Return Visitors

The last few evenings we've had some return visitors in our back yard.

Every once in a while, a deer will wander in between the condo buildings. But for the last four evenings, the same two deer have ambled their way out of the trees.

There has been a lot of snow in the area, so maybe there are some good eats between the buildings. Tom and I like to watch them from our living room. Usually the deer seem a little uneasy being so close to the buildings. Their ears are always twitching, and they are constantly looking around.

This is one of the nice things about our community. Last summer when I was running, late in the evening, I saw some deer on the side of the road, and I ran right past them! I've also seen coyotes a few time when I was driving home. Although... I don't think I ever want to meet a coyote on one of my runs!

Today almost all of the snow has melted. Hooray spring!

Auntie Manda and Unca Tom Go Toboganning

Tom and Dylan getting ready to go down the hill.

After my niece, Madelynn, was born, Tom and I thought it might be a good idea to take our nephew on a little outing.

We strapped him into the car seat in my parents Jeep, loaded in some crazy carpets, and made the two minute drive to an average sized hill in Copperfield.

In the car, we told Dylan we were going toboganning, and that we were going to slide down the hill. Dylan was more interested in tell us that he had seen Grandma Nonna out the window.

After we unloaded ourselves, we trudged through the snow, and up the hill, while Dylan chanted a chorus of "WIIIIINNNNNDY!" every few minutes. It was really windy!

We got half way up the hill, and I unrolled one our bright red crazy carpets. I'm pretty sure the crazy carpet is older than I am, but it has held up well for the last 25+ years.

I sat down on the crazy carpet and made room for Dylan to sit in front of me.

Then I said, "Okay Dylan! Are you ready to go down the hill?"

Dylan looked at me, looked at Tom, and looked at the crazy carpet, and said, as polite as can be, "No thank you."

Hmmm... Not exactly the reaction we were hoping for.

So I told Dylan that I would go down the hill by myself to show him what it was like. So I re-adjusted the crazy carpet, and went down the hill. I wasn't even at the bottom when I heard Dylan yelling, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuun! FUUUUUUUN!"

I dusted the snow off myself, and took the crazy carpet up to Tom and Dylan. This time, Dylan had no qualms about getting on to the carpet.

Crazy carpet action shot.

It's been a long time since I've been toboganning. I think the last time I went was some time in High School, which was probably 10 years ago. During that occasion, we used the same crazy carpets, and also a wooden sled. One of the guys tried to use the sled like a snowboard, and broke it in half. Then he denied it was him who had broken it-- but he was the first and only person to use it that day! I'm still a little bitter about that.

It probably would have helped if I had some sort of water resistant pant... My butt was soaked through! Dylan remained surprisingly dry.

Dylan seemed to enjoy himself. There were plenty of "Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiindy!" and "Fuuuuunnnn!" exclamations. But after about six runs down the hill, Dylan declared that he wanted to go home. I guess the wind was too much for him.

Me dragging Dylan back to the car.

He was making very slow progress walking through the snow on his own, so we tried to drag him back to the car on a crazy carpet, but he didn't have his hands in his mittens all the way, so he couldn't hold on. He kept sliding off onto the path. Truth be told, I think he enjoyed sliding off! He certainly didn't try very hard to stay on.

I think good times were had by all. I look forward to toboganning with Dylan again!

The Wonderful World of Edmonton

Tom and I decided to get out of town this weekend, so we drove up to the wonderful city known as... Edmonton!

We stayed at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald, thanks to the discounted rate by my company.

I've always thought the hotel looks a bit imposing at the top of MacDougall Hill. This is the second time we've stayed at this hotel. I really like the location, and they also supply free bags of Fairmont blend tea... I took them all home with me!

We met Tom's aunt and uncle for dinner at a Turkish restaurant downtown. We had freshly made pitas with a trio of dips, a savoury dinner of meatballs and satay beef skewers, followed by baklava and buttercream vanilla icecream for dessert.

I was stuffed full of food, and promptly fell asleep at 9pm, back in the hotel room.

The next morning we had breakfast with Jeff and Shauna at a restaurant called the Sugarbowl near the U of A campus. I had the Eggs Benny, which were served on cornbread instead of your typical English muffin. Delicious!

Next, we hit up the World Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall.

We had heard a rumor (confirmed here) that the waterpark was getting a new waterslide. The old waterslide, known as the Skyscreamer, was in the process of being dismantled. This will make room for the newest "extreme" waterslide-- the Aqualoop.

To ride the Aqualoop, you will get into a container which I like to think of as a "drop capsule". Because the floor drops out from under you!

Random guy in drop capsule.

Then you get shot up and around a loop-- almost rollercoaster style!

Aqualoop in China.

Now... I'm a pretty big wuss. So, I doubt you would have caught me on that thing even if it had been installed in West Ed. But I do think the idea of it is pretty fantastic!

It seemed like we had barely been at the waterpark when suddenly it was already 3:45pm. By then, Tom had a scraped up back from falling out of his tube in the Lazy River (and then I rammed into him), and we had witnessed a lifeguard jump into the pool to help a panicky little boy. We left around 5pm, and then tagged along with Shauna and Jeff for a Mediterranean dinner on Whyte Ave.

We had dim sum with Tom's aunt and uncle in the morning, and then made the drive home.

Back to reality all too soon. But it was a great weekend!

Focus, Flash, Click!

Tom and I bought our Canon Powershot SX120IS in late 2009. For the last year and a half, it's been a good camera. We took it on its first big trip to the Grand Canyon. That was where a German tourist took a picture of us with it, and the placed it screen down on a rock, giving us our first (and only) major scratch. Since then, the camera has been to Norway, French Polynesia, Hawaii, and on the Juan de Fuca Trail. It's been to less glamorous locations such as Fort Mac, Vancouver, Victoria and out to wellsites. It has also seen weddings, various baked goods, Christmas, birthdays and babies.

Last week, Tom was coming back from a field visit, and forgot the camera on the plane. He realized it was missing while he was in the cab on the way home, and initially, I don't think either of us were too worried about getting it back. It was a small charter airline and a small plane, so there wasn't a lot of foot traffic through it.

Imagine our surprise when the staff of the airline was completely unhelpful, and then later, completely rude.

Tom called the airline, and asked if they could check the plane. When he drove up to the airport, the staff told him they hadn't found the camera.

When he called back the next day, a girl told him she would look into it and call him back in an hour. She never called back. And when he called her the next day, she answered her phone, and then hung up on him. And when he called back again, it went to voicemail.

We're definitely not blaming the airline for the lost camera-- but is it really too much to ask to have someone confirm that the camera hasn't turned up? Was it really necessary to hang up, and then avoid our phonecalls? Sometimes, I just don't get people.

So long, Powershot... You were good to us!

Experimental

I've recently started going to a new hair stylist, and I love her! I liked my old stylist too, but I was never quite able to communicate what I wanted to her. I'd go in with an image, and when I came home, my hair would look about 80% of the way that I wanted it to.

The few times that I've gone to see this new girl, I've been SUPER impressed. She's really enthusiastic when you bring her new ideas, and she will tell you if she thinks they'll look good or not. Better yet, she'll also make suggestions of improvement as well.

If you want to check out some of her work, search "Amanda Le Klassen" on Facebook. Her profile is private, but her photo albums are open to the public. She has before/after shots of her and girl and boy haircuts.

Anyway, this is the style that I was going for this time around. Blunt bangs, with a bit of a 1920's flapper style.

After consulting some friends about whether or not I could actually pull off a haircut like this, we agreed that as long as I wasn't making a retarded "Keira Knightley" face, like the model, it would be fine.

If you are unfamiliar with the "Keira Knightley" face, here are some examples. Basically, it's the face that Keira Knightley makes in 90% of photos of her.

Eyes wide.

Mouth slightly open.

Nose pinched.

I did not opt for Keira Knightley face. But I'm happy with the cut!