Summer Cruisin Continued

I promised you some more photos from our Mother's Day cruise in the mountains and here they are - finally!

We headed out through Kananaskis trying to avoid all the Canmore and Banff popularity. As we came around a corner I was looking out amongst the escape of trees and noticed something strange. Jimmy was already driving slow as it was a gravel road that was quite curvy. I quickly squealed to Jimmy to check it out - there was a man buck naked squatting down amongst the trees. We couldn't really tell what he was doing - but regardless - it shouldn't have called for him to do it naked - should it? Not really something I could take a picture of - but I am sure you have the mental image regardless.

Our adventure continued, alternating between gravel and pavement for a while. We had just crossed back onto pavement and so stopped to put the top down. The sun was shining and it was gorgeous out. This little critter slowly strutted his stuff across the road and so we were able to pull over and get a picture. Not sure exactly what it was but we are leaning towards a mink? Beautiful coat regardless!

We had packed a picnic lunch and were looking for a nicy, sunny spot to sit and enjoy the outdoors. We finally decided at Upper Kananaskis Lake that it was now or never. We could see these dark clouds rolling in over the mountain pass and knew the weather was not going to hold out. The wind was picking up blowing across the still frozen lake so we huddled in our sweaters and enjoyed a very quick 'picnic'!

You can really see the weather in this pic! Chilly!!

When the sun was shining, the mountains were exceptionally stunning! 

Such a great first topless cruise of the season.

Sneak Peak

First camping trip of 2012

Spent the most delightful weekend with some fabulous friends out in the breathtaking mountains with absolutely perfect weather. On Saturday afternoon, I was wishing I could press pause Saturday afternoon for another hour or two. On the way home we popped in to check out Takakkaw Falls - they are stunning and so incredibly powerful!

Counting Down to 40

Jimmy turned 39 this year so we had to celebrate his last year in his 30's in style. A helicopter ride, a hike on a mountain top followed by a delicous dinner all with great friends seemed like the perfect way to do it.

 
The views were incredible. We had never seen the mountain tops from this vantage point before.

Flying over the mountains felt a little bit like a crazy roller coaster when we hit the wind channels that curve over the top.

We landed at broken lakes and went for a little hike.

You will notice I cropped out my 'flood' ski pants. I even have boys ski pants and they still aren't long enough for these legs!

 We finished our day at the Iron Goat Pub & Grill in Canmore. The food was delicious and the mountain view incredible. Would certainly recommend it! You can check out their website here. Tim, Tanya and I all went with the Kobe 'Oscar' Burger (house-made with kobe beef, lobster, blue crab, provolone, tomato, tarragon mayo, ciabatta) and were not disappointed!

Birthweek

Today marks the last day of my birth week. It was actually a bit longer than a week this year. This years birth week contained lots of work but it also contained some fun!


Trev, Kim and the boys came out last week for a delightful week long visit bearing gifts from themselves and from mom and dad.

Steve and Susan invited us over for dinner and surprised me with delicious birthday cupcakes!

Jimmy took me out to a delicious dinner at AKA Winebar:

We shared a bunch of appetizers - my favorite way to do dinner.

And ended with a fantastic birthday present - a lovely weekend spent out in the mountains at the perfect little get away spot:

Marital Bliss

It's been 1 month

since we said 'I do'

and that month has been delightful

although somewhat of a blur

we have enjoyed a weekend in the mountains

visited friends

hung out at the zoo

we have worked and worked

travelled to Houston where I worked some more

the lawn has been cut and flowers planted

we have been to dinner parties and hosted one of our own

there have been late nights and lazy mornings

if this is what a month of being married looks like,

I can't wait for the next month

and hope our lifetime contains many more months

just like this one

gourmet hot dogs

So I had my first fancy schmancy hot dog the other day. The kind you load up with something other than ketchup and mustard. Honestly - not a drop of ketchup on the hot dog . . . . and it was delightful. More delightful than I imagined it would be. It could have had something to do with the delightful company. Or the fact that I was starving. Maybe the mountain air helps. Regardless, I would recommend it. Ranks up there with hot dogs at a ball game on a hot sunny day! Yum!

A breath of fresh air

Good Friday proved to be the perfect day to escape the city and its daily routine. We gassed up Zinny, and were off. Without a plan nor an end destination in mind, time granted us permission to stop wherever we wished. And stop we did . . .

We saw swans and bovines:

We witnessed geese skating

We made our way to the Rafter Six Ranch (they filmed Gunsmoke there you know . . . )

We drove through Canmore and took the long route home via Ghost Lake. The colors were spectacular.

We wondered over His handiwork

Sunny Stroll

This weekend the weather was absolutely perfect. Steve, Susan, Benjamin, Jimmy and I loaded up and headed out to K-country to catch some rays and see some sights.

We had such a great time together as always. Fully of laughs, fabulous memories and a little caching!! (The boys stumbled across a geocache stash so we just had to leave a little something behind!)

And little Benjamin was a perfect doll on the entire trek!