Junior Rangers

 We were finally able to go to Junior Rangers this week because it didn't interfere with Lacrosse.

 The kids learned about shelters and built one. They decorated it when they were done and some of the kids brought in a log to sit on. They had their snack in the shelter (provided for free) and they got to see and touch animals. They were given different types of fir and other animals.

 They freely explored the area. Zoe liked this plant.

 This is a tree I've seen often. There is one in our yard. I'm not sure what it is but the flowers on it smell amazing.

The kids got to search for insects with a magnifying glass and a little container. The leaders showed them different signs of insects and talked about what each insect does. 

They also got to play hide and seek, freeze tag, and follow the leader. It was a fun two hours in the trees and it was free. I'm glad we learned about it from a friend. We met new friends and hope to meet more next week when more families show up. This week was a smaller class.

Homeschool Sport Ball

 We signed up for a sport called SportBall in our area. We never heard of it until we moved here but are glad we found out about it. The kids love it!! Basically it's mixing up different sporting items to learn about sports that have balls. The kids learn about equipment, and skills for each sport. 

They had special guests last week from the pro basketball team as well, which was a treat. I didn't know about it before we left home so I didn't have a camera for that. 

This week the class was smaller due to the long weekend so it was easier to get clear shots of the kids.

 This week the kids learned about golf. As you can see they use nontraditional items sometimes to learn the skills from that sport.

 It's the type of physical fitness that Zoe likes as well. It caters to both of their interests and is so much fun!

 I couldn't resist sharing this shot of her jumping.

 Sometimes it can get creative. They were riding sea horses in between shots and here they had to design a putting green and then they had to try them all out and see if they could get the ball from the red hoop and into the green hoop in just one hit. This one Austyn and his partner made.

This one Zoe made with her partner.

It's basically physical education on steroids. The kids get to use all of their energy and have a ton of fun while learning about sports. Another focus is on positive thinking. At the end of each class they do an optimistic cheer before they go home. The coach is amazing and appears to truly love his job and he really enjoys the company of these kids.

The Calgary Zoo

 When we lived in Calgary, we had a year pass to the Zoo. It was the only thing that I missed when we went back to Ontario. It was nice to visit again. There were some changes that I wasn't prepared for. I had told Austyn some of the things he'd see and a few of those things were either closed or gone altogether. It was still a wonderful visit.

 We went to the Canadian section first since we missed out on some wildlife viewings the day before in Banff. 

 The kids wanted to see the bears.

 This bear looked way too cuddly napping there on the rock.

 We went to see the African animals and it wasn't surprising that Austyn loved this little guy the best. This is a hooded vulture.

 The hippo was hungry.

 I don't remember what kind of lizard this is but loved the pose.

 We listened in when the zoo keeper talked about the gorillas. This is an older female resting in the shade.

 In the Australian exhibit the kids jumped in this pouch for a picture.

 This Kangaroo was out and about.

 The bearded dragon was just about the largest one I've ever seen.

 This is a tree kangaroo.

 The bats were hanging there sleeping. They looked all snug, wrapped up in their wings.

 I recognized this bird. It's a kookaburra. 

This picture is of the dinosaur area of the zoo. Alberta is known for the dinosaur digs. Some of the dinosaur names reflect the location they were found. One is edmontosaurus and another is albertosaurus.

I didn't get any good pictures of the Asian area. This is probably due to a tired little girl who needed to be picked up a great deal. 

We lucked out with the weather since the whole weekend looked like rain before we arrived. We had a great time!

this moment - Dinosaur Food

{this moment}

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you would like to see what others have posted or if you would like to join in here is the link to SouleMama's Blog:
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2011/01/this-moment.html

Finally Saw Mountains!

 We've been here in Alberta for months and the kids don't remember seeing mountains when we lived here before. Jasper is too long of a drive from Edmonton to just skip over and see on a regular weekend. As the long weekend approached we decided that we were overdue. For our Calgary trip we decided to drive to Banff.

 Austyn loved the drive and found everything so interesting but Zoe is still a bit young. She just wanted to stay in the hotel and swim. Each time we stopped to look at something she started to get more into the trip though.

 This is a little park that we have stopped at before. It's located just on the inside of the Banff entrance. These holes were all over the ground. Not sure if they are from gophers?

 When we were here before the little lake and stream in front of us was full of water and it looked like glass. This time it was almost empty, exposing the bottom. It's a huge difference from the beautiful picture hanging on my mother's bathroom wall from her trip here.

 Signs of the hard winter are everywhere. The snow fall was more than usual this year. The trails were snow covered and there were still avalanche warnings on the radio.

 It turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was warm, and there was hardly any wind.

 This is the bottom of the little lake, exposed. .It looks like some sort of plant life use to live on the bottom. It seems strange that it is dried up with so much snow this year.

 This is the Ice Explorer. We hope to visit when the kids are a bit older and go on this specially built bus. It takes passengers to the ice fields. Hopefully they are not all melted by the time we get to visit.

 We took a ride up Sulfur Mountain in a gondola. 

 The views were amazing!

 It took us up over 7000 feet!

 We had lunch with a view!

 There were many mountain illustrations to look at with names of the peaks and information.

 This is an optional hiking path that some people took. It's on this cliff and seemed too scary for us. 

 This is how high the snow still is up on the mountain. You would never know it by the nice weather that day. This picture was at the top of the hiking path, located at the top of the mountain. It leads to a special tower that was used in the past to monitor radiation that showers down on earth all the time from space. We learned that they believe that it changes our DNA and could be involved in the process of evolution.

 The view of the mountains from the tree line is different from the view from the valleys. 

 I was excited to see wildlife and had my head hung out the window most of the drive. After previous trips here from when we lived in Alberta before, I remember all of the beautiful animals we saw. This trip we didn't see much. Just a few interesting birds and chipmunks. I hope that this isn't a sign that the populations are dropping.

I found the moss hanging off of all of the trees so interesting.

 We showed the kids the hot spring and talked about what hot springs are.

This cool spider was ready to capture his victim.

We went to the main street to check out the shops before heading back to Calgary. Of course I had to take a picture of this hot rod that pulled up.

Weekend in Calgary

 On the Victoria Long Weekend we took advantage of the second only weekend we've had free since we've lived in Alberta. We usually have sports or work that interferes with our weekends and we can't go away. This time we drove to Calgary. It's been a few years since we've lived there and it was interesting how much we remembered and how familiar it all felt. The city has changed a bit. 

 The hotel we stayed at had a water slide that we used when we were there.

Zoe's favourite part of the trip was the water slide.

We visited Banff the first day and then the zoo the second day. Other posts to follow...