Sleep is for the Weak
October 11, 2010 Connie No CommentsNot tired
If I can just be careful enough…
He’ll never even notice…
Okay, let’s party!!!
Not tired
If I can just be careful enough…
He’ll never even notice…
Okay, let’s party!!!
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”
Only one more mountain to do on our “mountains we’ll never climb list.” Hopefully, we can hit Moose Mountain next summer.
About a week ago, Connie took her first steps. Every day, she takes a few more. We finally managed to get them on video.
More back-posts coming soon but we wanted to share this one now.
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
Look Mummy, a phone
It’s ringing, I wonder who it’s for?
Hello? This is Connie
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.
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.