Calgary Trip - Part 2 - The Calgary Stampede

Saddle Bronc Riding

When you visit Calgary in the summer you need to be really deliberate about one thing: either come during Stampede with the rest of the tourists or avoid it altogether (like many Calgarians do). Billed as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", it's mainly a big-time rodeo, but it's also a city-wide, ten-day, western-themed party.

We went all-in, in part because we wanted the boys to experience a rodeo with all its rugged masculine glory, and partly because we want them to see Calgary in full colour.

The actual rodeo events are in the afternoon. They include Bareback (horse) Riding, Saddle Bronc, Tie-Down Roping (of a calf), Steer Wrestling, and Bull Riding. Those are the events we attended. It was a really hot day and we didn't pay for the shade. The boys survived the heat and were well-entertained. 

This shows our view which was great. I used my zoom lens for the photos.

The clowns and commentators are first-rate also and really add to the show. Some of the cowboys during the Canadian National Anthem:

Bareback Riding

Tie Down Roping:

My favourite cowboy is Fred Whitfield. He is 47 years old and a Tie Down Roper. The announcers like to tease him about his age. He's actually not the oldest competitor. There is a chuckwagon driver who is 63!

Bull Riding

In this photo you can see that the rider didn't last long on the bull's back. The bull "won."

There is also barrel racing done by women but we couldn't see it very well from our seats.

I really enjoyed watching the rodeo highlights on TV every night. I think I have caught the rodeo "bug." We are thinking of going to the Ellensburg Rodeo in September.


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Trip to Calgary - Part 1 - This is Your Life

I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm very proud of my hometown and my roots. I lived in that area until 1993. From my birth until age 10, I lived on a farm just north of the city. While on the farm, our official address was Balzac, a very small place.

Back in the 70s, it was 6 miles from our farm to the city limit. Now, the farm is within the city and all that is left is an old quanset. There is a very busy highway close by.

I'm glad there is something still there since the site of my Dad's brother's farm is now a shopping centre surrounded by hundreds of houses!

I took my boys to see my old junior high school, my high school, and my university. It was fun to find my photo on a wall of my high school which we were able to explore.

The biggest surprise was my previous house in northwest Calgary. It has been completely renovated and looks nothing like it did when I lived there in the 80s.

On Sunday, we went to my old church and found lots of familiar faces. Here is me with some old friends.

Freda and James.

There was a family reunion as well. My uncle and his wife (who live in Phoenix) were also visiting Calgary when we were there. My mom's other brother and his wife were there, too, and we met at my cousin Colin's house for some Swiss Chalet chicken and gabbing.

My parents in the centre. My American uncle on the left, my Canadian uncle on the right.

I also was able to meet up with my good friend Carrie and talk shabby chic for a while. She introduced me to it way back when. :)Pin It

Whose Broad Strips and Bright Stars......

I originally planned to paint a flag onto an old wood pallet that we have in our backyard. I changed my mind when I found out how heavy it is and how much paint I would need. I found a small fake pallet aka plaque at Michael's made of rough wood and that was it. The dimensions are 26 inches wide and 14 inches tall.

I had thought of using a stencil to paint on the stars but I instead bought these small wood stars

and painted them AND sanded them for the distressed look that I like. I used wood glue to glue them onto the plaque. I did intend to put 50 on but I ran out of patience and room. I used Folk Art acrylic paint.

There are 37 stars on my flag and I'm OK with that. Artistic license.

Lest any of my Canadian friends take issue with me painting an American flag, remember that half of my family is made up of American citizens. :)


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Take Me Out to the Ballgame

C just wrapped up his second season of baseball. It was a good one. After playing for the first time two years ago he was a little discouraged. He had a losing season with a first-time coach and lots of first-time players. Last season he didn’t play on a team but instead Daddy coached him at home, working on developing all the basic skills. So this season we did what we could to get him lined up with an experienced coach and everything worked out great.

The team was the Grizzlies. He actually had a pair of very experienced coaches and some skilled players. He was only able to make half the practices because of a conflict with Cub Scouts, but he fit right in. He was about in the middle of the pack as far as skills go, not far behind the coaches kids who seemed like they’ve been playing since they could walk.

In his first game he scored the winning run with an aggressive play at the plate. He earned a lot of walks by patiently waiting for good pitches. He got some singles and one fantastic bases-loaded double in front of his GrandDad that was the start of a high-scoring inning. A few times he was thrown out at first on a fielders’ choice play that still scored some runs, so his RBI total was more impressive than his batting average. He could always be counted on to make a lot of contact with the ball during batting practice.

He played a combination of Centerfield and Second Base.

We were always very proud of his great attitude and aggressive, high energy style of play. He really gave it his best and set an example for the rest of the team.

The team went 9-3 on the season, so while it’s important for the kids to record some wins so as not to feel discouraged, the real victory was that he had a successful season learning a lot from good coaches and experienced players.

The weather was great also. Especially because we have clear memories of watching the boys play in previous years in miserable conditions.  

I was the team photographer. I found baseball much different for photographing than soccer. It is easier to get individual photos in baseball. This year's level was kid pitched so that was fun to watch, except when there were too many forced walks.

I made a slide show of the photos I took of the players and showed it at the end of season party.


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A "Daddy Special"

C requested for his birthday party a "Daddy Special." That means, a party that J plans and executes to wow and amaze. Two years ago, we had a science party with many experiments and explosions.

This year the theme for the party was Dangerous Book for Boys. Codes, a rocket, remote control cars, BB guns.

Eight boys converged on our backyard. The first activity involved a robotic sprinkler. The boys had to see if they could retrieve the canister guarded by the sprinkler. The sprinkler detected motion and would go off when they got close. For the first time ever, J wrote software for a party activity!

Inside the canister was a piece of paper with a QR code, which is a scan-able bar code. Some gibberish came up on a smartphone when the QR code was scanned.

On the other side of the paper, written in invisible ink, were the words "Caesar Cipher 4."  C pulled out his Dangerous Book for Boys since he remembered it had codes and ciphers in it.

The book said that every letter is shifted by a certain number. One boy decided to write out the alphabet and take the gibberish and decode it systematically.

The result was "Birthday's Boy's Nickname," We thought this would be easy to figure out but C's friends didn't know his nickname. One boy was able to guess it out of the blue. Taking those letters C and one friend turned the switches on a box (switches for each letter of the alphabet) which launched an ethanol bottle rocket with a message inside.

The rocket shot out of the top tree house and landed on the ground.

A map was inside of the bottle. It was cut into jigsaw pieces and written in invisible ink. The map was of our yard.

The boys eventually found the "X" where the treasure was buried.

The treasure was a plastic box (dug out of the ground) which contained remote controls for two RC cars.

We went out to our cul-de-sac where the boys took turns operating the RC cars. The goal was to use the RC car to push the cardboard box through the goal posts (two flower pots). The 2nd car played defence. Inside the box was the artillery (BBs) for the next activity.

J had the boys use BB guns to shoot some cheap pottery which was hanging from string. We were surprised at who was the best shot. A quiet boy who is our pastor's son. He could shoot better than my husband J! I don't have photos of this activity since I had to leave to pick up the ice cream cake.

C opened his presents and we had cake.

After that was over, the boys played hide and seek and used the tree houses and sprayed each other with water guns. J & I vowed that this is the last elaborate birthday party we throw!








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Mother's Day 2015

This year's Mother's Day was a bit different. My father in law has been visiting us for a week.

After church we went to Stanford's and had lunch outside on the patio.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the beautiful sights of the Washington Arboretum.

For gifts, I bought myself two deluxe hanging baskets for my gazebo. The boys wrote poems for me at school as part of Moments with Mom on Friday. Here is me with A in his classroom.

I'm thankful that another mom took this photo. I'm the class photographer for both classrooms so I didn't get one with C since I was busy taking photos of moms with their kids.


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Spring Blooms - Lilacs and Tulips.

Time to share some photos from the garden. My lilac tree is doing so well this year! It is a relief since last year there were hardly any blooms on it and that was sad. I'm amazed at the quality of photo I can achieve using my smartphone. The photo above was taken with my phone!

Here you can see the height of the tree.

The goal was for me to be able to see the blooms from my kitchen window and I now can! I wish you could smell them. Amazing.

The tulips are almost finished for this year. These photos were taken about a week ago.

I love the dark coloured tulips.

Of course, I have pink tulips. :)

Next to bloom will probably be the peonies and the rhododendrons.

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Easter Weekend in Victoria

This year for Easter, we travelled to Victoria where my parent live. The boys were on Spring Break so we were able to be together. We were blessed with excellent weather for the entire visit.

On Good Friday we took the BC ferry from Twawwassen (near Vancouver). On Saturday, my mom and I went to Butchart Gardens which is north of Victoria. The flowers put on an incredible display for us.

The options for lunch left a bit to be desired since the main restaurant (the Blue Poppy) was closed. Very strange for Easter weekend. One new thing that I noticed is the moss animals such as these three bears.

I always learn something when I visit Butchart. This flower was one that I'd never seen before.

A fritillaria raddeana.

I went to two of my favourite stores on Saturday afternoon - Mercedes Lane on Cook Street (women's clothes) and Super Chance (consignment store) in James Bay. I found a plate for my collection. On Saturday night we had supper at Odgen Point Cafe which is right next to the sea wall. I had a delicious quinoa and chicken salad. Here is C posing by the sea wall.

On Sunday morning we had a very good breakfast at Cora's in downtown Victoria. We went to my parent's church for Easter service. Three people were baptized and gave their testimonies. We had a delicious Easter buffet where my parent live. While we waited to be seated, a lady was playing various hymns on the piano. I played name that tune and my son C was quite impressed with how many I identified.

In the afternoon we went to Saxe Point park in Esquimalt. There was a plaque about the first person to ever to swim the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

My climber A enjoyed the challenge of the rocks. I enjoyed the views and pretended that I was along the coast of England.

Later we went to Oak Bay Marina and fed the seals with fish that was for sale. One seal was quite the ham and clapped for his food.

In the evening, my dad, J, and the boys played crokinole (my dad has a board) and the boys discovered a "new" game that has been around since the 1860s. What is crokinole? A game played on a board like this.

note: this is not my photo. Source.

On Monday morning I made quick visits to Monro Books and Murchie's Tea. We returned via the Sidney to Anacortes ferry.

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