Hey everyone,
What an awesome couple of weeks we have had!!!
Last week was Intermediate 2 at Lakeside where I was helping
Brenda in the role of Head Counsellor. It was another awesome camp, the girls
and I really enjoyed going to campfire and seeing the concert at the end of the
camp.
Alex has been off in the mountains doing the All Boys Out
Trip. This was a 10 day camp, completely out in the wild. Alex says is was
absolutely awesome. They managed to peak 6 mountains from memory. This
particular boy’s camp is only for teenage boys, so they are able to have some
really deep conversations with the guys.
We have been really enjoying being a part of the camps and
the girls are just loving the child care here. Half the time they don’t want to
hang out with Alex and I when we are free, they just want to chill in the
Teepee (which is the childcare room.) They have different carers every camps
but the girls have loved all of them and have also enjoyed meeting lots of new
kids. Even Miss E has been warming up to new people!
I have to admit that although we have loved doing the camps,
we were particularly excited about having this week off, especially as we had
some very special visitors from Tassie! Russel and Marilyn came to stay for a
few days and we had such an awesome time showing them around.
-Sorry had to put in a side story here. There is a guy here
at Crow named Cory who has been here the whole summer, he has been just loving
learning all about our Aussie slang, food and he has also been trying hard to
take off out accent. I mentioned to him that we had some friends coming from
down under and that if he wanted to, he should try out his practiced Australian
accent and see if they believed him. Apparently they picked his fake accent a
mile away J
Turns out just because you say cobber and G’day doesn’t mean you sound
Australian, LOL.
Good try anyway Cory J
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That's Cory on the left. He and Shandryn were super keen to try "Shrimp on the Barbie". So I cooked some up, they were pretty impressed. :)
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The first night we stopped in at Rea and Sandy’s home and
picked up Chinese from their favourite place. It was so nice to hear the Aussie
accent again and to not have to be constantly thinking about using “Canadian”
so we could be understood. We mapped out the next couple of days of their stay
while there and then after Sandy’s “homemade” desert (hee hee, it looked
homemade but apparently was store brought!) we took the Steers over to see the evening
campfire. Which was pretty amazing, there was even a performance of “What makes
you beautiful” from one of the boys cabinsJ
Not exactly sure why….but it was fun none the less.
The next day we left early to head to Waterton National
Park. The Steers were “lucky” enough to get a van with 8 seats for their rental
(read all about their story on their blog) so we decided to all go together. The
girls were super impressed as the van was decked out with 2 DVD players and
screens J
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| I have no idea what this look was about but it looks so funny! |
Quietest trip ever. We even got the chance to stop in and show them a Walmart
to visit the restrooms.
The chipmunks were out and about when we stopped off at the
waterfall in Waterton. They would run up under our feet and jump about hoping
for food. Some other children were feeding them candy (!) which meant they were
happy to stick around and perform for everyone. Sadly none of them sang though.
I was so waiting for them rock out in their little high pitched voices.
Due to the flooding, one side of the National Park was out
of commission so we decided to visit the Red Rock side of the park. Which was
great as we hadn’t been to that side yet.
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| You can see why it's called Red Rock hey? |
On the way back out we even managed to see a Mama bear and
her baby. They were eating the Saskatoon berries and weren’t even slightly interested
in the audience that had pulled up to take a photo.
That evening we dropped the kids off at Crow and went out to
supper in Fernie with Rea and Sandy. Now, do you remember the Blessing Game of
Rea’s? Well, so far we were behind! Rea and Sandy had managed to pay for the Chinese,
Marilyn and Russell got lunch, so Alex and I were keen to win the Supper round.
We knew this was going to be difficult, as Rea had made the booking and had
probably already made sure with the waitress that no-one else was allowed to
pay but him. But that was ok, because I had been thinking about this all day
and I had (pause for effect) a PLAN.
After a fabulous dinner, Rea was lounging about in his chair
all relaxed, obviously not at all worried about the bill. So I grabbed my
wallet and went to talk to the waitress (who turned out to be half
Australian!). I asked to pay the bill and she told me in no uncertain terms that
Rea had already spoken to her and that she was not allowed to let me pay. (told
ya, so predictable, we so know Reas tricks by now.) Time to implement THE PLAN.
But I had to be quick as Rea was already on his way over to gloat.
I quickly tried appealing to her explaining that he never
lets us pay and that it was our turn etc.
She shook her head at me smiling. Rea had an even bigger
smile and began to turn away knowing that he had won.
Ok, time for the last part of THE PLAN.
Me: “If you let me pay, I’ll double your usual tip!”
You could hear Rea in the background “WHAT!”
The waitress “Done!” J
And that ladies and gentlemen is how we do it.
Rea was not impressed. LOL But everyone else was laughing
their heads off. Poor Rea sucked most of the way home.
The next day I took Marilyn shopping in Fernie and the Boys
went golfing. Rea found 30 golf balls J That evening we
stopped in at Alex and my favourite place to eat, The Rum Runner. SO GOOD!
On Friday we decided to head to Calgary with Marilyn and
Russel as they had to leave the next morning. We stopped in at Fort McLeod so
that Russel could say that he had seen a Canadian Mounty. It was pretty cool
and the girls loved seeing the horses.
So before we knew it, it was time for the Steers to jet set
to New York. It was so awesome having them here and having the chance to chat
with them about our ideas and things we had seen and would like to try back
home. J
Before the homesickness decided to hit due to the Steers
departure, we called up Joshua Wilson to see if he would like to come out and
hang with us today. Turns out it was his birthday the day before and all he did
was go to work! BORING!
So we took him to Mini Golf and then went back to Ed and
Sandra’s (they weren’t there, just letting us use their awesome home) for a BBQ
supper and DQ icecream cake. We had a
lot of fun. The girls have been wanting to go Mini Golfing for a while now and
the centre was a new one. Miss E had a yellow golf ball and just threw is
everywhere. J
The next day we decided to head to the best park in Calgary
(that’s what google told us anyway). It was pretty sweet. A toddler park, a
school aged park and a splash park all in one. It had started off as a pretty hot day so we
let the cool down in the water.
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| Laura! You are totally in my way! |
And now here we are! Back at Crow, gearing up for the last
two camps. I can hardly believe that the summer is almost over L.
This week we have Senior 1. Alex will be in charge of an out
trip and I will be helping with Head Counselling again as well as doing some
painting. The PIT crew have asked me paint their mural in the PIT cave. I am
really looking forward to it.
Sorry it’s been such a long one! I’ll try and keep up better
this week J
Love to you all!
P.S I know! SO many photos but here are a few more I just had to share...
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| Aussie Shampoo and Conditioner! Oh wait...except it's own and made in the USA!!! What? Is that even allowed???? |
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| $2 for a pound! How crazy cheap is that? |
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| Pavs are getting pretty popular over here.... |
