Doors Open YYC

Last weekend there was a really fun event here in Calgary called Doors Open.  Sometimes it's easier to copy information from the website than to try to explain it myself so here it is:

Over the last weekend in September, many of Calgary’s most intriguing and beloved sites get naked for Doors Open YYC. For this one weekend, buildings in all quadrants of the city open their doors – free of charge – to the public and providing special revealing tours and behind-the-scenes experiences. Whether you’re a geek for history, architecture, the environment, art, sports, science or engineering, this is your chance at an insider’s view of Calgary’s vibrant and dynamic cityscape.
Doors Open is a well-established and highly successful international concept that allows people free access to buildings in order to create enthusiasm for heritage and contemporary architecture, and increase the appreciation of historic and culturally significant places and spaces.

There were 33 sites that participated including City of Calgary locations, museums, historical sites, etc.  There were several that seemed interesting to us but we picked two that we thought Ethan would enjoy the most.   Saturday morning Wade, Ethan, Andre, and Erik went on a tour of the landfill.  We drive by the landfill often and Ethan has asked a few times when we would be going to the trash dump so he was pretty excited when we told him.  Wade said the tour guides mentioned it was usually a tour given to grade school children as I'm sure several of the tours were.

On Sunday, the four of us went on a tour of one of the Calgary Transit Maintenance Facilities.  The tour showed how they maintained their light rail trains.  It even included a ride through the train wash. 

Balloon Glow

On September 26th, we went to the balloon glow at the Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival in High River (about 30 minutes south of Calgary).  It was a fun evening and as Ethan said several times "this is really cool".

Canadian Friends Thanksgiving - Part 2

On September 13th, we once again hosted a friends Thanksgiving.  We had several friends come down from Edmonton to spend the day with us along with some of our new Calgary friends.  Wade once again smoked a turkey and also cooked one in his new oil less turkey fryer (infrared).  I think the favorite again this year was his ham cooked on the rotisserie though which he always thinks is funny because he doesn't really do anything to it.  Luckily, Edith was still her to help me with Abby but I didn't really get any pictures taken.  I did snap a quick one of Abby and 2 of the 3 other baby girls that were here.  These two are both from Edmonton so if they are able to come again next year, I think we will be busy chasing them.

 

Month 6 Photo

Six months old already.  She's rolling all over the place and loving her toys.  Still follows Ethan and loves to see what he is up to. 

Abby's First Food

They really stress 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding here so we thought we would go along with it after all it's also what is recommended by the World Health Organization so it can't be bad for them.  So on September 17th (I know it was a couple days early), we gave Abby her first taste of rice cereal.  It went about the same as with Ethan at 4 months.

Labour Day Weekend

Wade's parents came for a visit over the Labour Day Weekend since his dad didn't get to come in June when his mom came.  On Saturday, we went to check out a new farmer's market and also finally went to the Canada Olympic Park (COP).  We each road down on the Luge once (Ethan got to go twice since we split up and half stayed at the bottom with Abby).  It had more than 50 twist and turns and was over 1800 metres (a little over a mile) of downhill track which is the longest in the world.   

On Sunday, we had brunch at the Calgary Tower and then headed to the mountains.

We stopped in Banff to ride the Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain again.  It started to snow/rain while we were on the top of the mountain and the crowds were crazy that day so we were just glad to get back down the mountain and out of Banff.  We stopped and grabbed a bit to eat in Lake Louise and then headed west.  We stopped a few miles down the road at the spiral tunnels.  Although we probably waited at least 30 minutes for a train to come through, it was well worth the wait even if you aren't a train enthusiast (I didn't get photos but here's a diagram of the tunnels - the black is the road and the gray is the train tracks with the red parts being the tunnels). The train we saw was long and it was going up the hill to the left of the road, in the tunnel, out the tunnel, and under the road all at once.  The train sounds were echoing off the mountains and sounded really cool also. 

Once we finally got back on the road, we crossed over into British Columbia and spent the night in Golden. 

On Monday, we looked around some in Golden and then got back on the road.  Golden has the longest pedestrian bridge in Canada so we checked it out. 

We stopped at Lake Louise again and actually went and looked at the lake unlike the night before.

 We stopped to eat in Banff and walked through a few shops before heading home. 

Big Sky Train in Nanton, AB

The cool days are starting to become more frequent so we are trying to take advantage of the nice days when we have them.  One thing that had been on my summer list was a trip to Nanton (less than an hour south of Calgary).  I had heard about a place that I thought our little train enthusiast would enjoy.  It was a train store that has added a huge garden train display (along with other train things) in the back.

September Snow

Talk about an early snow...September 8th is way to early for me.  Although it snowed on and off for 3 days at least it didn't stick around long.  I believe the offical amount was 20cm (over 7 inches) and there were parts of the city that received up to 35cm (over 13 inches).  It was a heavy wet snow and the leaves are still on the trees so there was substantial tree damage around town and also some power outages but luckily we didn't have trouble with either of these.  Ethan was really excited to see snow and get out and play in it. 

First Day of 4yr Old Preschool

Ethan had his first day of 4 year old preschool on September 5th.  It is a new school for him although it's a different location of his preschool from last year so it will be the same format.  It's closer to home so we are enjoying the quicker drive and hopefully Ethan will enjoy the teachers and kids as much as he did at his last school.

Month 5 Photo

5 months old...full of smiles, loves watching her brother, and starting to reach for and play with toys.