Train days

Once we got back to town it turned out Ryan and boys were heading to Heritage Park for the last few hours of Train days.  We thought we'd missed the turntable but they were backing another train up on it, so we watched that along with a tour of the model trains.  As usual, the boys were up for seeing some trains :)

Katy walking Lucy

While I waiting for Darcy, Paola and the boys to finish up in the hotel, Katy insisted on holding and walking Lucy.  She is more and more that way every day - always wanting to do everything herself.  Hopefully she'll still want to walk the dog for me in a few years!

On the drive back, we stopped to get a few pictures of the gorgeous scenery.  Hmmm - Darcy never stops for just me to take pictures...

Swimming in Kananakis

The Delta in Kananaskis has a very cool hot tub that is half inside, half outside.  Paola's new camera goes underwater so we grabbed some shots of the kids - including Katy, Mom and Dad!  Finally - here is a rare shot of the author of this blog :)

Hike in Kananaskis

Dawn, Ryan and their boys joined us over in Kananaskis on Saturday.  We decided to head out for a hike at 11, stop for lunch along the way and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  The kids did great, but the dads had some sore shoulders by the end of it :)

Happy Birthday Ali

Usually I miss Ali's birthday for a work trip, but this year I ended up being in town.  We went out to Kooza, the current Cirque de Soleil show in Calgary.  It was lots of fun - but as a result I only have this single camera phone shot from her birthday :)

Rainy weekend

The rain held up today, so we took in another day at the pool - Canyon Meadows this time.  After swimming Matt and the kids came over for dinner.  Paola is coming out next week so we are looking forward to that - and the excuse to finish up some loose ends around the house.

Playing in the leaves

It was a cool day in Calgary today.  I took the boys to Sam's school to play some basketball - Sam can hit the rim and Max isn't there yet, but full of enthusiasm!  After lunch we hooked up with Ryan and his older two boys and headed down to Kilarney to swim.  With Southland closed for cleaning it was packed.  The boys dived and swam around while Katy splashed.  When we got home the boys hit the leaves on the lawn, and in the tree!

Feels like winter

Yeah - we're still waiting for the gorgeous fall weather and then BAM! we wake up to see snow on the garage roof.  Winter is on its merry way...

Max goes boom!

Max slipped on some stairs after pre-school and fell down flat onto the concrete leading with his nose.  He cried for some time, but once he calmed down he was surprisingly happy the rest of the night.  Here he is telling Grandma W. about his fall right before bed:

Poor guy!

Ready, Set, Swim Club!

Sam and Max (and a host of others) started their swim club tonight, and really had fun.  Darcy says it is pretty cool seeing five years olds actually do some drills.

Robot in the making

Somehow Sam got it into his brain to get out the kid scissors, take a box and make himself a robot costume :)  Pretty good - although riding the bike with it was a one time parent sanctioned event :)  Everyone always likes to see a pregnant belly in progress, so here is a shot of Darcy giving the kids a peach.

Shot from the top

At the top of yesterday's hike:

Black Prince Cirque / Kananaskis

After soccer Ryan and I took the 5 older boys, leaving Henry and Katy with Ali.  We drove out to Kananaskis to try the Black Prince Cirque hike with the kids.  It worked out great.  We had rain off and on driving there, and it was just starting to sprinkle as we started out, but it soon stopped and we had a nice hike with a little sun from time to time.  The kids balked at the first hill a few times, but we kept putting off turning back long enough for them to get into it.  They loved the mushrooms along the side of the trail!