 hours to do what should have only taken 1, we decided to climb Little Beehive instead (right most peak).

We decided to stop by the Lake Agnes Teahouse to eat our lunch. We had packed sandwiches so we just ate those by the lake rather than going in for tea. The lake was spectacular. We had passed mirror lake earlier which was a bit disappointing but this one made up for it.

From the teahouse we continued on up to the top of Little Beehive. The view from the top was fantastic.

Scott and Dougie looking down on Chateau Lake Louise.

Making the last bit of the climb

Coming back down

Back at the lake

We’re still hoping to make it up to the top of Mt. St. Piran, maybe next year – without the kids.

A while ago, we went to my sister’s cottage in BC. One the way there, we passed a sign for Stanley Glacier. We’ve been wanting to go there since. I admit, I’ve become quite enthralled with glaciers since moving to Calgary. So today, we decided to drive back out there to go for a hike.

What was most interesting about this hike is the lower part of the mountain has been badly burned by two major forest fires and is still recovering. Though it means there aren’t as many nice trees, it substantially improves the view of the surrounding mountains.

This is near the end of the official trail. You can walk up the scree from here but we didn’t think the kids could handle that.

Dougie doing a bit of posing

Mummy and the kids

Connie did some posing too

No no, don’t look at me, look at the camera

Truly a beautiful hike! This was my favourite one we did all year.

One thing we have learned about having new kids is that old toys become new again. Dougie is suddenly interested in all the toys he had as a baby, just as soon as Connie starts to play with them.

We think he’s a bit beyond the intended age range for these toys but he suddenly really loves them again. What is most interesting is he has a very different way of playing with them now.

Hopefully, he’ll let Connie have a turn at some point.

Dougie loves his sister. He especially loves to “pbbt the Connie.” Here’s how it works:

Find a Connie lying down (shirt lifted slightly to expose tummy)

Face on the tummy and go “PBBT”

Wait for the giggling to stop

Go in for another one (notice Connie started laughing before it even started this time)

PBBBBTTTTT

Holy cow, is Maui ever a fun place! We’d heard great things about it from family members and friends, but it doesn’t quite compare to seeing it up close and personal. We took a boat ride to the Molokini volcanic crater just off Maui, which offered some fantastic snorkeling. One of us would watch the kids while the other played in the water, looking at coral and fish.

Kim doing snuba

Scott doing snuba

Dougie and Connie had fun with the glass bottom boat

Dougie decided he has a future career as a photographer

Our hotel had a great kiddie pool – including a thrill-inducing 8” deep section for Connie

Connie giving Daddy some swimming pointers

The pool had a big pirate ship in the middle – tailor made for Dougie! At every turn he was asking to go in the “pirate ship pool”. We had to learn to avoid windows and walkways within line of sight of the pool – otherwise we never would have seen the rest of Maui.

Dougie sliding down the pirate ship

The hotel was also right on the beach – so Connie and Dougie had lots of time to play in the sand

Having given up on photography, Dougie started thinking about architecture

Connie, meanwhile, seemed more interested in geology

Of course, we had to go to a luau…

Dougie was pretty excited about the luau – especially the dancers, who (according to him) were doing lots of “shaking and wiggling!”

We had a pretty great setup in our room – lots of space for the family

We drove the gorgeous “road to Hana” and made a bunch of stops along the way

Toward the end of our vacation, we took the long, winding drive to the top of Haleakala, the main volcano on Maui. Managed to cover over 10,000 feet of vertical drop along the way!

Of course, at 10,000 feet, the weather was a bit cooler than it was by the beach. We forgot sweaters for the kids, so Dougie managed to “acquire” Daddy’s sweater. Fits like a glove! … a horribly, horribly oversized glove.

All in all, it was a fabulous vacation – Maui lived up to its very high expectations. And gave us enough warm memories to live through an Alberta winter!

After spending nine often-frigid months in Calgary, we decided that a warm weather getaway would be in order. We usually try to take a vacation around this time (coinciding with our anniversary), and this year we spent about 10 days in Hawaii – a few days in Honolulu, and a week in Maui. We figured it was a good blend of exotic (fun to visit) and familiar (easy to take care of the junior Sharaburas). Aloha! Kim had already been to Hawaii when she was growing up, so she was able to serve as a tour guide of sorts.

We started our trip by taking in some of the sights on Oahu – including a volcanic crater

Dougie was impressed with the size of the plant life in Hawaii

Dougie showing Mummy around the island

“Hey, if I have to be on vacation with my parents, I’m still gonna look as cool as I can”

Mummy and Connie on the Pineapple Train at the Dole Plantation

Dougie and Daddy on the Pineapple Train

That a fine lookin’ pineapple guitar player!

Everyone but Mummy, looking out over the Pacific

Dougie was very kind to loan Connie his old stroller!

A scenic lookout on Oahu, along with Dougie and Mummy

One highlight of the trip was our visit to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. While we didn’t stay there (that’s well beyond our budget!), it has a special significance in the Sharabura family history – as the place where Grandma and Grandpa Sharabura first met back in 1960. We figured it would be an appropriate place to bring two of their grandchildren.

A new generation of Sharaburas at the Royal Hawaiian (shhhh, we weren’t guests!)

After a few whirlwind days on Oahu, we took off for our week in Maui.

One of the best things about living in Calgary is how close we are to the mountains. So, when we’re trying to find a hike for the weekend – there are lots of beautiful places to go. Wilcox Pass has to be one of the most picturesque though. We had read about this hike for a while and had wanted to try it. So, after a busy August, we packed up our crew and headed up there.

We took the Bow Valley Parkway again because it increases our chance of seeing some wildlife on the way. We weren’t on the road 5 minutes before we saw several elk.

This guy was right beside the road (no idea what is on his head)

We were glad to see that there weren’t too many cars in the parking lot when we got to the trail. One of the main complaints we had heard about this trail was that it can be very crowded. We got the gang out of the car and started up. The first part of the walk was nondescript just going through the woods but after about 30 minutes, we could start to see the glacier.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of hiking near a glacier is that it is COLD. We didn’t expect it to be as cold as it was because it was pretty warm in Calgary but the wind coming off the icefield and glacier. We had dressed as warmly as we thought was necessary but we could have done better. Dougie decided he wanted to go in the backpack for a lot of the walk which meant he wasn’t as active as we had planned and so he was a lot colder than any of us wanted.

Regardless, we did make it to the pass. It was a fantastic hike and we will definitely try it again in the middle of the summer when it’s more likely to be a bit warmer.

Auntie Suz had a bit of vacation time before starting a new job, and decided to see Calgary in a non-frozen month.  She flew to Vancouver, picked up Grandma and Grandpa, and went on a great drive through the Rockies.   After a long drive, the three of them finally rolled into Calgary.  Who knew, it was actually warm and nice for their stay!

Grandpa and the kiddies, surfing the Web

Dougie and Auntie Suz hangin’ out

Grandma demonstrating the wonders of digital cameras (both Dougie and Auntie Suz look enthralled!)

Sharabura girls rock!

Higher, Grandpa, higher!

Future winners of the Daddy Daughter Dance competition

“This is how you do it, Auntie Suz!”