Evening ice skating

Been a while since I posted.  Grandparents to the Dunowbunch, I thought you would get a kick out of our lasted Canadian adventure.  

We we lucky to have moved into a neighbourhood with a lot of children.  Our kids love it.  There are always kids to play with.  

Our friends have put in an ice rink in their back yard.  Let's just hope we don't have any broken bones this winter!  Olivia's poor knees were black and blue this morning.
Seriously though, how much fun is this!  Thanks Jeff!

 Anna, Ella and I want to eat this little guy up.

It's been a while since Anna was on ice.  The last time was at Blades back in New Mexico.  We've got to go get us all skates.  Can't wait to see you on the ice Honey!

 There was a lot of laughing, some tears, a ton of bruises and hot chocolate to around.  It's going to be a great winter.

Sunday hike

This past Sunday, our family took a drive out to the mountains.  We decided to explore some places where we haven't been before.  The drive reminds me a lot of Southern Idaho until you reach the mountains.  At one point we stopped at Barrier Lake and took the dogs for a little walk up a mountain.  Let's just say we didn't make it up to the top.  I still haven't got the whole Canadian weather thing down.  We checked the weather service and I thought we would be fine with the jackets we brought.  Hat's, gloves and warmer jackets would of been welcome.  I need to be better prepared when we go out.

 Sadly, the only pic of the family together.  Poor Milo has no privacy.  Soren was just picking up Elliot's mess.  Oh well.

 Soren and Olivia took off at a run down the mountain.  I was expecting a Dunow wipe out, but it didn't happen.  

 This is a pic of the drive towards Banff.  Like I said, the weather was crazy.  The wind was blowing us all over the road.  Blue skies on one side, snowing on the other.

 This is Nakiska ski resort.  Already the snow is piling up.

One the way back we stopped and had a nice lunch at the Iron Goat Pub.  It was relaxing to take our time and have no plans.  There is so much more for us to explore.  I just need to make a greater effort to get out the door and go, no matter the weather.  I'll just have to make sure we bundle up!

Anna September 2015

I'm going to be spending the next year doing a lot of photo shoots with Anna for her Senior year album.  Some of the next ones will be more her.  Flannel and Doc Martens.  As a Mom, I think I'm pretty lucky to have kids that will let me do photo shoots like these.  I had found this vintage dress on a Halloween rack at Goodwill for only a couple of dollars.  

I found it quite amusing that we have almost the same hair style.  See Anna, you are such a 90's girl.

I do have more pics of her toppling over because she has heels on.  They are only a prop.  She can't walk in them.

I'm in no way a professional photographer.  I do this for my own enjoyment and to document my children's lives.  I'm learning all the time.  We do these photo shoots because we end up laughing 90% of the time, and we love to laugh!   

Autumn time in Canada

 It's absolutely gorgeous in Calgary right now.  The air is crisp and cool.  We've had some rain so it's fresh.  Our two dogs, Elliot and Milo need to be walked a couple of times a day now.  They don't have the dozens of acres to run when ever  they want.  Now they have a little postage sized backyard.  Poor things.  I know they long to run and chase things.  Unfortunately we are having to socialize them to other dogs and cars.  Both of them are doing much better.

 Olivia's school is within walking distance.  It's down a hill.  I hate climbing back up that hill. Boy do  I really need to get into shape.  The dogs are helping me with that.  Off in the distance is the Olympic park for the Calgary Olympics.  I don't remember what year it was for.  

 I handed Ella my camera while I cleaned up dog poo.  Story of my life.  Always cleaning up someones!  I'm dying over my face though!

 This is what makes walking the dogs hard.  These HUGE jackrabbits are everywhere!  No joke, everywhere!  They are bigger than most dogs.  They scare me.

 

I'm definitely settling into living in a neighborhood.  Taking walks helps me.  I don't know how I'll feel about taking walks in -40 weather!  The weather has been perfect for me.  Of course this is my favorite time of year.  We were lucky to move into a community with a lot of kids around.  This has helped my kids acclimate.  It's only been a few months, but I think we've settled pretty nicely.  Oh, there are days when I get homesick for Logan, my friends and Washington.  That's normal. But overall I think our family is pretty lucky to be here!