Carnivale

This weekend is our town's big carnival days. We start off on Friday night with fireworks outside our front door (that I did not even bother trying to take pictures of because of the streetlamps between us and the show) and then Saturday morning is the parade. My oldest was in the parade with his Taekwon Do club:



We didn't see this happen but he broke his first board with a side kick at the parade. Here is the stunning reenactment:



A guy we know has started his own hot dog stand for events around town and a friend of ours and his dog went in the parade with the hot dog cart, mascot style:





This is the hot dog guy's wife. Isn't she a trooper?



After the parade we took the kids to the carnival. Our youngest is getting to the age where he wants to go on the bigger kid rides with his brother, thank the goddess because there is no way I'm getting on those rides anymore. When did that happen, anyway? I used to love rides. The faster, the better. Now? OMG. I nearly yack just watching them.
Anyway, the boys had such a good time on the rides ($$) and playing games ($$$). We are broke and can't afford to pay the phone bill this month now but that's okay. ;-P

Superman ride, the first go 'round.



Kiddie motorbike ride:



The Spider. 5 minutes after they got off this ride, a girl puked her guts out about 10 times on it. It was so nasty watching the carny gagging while hosing it down.



Superman ride, the sequel:





Tomorrow is the last day, hopefully we don't get rained on. There is a pancake breakfast and lots of entertainment down in the park. Always a good time.

Bloomin' in the Rain

It is raining like a mofo out there but my plants are loving it!
These blooms just opened this morning.

Baby lilies:





Blue Bearded Iris:



Can't remember the type of lily this is:

Hilarious video

Found this in my video folder yesterday, I had totally forgot about it. By the looks of the kids, it's about 3 years old. Look at the little one on the left go flying.

Planting the garden

FINALLY! The weather is right to plant the garden this weekend. My step mom is part Metis and they follow tradition that says you do not plant the garden until the full moon in May (in Alberta). Well, the full moon is Tuesday, I could not wait any longer for it!

Lillies:



Lupine:



Bunny Tails:



Pink Veronica:



Coleus:



Japanese Willow blooming:



Nine Bark blooming:



Lime Ricky Heuchera:



I love my little gardens, and I mean little. The south facing one is only 2 feet deep and about 10 feet long. Damn small yards.

The animals.

This is my sweet old lady Frankie. She just turned 16 years old in April. Love that cat.






This is our dog, Peter. He's a black and tan coonhound we got at the SPCA. He had been at the pound forever. Lucky for us. Even though he's a hot mess.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Well, it's a windy, rainy, crappy day out and it's making me wish I were on a tropical island somewhere. Like Turks & Caicos! Last year my family went to Turks & Caicos Islands, our first big family trip ever. We had been planning on going *somewhere* but didn't know where. I have a childhood friend that now lives there and he said, "come here!" so we did. It was amazing, outstanding, fantastic! The kids were only 8 and 4 but they did fantastic and we wished we would have stayed two weeks instead of only one. We stayed at Beaches Resort, it was perfect for a family and we would go back again in a heartbeat.

http://www.beaches.com/general/locations.cfm?destination=turks

This place was a deserted island that we stopped at during our scuba diving tour. Turks & Caicos has pristine white sandy beaches, the most incredibly blue water (you'd swear it was fake, it's that blue and bright) and the islands themselves are on limestone. This particular spot is my "happy place". We were walking around the island when I came around the corner and this was the site that greeted me. I swear I could hear angels sing.



Can you see the face in the limestone?



Conch Farm:



You can learn more about the Conch Farm here:

http://www.caicosconchfarm.com

Canadian sandcastle:



Paradise.



Learn more about Turks & Caicos here:

http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_and_Caicos_Islands

Gorgeous day at Lion's Campground

The little man and I went down to the Lion's Campground in our town to play at the park today. It was such a gorgeous spring day out.









Couple other shots from down at the campground:

Last Snowfall of the Year

At the end of April we got our last snow fall of the year. It had been +22C the weekend before and in typical Alberta fashion, after dragging out our patio furniture we woke up to snow!
Made for great pictures though.

This is the trail behind our house:




Fallen tree:



Little forest:



Group of poplars:



Tree moss:



Frost:



Gorgeous and all, but lets get on with Spring already.

Devon - North Saskatchewan River

I am so happy the weather has turned and Spring is finally here. Look at how gorgeous the river looked just two weeks ago, still with a bit of ice on it.







While I was taking these shots I heard a rustling in the grass on the riverbank below me. Look who came walking up!



He eat some grass for a while, went back down the bank to the water and then here came his buddy!



It was such an awesome experience. I've never been so close to a beaver before, I was maybe 20 feet away from the first guy. How cool!