Life's Whirlwind Adventures

Summer is a long time to be home with young kids.  Young kids who have grown up with ready access to television programming geared to them and portable screens that they can take on the go with them.  As much as we want to send them outside to play or want them to just use their imagination it takes my kids anyways a long time to get into that habit. Throw in needing to do renovations and other activities that are adult only sometimes it can lead to a very impatient momma! I am so thankful we live in Red Deer.  It's so centrally located and there are so many free and inexpensive activities the kids can participate in, so once the day get started we usually had something to go and do.  I am also glad that Lil man is now old enough to go to the park for short periods of time by himself allowing me to have time at home with Teddy doing other activities. Discovery Canyon Discovery Canyon is an outside water feature in Red Deer that has a river run down a slope that ...

I've decided this year that I want to show my boys about giving back to others.  So I have been looking into charity organizations that we can work with as a family. 1) Ronald McDonal House: I think this would be an awesome opportunity for my boys to give back to families that are going through a terrible time and this way they can help out. 2) Women's Shelter: this one is more of donating some things to the Women's shelter to help my boys understand that everyone needs help from time to time and that it is important that you treat everyone as you wish to be treated. 3) Parkland CLASS: This is an easy one for me, I love helping out my old employer, I believe they do good things for the people they serve and I like to have my boys help out with their carnival so they understand that just because someone has a disability it doesn't mean that you have to be afraid of them or treat them differently than you would treat anyone else. 4) The Mustard Seed: This organiza...

We did four big field trips in June with the class. June is such a hard month because most students have checked out of school by the first so we didn't want to do anything too taxing on them.  So we booked a lot of field trips to let the students enjoy some amazing locations within a half an hour drive of the school. The first place we took the kids to was the Thuluum Tulip Farm just east of Red Deer.  It was a very neat experience and the owners were amazing! I was so happy we got to go and the students all seemed to really like this trip.  It became the benchmark to which all other field trips would be measured.  The next trip we went on was a walking tour around Red Deer. We visited 10 statues that were erected to show the history of Red Deer.  The statue above is Mr. Mann who conducted the Red Deer Royals and a few of our students had known him. This was a long day of walking but the kids did great and we had a lot of fun at the spray park during lu...

I love shopping local and supporting my local businesses! It's a passion of mine.  As often as I can I shop local. One of my favourite stores for my lingerie is The Bra Lounge.  The ladies that work there are so amazing and friendly.  And I've never left there not liking my purchase. I was a little sad I had to go visit them last week.  Not because it isn't a great time but because my last good bra had the underwire snapped in it and I had no other bras.  This wouldn't be a big deal but with surgery in 3 months it felt like I was not going to get my cost per use from my purchase. So I went in, gave a quick explanation to the ladies and got fitted with some new bras that were ON SALE!!!! I had gone in to spend no more than $110 and had resigned myself to buying maybe only one more to see me through to December.  But because the Bras were on sale I was able to get two, TWO for $107.  It was the BEST news EVER!! I was worried I would only find one...

When I was pregnant with Prince T, I was part of a dress club.  Each month we would go do something different and hang out and visit. One month we went to Hot Pot Studio ! It was so much fun!! I loved that while I was getting to be all creative I was hanging with some cool people and we were visiting and laughing.  We didn't have to yell to be heard (and the back ground noise was minimal which was good because I had lost my hearing in my left ear).  And we also got to see everyone else's creativity which was so cool! So after the first time I went back two more times! I want to go some more, but I've had to be smart with my finances so that will have to wait a couple more months.  The first time I went I painted a little plant pot and plate.  The second time I painted a popcorn bowl for Lil Man and the third time I painted a piggy bank for Prince T!! I really want to paint four more bowls for all of us so we can all have our own personalized pop cor...

Back in April I signed Lil Man up for Yoga. My boy is a very active little guy and sometimes I think he needs to learn tools to help centre himself.  Since Yoga has been so great to me ( I'll get back at it I promise once I get paid) I thought this might be something that Lil Man would enjoy. I was right!! He loves it, every Tuesday he is ready to go hauling my pink yoga matt out of the van, taking his friend Miss S's hand and off they go into 45 minutes of yoga bliss.  He loves it so much, he comes home and 'teaches' me yoga.  I am hoping he can find a few poses he feels comfortable doing when he is getting worked up at school.  He will sit in a meditative pose from time to time, so who knows. The Kid's Yoga is offered at Universoul .  It is such a great facility and it offers so many unique and fun classes. If you haven't checked out Red Deer's newest Yoga studio you should stop in!!  Starting June 2 they have another 4 week Kids Yoga class and Li...

Summer is such  busy time! During the school year, school monopolizes your children's time so you only have to plan activities for two days a week but once July hits it's up to the parents to ensure their children are entertained for the summer (or the day care provider if you are working).  But let's be honest you are at least taking a week or two off in the summer where your children are home with you! So what do you do with them. I've posted some of the things we have done with the kids this summer, camping at Gull Lake, day trips to Gull Lake, The Spark Center in Calgary, Parks around Red Deer and today I'll tell you about the Lakeshore at Sylvan Lake. If you are from the Red Deer area or Alberta you have probably been to Sylvan Lake at some point or at least heard of it.  It's about twenty minutes from Red Deer on highway 11 and 11A.  It's a growing community of over 13,000 residence and I am sure it's population spikes in the summer time.  Weir...

I haven't gone camping in years, not since high school.  I kind of lost my appeal for camping shortly after then, especially after being spoiled because some of my friends had family with cabins at the lakes so camping was not my idea of fun, unless it was in a powered cabin. Otherwise, forget IT!! Not doing it, not interested.  But my husband likes to camp, so we compromised and have camped a little since we've been together. Those first few camping trips were in tents, and I hate tents!! I can't get comfortable, I'm always too hot under the sleeping bag, too cold out of the sleeping bag and my trick to just stick one leg out of the covers doesn't work either because that leg just freezes while the rest of me sweats.  So we camped on the way down to California for our honeymoon for a couple days but that was the last time I have camped with him. Then his parents got a camper now I can camp in a camper. It has 'beds' and offers four walls and their campe...

Growing up in Northern Saskatchewan a girl can become pretty spoiled when it comes to lakes.  There are so many good clean lakes within an easy 45 minute drive that you just think that everyone must have this luxury.  And it is a luxury, let me tell you, because not everywhere has this benefit and if there is one thing I miss more than anything, it's living in such close proximity to so many great lakes.   (Saskatchewan you have amazing lakes) Now that I live in Central Alberta, I've had to make some adjustments to my lake habits.  I was a girl who would go to the lake any chance I got and I would be in the lake swimming for hours and hours, now not so much.  Mostly because I don't find the lakes here that appealing to me.  Again I blame Saskatchewan for spoiling me, but the closest lakes to my current living space aren't as good as back home, they are good, just not as good.  I think Sylvan Lake is pretty, it's a cute lake town but it's always s...