Cookies and Crayons

My parents came out for a visit. We were very excited to show them the Alberta that we are starting to love so we took them out to Kananaskis for a small hike. Troll Falls is a lovely short hike without too much elevation gain so we figured it would be good for everyone. The scenery is quite nice too so it made for a nice day.

You don’t stay on this path for long before you head off into the woods and on a bit rougher path. That mountain ahead is a ski hill called Nakiska.

Dougie walked quite a bit of this himself. We’ve learned that if we give him a stick to hold, he’s happy to walk on his own for quite a while. It didn’t take too long for us to make it to the falls. There was another family there having a picnic so we got them to take our picture.

Mom and I hiked a bit up the falls so I could show her why it was called Troll Falls.

Look, a troll!

We headed back to the car and went into Canmore for lunch. Then, since we were so close, we decided to take my parents up to see some nice mountain views. This location also happens to be the site of our Mountain nemesis, Ha Ling Peak (more on that another time). There is a spectacular lake at the bottom of the mountain where we stopped for a few pictures.

Daddy and Dougie stopped to skip a few stones.

It was a great day in one of our favourite parts of Alberta.

Sometimes, you just capture the right picture.

Connie has learned to pull up on the tables.

It’s great for her, but Dougie isn’t able to hide things from her up there any more. He’s tried to pull her down a few times but we don’t let that happen – so he needed a different plan.

After Connie pulls up on the table, he gets Connie’s attention….

and he starts clapping. Connie soon follows suit.

The more excited she gets, the more she claps, and then this happens.

This method isn’t likely to be effective for long, but it’s a pretty brilliant plan!

Dougie is such a big boy! He loves to help with various Connie things. Most recently, he’s decided he’d like to help feed her…. long time readers will know what an excellent eater Dougie is – so clearly, he was the perfect choice.

First, we get some food on the spoon

Open wide, Connie. Like this…

Uh, I don’t think so

As you can tell, this is not the neatest method of getting food into Connie. She will frequently take a bite, though Dougie tends to overfill the spoon, and most of it gets all over her face. Dougie really likes to help though!

Dougie was a big fan of Puffs, and so is Connie.

Before I continue, please pardon the mess on her shirt.

One handful is not enough, must get more…

What?

I think I can fit a few more in

We believe she did this to herself.

After all our fun at the parade, we were inspired to take the kids down to the Stampede itself to check it out. We took the train down so we wouldn’t have to deal with trying to find parking. That started the day off perfectly for Dougie, in fact, the train may have been his favourite part.

We arrived just in time to see a piano demonstration. Dougie was in awe! Once they finished, they allowed the kids to get on the piano.

As you walked across the kids, the piano would play notes. I think Dougie would have just stayed here all day if we had let him.

Of course, that was before he knew there was a display of various military equipment. Dougie asked to go on the boat twice. The navy person who was supervising it even let him wear his hat.

As we got closer to the kids area, we saw a jumping area that I thought Dougie would really like. They put bungee cords on the kids and then would let them jump and turn. Unfortunately, Dougie wasn’t heavy enough to try it. That was okay by him because he decided he wanted to go on the go carts more anyway. I thought he was too young but they assured me it would be fine.

Unfortunately, Dougie couldn’t get the idea of holding the trigger to make it go or turning the wheel to steer. This nice guy actually held the trigger and steered for him.

It was a big thrill for Dougie!

Finally, we got to the kids area and tried out some of the rides.

Connie didn’t do a whole lot there. She was too small for most of the rides. She was quite happy to sit in her stroller and watch the people though.

It was a fun day! We were lucky to get some really great weather for it as well.

It’s Stampeded time in Calgary and that means the entire city channels their inner cowboy and celebrates living in the West. We decided that, as new Calgarians, it was our obligation to attend the parade with the kids. Scott had the day off work (yes, parade day is a holiday) so we headed downtown.

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy tickets for the bleachers so we didn’t need to get downtown too early though I didn’t realize that they were at the end of the parade route which meant an extra 45 minutes of waiting for the parade to start. I’ll know better next year. There were lots of folks that came through to entertain the waiting masses though so at least we weren’t staring at an empty street the whole time.

Connie in her best cowboy outfit

She is just mastering clapping so she took every opportunity to give it a try.

The kids were so excited to be there

Finally, the parade started. The grand marshals were Jet and Cord from the Amazing Race. These guys were, by far, my favourite Amazing Race team ever – so it was pretty exciting to see them.

Wow, an entire float dedicated to me? What an honour.

After a while, this came along.

I thought this was just brilliant! They decorated street cleaning truck and then sent it down the road to clean up after anything the horses may have left. Dougie did not like this. I think it may have been the noise but he shrieked every time they came down the street. In an hour and a half parade, that was a lot more often than we were happy about.

Look, there’s another one.

Hmm, he’s a little out of place here in Calgary, in the summer

Connie just took the whole thing in.

Nothing really scared her once the people stopped yelling “Ya hoo” as she was trying to nap.

Overall, we had a great time! We’d go again but we’d be sure to get seats closer to the start of the parade route.

We continue to struggle with what sorts of foods Dougie will eat. We decided that perhaps he would be more interested in eating if he helped to prepare the food. We had noticed he was more likely to sample something during the cooking process than when it was just on his plate. So, we enlisted him to help with the latest meal.

This particular meal is Jamie Oliver’s Sizzling beef with scallions and black bean sauce. Dougie loved helping toss the meat and adding things to the bowl. Since it was raw meat, he couldn’t really taste it as we went along though. When it came time to eat, he didn’t want to eat it at all.

Guess we’re back to the drawing board for ideas – but at least he learned some cooking skills.

Connie continues to grow. More importantly, she continues to get stronger. She pulls up all the time now. She loves to stand.

She has definitely perfected sitting.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is that her brother loves her. He still constantly asks to “hold the Connie.” Since she’s a bit more stable, it’s gotten easier for him.

We swear she isn’t as big as this picture makes her appear