So whats happened since the last time I posted - it feels so long ago!
Zoo
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| zzzZZZZZZZZ! |
We visited Calgary Zoo while Alastair was still off work, It wasn't too busy and you could get pretty close to a lot of the animals. The animals here ranged from Tigers to Bears, Hippo's to Gorilla's. They are building a Penguin Plunge which will open next year - something to look forward to!
Canmore & Lake Louise
Whilst still in 'holiday mode' we were trying to get in as many outings as we could before our time would be spent packing, shopping and - getting back to "reality!" In two separate trips we went to Canmore and Lake Louise.
Photo's of Canmore:
Alastair and I have visited Lake Louise before, the last time we were here we and it looked like this:
And now I + Imogen & the lake looked like this!: (yes we are stood on a frozen lake!)
Whilst here we met with Matt (Alastair's Cousin) - He lives in a Log Cabin with the most amazing view from his living room window. As you can see the snow was still on the ground - but the sun was still shining!
House!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
As many of you may know Ally's and my birthday are close together. For my birthday this year we spent it in Banff, we revisited the spot that we got engaged and ate Elk burgers! yum yum, we also experienced the delight of bubble tea! hmmmm..... I think its a bit of a marmite thing!
For Alastair's Birthday we went to swimming to a rather impressive indoor water park and for - yup another burger yum yum!
Car
The day before Alastair's Birthday we bought our car- what a lovely gift for him! We now drive an SUV (welcome to Canada!)! in the form of an Nissan Murano, surprisingly for the size it is very easy to drive and because every one drives BIG vehicles out here you don't feel too big.
House!!!
We have a house! We moved in the weekend of 14th May to a lovely very spacious 3 bed, doubled garage, detached house in the community of Royal Oak in the NW of the city.
Across the road we have a lake, with some Muskrats and various birds. Either end of the street there is a play park (one with a pirate ship!) and round the corner a nature reserve. We have wild Jackrabbits (which is actually a Hare) running through our gardens. It is fun to watch but I'm sure we will find them a nuisance at some point! Our furniture should be here in the next week, so when we have set up I will upload some photo's, but for now enjoy the Jackrabbit in my front garden.
We waved goodbye to our temporary accommodation in Cochrane promising to visit and keep in touch and prepared ourselves for a few days with out internet and weeks with out TV!!! (this lasted 4 days until Ally cracked and bought a new TV).
Moving in was not without drama - firstly there was a mess up at the hire car company which meant us being delayed for nearly 3hrs and ending up with a pickup truck rather than the Ford transit like van we had originally ordered. Never less, off we went to Ikea to get a dining table and other moving in things, and then to The Brick to collect our glorious bed.
We drove in convoy (ally in the pick up, me following in the Murano) all the way across the city on many different freeways and junctions. It was on the last freeway, just before the last junction that the mattress and bed on the back of the pickup decided to fly off due to a massive gust of wind went sprawling across the freeway toward me and bringing traffic to a halt. No one was injured and people got out there cars to help which was really nice. We made it the rest of the way home safe and sound.
So that's it for now, but I would just like to say that despite the many snowy photo's in this blog it has not rained (apart from yesterday) in weeks and there also has not been snow on the ground in weeks! As I am typing this I am enjoying a drink on my deck whilst waiting for the BBQ to heat up!
Next time I post I want to include a bit more about the cultural differences here - like drivers stopping when you want to cross the road, even when you are not at a crossing and how you collect your post!
Moving in was not without drama - firstly there was a mess up at the hire car company which meant us being delayed for nearly 3hrs and ending up with a pickup truck rather than the Ford transit like van we had originally ordered. Never less, off we went to Ikea to get a dining table and other moving in things, and then to The Brick to collect our glorious bed.
We drove in convoy (ally in the pick up, me following in the Murano) all the way across the city on many different freeways and junctions. It was on the last freeway, just before the last junction that the mattress and bed on the back of the pickup decided to fly off due to a massive gust of wind went sprawling across the freeway toward me and bringing traffic to a halt. No one was injured and people got out there cars to help which was really nice. We made it the rest of the way home safe and sound.
So that's it for now, but I would just like to say that despite the many snowy photo's in this blog it has not rained (apart from yesterday) in weeks and there also has not been snow on the ground in weeks! As I am typing this I am enjoying a drink on my deck whilst waiting for the BBQ to heat up!
Next time I post I want to include a bit more about the cultural differences here - like drivers stopping when you want to cross the road, even when you are not at a crossing and how you collect your post!
