What a difference ........

A week makes. This is the same shot as a week ago. Just a few spots of snow on the ground, and the trees are starting to bud. The weather has been great since Sunday. Unfortantely, Mason has had a fever since Saturday. The doctor said a virus. We did walk to the park on Sunday anyway. And Frank even wore shorts. I got Mason out without a jacket.

But don't worry, rain is expected tomorrow and snow on Thursday. After that the forecast indicates great weather for the next 2 weeks!

Funny things kids say

This weekend Tyler and Grant were arguing about bedtime...because they argue about EVERYTHING! And we here Grant say "That's because you have sacks under your eyes!" Huh? Sacks? What could that mean?

Tyler had BAGS under his eyes!

I just thought that was too funy not to be shared.

Snow suits?

Well, I guess when Mason was insisting on wearing a jacket he knew best. Its been snowing since Friday. It has occasionally stopped for an hour or two, but mostly just snow. There was no snow on the ground on Friday morning. This is what it looks like now....and its still snowing. Of course I shouldn't complain, it could have been like this all winter. Its so deep its hard to drive in now. All winter it would only snow a little at a time so it had a chance to be packed down or driven away so it was never that deep.

By the way, they are calling this the worst snow storm ever seen in Edmonton past April 15th. They've never had this much snow for this long!

Dinosaur Digging...A post by Grant

Today we started to dig out two dinosaurs to build. We got them at Drumheller. So me and Daddy started to dig out the dinosaurs. I broke a Triceratops's foot. It was hard to dig it out, but the second one was even harder to dig out, so we put it in water.


When I was playing at my friends house daddy dug it out, but I didn't want him to. If he didn't dig it out I would still be there. I was digging out the dinosaur in a block of dust, and it made a giant mess.
This is the second dinosaur, T Rex. This one was easy to build, because it didn't need glue. It had pieces to put it together. The other one is still not finished because we don't have the right glue.

Jackets?

Well, Mason is now accustomed to the weather. It was around 70 degrees yesterday, but he would not leave the house without a jacket. And then when the wind started blowing a little he insisted that he needed a hat! And Frank was in shorts.

We made it home for our trip all exhausted, but the weather was so nice we had to walk to the park yesterday. Its not going to stay that way though. There are very few spots of snow left, for now.

I took some time to add comments to the slide show today so you can have more info about what we saw. It was an interesting place, but also a little strange. I am glad to be back to civilization.

Swimming

I had to get a few pics of swimming. I just couldn't get in today. I just can't get the hang of swimming in freezing water and then getting out of the pool into a freezing room and having to get changed. At least at home you can go outside and warm up just a bit first!

Suspension Bridge and Hoodoo

Well, after just a few hours of sleep for me, and more sleep for everyone else we headed out again this morning.

First stop was the suspension bridge. The coal miners had to cross this bridge twice a day to get to the coal mine. We crossed it too. The bottom is see thru, so it was a little scary.
These are the Hoodoos. Strange rock formations. Hoodoo is the European word for the French word Voodoo.
Here is the house of a coal miner at the old coal mine we visited. The house held a bed, stove, and table. It wasn't any deeper than it was wide.
Here is Brittany the Boa at the Reptile museum we visited today. Tyler held it around his neck and there are picks at the link.
This is the other side of Horse Thief Canyon from across the river. We also saw Horseshoe canyon today. There are miles of farm land and then all of the sudden the bottom drops out and there is a whole in the earth. I can imagine coming across the prairie in a wagon and coming across one of these holes. No wonder it was called the Badlands.

See more pics http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/10305985956-1208037909-41179/ .

Now we are resting, and going to head to the pool soon. Hopefully we can get more sleep tonight, and then head home tomorrow.

The Badlands

This weekend we decided to head out to the Alberta Badlands. The kids had a teacher in-service day on Friday so it gave us a great opportunity. The Alberta Badlands are Canada's Grand Canyon, and home of the largest fossil find in the world!
This is the world's largest dinosaur. He is 3 times the size of a real Tyrannosaurus Rex.

This is an Albertasaurus. He is not as tall as his cousin the Tyrannosaurus, and was found here in Alberta for the first time. This was at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
This is Horse Thief Canyon. The Canyon got its name because Montana horse thieves would hide the horses in this canyon while taking them to market in Alberta.

We have more to see tomorrow, but this was our day today, along with the 3 hour trip down here, and a trip to the pool with a 3 story water slide that even Mason loved (while on my lap.)

More pics at http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/10305939669-1207958546-41191/

Snow, the sequel

So, it snowed again last night! This is what it looks like this morning. Its already melting off of the concrete though. Its supposed to rain this afternoon or tomorrow.

This is the long sidewalk we have to walk down to get to the bus stop, and no one ever shovels it. We did during the winter, but now it should melt by tomorrow. It gets awfully hard to push the stroller through the snow.

Spring Break

Well, Mason decided to share his illness, but just with mommy. So he finally went to bed at 3 am, and I was up at 4 am sick. And neither of us felt well for most of the week. The big boys got stuck at home with us for Spring Break, and we couldn't go out and do anything.

Finally by Friday I was able to go out. We called some friends and went Ice Skating at the big mall. I think someone could live at that mall and never, ever leave. Grant is covered in bruises though. And our friends are Canadians, and the children have never been ice skating! So this was their first time.





PS. I had planned to take the boys snowboarding over Spring Break, but they are all closed due to the lack of snow. But.....Its snowing today. And today its a couple of inches. I'll post pics when it stops snowing. And we had no snow in the front and not much snow in the back!