Zoo Babies

As we were wandering around the Zoo the other day, we managed to arrive at the elephant enclosure just in time to see the new baby elephant go for an afternoon walk. She was born about a month ago, her name is Malti, and the Zoo has big hopes that everything will go well for her as a new addition to the herd.

Tragically, the last baby elephant born at the Zoo contracted some sort of infection, was rejected by it's mother, and died shortly after it was born. I believe the gestation period for elephants is about 22 months, so it's a long time between babies if things don't go well.

The baby made her rounds along the fence, occasionally sticking her trunk through the bars at the kids, and chasing her keepers around the yard for a little exercise. They only let her out when the weather is nice, so if you want to try and see her up close, you have to plan your trip on a sunny day.

We also got to see the new baby tiger up close at the end of our trip. You can barely see it through the grass in the picture I took, but it was a pretty active cub, chasing and attacking its mom and splashing around in the water with the giant ball in the far left of the image. The male tigers were both separated from the mom and the cub, probably becuase they might try to eat the little guy.

It was a spur of the moment decision to even go to the Zoo that day, but after seeing the new baby animals up close, we're all glad we did.

Baby Girl

According to the ultrasound we had last week, it looks like we're having another baby girl! Nothing is 100%, but everyone who looked at it seemed pretty certain. I say everyone, because we had 3 different people come in and go through the procedure before we were finished.

The technician we originally had was having a hard time seeing something to do with the baby's heart, so she called in the heart specialist who had an equally tough time, so she called in the doctor. The doctor wasn't able to see what they wanted either, so we have another appointment in a couple weeks at an ultra-special ultrasound clinic that deals with these types of matters. We're trying not to be too worried about it at this point, the baby is a good size and seems very active which typically wouldn't be the case if there was something serious going on.

This will be the 7th girl in a row on Tammy's side of the family, and we will be the first to have two children of the same gender on my side of the family. I don't think Emma fully grasps what having a younger sibling means yet, but she has a pretty good name picked out - Astronaut.

Neil the Teal Mobile

That's the name of the car that Paul drove the both of us to school and work in for almost 3 years. He bought it off of his uncle John, who used to be Tammy's gym teacher in Junior High, and I just bought it off of him for $50. It's a '91 Dodge Shadow, and it still runs pretty good considering the price. Paul was just going to give it to me, but I felt I had to pay at least something for it, so we settled on the $50 price tag. That's cheaper than a bus pass, so even if it only lasts me a month, it owes me nothing.

Becoming a two car family has opened up a world of freedom for Tammy and Emma, and I think we're going to trade in our Cavalier now, for a bigger family vehicle for when the new baby arrives.

Thanks be to Paul, our posterity will sing songs of your generosity for generations to come.

YO JOE!

I don't remember what it was that inspired to me to search eBay for some old school G.I.*JOE vehicles, but I did, and came up with some real American, and downright heroic results. I used to have quite the collection when I was younger, but time and an evil younger brother eroded that collection away entirely. For years, all that remained were the tender memories of a beloved childhood obsession, but that was all about to change thanks to the magic of the online auction.

As I searched for my long lost treasures, I feared that the pickings would be slim, and that any decent item I would come across would be grossly overpriced. I was surprised to find that the selection was not only bountiful, but that the crafty bidder could walk away with almost any vehicle he desired for under $10. I lost the first couple of auctions I placed bids in, but I learned a few tricks, and soon came away with the lot shown in the picture - all for about $50. None of the items were in mint condition mind you, but they are all almost 100% complete with little or no signs of wear.

There are a few more Items I have my eye on, especially the hovercraft (your parents really loved you if you had the hovercraft), and I should probably try and get some figures while I'm at it too, but unfortunately, these items seem to be a little more pricey, so we'll see. I don't foresee myself playing with these toys all that much, and I don't think they're really display material, but it would be fun to let my kids play with them when they get older, as long as they're careful, and don't let my brother's kids play with them.

Great Aunt Linda

Emma has 3 great aunts named Linda. She had only met two of them until last week when one of my Mom's younger sisters (Linda) flew in from Montreal to visit for a week. The last time I had seen my Aunt Linda, or any of my Mom's family for that matter, was when our family made the trip out to Montreal about 18 years ago.

My Mom and Linda spent the better part of the week shopping and visiting friends and family all over Calgary and the surrounding areas, but we still had a few chances over the week to sit and trade stories and pictures and have some laughs. The picture I've posted is one of many that we took when my Mom and Linda stopped by our house on Thursday night, but it's the only one where they weren't in hysterics.

With everyone on Facebook now, we can keep in touch with our far away relatives a lot easier than in previous years, but we'd still like to make the trip out there again someday soon to visit with everyone. Perhaps we'll stop in a few places I served as a missionary in Ontario along the way.

We're so glad Aunt Linda made the trip out here and that she made it home safe and sound. Thanks for all the gifts and souvenirs from Montreal, say "Bonjour" to everyone out there for us, and we hope to see you all again soon!

Mosaic

This mosaic is made up of every picture we've taken of just Emma in the two and a bit years she's been alive. She's just so dang cute.

Cliffhangers

Here's some pictures of the family rock climbing trip we had a few weeks back, out in Wasootch. Tyler knows a bit about the sport, and brought enough equipment to keep two climbers and two belayers going, so we set up two routes and made a day of it.

A family from their ward was also there, and they had some harnesses small enough for kids, so Lucy and Emma got to try climbing for a bit. They both did really well until they hit the "above Dad's head" mark, and then they wanted down.

We thought it was best if Emma's Mom didn't climb while she's pregnant, but we managed to get my Mom a good ways up the side of the mountain. She climbed really well and got a badge of honour in the form of a scraped elbow while she was up there.

It was a lot of fun, the weather was great, and everything was going really well, but what happened later that day was something that nobody could have predicted...

Kelly and Dan

It was a big weekend for the Olsen and Glenn families as Tammy's younger sister Kelly married Dan Glenn this past Friday down in Cardston. Tammy and I had made the trip down to the temple the Saturday before to watch Kelly go through for her first time, and Emma stayed at Gramma Bourne's house, but Emma came along this time, and thanks to Gramma and Grampa Olsen's portable DVD player, she barely noticed the drive.

The thing I noticed about the drive was how smokey all of southern Alberta was that day. Luckily, there wasn't an overly smokey smell in the air, but it sure seemed to amplify the already scorching heat they're experiencing in those parts lately. Tammy's other younger sister Amanda, brought her boyfriend Randy who is a professional photographer, and we're hoping he got at least a couple shots where we're not all sweaty and squinting.

After the pictures we went to a farm south of Cardston for a big family dinner. The house we ate in seemed more like a community hall, with a huge great room that easily sat both sides of the family. A necessary expense when you consider the couple who owned the home had 10 children of their own. Like all farms, it had a trampoline out back, a tire swing, and some horses. Emma spent a good amount of time out back enjoying all those features.

Tammy spent the better part of the next day helping to decorate the gym of the Crescent Road chapel for the reception that night. I showed up later with Emma, but still early enough to do a mic check since I was to be the Master of Ceremonies. This is the fourth wedding I've MC'd, and I did a "great job" according to my 2 year old. She did an even better job saying the blessing on the food when all other adults turned the opportunity down, cranking up the cute factor to maximum, and getting "awes" instead of "amens".

It wouldn't be Disco Dan Glenn's wedding reception without a dance afterwards, and it wouldn't be an Olsen reception without taking dozens of family pictures before everyone leaves. After all that, Iain and I took the kids home while the wives stuck around to help clean up. We got stuck on Deerfoot for about an hour, and didn't get home until almost midnight, but Tammy and her sisters didn't get home until about 3:30am, since they decided to have the gift opening while they cleaned.

I'll finish this up by saying that we're very excited to have Dan as part of the family, and we wish both him and Kelly all the happiness in the world!

McMurray Family Reunion

Tammy's Gramma Olsen was once a McMurray, so we try and attend bi-annual McMurray reunions as often as occasion permits. Folks travel from all over western Canada and the US to attend this event, which was conveniently held in Balzac this year, about 10min from our house. We don't really know anyone outside of the Olsen chapter, but it's still fun to go and enjoy some good food and let the kids run around and play games. We posed for a big Olsen family picture, but I guess no one took one with our camera, so here's a picture of Emma fishing for some prizes.

Beef and Barley Days 2007

It was that time of year again in Carstairs a few of weeks back (we're getting behind in our posts), when the town comes alive and celebrates being a town with their annual Beef and Barley Days brouhaha. I've been to about 5 or 6 of these now, and though I've eaten their pancakes, I've never been served or even seen signs of beef and/or barley. We must be missing something, it is a big town.

After the pancake breakfast, everyone parks themselves along the side of the road to watch the parade go by and to have candy thrown at them. The parades are actually pretty good for a small town, even if you include those who sneak in and try and use the parade as a venue to express personal grievances. Last year it was a clown in his clown car with a sign that read "poverty is no joke", and this year it was a guy towing his wrecked vehicle with a sign that read "what are we going to do about thieves in our community?". Talk about your Debbie Downers.

After the parade, we usually wander around town with the family and some of Tammy's old high school friends and check out the shows and games they've got going on. Emma took a ride with Kaylie in the tractor train, and some of her older cousins went in the bouncy castle, but there wasn't much else going on outside of that this year. We ended the day with a trip to Burger Baron where we got our own beef, but no barley.

Maybe next year I'll enter a float into the parade with a sign that reads "Where's the Beef?" and pack it full of sad, hungry children or something. That should get results.