Stampede - part 2- The Rodeo

Monday wasn't near so nice a day. It wasn't too cold, but the rain was torrential when it came down, which was often. We watched the big screen from here for awhile, but the area had to be cleared for safety reasons. The rain did let up long enough for the steer wrestling so Keith and I left Daniel with his Grandma and joined Dad & Melissa in our assigned outdoor seats.


Since Justin was a competitor, we had access to a special seating section right on the track, within spitting distance of the infield. They were great seats, but we didn't get to enjoy them for very long.








Here is a textbook dive-off-your-running-horse-onto-a-running-steer manouver executed by Justin. Unfortunately, his horse broke the barrier and he was given a ten second penalty on top of his 3.6 second time. A very expensive speeding ticket.



The rain started up again not long after the steer wrestling so it was back inside to watch it on the televisions.



Daniel had a good old nap during all of this, and wasn't bothered by the rain at all. After he woke up, we waited for another break in the rain to make a run for the other end of the Stampede grounds where we checked out the trade show and then headed for home. And somewhere in there we managed to try out the deep-fried oreos. How could we not?



That's all for now folks. :)

Stampede- part 1- The Rangeland Derby

This past weekend my sister's fiance was competing in the Calgary Stampede steer wrestling event so we took the opportunity to meet up with them and my parents in Cowtown. Sunday evening both Melissa & Justin had the night off from being competitors, so we all went to the Rangeland Derby Chuckwagon Races on the grounds. It didn't start until Daniel's bedtime, but he did remarkably well. With all there was to look at he seemed most interested in Grandpa's cowboy hat and my hoodie strings.




A gorgeous summer night to look at, but there was a bit of a cool wind.






Daniel enjoyed getting reaquainted with his Grandpa.










Every once and awhile he watched the races.




But mostly he just played with my hoodie strings and looked cute.

Daniel's First Canada Day

Canada Day was the first official day of Keith's summer vacation this year. Daniel was so happy to have him around all day! We hung out at home for the morning & then while Daniel had an afternoon nap. Around 4pm we headed to Henderson Lake to take in some of the Canada Day festivities while we went for a walk around the park. For supper we enjoyed a BBQ at a friend's house followed by playing on the lawn. Daniel wasn't sure about the grass at first, but quickly got over it and had a lot of fun. We're now looking forward to the rest of the summer and spending lots of time outside and with friends and family. We'll be busy with visiting in July, and then packing in August. We have offically bought a new house now, and look forward to be in it before the end of summer. For now though, we're just going to enjoy the long days of sunshine. Hope you have a great summer too!

Please forgive my lack of brain.

I'm sorry. I usually send out thank you cards right away. I really thought I had kept on top of them all, but I just found a stack of cards from baby gifts we received in December and January. In the post Christmas rush it seems they were put away before they could be properly dealt with. So, if you gave us something, we were/are thankful and you will be getting an individual card shortly. With a picture of Daniel so cute you will forget how long it took for it to get to you. I hope.

New rain coat

On the day Daniel turned 9 months old, our High Level Bridge celebrated 100 years. We had hoped to go to the Bridge Birthday Party (yes, there was one, with cupcakes!) and take a picture of Daniel & the bridge. Alas, it poured rain all day, and while we didn't mind getting wet, Daniel had just recovered from an ear infection & the camera is not even a little bit waterproof. So what you're getting instead are some really cute pictures of Daniel in his rain coat, just before we headed out to go to our mums & babies coffee group.

9 months!

The Dumbo comparison is getting a little tricky. To get Daniel to stay in one spot for the photo I had to let him play his piano, resulting in a boy who was far more interested in playing than posing. Imagine that.

Big shoes to fill

Just when I think that Daniel is positively enormous, seeing him beside something like a pair of Keith's shoes reminds me of just how much more growing he has yet to do. Happy father's day!