01 Sep 2008
Last days off before school goes back…
Well the kids are not too excited about heading back to school on Tuesday, so we managed to get a few of the kids favourite summer activities squeezed into the Labour Day weekend. Despite some rainy and cool weather on Sunday, the rest of the weekend was actually fairly nice.
Brenda’s brother Barry was working in Calgary on Friday and Saturday and staying with us, so we had Barry bring his oldest, our nephew Tobin, down to spend a little time with his cousins. On Friday, the weather was fine and we decided to head to Heritage Park, a historical village in Calgary that recreates early Western Canadian history. It’s a favourite place to go as a family.
We got there early enough to have the free pancake and sausage breakfast and followed that up with a ride on the S.S. Moyie sternwheeler. In fact, over the course of the day we managed to complete the “Heritage Park Trifecta” – sailing on the sternwheeler, taking the interpretive horse-drawn wagon ride and the riding the steam train all in one visit! It was a great day and the kids had a lot of fun on the vintage rides and eating ice cream and candy sticks for lunch. (Sorry, Breana.)
When we got back from the day’s outing we decided that it would be a good evening to have a fire in the back yard and roast hot dogs for dinner. While the fire was burning down to coals, the kids and I put up our little tent in the back yard. After we’d eaten our fill of burnt hot dogs and sat by the fire til it died down, we got the boys (Steven, Mark and Tobin) settled in their sleeping bags in the tent. Of course they didn’t rough it too much – Brenda gave them the portable DVD player and they watched a movie before falling asleep. The night turned a bit chilly and they all drifted in to the basement about 5:00 am to sleep on the couches! We did feed them a waffle and bacon brunch to put a big finish on the campout.
By Sunday the rain came and the temperature dropped and summer seems to be really near its end – especially when we the realities of returning to school are getting harder to avoid for the kids. We had them all prepare their school bags today with their pencils, notebooks and other supplies. Tomorrow Alyssa starts Grade 1, Mark is in Grade 3 and Steven begins middle school in Grade 6!