Act Three

L has really enjoyed his summer. He has spent lots of time with his cousins, his uncles and aunts, and his grandparents. I think his life is going to feel pretty empty to him when he finds himself back in Massachusetts next week. On Wednesday, he again enjoyed the company of his cousins, this time at Kilcona Park. Aunt K even managed to get everyone to cooperate for a picture.

Yesterday, the real date of Grandpa’s birthday, we had another “party” for Grandpa. This party came complete with a little bit of outdoor fun with water. It took L a while to warm up to the idea of playing in the water, but eventually he was having as much fun as his cousins were.

At dusk, everyone went for a walk. L was in heaven. Nowhere are there more small stones to pick up and play with than on a gravel road. And nowhere are there more small wildflowers to smell than at the side of a gravel road.

L keeps on changing every day. The latest change in his behaviour showed up while we were in Calgary; when he noticed a camera pointed in his direction, he would turn, smile, and give the camera a big wave. While this is cute and all, it makes the “natural” shot much harder to get.

Today, we had family over to celebrate Grandpa’s 60th birthday.

Today, we got up bright and early so that we could go to the Stampede breakfast put on in CP Rail’s office building. (Aunt I works at CP Rail.)

After enjoying some pancakes and coffee, we headed off to the Calgary Zoo. (We debated for a while, wondering whether we should make an appearance at the Stampede. In the end, the exotic animals won out over bucking broncos and bulls.)

On Monday morning, we flew to Calgary to visit Aunt Ivy for a few days. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with Aunt I. In the evening, we caught up with some cousins who happened to be spending the month in Calgary.

Today, we got up early so we could make a trip into the mountains. We decided on a hiking trail, loaded up Aunt I’s Honda, and headed out. Although the guide warned us that getting to the trailhead might be a challenge, we decided to try it anyway. After doing some off-roading with the Honda, we came up to a rocky riverbed and we realized we had driven about as far as we could go.

The next challenge was finding the trailhead on foot. We walked around for about a half hour before we came across a horse trail. It was the most promising trail we had come across, so we decided to follow it.

About an hour later, we discovered why the horse trail was so well worn; apparently, it is used regularly enough by an outfitting company for them to build a quasi-permanent camp complete with corrals and buildings in which to store extra hay. We decided to use one of their picnic tables to have lunch.

After lunch, we decided to backtrack and see if we could find the trail we had come to hike; the guidebook had said something about some lakes and some interesting rock formations, none of which he had yet come across. Finally, after wandering about in the woods for about 3 hours, we came across the sign indicating the trail we were looking for. Hurray! We decided we still had enough energy to follow the trail to the first of the lakes it was supposed to take us too. After hiking another half hour, the trail disappeared under a giant puddle of water. We gave up and headed back to our vehicle. Even though we didn’t see the things we set out to see, we decided that our afternoon had been well-spent. It would have been criminal to complain after spending a few hours looking at views like the one below.

We’ve been enjoying our summer in Manitoba. I’ve been working on a paper. Pam has been puttering around the house. And L has been keeping himself busy. I think he has learned something from his parents.

L has also been enjoying some quality time with his extended family on the farm. Here one of his Grandpas is teaching him how to kick a ball.

He has even found some time to pester the farm dog. L thought the dog would look good wearing a baseball cap. The dog didn’t agree with him. Here the dog is trying to get away.

Two days after the target completion date, our backyard contains a new deck. The project had its challenges, not the least of which was trying to get some work done while L was in the vicinity.

Here L is posing on the finished product. He’s already acquainted himself with the new deck by rolling down the stairs in front of the patio doors. The pigeons nesting on the neighbour’s house have also “christened” the deck–I need a paintball gun! And this morning, I was able to enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the morning sun. I’m a fan of the deck already.

PS. I’m also proud of it. I think it turned out quite well.

Determined to get something done yesterday, I worked through the rains … all five of them. It made things muddy. The mud in our backyard is sticky, so I spent most of the day with oversized and heavy boots. At the end of the day, when my back was talking to me loudly enough for me to listen to it, I had the beams for the deck completed.

This morning, I was out there early, hoping to get in a few hours before the rain. After outlasting another short downpour, I managed to get the deck ready for the floor.