Kananaskis

The Augustine's ventured out to Kananaskis this past weekend to catch with the camping Snider clan and for a mountain bike ride. We left Calgary in shorts, t-shirts and sandals only to arrive in K-Country and bundle up in shoes, socks, long pants and warm sweaters! It was a chilly 6 degrees, but we all had an awesome time despite the cool weather.
We had a little lunch and visit with the Snider's at their campsite (an awesome view from the picnic table of the mountains - wow, what a spot to camp!), before packing up Rory in the bike trailer and hitting the trails. I had forgotten what biking in the mountains is all about - hills, hills and more hills! We spent a couple of hours on the trails and treated ourselves to a well deserved ice cream on our way back.


Rory enjoyed the views and just chilling out on the rocks.




Lots of giggles with daddy.
Lindsay was throwing rocks into the lake and Rory thought the sound of rocks hitting the water was hilarious.


Walking over the rocks was somewhat tricky for little feet, but the helping hand of daddy made the hike along the lake much more fun.



Time to go!
Approaching rain clouds down the valley was a sure sign that the Augustine's needed to pack up and head home after a great day in the mountains. We said our farewells and thank yous to the Snider's as they hunkered down in their trailer before the rains came. Gotta love time in the mountains!! Can't wait till next time.

Rory and Daddy

Rory and daddy!

What mischief these two guys get up to! If they are not giggling madly or chasing each other around the couch or playing at the park they are building towers. Yes towers, out of recyclable containers of margarine, yogurt, coffee and so much more - anything really that has a lid and can be stacked.

It's a toss up sometimes who does all the building, but it is definitely Rory who does all the destroying.

Rory has become so good at taking his time and being so careful when putting the containers on top, especially the really high ones that Lindsay lifts him up for. All the time smiling ear to ear and muffling his giggles, Rory is planning his attack of knocking everything down and then tossing the containers into the air!

Rory and Lindsay have their time at the park almost every evening after dinner. They walk hand and hand across the road and down the pathway. Rory has quite his routine of what equipment to go on first, now that swing just isn't fun enough anymore. Rory can climb up stairs and let himself go on the slides and do it again and again.

Yippeee!!!!!

Climbing confidence!

Our confident little climber has now mastered the fairly steep stairs on the play set across the road. With lots of help from dad over the last few weeks, Rory has finally managed to climb to the top completely independently (with mum or dad not too far away as Rory's concentration on what he is doing wavers pretty easily!).

Check out Rory in action!

Way to go little dude!!

A few videos

I couldn't help but share these recent videos of our little dude.

Rory is a sweetheart and enjoys sharing his kisses. He always gives us a kiss goodnight, but has recently taken to grabbing our hands and giving kisses. This is usually during his dinners so his kisses end up being rather messy with bits of broccoli or pasta stuck to your hands. But oh so cute!

Rory has been working so hard on feeding himself and especially mastering the 'fork' and the stabbing of food on his tray. Here is a little clip from Sunday at breakfast where we had a special treat of french toast, fruit and yogurt.

FLOOD!

With all of last week's heavy rain, our favourite place to walk near our home was pretty much entirely washed out.
Check out some of these photos.


There usually is a pathway that goes under the bridge with a small pebble beach area.


This is the other side of the pathway. Can you spot the large branch underneath the bridge?


This was a pathway that winds it's way along the river.



The only part of the pathway we could see, the rest is under water.



This part of the river is almost to the top of the bridge. There is a pathway to the right that goes under the bridge. We could barely make out the top of the fence posts.



Fancy a rest?? Another pathway washed out.




This is a video that Lindsay took of a tree floating down the river and under the bridge we were standing on.


At least the play area wasn't affected by the floods. We haven't stopped at this park before and soon realized why. There are little black bits for the soft playground, but it far too inviting to give up a chance to dig a hole and pick up all the little pieces.
Here is a video of Rory pretending that he is a dog.

Days at home

We've had quite a few rainy days over the last week, so we had to get a little creative with our time hunkered down at home and inside.

Rory has taken a great enjoyment to stacking and building things. He uses whatever is in front of him, from empty boxes and containers to full containers he finds while he digs around in our kitchen cupboards. Rory gets very excited if his towers get as high as him or higher. Then however he loves to bash the towers down while shouting, "Boom!" and giggling.

With the Spring rains there are the hints of the camping season being very close at hand! We are so so excited to take our little dude out into the wilderness again this summer. What an adventure we will have! So we thought we start with a little precamping 'training' with Rory in the all important camping chair. After a few bumps and tumbles, Rory mastered how to get up into the chair and enjoyed a well deserved reward of snacks.

Ahh right at home. Look out Kananaskis - the Augustine's are getting ready.

Check out Rory's summit of the 'Camp Chair'.

Rainy days and all the time playing on the floor meant I could see all the dust that has accumulated for quite some time. So I handed the 'swiffing' over to the next in charge, Rory. He was my cleaning dude and he loved it.

First mountain ride

With blue skies and the warm sun, we packed a picnic and headed to the mountains for the day. This time we were a little more adventurous, we took our bikes in hopes of a little more than just an average hiking day.
An adventure is what we had - we parked in Canmore and hooked up with a paved pathway that would take us all the way to Banff. Perfect! There were a few iffy sections quite close to the road, but for the most part the pathway was smooth sailing with outstanding views of the mountains the entire way.


Here we go...Banff 18 kilometres. Sunny skies, light wind and the towering mountain peaks of the Rockies. What a way to spend a day!!

After about an hour or so of cycling we arrived for a picnic lunch at one of our favourite spots.

Rock throwing with daddy at Cascade Ponds.

Rory ended up with rocks and pebbles in his hair, ears and we even found some in his diaper! But most importantly he had an absolute blast.

The fresh mountain air and rocking throwing were too much for this little tyke on the ride back to Canmore.

We were faced with a chilly wind all the way back to Canmore. Thank goodness the views were so outstanding that I couldn't feel the pain in my legs or the sunburn I was getting!

We had an awesome day out on the bikes and Rory seem to enjoy the bike trailer, he will be quite an outdoorsman. We are now looking forward to our camping adventures this summer and the next time we can get back into the mountains for another ride. What a day!!