Kids Day at the Stampede

A few weeks back, Emma and I had the opportunity to go to the Calgary Stampede with Kristie and her kids on "Kids Day" - July 11th. Our first stop inside the gates was the free pancake breakfast, which we made it just in time for, before they closed the gate and ran out of food.

Our next stop was the agricultural tent, where we saw a bison, baby chicks, pigs, and cows. Amber and Kaylie even got to see what it was like to milk a cow, however this cow was made of plastic and produced water.

This was the biggest horse we had ever seen - it's hind end was easily over 6 feet tall. We later found out there were even bigger horses in the tent next door, but they were all in cages and we couldn't get as good of a view.

This sheep was being sheared, and not really enjoying it too much, it seemed. Every time it let out a "baaa" (which was about every 10 seconds) Emma would jump. She was frightened and intrigued at the same time.

We attended the "Superdogs" show, where dogs from all around the world do tricks and play various games like musical chairs (rugs) and frisbee catching. All the dogs were taught everything, and performed everything, with their owners (not special trainers) and 35% of the dogs were rescued from shelters. The show was a little long, but I didn't mind too much, as Emma had peed in her diaper while sitting on my lap near the beginning of the show, and somehow it all leaked out the bottom of her diaper and onto my shorts. Luckily it dried by the time we got up to wander around again.

The highlight of the day for me was attending the BMX show. Some of the tricks those guys were doing were pretty amazing, and it made Kristie and I feel young and cool again.

This is two of them flipping together. They got some pretty good height.

To end the day off, we went to "Buckaroos", a place where kids can play, jump in bouncers, and race in little cars. We ended up seeing some people there that Kristie and I knew as kids and hadn't seen in a few decades. Other people we had seen earlier that day were Ann Marie Houghton and her kids, Dorianne Varty and her kids, and our Uncle Rod Navratil and his son Jason who were both working at the gate.

It was a long, hot day for both Emma and me, as we didn't get home until close to 9:00 that night, but it was all well worth the exhaustion. I think Emma had a pretty good time at her first Stampede - she has since asked me a few times when we can go back.

Paul and Francesca

It was my privilege this past weekend, to stand in the wedding ceremony of our good friends Paul and Francesca Jensen, and enjoy a front row seat as they exchanged rings and vows and became Husband and Wife. I was one of seven Groomsmen who were each paired up with one of seven Bridesmaids, and I took my place as the next guy down from the Best Man.

Each one of Paul's seven Lieutenants were entrusted with a specific task, and were each bequeathed a ring of power to aid them on their journeys. There wasn't actually any bequeathing going on, but we pretended there was to make our tasks seem cooler. I was given the ring of picking up the wedding cake and posting signs on the highway, and after they were married it morphed into the ring of driving them to the airport at 5:00am and picking up their mail while they're away on their honeymoon.

The seven of us looked pretty spiffy in our tuxedos (even after some last minute adjustments due to a poor display of measuring on the part of Tip Top Tailors - zing!), but eating pizza and watching Jackie Chan while you get ready is no match for spending 3 solid hours on hair and makeup, so the prize for "best looking group of people all wearing the same outfit" went to the bridesmaids. We placed somewhere after the waiters.

The wedding was held on a beautiful day out in Priddis, and after an emotional ceremony and a couple hours of photographs, we all went indoors for some food and the program. Several speeches and toasts were made, a fancy feast was had, a cake was cut, and songs were sung to honour the new couple. After all of this, the dance began and lasted until the wee hours of the night.

Emma enjoyed the day just as much as anybody thanks to a fun ride in a golf cart, a colouring book that came with her meal, a deer siting, and a new little friend she played hide and go seek with out in the hallways. She was a real hit at the party too, being so cute and all, but she tuckered out after a few dances and Tammy took her home to bed so she'd be up for Church the next day.

I was not up for Church the next day however, as another part of my stewardship included sticking around to act as a designated driver. I reassured everyone that I drove that I had gone 29 years without having a drink, so I might be the most sober person they knew, but I did warn them that I was night blind, so they had to make the choice. Some people thought it was funny.

I'll end this with a big congratulations to Paul and Fran! It was an honour to stand so near by and watch you two get hitched, and we wish you many long years of happiness!

07/07/07

The fellow who owns the building that Gramma Bourne works in hosted a stampede BBQ down at the Zoo this past Saturday, so we tagged along with Gramma and Grampa Bourne and Aunt Sam for some eats and a stroll around the facilities. It was an after hours event, so there were hardly any other humans in the place, just us and a wedding party, and that made it all that much more enjoyable. Some of the buildings were closed off, but we got to see quite a few of the animals who were still outside, and they were all up and about since the day was cooling off and evening was approaching.

With dinner came a show that helped get everyone excited about the grasslands, and ended off with an up-close encounter with a Prehensile-tailed Porcupine for the kids. There was no petting of course, but the kids got to stand around the handler while she explained why that particular animal looked the way it did.

Very few of the pictures we took actually turned out, but it's no big loss as I'm not a big believer in Zoo pictures anyways. The Zoo is really something you have to go to in order to enjoy, and I'm sure there are much better pictures of animals in their natural habitats floating around in cyberspace then the blurry ones taken from behind the smudgy glass of some sleepy critters cage that you typically get from the Zoo. Tammy just picked up the "Planet Earth" series on DVD last week, and the high definition close-ups of the animals they've compiled are almost as cool as seeing the real thing. I give them two opposable thumbs up.

More About February

So the word is out that we are expecting a new baby to arrive early in February. We're extremely excited and had a hard time keeping it under wraps for the short time that we did. Tammy found out the night of her birthday, but wasn't sure that the test was conclusive until the next morning, so that's when I got the call at work. I was so happy I had to leave the office and run around outside for a while.

This baby will be the first baby on either side of our family to push the grandchildren count over the children count and the first to buck the generational gender matching trend. I may need to explain that...

On my side of the family, my parents have 5 children - 3 girls and 2 boys. My parents also have 5 grandchildren - 3 girls and 2 boys. On Tammy's side of the family, her parents have 7 children - 6 girls and 1 boy. Her parents also have 7 grandchildren - 6 girls and 1 boy. This child will be the first to break these trends on both sides, whether it be a girl or a boy. I don't know if this is a good omen or a bad one, but it's an interesting happenstance and I've been referring to the baby as the "chosen one" ever since Tammy pointed it out to me.

We haven't gone for any ultrasounds yet or anything, but Tammy feels great and I'm sure we'll be posting more news about the pregnancy as it comes in.

Emma's Second Birthday

Both sides of our families are getting too big to hold joint venues at someones house, so in keeping with tradition, we decided to host Emma's birthday at a park again. This year we tried our luck with Riley Park now that Emma and most of her cousins are old enough to enjoy the wading pool they have there. The weather could have been a bit nicer, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite being a bit chilly.

The kids couldn't be kept out of the water, even though their bodies were shivering and their chins were rattling the teeth out of their heads. We managed to get them to take a few warm-up breaks when we would notice that their lips looked a little blue, but those breaks never lasted long.

Like I said, our families are getting pretty big, even though only half of the people in our families have started having families of their own. I think we had 34 people in total, not including the 2 zygotes and a dog. We brought all the fixens to make bun sandwiches and others brought salads and desserts. It must have looked like the circus was in town. We were missing the elephants, but all the clowns were there.

Out of those 34 people we had 14 kids, most of which are 3 and under. I couldn't believe we got them all to sit still long enough to take a picture. The only fellow missing from this picture was baby Max, who was eating at the time, but I guess we could have thrown Kimberly and Sam in there too.

It started raining after we ate, and just as we started opening presents, so we packed up and most everyone headed up to our church building to finish the presents and for some cake and ice cream. Emma had lots of help opening her presents and came away with way too much cool stuff. One of her immediate favorites was a backpack that looks just like the one Dora wears. It came full of games and as soon as she put it on she yelled "Vamanos!" and ran out of the room and down the hallway. She loves all the gifts she received and if she could remember to thank everyone who gave them to her, she would.

I think the Grandparents favorite gift was the little t-shirt that she got that said "Big Sister" on it. My brother Trevor was the only one who knew that we were expecting before that point, so it came as a nice surprise for everyone else there.

It was a full day for our little toddler, and a happy one too. Thanks to everyone who came and for all the gifts you gave, and happy birthday Emma!

Exactly Two

This video was taken when Emma turned exactly two years old - June 19th 2007, 11:23am. It was a lot harder to get than last years picture, now that she can (and does) run away every time we need her to stand still for two seconds. It's a good thing she got stuck up on those bars, so Mom could capture the moment.

She's such a big girl now, and so funny lately. Tammy keeps a book of all the hilarious things she comes up with, and all the new tricks she learns each day, and the entries just keep getting more and more entertaining.

We measured how tall she was that day because height experts say that you are half your adult height at age two. She came in at 34 3/4", which means she'll be about 5'-9 1/2" by the time she's done growing. That seems tall for a girl, but it's still not as tall as her Auntie Sam.

Later that night we took her out for some pizza at BP's and she got to share in the biggest dessert her eyes have ever seen. It was only the second or third time she's ever had ice cream, but she hasn't stopped requesting it for supper every night since.

We sure love our little girl, and can't wait for her to become a big sister in February.

Father's Day 2007

This past Father's Day was my third one as a Father, and Emma didn't turn two until this past Tuesday. Weird math, but she was born on Father's Day 2005, so I get an extra one thrown in there. I'm only going to let her use that as her gift to me for a couple more years though. Once she's 5 years old and working part-time, I'm expecting some serious bling, and by bling I mean socks and embarrassing neckties. This comic is for my Dad, because it reminds me of him. Happy Father's Day!

Belated Birthday Blog

Tammy's been meaning to make mention of her 31st birthday on this blog for a while now, but hasn't found the time to do it, so I'm acting as a proxy and doing it for her.

We went to Chili's for a special birthday dinner, but discovered that Chili's doesn't do anything special for birthdays, so from an outsiders point of view, it was a very regular dinner. All that really means is no free dessert, but we split a pretty hefty dose of chocolate cake and ice cream between the three of us anyways.

Emma made her Mom a nice birthday card and gave her a copy of "Cinderella" on DVD and I surprised her with the best of the first 5 seasons of her favorite kids show "Sesame Street", also on DVD. Emma's real gift was wishing Mom a happy birthday about 700 times that day and giving her a big hug each time she did. She kept that up for about a week or so, but Tammy never seemed to get tired of it, and I don't blame her.

Here's one more Birthday wish for the prettiest girl in my world, Happy Birthday Tammy!

Free Tickets

I like free tickets, I rarely turn them down. In fact, a lot of the entries I've made on this blog have centered around having free tickets to something. The past 2 weekends were no exception.

Last Saturday, Jodie and Aaron gave us a couple free tickets to Calaway Park, so we drove out there that morning and made a day of it. Here are some of the pictures we took:

I think the boats are Emma's favorite ride, just look at how happy she looks. It wasn't too busy at the park when we got there, so we managed to hit a lot of rides with little or no waiting, but Emma had to fly solo most of the time since her cousins weren't coming until later that afternoon. I think the boats are her favorite because there are no real surprises involved, but she really didn't like the part where you have to get off and let other kids have a turn.

The carousel sure looked inviting, but Emma got a little scared once it started up and she kept her hand over one eye the entire time. She warmed up to this ride later in the day and named this horse "Whitey".

We unexpectedly ran into Alison and the kids who were there for a birthday party, so Jillian joined us for a ride in the cloud cages and I took Cy on the cosmic spin. The cosmic spin just about ruined my weekend, but it was the spinning strawberries that we went on immediately after that finished me off.

We ran into these two bunnies all over the park, and every time we did, Emma wanted to give them each a high five and a hug. After about the ninth time, they started avoiding us.

We eventually met up with Jodie and Aaron, so Emma and Madison hit a couple more rides together and then it was time for us to go. Emma was getting pretty tired, but she managed to stay conscious long enough to finish off a strawberry ice cream cone before we left.

Alison had told us about a football practice at McMahon stadium that Cy was going to be a part of later that day, so after we left the park we went down to the stadium just in time to see it end. We all decided to head to Peter's Drive-in for some chow, and we waited in line for about an hour to get it, but it was still nice out and the food was worth it.

This past Friday, my Mom called my brother at work and told him she had some free tickets to the Stampeders/Eskimos game that night. Trevor wasn't interested, so Tammy and I decided to tag along with Gramma and Grampa and bring Emma to her first football game. Emma's a bit sensitive to loud noises, so the first time the crowd cheered and the fireworks went off when the Stampeders made a touchdown, she cried. There was no consoling her either, until Grampa gave her some binoculars to look through, and then she was fine the rest of the night.

We left the game a bit early to avoid the rush and the rain, but not before the fellow in front of us gave Emma a little football that he'd caught when they launched them into the crowd. It was the highlight of her night.

We had two great weekend events thanks to the generosity of good folks on both sides of the family, so a thank you to the Dykes and Gramma and Grampa Bourne for thinking of us when you got them free tickets.

Bouncy Castles

Last month we had the opportunity to play on a few bouncy castles with Emma. The first time was at Cardel Place at a drop-in gym for tots. Emma and I were feeling a little bored that day, and knowing how much Emma loves to run around in a gym, I decided to take her on a walk to Cardel to play with other kids. They had all sorts of fun stuff - slides, parachutes, balls, gymnastics equipment, and of course, the ever-popular bouncy castle. It had little basketball hoops on the inside, and a slide for a graceful exit. Emma had a blast.

About a week later, Heather and Tyler invited us all out to Cochrane to play on the biggest bouncy castle I've ever seen. It took up the whole gym at the church out there, and this time there was way more "big kids" than "little kids". It was kind of like an obstacle course built inside of a bouncy castle, so we were able to have relay races through it. It was so much fun! They also had a few Sumo wrestling suits for those who wished to jump on other people after bouncing in the castle, but Emma and I didn't watch any of the Sumo matches due to her being completely terrified of the suits. Even when Mike suited up, she was shaking so much I had to take her out of the gym to reassure her. All in all, we had a great time, and we're grateful to the Williamsons for making each of our trips out to Cochrane a blog-worthy adventure.