Lake Minnewanka

We have a couple more kids working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award, and I'm so happy!

I'm very much a happy camper, and back country camping is my fav! We had to bundle up a bit because camping in the Rockies in May is cold.

I can't get enough of this

Or this

Ken spotted a hummingbird settle down and perch on the top of this tree when we were taking a break. Carmen and Chloe saw a black bear and her cub when they were further up the trail, but the bears didn't stick around long enough to get a picture.

Here's where we set up camp, it was such a perfect spot.

This hike counted as Chloe's Bronze level journey and Carmen's Silver level practise journey.

I can't wait to go back

I could almost do this every weekend

I'll just have to convince Ken.

Fort McMurray and Mother's Day

It's rarely a good thing when your community makes international news. My parents live in Fort McMurray, and so they were of course impacted by the wildfires in Northern Alberta this spring.

This is a photo of their street with the forest ablaze behind their home. When they were first evacuated from their house they were told to go stay with friends on the other side of town for a few hours, maybe overnight. Well, hours later it was evacuation for the entire city and no going back to their house to collect any more possessions. They traveled slowly south to Edmonton, sleeping in their car for 2 nights. I met them at Mark's house where we slept one night, and then brought them the rest of the way to Calgary where they have been ever since!

The first weekend they were here Marie and her family came up to see the grandparents.

It was super fun to hang out with them!

Cousin time.

The next day was Mother's Day and we had a good video chat with Steven that Grandma and Grandpa got to get in on.

My parents really don't visit often enough. Maybe it's too soon, but some day I will be able to joke that I had to start a forest fire to get my mom to spend Mother's Day with me.

School Play: Anne of Green Gables

Chloe had such a busy spring! She had a Royal Conservatory Piano exam in April, and rehearsals every day for the school play.

 Chloe played the part of Diana Barry opposite one of her best friends as Anne, which certainly made being bosom friends onstage easy and authentic.

Chloe came home from rehearsals one day under instructions from her drama teacher to make sure I knew there was a drunk scene for Diana Barry. Then she came home the next day telling me that the drama teacher wanted to make sure I knew Chloe was very good at that scene. For some reason the drama teacher was worried about my reaction? Standing ovation, that was my reaction.

The actress that played Minnie May was actually taller than Chloe, but their major scene together was when Minnie May was sick with croup so the height difference wasn't noticed in the play.

What a way to finish off your time at RDL, Chloe! You were made for this play!

Early Spring

Over Spring Break Chloe studied up on rules of the road and qualified for her Learner's License!

Chloe is getting good at driving, but I'm not quite ready to put her out on the highway, so she takes a passenger seat when we go out to visit Grandpa.

Grandpa Olson entered hospice care over a month ago. He's been treated so well, and we love visiting him. The spirit is strong in his room, and we certainly feel peace.

Early on, when Natalie suggested we celebrate Kevin's 40th birthday at the hospice, I didn't think it would happen. I'm happy I was wrong! Grandpa has had such good care out there, I really believe it has extended his life. Family time is a good time!

Carmen's 17th Birthday and a Grand-baby!!!

It was a little difficult to shop for Carmen for her birthday this year because I knew someone else was giving her a much better gift than I ever could! Jaclyn and Mason told Carmen and Chloe that a niece or nephew is on the way!

They sent Carmen a cute package to unwrap that announced the pregnancy, and then Skype'd in to watch the reaction. It really woke Carmen up (we always open presents in the morning) and feels like a gift to all of us! 

The next day Jaclyn and Mason posted this on Facebook for the public announcement.

Carmen had school and a basketball game on her birthday, so we went out for sushi after her game (winning on your birthday is a pretty good thing) and came home for birthday cheesecake.

Happy Birthday and btw that baby is not yours.

So Much Basketball & City Champs

Carmen was wondering why she didn't get to ski much this winter?

 Um, it was kind of obvious.

So Much Basketball!!! If I were to post all the pictures, it would be ridiculous. It was a busy season with a full academic load, practises or games every weekday, and tournaments every weekend. Once again her team went undefeated in the season, but on top of that they were also undefeated in all tournaments!

It was hard work and good fun, and ended with the most important win of all: City Championships!

Carmen with her fantastic coach.

(Captain) Carmen raising the trophy high for her team!

(And that's why Carmen didn't ski much this year.)

Winter of Chloe (Ha!)

No-one in our family has done more skiing this winter than Chloe

Norquay with Cache and Cheyanne

Winsport (COP) with Mom (twice!)

Panorama with Mark, Camille, and Monte

She also got in some tubing at Lake Louise with Ken, Carmen, and I, along with Natalie and her kids.

Lucky Chloe! 

Carmen asked me why Chloe has been able to do so much skiing . . . there's an answer to that.

Winter of Ken

(Okay, the title is kind of a joke. Summer of Ken was legendary in a way this winter was not.)

Ken was laid off from his job at the end of November. The new job searching began immediately, but Ken has tried to take advantage of the open schedule.

He took me snowshoeing to Chester Lake

He'd done this trip a couple of times before, but it was my first time.

Ken has done a lot of biking this winter. Some of it fat biking (above), but we have had a very mild winter, and more of his biking has been on the highway.

Keith and Mark

Ken also did a little bit of road tripping with my brother Mark. They met up with Keith (another of my brothers) in Utah for some skiing.

Ken

Happily/Sadly the Winter of Ken is coming to an end because he got a new job and is scheduled to go back to work on March 28. I guess we still have A Week of Ken to look forward to!

Ken and Friends out for a Snow Ride

Ski Trip to Montana

Almost every year we take a trip to Montana to go skiing, but this year was extra exciting because it was our time to get together with Jaclyn and Mason over Christmas break!

Chloe's fancy colouring books helped pass the time on the drive down.

Ken thought stopping at a roadside turnout would be a good idea for lunch. I disagreed, and local dogs roaming in and out of the restaurant solidified my opinion. Oh, Montana.

Then when Ken and I spent the night dealing with what I will only describe as 'food poisoning symptoms' I just knew I was right that it had been a bad idea.

I wiped down the cabin the next day while the kids went skiing (Ken and I were too weak to ski). Ken texted with his family and exonerated the roadside diner because it turns out much of our family we had spent Boxing Day with were also sick, so it wasn't the dubious hygiene of the diner that made us ill. Something got passed around before we left. I still never again want to eat in a diner with wandering animals.

Luckily we felt better fairly quickly!!!

Mason, Barb, Jaclyn

Mason, Ken, Barb, Jaclyn

Jaclyn

Chloe, Carmen

Carmen, Ken, Barb

Carmen

Ken

Barb

Captions seemed necessary since we were all in masks and goggles. It was cold and beautiful, and we tried to appreciate it just a little bit more for Steven. 

(Maybe I should ask him to appreciate his warm weather and palm trees a little bit more for me.)

Christmas Day

The first gift of Christmas was to open our package from Steven!

He used pass-along-cards as gift tags which I thought was funny funny.

Later we Facetimed which mostly worked well even though there were 8 missionaries all talking to their families on the wifi in their local church building at the same time. We loved talking to him, but man it is hard to say goodbye again!

Santa created a new tradition of changing the lights on our tree from white to multicoloured after he comes. Crazy old guy. 

We got a foosball table and Chloe is making future party plans already!

The girls settled down for some serious colouring after breakfast.

Followed by some serious music listening (Chloe on her record player and Carmen on a cassette tape and walkman.)

 Followed by some serious napping.

We had Christmas dinner with Ken's parents and the MOCM family! 

I sat at the children's table. Naturally.