First Day of School 2017

This September was our first time sending one of our kids off to their first day of post-secondary school. Shae chose to attend Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario to study art and animation. I flew out with her just before school started to help her get set up in her dorm. We flew into Toronto and rented a car - Sheridan is only about a twenty minute drive from the airport.

We hit up Ikea and Value Village and a few other stores to get all her pots and pans, linens, cleaning supplies, and groceries that she needed. She was assigned a room on the second floor and they wouldn't let us use the elevators on move-in day so we got a lot of exercise that day carrying all her stuff up from the parking lot. Luckily the suites are furnished so nothing too heavy to carry.  And too bad for everyone on the third, fourth and fifth floors, ha!

Once she was moved in, we walked around Oakville for a bit and made it all the way to the lake shore (Lake Ontario).

 Here she is trying out bagged milk for the first time (something I was used to, having grown up in Ontario but was new to her because we don't have it in Alberta):

Once she was settled, I said my tearful good-bye and flew home to help the other kids get ready for their first day of school. Connor is now in grade 8, Maira is in grade 5 and Hudson is in grade 3.

I asked Shae to send me a selfie of her leaving her dorm room on her first day of school:

Finally, here is a photo of all of us that we took a few days before Shae moved to Oakville.

Camping near Dinosaur Provincial Park

Near the end of the summer, we managed to fit in one more camping trip. This time we went somewhere new to us: Tillebrook Provincial Park near Brooks and Lake Newell. The campground was clean and easy to access but also less treed than we like.

There were some stocked ponds nearby that the boys visited to try and catch some fish but no luck (but a perfect opportunity for some gorgeous photos!)

The park is a close drive to Dinosaur Provincial Park so we spent some time exploring the hoodoos there. They are very protective of their fossils there so we didn't have the same freedom to explore that we are used to at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. But still interesting to explore and again, a perfect opportunity for some gorgeous photos!

We also had time to play at the beach at Lake Newell.

And our visit coincided with the solar eclipse. Being further south than Edmonton, we actually got to experience it at 80% rather than the 70% we would have had back home. We were too late to buy the special viewing glasses so Jess MacGyvered up some viewing tools for us.

The first one is a stick with a hole in it and some tin foil. You can see the shadow the eclipse is casting on the piece of paper on the ground.

The other was a pair of binoculars in some cardboard, with the eclipse shape shining on the black wetsuit draped on the picnic table. We noticed a strange dimness to the light at the height of the eclipse but it didn't go completely dark like it did further south.

Camping in Jasper 2017

In late July, we drove to Jasper for a quick weekend camping trip. John & Gennie and Paul joined us there too so that was extra fun.

All set for the drive and ready to spot some wildlife:

On our first day there, we dragged the kids on a hike to Maligne Canyon. Not really a hike because there are sidewalks and lots of crowds. But typically gorgeous Jasper scenery all around.

The next day, we went to Lake Annette. We love this spot because it has a small sandy beach and the water is crystal clear. It was a warm-ish day but definitely not hot. We went paddleboarding and the more adventurous among us went swimming (NOT me!)

Paul even did yoga: this is him going into a crow pose - super brave considering the water temperature!

Paul, John and Connor entertained the rest of us by throwing each other into the lake.