Christmas

I would love to tell you all about our Christmas Holidays but I find that in this case pictures speak louder than words. Plus you had to see to entertainment with you own eyes to believe it.

Just so you know, the sledding was a bad idea.  Waaaayyyy to cold.  We made two trips down the hill and quit due to painful toes and fingers.  Oh well, we tried.

Ok, I got totally distracted from my blog by facebook. Then remembered there are many more friends not on facebook. Sorry about that guys. You can all blame Amy for that.

Winter has set in. We are experiencing -23 celcius and lots of snow... as you can see in the video. I just wish you could feel it. It wasn't quite that cold yesterday when the video was taken. But today is and they want to try to go sledding. I will let you know how that turns out.

love you all

I know it has been a while and i have yet to update you on vacation. For some reason I just haven't made the time to download those pics yet, but it is coming. Now we are settling in to school and preparing for the cold weather. My heart goes out to everyone back home in Louisiana. 90 degree temps with so much humidity and no electricty is aweful. That is easy for me to say I as I sit here in 50 degree weather and my toes are cold.

As some of you already now, we have been visiting chruches again. We are liking Springs Church, but still waiting for God to confirm. Tonight I will go to a Getting Connected class which will tell me more about the church. I am looking forward to it.

I will be dropping my car off at the body shop next week. Please Lord, don't let it take to long. Oh yeah, you don't know about my car, because I haven't told you about my vacation. We hit a deer. Just as we were leaving Montana going into Idaho the darn thing just stood in the middle of the road until we got right up on it and it jetted in front of us. Messed up my front end and blew out my ac. See I do know what it is like to be without ac. Please remember we drove 7 to 8 hours a day for two days to get home. And the sun always seem to be shinging on me. It was hot.

I can tell you about the best part of my vacation. Seeing my wonderful friend Suzanne in Seattle. That was a blessing straight from heaven. We had a fun few days together. I know I have one picture on my computer of us sailing in the Puget Sound. That was a first for me and I think her too. I had a blast. And would have even if we had done nothing but sit in our hotel room and visit. Thanks Suzanne!

For those I haven't heard from in LA. Let me know how you faired.

Jasper

I just went through all of the umpteenmillion pictures we have from the Jasper trip. Do you know how hard it is to choose which ones to show you? There are so many beautiful ones. The whole drive to Jasper is a picture opportunity and Bryan took full advantage of it. We were completely surrounded by mountains for the 5 hour drive, which actually took about 8 hours with all of our stops. We were tracking our elevation with the gps. Our highest was just under 7000 feet. We could not even count the waterfalls we saw. Some were right on the side of the road, which of course we got out so we could play in them. Well, not really in them because the water was so cold. Just about every time we stopped Brock found something to climb. You can see that in some of the pics. Some waterfalls were off in the distance on the side of a mountain. There were lots of lookouts we stopped at. And then there were a couple of waterfalls where we had to parked and then walk to. Those were the big ones. Water rushing down into large canyons it had created. Wow, it was amazing. Bryan got some on video. You can watch it. Then there were the glaciers. Huge slabs of ice on the mountains. It was pretty cold up there. There farther we went the colder it got. At one point we saw some snow flurries. Not much though.

Well that was our Jasper trip. It was fun and of course it was nice spending some time with Mavis and Louis. It was alot of time in the car. Anytime any of you back home want to come make the trip we would be glad to do it again with you.

Now we are planning our vacation. We will be leaving next weekend for Glacier National Park, in Montaan, for 3 days. Then we will be heading over to Seattle, Washington, which we will get to spend a few days with Suzanne and Clint. I am sooooooo excited about that. Then we will take a few more days to go to Vancouver and back home through the mountains. We might even do some camping along the way. I am a little worried about the bears though. We never had to worry about that back home.

I can't belive the kids will be starting school just two weeks after our vacation. At least we will get to do some of our school shopping in the states. Everything is so expensive here. Can't figure out why either. Oh well, not much I can do about it.

Be blessed my friends!!!!!

Alison

PS Brook G. I am so glad you found me. We need to get in touch with each other. Email me! Rachel says hi.

The Rodeo is Coming to Town

Bryan's parents, Mavis and Louis, came in for 2 weeks. We had a great time. They got here during Stampede, the big rodeo/carnival/show of the year. The one night we bought tickets for was the one and only night it rained. We wanted to get to the park early so we could play games and ride a few rides before the show. Mavis and Louis were going to wait for Brayn while the kids and I went to play games. Or first game was the water gun game. Were you hit the bulls eye to make the little man go up, first on to the top wins. Well, as soon as the game started to hail started flying. Those little pieces of ice can really hurt. There was no shelter and Sydney started to freak. So of course I became her shelter. We had to make a quick decision to run for it. As I have heard so many times here in Calgary, "if you don't like the weather, just wait 20 minutes." So we walked around one of the many exhibition halls waiting for it to stop raining. Once it stopped it was game on. We played every game available. Brock and Sydney aquired a lot of new stuffed animals. Like they needed more. Brock and Bryan rode a couple of rides. Sydeny did not want anything to do the rides, but my little man rode the mega drop and loved it.

Finally it was show time. We got to see the chuck wagon races. Talk about intense. Each race had 7 chuck wagons and each chuck wagon had 6 horses. Those poor drives where completely covered in mud. Yuk! Then after the races they put on this huge show. Singing, dancing, the works. They even had fire works at the end.

I have a lot more to share with you all but I am going to break it up. Here are some pics from stampede. I will tell you about our trip to Jasper in the next couple of days.

love you all

Alison

PS. yes that is us wearing jackets in July

Oops, sorry so long.

I know, it has been a long time. Summer has finally made it here. Brock and Sydney finished school last week. They did great and are ready for grade 4 and grade 2. That is how they say it here. Its not 4th grade. Just another one of those wierd things. But for the first week of summer vacation we have been taking it easy. Stampede starts next week and Mavis and Louis will be here in a week and a half. We have tickets to go to Stampede one night. We will get to see the chuckwagon races, a big musical show and fireworks afterward. They also have a fair and exhibitions going on. This is kind of like a 10 day western fling. The funny thing is that for the kick off just about every place in town has a Stempede pancake breakfast. Not just restraunts, but churches, businesses, and kind of organization you can think of. Everything goes western. It should be fun.

We will also be taking another trip into the mountains while Mavis & Louis are here. We are going up to the Ice Glaciers. I am really looking forward to that. The Ice Glaciers are fields of ice. It is suppose to be a beautiful ride up there. About a 3 or 4 hour ride???? I am just glad I am going to have some familiar faces around. I have to admit I have been a little home sick lately, but it will pass I am sure.

We went to Callaway park last weekend. It is alot like Dixie Landing (no Blue Bayou), but a little bigger. It was fun. It was a beautiful day, though I had to wear a sweatshirt. For all the people back in Louisiana, can you imagine going outside in a sweatshirt right now? You would problably pass out from heat exhaustion. It has become a bit warmer now. Yesterday was about 80, and when the wind blows you feel like you are in the desert..... hot and dry. Then it cools off again. Yesterday was wonderful, somewhere around 70- 73.

I do have some very depressing news. Well for us that is. Not only are there mosquitos here, but them come out with a vengence during the DAY. Brock even asked, "I thought mosiquitos were nocturnal!" Both Brock and Sydney have some pretty bad bites on there back from playing at the wading pool at the Tuscany Club. We have to keep bug spray closer than I ever have before. Daytime, who knew.

I have to cut it short today. We are going somewhere. I would tell you where, but I don't really know. Today is Canada Day. Bryan is off of work, so we are going to find something to do. I will be sure to bring the camera and let you all about it. I won't wait so long this time. I promise.

Thanks to all of you who write. I love you all.

talk to you real soon.
ali

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A new church home!

I am so excited. I think we have found our new church home, Friends Church. Don’t you just love the name? What normally happens when we visit a new church is we talk about it on the way home. We ask all the questions like “what did you think of praise and worship” and “what did you think of the teaching”. We ask Brock and Sydney “what did you learn today”, “did you have fun” and of course “do you want to go back”. Inevitably at least one or more of us did not like on part or another. Well, we have been to Friends Church the last two weeks and there has not been one dislike. Not one!
Friends Church is a small church that meets in the gym of Master’s Academy. They serve Starbuck’s coffee before service which is always a plus. It is a very laid back atmosphere. I just thought HPC was casual. Last Sunday Pastor Jeff was in shorts along with most of the congregation. I guess they like to take advantage of the few months of warm weather they have here. I love the praise and worship. It is different from HPC, but very good. It has an alternative flair to it. A lot of the songs are familiar. Not just from church but from singers like Matt Redman as well. I find that when we are there I don’t want it to end. There is a peace there that we haven’t had at any of the other churches we have visited. We had planned on visiting another church, but I don’t think we are going to make it. Not unless the Lord tells us to.

We haven’t really met anyone there yet but I am sure that will change next week. They are having a BBQ after service. And of course it’s free. Sound familiar? It seems like this church has a real heart for the community and it lost. They like to call it “giving water” to the thirsty. A water moment.

This past weekend was the May Long Weekend. Brock and Sydney were out of school Friday and Monday and Bryan was off on Monday. I am still not sure what the holiday was, but it was nice, eh (I don’t think that is supposed to be a question, even though it sounds like it). We went to Drumheller which is a small town to the east of Calgary. It was very different than our trips in the mountains. East of Calgary the land becomes flat farm land. We drove about 1 ½ to 2 hours of flat dry land and all of a sudden you drive down into the huge canyon. I now call this the big hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere. Down there is a small town with a huge dinosaur museum. We walked across the Red Deer River on a suspension bridge. That was a little scary. Especially when you get to the middle and it is swaying back and forth. We had a lot of fun. The kids (Bryan included) really enjoyed the museum.

We got our insurance info in so I started looking for a doctor today. I went to a website that has a list of doctors that are accepting new patients. I got about half way through the list and had to stop. None of them were accepting new patients. I had heard it may be hard to find a doctor. One of the moms at the bus stop suggested I try some doctors in Cochran. Cochran is a small town just west of Calgary. It is about 15-20 minutes from my house. So I did and it worked. I have a meet and greet appointment with a doctor in June. Please pray for favor with the Doctor because now he will interview us. Sounds crazy.

Here are a few things I have found funny about being in Canada…..
· I can’t find Rotel or anything like it
· They don’t sell frozen dinner rolls
· They do sell Louisiana Hot Sauce
· When I asked for corn bread mix they said “what is that?”
· Brock and Sydney are allowed to bring stuffed animals to school and have water bottles at their desk
· They can come home for lunch
I love and miss you all. I hope all is with each and every one of you. You are all in our hearts and in our prayers. I just wish I could talk to all.

Be blessed,
Ali

Yeah! My first mountain hike

I finally got to do my first mountain hike. It was such a beautiful day. We were some where out in the Kananaskis. That is about all I know. I was thinking we would do hills, then flat and maybe hills again. Boy, was I wrong. It was all hill from the get go. We started at the bottom by the creek and went up until we got to the top. Two hours of hiking to the top. There were a few stopping breaks in there, but it was all up hill. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I pushed through and got to the top. I never would have thought I would be standing on a beautiful summit, completely surrounded mountains. That is like a kiss from heaven. God has truly created a beautiful place. I just stood there in awh. The video I attached at the bottom is a panoramic view. It was very rocky and uneven, that is why the video is so shaky. If you fall , you are going down one way or another. Though it was quite cold on top, yet so nice. Then we headed down. I thought that was going to be the easy part. Actually, going downhill takes a toll on your knees. More than what going up hill does to you thighs. According to my GPS, it was 4.63 miles round trip.

I was hiking with a group of ladies with Fit Frog. This is the same group I do the Urban Hikes with, though there is always different ones that show up. That is Lori in the pic with me. This is her set up. They are all so nice, very talkative and very Canadian. I just love the accents, "eh".

Brock and Bryan went on a bike excursion yesterday. After we bought Bryan a new bike, he and Brock road there bikes downtown then back home. Well, almost home. As I have told you before, we live at the top of the hill. By the time they made it to the neighborhood they did not have enough juice to get them up that last big hill. So I went and got them. They did 30km, which is about 18.75 miles. My two guys were plumb worn out. I was proud of them.

I think we are going to try to go to Grotto Canyon sometime in the next couple of weeks. This is suppose to be a good day hike for the kids. There is a creek in the canyon, so there is a lot of room for playing and climbing over rocks. From what I understand the drive there gets you over the hills, so there isn't a lot of uphill walking. That's a good thing.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. It is good to have some encouraging words from home. I love you all.

Be blessed,

Ali