Wordless Wednesday…

 

Holy Shmoly!

that was the scariest storm I have ever seen. I am standing out on the deck and all of a sudden the wind whips up and the freakiest clouds come flying over the houses. The clouds are moving a hundred miles an hour North to South AND straight up! wow! I went in the house, told Traci and Andrew to get to the basement and ran up stairs to get the cat. I got everyone settled and then went back up to watch! I went out to the camper to get the big flashlight, back downstairs and was amazed at how hard the hail was hitting the basement windows (that are below grade). By the time I got upstairs, the wind had shifted 180 degrees and was BLOWING! wow.

The hail spared no plant. Poor Traci is so sad. Mostly because of the Ligularia that was a day or so away from blooming, is now in tatters, stems broken in half and the blooms stripped of any new flower buds. dang.

It was over in about 4 minutes, but thankfully the plants were the only loss. A few clicks east of here was reported funnel clouds and an even bigger storm.

I couldn’t get a good contrast on the video phone, but just notice how fast the clouds are flying by.

See how you can just barely see the house across the path. then when the hail lets up it is there.

The boy turns 3 tomorrow…

… wow, where did the time go.

I have been neglecting this poor blog because I am telling my running story over at www.becauseallthecoolkidsaredoingit.blogspot.com and it is taking up all my blog motivation.

I last blogged our second last day in Stettler. (aside from wordless Wednesday and the police takedown)

We got moved over to the nicer campsite for the last night, and it made us mighty happy.

The trip home, if driven straight through, takes about 2 hours. We took 7.

We were on the road for 15 minutes and we stopped in Stettler to do some shopping, and have lunch. An hour later we were on the road again. 35km from Stettler is a very neat little town called Big Valley. It is the end of the line for the Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions out of Stettler, and is historically a big deal for train history enthusiasts. It is a very nicely restored rail town, including the ruins of a very impressive roundhouse dating back to 1912. We spent some time walking around the town, but most things were closed as it was Monday. Not too much going on. 

We left there and headed south through the edge of the Rumsey Natural Area, on our way to a reconnaissance  mission to a campground at Toleman Bridge. Nice place. Lots of hiking and birding opportunities there. After a short stop, we carried on to the town of Trochu. Andrew was in desperate need of a playground and we could all use a break. We passed a school playground, but school was in session so we happenchanced on a spray park. Man that was fun. Andrew ran, and ran, and ran. He loved this place and it was just the ticket for everyone to cool off and burn off some steam.

We pretty much beelined it from there, as we were still an hour and a half from home and we had a dinner date at Nan and Poppops. Andrew did have a pretty wild freakout because we ran out of tissues to wipe his eyes when he cried. We gave him a napkin, but nope, it wasn’t good enough. Finally he cried himself to sleep.

On Canada Day we did a LOT of stuff. I ran a race in the morning. A 5k in 25:38 *woOT*. I got home and we took off on a great adventure.

First up was the Millerville Races! I taught my son all about how to lose money betting on the Horses.

He was sad his Horse lost.
Next it was a nice ride out into the country as Andrew took a well deserved nap. We were happy he slept as we were going to a baseball game that started at his bedtime and ended with a big fireworks show!

So we got home in good time for some relaxing, but we were all excited to get to the baseball game. We had amazing seats! 

Andrew got to run the bases afterwards! so.much.fun!

Andrew really REALLY enjoyed the fireworks!

Nan and Poppop took the trailer to Cypress Hills for the following weekend, and they seemed to really enjoy the trailer and they got caught up on some rest and relaxation.

We went to Calaway Park. Calaway is a small amusement park here in Calgary. The last time I went was 1986. Not too much had changed, but when you go with an almost 3 year old, it is an amazing fun time!

We also looked at a trailer at Field of Dreams RV… here is our trailer of the future… I love the layout. 

Andrew got a bike. He  hasn’t ridden it since. he will. someday.

The weekend after that, we headed out to Okotoks for a 10 day stint at the Lions Sheep River Campground. We love this place. They treat us really well. It is safe, most of the time.

It is a very relaxing place, and while we didn’t have terrific weather, we ended up enjoying our time out there immensely. I never used to like Okotoks, but the more time I spend there, the more I like the place.

While we were camping, we went to another ball game (the Team we watch is the Okotoks Dawgs). As we walked into the game, a guy came up to us and says “Hey, We do this thing called the McDonalds Kid of the game, and the kid we look for is normally wearing a blue bucket hat, sunglasses, a striped shirt and Denim shorts” I’m like, “Hey, that’s us! That’s Andrew!!!” cool, so we had to go to the Dawgs Dugout after the first half inning and we got up on top and were introduced as the Kid if the Game! Andrew got an autographed baseball(these are US college kids, so who knows if they’ll become famous), a t-shirt and a Happy Meal Gift cert. He loved it!, I loved it!

AND if that’s not enough, Andrew, Nan and Traci went to the Calgary Stampede Parade. 350,000 people line the streets for this, the official kickoff to Stampede!

Traci’s most awesome action photo ever. This is the Canadian Version of the Blue Angels, called the CAF Snowbirds. 

Good times.

My Favorite Andrewism

• Each morning he wakes up and says “Nice Day!” then says “Time to get up!”
• He says “Know what Daddy?” I say “What?” he says “ONIONS!” and laughs like a goon.
• Zizzo and DinkDink are our dogs. Their names are Rizzo and Kenickie
• He says anything followed by “Dat funny?”
• After he eats all of his treat/supper/drink, he says “Me don’t like that”
• If you look at him, and he is playing shy, he’ll say “Don’t see me!”
• lots of things are “pitty awesome!”
• “Don’t go to work Daddy”… breaks my heart. recently it’s been, “Stay home daddy”
• He’ll be talking in his sleep, and it’ll be all mumbo jumbo and then “Hanny manny!” will blurt out… it’s one of his favorite cartoons.
• “Wipe mine eyes” is his way of making up after a good cry.
• “Me run fast” and then he does.
• "Chocolate juice” is his favorite drink.
• When he is going to sleep, he gets into a face down position and requests “rub mine back”

Oh, he is completely potty trained now… *Woot*

It’s quite the ride, i’ll tell ya!

Wordless Wednesday…

Good Grief! A takedown!

So, last evening this guy pulls into the campground in this little lowrider pick-up truck, sets up camp, then walks around carrying a lacrosse stick and a golf ball. Unfortunately I mistook him for a friendly doofus and engaged him in conversation.

Me: You have a golf ball and a Lacrosse stick.

Him: Yeah, I lost my ball in the river, and I found this one. I also lost my other stick so I have to play with myself now. (his words)

Me: uh, you can buy those you know.

Him: Yeah, but the stores around here are all really small and lacrosse isn’t very popular around here except for the pro team, a few minor teams and a junior league.

Me: uh, yeah. Just in Calgary tho, there is a SportChek.

Him: Hey yeah, we have those where I come from.

Me: uh, yeah go there.

Him: I never go there. they are our competition.

Me: Uh, ok, have a nice night. *avert eyes*

Nan and Poppop were here for supper with us, and when I came back into the site, I told them I didn’t like this guy, that he creeped me out.

We watched him most of the evening. He would take his shirt off and sit in the truck for a while, then get out and walk around the campground some more just wandering and staring at stuff. He walked past our site at one point and Rizzo our pug FREAKED out at him. Rizzo normally could care less about people, but this guy, she hated!

Fastforward to noon today. Andrew and I are at the playground and the guy come tearing down the access road in his truck, and to a small parking lot near the campground. I wanted to go tell the guy to slow the hell down, but before I could even start in that direction the cops had come into the campground with 2 cruisers and blocked off his access out.

The guy pulls up right in front of the cars and just sits there. One of the cops starts to get out and all of a sudden the guy backs up and goes around the parking lot 4 or 5 times then parks in front of the cop cars again. He then jumps out of the car and hops the fence and goes into the campground office. I was worried for the workers, as this place is staffed by the nicest volunteers and they were now potentially hostages.

One of the cops goes up to the door and peeks inside, with one hand on his holster. That was the point I said “Let’s go Andrew”, scooped him up and headed back to the Trailer. I put Andrew in the Trailer, told Traci there is a Takedown happening and then grabbed my Camera.

Really, do you think I WOULDN’T want to take pictures of this?

Anyroad, I don’t know how the guy got out of the office, but here he comes with the coppers hot on his tail. He is hooting and hollering, yelling noooo nooooo noooo! you can’t get me!!!!!

I don’t see the actual tackle (or submission) but I get around the corner to see the guy face down, shirtless in the gravel, Ouch.

They get him all cuffed up and march him back to the cop cars and as he passes by us he is chanting, ‘hup 2-3-4, hup 2-3-4’. Kinda made me laugh by then. Once they get him back to the cop cars he is back to resisting. They ask him nicely to get in the car, but he won’t, and stands fast.

All of a sudden he starts yelling  “OOOOOUUUCCCCCHHHHHHHH” “OOOOUUUUUUCCCCCCHHHHH” at the top of his lungs, so apparently the cop got the cue that this was the time to take care of business, and (I think) buckled his knees, as he sort of dropped and folded up into the car.

Once that was done, the cops started looking through his truck and his campsite, as the guy told them his Methadone was in there.

In talking with the cop afterwards, this guy spent the night in jail last night, then when he got out, he was recklessly driving all over the place so they followed him here. He is a Heroine addict from BC apparently.

And this is how nice the people who work here are. They refunded his next two nights and gave the money to the cops to give to the guy.

Oh yeah, always trust the instincts of a dog.

Update: The guy checked in to the campground as John Smith, and he jokingly asked the lady in the office “Have the cops been looking for me?” uh… haha? Our villain was wanted on assault and drug charges back in his home, so he truly was on the run. Also in the news: the Okotoks police were quite busy this day, as they shot a guy dead in the evening in this quite little bedroom community, ending a domestic dispute call.

Wordless Wednesday