Fall 2011

This has been such a fantastic fall! I'm sad that it's coming to an end... The past few days I have definitely felt winter ushering in. So, before it's completely swept away, I thought I'd give a little synopsis of what our fall was like:

September and October were beautiful! September was nice and relatively warm, one of the best months for the garden. Loads and loads of tomatoes, squashes, green beans, etc. I've been really busy working/writing/planning/speaking on a grant for my p-patch to build a nice Children's Garden (in addition to many other renovations also). Our grant proposal was accepted by the Department of Neighborhoods back in August, so we are now in the planning and design process. It's been so neat working with this terrific committee of people and a great learning experience for me. I'm excited for March/April when we will finally get our hands dirty and get to work with the renovations and construction :)

Nature school has been so much fun this fall. We've had some really nice weather and had interesting lessons. Our topics each week have been the following- apples, farms, spiders, squirrels, pumpkins, leaves, our senses, and families (If you are reading this and would ever like my lesson plan for any of the topics, I'm happy to share! Just let me know). The kids are so much fun! I love them all. Here are some pictures from nature school:















With Jasper in preschool now, Gideon and I are having some really nice "special time" together. My friend Taylor (who has two kids my kids' ages) started a little tot class called Monkey School and invited Gid to join, so we do that once a week. She does SUCH a great job! She has these great activities that the kids love. Another friend, Jennifer, started a music class which we've also been going to. She's a piano teacher and very musically talented and she does a great job also- has the kids get up and move their bodies, try out new instruments, beat out rythms, etc. I feel so lucky to be a part of this neat community of moms who want to provide their kids with learning experiences, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg, so we are doing something about it and inviting our friends to join :)

It's really nice to have time with just Gid. I feel like I'm connecting with him more than when all three of us are together. He's going through a little rough time behaviorally lately- trying to figure out how to communicate his emotions and assert his independence, so my hope is that this one-on-one time will help him through it.



During one afternoon while Gid and I were on a hike, we heard this wonderful little frog and found it on a branch right next to our noses:



Back in September we went hiking with some friends. The hike led to a natural rock slide. The boys had the BEST time! We will definitely be visiting this spot again:











We also found this:


And this:

Canda Trip- Part 4

We woke up early on September 8th, anxious to get on the road to Jasper National Park. The drive from Banff to Jasper goes along a highway called the Icefields Parkway- the most scenic road I’ve ever traveled. Here are some pics from along the road:







It is along this road that you see portions of the largest intact glacier- a remnant of the Ice Age- on the North American Continent. When we arrived at the Icefields center, we decided to splurge and send Rob and the boys up onto the glacier on a snow-crawler. I stayed behind because it would have cost another $50 and with one paying adult the boys could go for free. I took a little hike by myself, which was really nice, while the boys went up to the foot of the glacier and actually got to get out and walk around on it.







They filled their water bottles up with pure glacier water too, which I thought was pretty cool. It turned out to be 100% worth it, if you are ever contemplating throwing down $50 to walk on the Athabasca Glacier. By the time Jasper and Gideon are my age, the glacier will most likely be completely melted so it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of them. The most shocking thing to me about this glacier were the markings scientists have made every 10 years that show how far it’s melted back. In the past 20 years, they’ve put up markings every couple of years to show the melt rate since it’s melting so quickly. It was kind of hard for me. I started to cry when I was out hiking by myself. I know we aren't living in the Ice Age anymore. It just breaks my heart to think about the beautiful things that are disappearing from our planet. Someday, when I'm rich and famous, I'd like to help preserve these beauties for generations to come.

That night, we made it to Jasper National Park and camped at Whistlers. We saw a whole bunch of elk right around our camp!



We had so many places we were anxious to go to, so we woke up early n September 9th and drove up to Maligne Lake. We spent a good portion of the morning there on a neat little hike called Moose Loop. The kids had so much fun gathering sticks and playing superheroes as we hiked.





They both did great on the three-mile loop. After Maligne Lake we drove up to Miette Hot springs. This was definitely the highlight for Jasper. He’s been talking about it since. After the hot springs, we drove to Jasper town. We ate at a place called “Jasper’s Pizza” which was yummy and fun for the family. We also spent a lot of money on T-shirts, pens, magnets, pads of paper, and toys that say “Jasper” on them… I think we outdid ourselves but I do have a nice stockpile of stocking stuffers for Jasper till he’s at least 12 ☺ All the while, I was feeling bad for little Gid. We are in Jasper National Park, eating Jasper pizza in Jasper town, and buying stuff that said Jasper on it. I think Gid was feeling a bit left out, so we made sure to find a few special things for just him too.









We started off the morning of September 10th with an awesome ride up the Jasper Sky Tram. The tram takes you up 7472 feet to really great viewpoint of Jasper and the surrounding mountains.







If you really want the best view, you have to climb to the top of the mountain, which we did. Jasper and Gid did awesome climbing up the mountain. Gid needed help, of course, so Rob helped carry him when he got tuckered out. The mountain was steep and the rock was very loose. Jasper did the whole thing by himself. We were so proud of him. At the top, the view was amazing- 360-degree view!

After the mountain, we drove to Mount Edith Cavell and the Angel Glacier. We hiked about 2 ½ miles on the most interesting loop that goes through a newly formed, young forest. The valley that we hiked through was recently a glacier that melted, so the forest has begun to reclaim the rock field that was left behind. At the far end of the loop, there was a beautiful view of the glaciers that are left and an iceberg lake. The boys loved that freezing cold icy lake and had a ball throwing rocks onto the chunks of ice.






The next morning (September 11th) it was time to head back to Banff, so we packed up camp and hit the road. We spent most of the day in the car, with stops along the way for quick hikes and viewpoints. One of the hikes we did was this neat waterfall and canyon. We arrived at the Banff Center, where Rob’s conference was to begin that evening.

September 12th was Sunday, so we went to church in Banff. We had such a neat time there at that little church building and meeting the members of the Banff Branch. Jasper and Gideon both loved the primary and nursery. We did laundry and rested the rest of the day, which was really nice.

The Banff Center was really nice and such a welcome change to have a nice, comfortable bed for a few nights. While Rob was at his conference all week, the boys and I took little hikes, explored Banff town, and checked out every single public park in Banff. The weather was really nice until the end of the week when it started to get cold. We’d steal Rob away when he had little breaks in the conference to go do a little hike as a family.

On the 14th, Rob had the afternoon off, so we took a hike up this really neat river to a series of waterfalls. You hike along the river on this very narrow pathway and some of it is an actual catwalk! It was incredible.







We ended the day with ice cream cones in Banff at Canada’s famous Moo ice cream shop.



Rob did really well speaking at his conference. He made some good connections and met some other super smart people doing similar research. It was so terrific that he was able to speak at this conference, and that we were able to tag along and make it into a family adventure too.

After the conference, instead of heading straight back toward the States, we drove east a bit more to Drumheller, home to the world’s largest dinosaur museum. This museum was amazing! The boys loved it! We have a gazillion dino pictures to share, so I might need to make an entire post with just them. The trip was so much fun and a very-much needed family bonding experience. I'm so glad it all worked out and we made it back from our adventure safe.

Canada Trip- Part 3

Alright, I've gotta finish up about our trip to Canada back in September.

September 7th began with a drive to the trailhead for Takkakaw Falls. The hike to the falls in only a mile or so- the perfect length for a 4 and 2 year old ☺ The falls were spectacular!! Reaching 1260 feet at it's highest point, it is truly an unbelievable sight to see. I forgot to mention that I had broken my two littlest toes a week before the trip which made it a little hard to scramble up loose rock, so Rob took the boys and climbed up a bit further and I stayed behind and took pictures.









After our hike, we ate lunch next the river that flowed from the falls, and then drove up to Emerald Lake. Along the way, we stopped at a roadside sight to see a really neat canyon. The canyon was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Thousands of years of erosion had formed potholes in the river’s bedrock and left a bridge-like rock formation.

It was here, that the really scary thing happened on the trip. This canyon is pretty dangerous and I had this really nervous feeling the moment we got out of our car, looking around and seeing all the places where the boys could easily fall right down into the deep canyon walls and be whisked away in the river. We got out and looked around for a bit. I decided to take Gid back to the car because he was acting cranky. While heading back to the car, Gideon decided he was going to run off into the woods, back toward the canyon. I called for him, which only made him run away faster. I realized the direction he was going so I started to run after him and called in my “scary mom” voice which usually makes him stop in his tracks. Not this time for out little two year old who had skipped one too many naps during the past week. I had this incredible surge of running power and I sprinted after him despite my injured toes. I grabbed the back of his collar the moment we were literally about to plummet over the edge of a thirty or forty foot drop down into the river. It was the most horrifying and intense experience I’ve ever had as a mom. I was so glad he was okay and grateful that I’d felt prompted to run as fast as I did. If I’d relied on past experiences when my “scary mom” voice worked, Gideon very well would have died. I was so in shock after this experience that I was shaking for the next 30 minutes and sick to my stomach- on the verge of throwing up. Even, just now, as I write, I feel sick to my stomach. I think Gideon definitely learned a lesson, as did I. He didn't fully comprehend what would have happened had I not tackled him, but through my tears of fear and love, I think he learned some kind of lesson. I love my boys so much. Having a brush with tragedy like that just made me cherish my little Gid all the more.

Emerald lake was neat and, well, pretty emerald colored. There is a historic boathouse there that we peeked into. We ended up relaxing on the shore of the lake. The boys had a terrific time playing in the sand and getting wet. Jasper had his first skinny-dipping experience. He decided he wanted to swim and we only had the one pair of underwear for him, so decided to keep it dry for the ride home. He LOVED swimming naked, that’s for sure. I think he has a new favorite summertime activity.







After the lake, we headed back to camp. We had another delicious campfire dinner of curry and rice. We even brought some corn we had grown in our garden and roasted in over the campfire (like I’d learned in Africa). The perfect end to a long, exhausting, scary, and also good day.



At the end of each day, there was always some of this that went on in the tent:

Early new-year's resolution

Blogging is my means of journaling and documenting my mothering years. I hope to make my posts and pictures into some kind of "family book" at some point. I don't have time to pick up the pen and write regularly in a journal right not (I WILL someday, though, I hope... I really like writing with a pencil or pen).

Anyway, I've been slacking lately. I get behind and then I just get too darn overwhelmed. I am going to set some time aside to catch up, so get ready for some serious blogging.

Many of my friends and family members who were once really into blogging, don't so much anymore. Maybe it's not as cool as it used to be? Or people want their lives to be more private (totally understandable). Or maybe they are too busy (also, totally understandable). I think I'm not as motivated to keep up on blogging as I used to be. Blogging is my last resort journal keeping at this point, though, so when I don't blog, I don't document my family's life at all. Which is so sad to me! This mothering business is the best job and the toughest job I've ever had and I want to remember it when I'm 90. So I am making an early new year's resolution to continue and be more regular about it. Now that I've blogged it, I better do it!