Spring Break part 1

Spring Break - one week off school. Time to head out into the wilderness of Alberta.

We hired ourselves a Taurus for the trip (I don't think Bessie was really up to it).
Bron and Stu, were lucky enough to be upgraded from a little Ford Focus to a Buick Rendezvous SUV. (Yes, it may look like a semi-serious off-roader, but it was only front wheel drive.)



Our first stop was the teeming metropolis of Wildwood. When little Miss Freya says it is time to stop for lunch, it is time to stop for lunch :-)





After scraping our boots...







We headed into the town's restaurant district and chose a rather sophisticated Chinese eatery.



It must have been good - the locals ate there.



After satisfying our appetites, we toured the town - the bulldozer, swing-set and liquor store seemed to come straight out of GTA:SA



On the road again - the big, long, straight road to the Rockies.



As we got into the mountains, the road took on a whole new personality - curves.



Oooh look! A corner! (and some rather impressive mountain scenery and wildlife...)



The kids were impressed.



Our destination - the Jasper Inn.



The kids want to steal the wagon to go into town, but we decide to walk.



What do you do with all the skis from skiers that get eaten by grizzly bears?
Make a seat out of them, of course.



Speaking of bears, all of the garbage bins in the Rockies have this funky bearproof handle thing to keep the bears out. (Took me a bit to work out how to open it - guess that I must be smarter than the average bear, hey Boo Boo :-)






There's a bear in there...
and a chair as well...



A pickup with serious off-road cred.





Dinner at Earl's Eatery. The view was acceptable.



It seems that they have drunk kangaroos on the menu.



Back home again via the Fire Hall

Delle is getting older...

Well it is almost the end of birthday season for the Fowlers (three birthdays in six weeks - phew) and time for Delle to celebrate her annual day of getting older.

Louanne from school generously hosted the little soiree.

Here is Delle holding up a jar of Grandpa Griffin's raspberry jam - totally addictive on toasted bagels.



The usual suspects, including three Aussie ring ins. (Bron, Stu and baby Freya popped over for a visit.)



Delle's loincloth. (I got one too - anatomically correct and everything - but Delle won't let me post the photo of me modelling it - spoilsport)



More goodies - very appropriate for an Aussie wanting to immerse themselves in Canadian weirdness.



Freya was a bit of a hit with almost everyone at the party.



So for the next three months I get to hassle Delle about being old while she and I are the same age :-)

Happy Birthday Delle!

Cayde's Party at Telus WOS

That's the Telus World of Science for those that are not lazy like me...




The boy decided to have a science party for his 10th birthday, so it was off to the Telus WOS that we went.

(They still had the Lego exhibit there...)



Cayde and a bunch of his friends had a great time checking out all of the fun stuff at the science museum.
Here they are lining up for the Multi Axis Training Simulator thingy (I just call it the "Vominator")



Here's Danielle giving it a go.



And Cohen.



And Ashley.



And of course Cayde gave it a go.



Even though I was a little bit heavy, they let me have a turn too:-)



That was fun. So, what better time to head off to the party room for some lunch.



Lots of cool pressies.



More exploring. I think they are driving the little Mars Rover robot.



Cayde about to be sucked out of the hole in the back of his space suit due to lack of air pressure on Mars



Addison and Ashley steal a police motorcycle conveniently parked in the hallway.



We finished the day with a pyrotechnic science demonstration from the WOS staff.
Blowing stuff up is always fun.

Back from Spring Break...

OK, we're back from Spring Break.
Time to catch up with some blogging...

Birthday for the Boy

The boy has hit double digits.
(Age wise that is...)

He seemed to be pretty pleased with his new Oilers jersey.



And birthday desert...





Happy Birthday Cayde!

Mark is now gainfully employed

OK, so there is only so much househusbanding I can take.

I got a job with 5D Information Management doing stuff like cleaning toilets, watering plants and administering servers.

Mark

Addie's Party at the Ice Palace

Addie's dream for her 8th birthday party was to have an ice skating party, so off to the Ice Palace at West Edmonton Mall we went...







Setting up the party room



Mr Dolphin.





So once we had the room sorted, we headed out onto the ice to skate with the guests.



Addie and Mark.



Connor.



Addie, Cayde, Katie, Mark and Nilakshi.



Alana.





The whole mob.



Some random stranger. (They don't come much stranger than her...)



Party time



There's that strange one again, about to plunge us into darkness.



Luckily, we had a candle to give us some light, but the strange one came and blew it out - the rudeness!



Then she started hacking into our food - the hide of some people.



Then she opened the gifts that everyone had brought.



We decided to let her stay and play some games with us, like pass the parcel.





Enough party room stuff - time to get back out on the ice. Hurry up Zamboni!





After all the guests had left, we went exploring the mall.
There was a giant, multi-headed jester monster hanging from the ceiling.



A shop selling Moose Mounties.



Somebody had parked their boat in the middle of the mall.
(The running joke is that WEM has more submarines than the Canadian Navy :-)





This just made me giggle.



Mark