Since we've moved to Calgary and saw the sign "Home of the Calgary Stampede," I've been thinking we should go. We should experience it, at least once. Calista even knows what it is, because in her ABCs of Canada book, letter C is "for Calgary Stampede, days of rodeo fun." So this year we went.
Waiting for the train.
We took the train, and then walked the rest of the way when the train was way too full to fit a stroller. While on our walk, Craig fell asleep. Poor kiddo, he's folded in half!
Good thing he's strapped in!
When we got inside, the first thing we found was the stage show: My Little Ponies: Equestria Girls. Calista (who hates if I sing, "My little pony, funny bologna.....") wanted to watch it, so we let her join the gaggle of girls standing enthralled at the edge of the stage.
Following the show, the girl who played the lead (Twilight Sparkle, for those keeping track at home), gave little "pony ears" and got her picture taken with every little girl who stood in line.
Including Calista, obviously.
Craig got to try them on, too, once he woke up from his nap.
Next up, lunch on the lawn followed by a trip to the Agricultural Building.
And dressed up as a fire fighter, because we can.
We spent nearly all the afternoon in this section of things, seeing all sorts of animals, including horses,
These ones drove around the hearse from the 1870's
cows, sheep,
chickens, dogs herding ducks, and a llama.
It was actually really cool. I took this picture of Calista with the llama, and then the llama's handler said, "Come here," picked her up, and let me take a picture of her right next to the llama.
So awesome.
Craig's favorites were the horses ("horseys!") but he liked all the animals.
And dancing. Always dancing.
Also, just for my sister,
This is a picture of Kaillie Humphries, a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in bobsleigh, being taught how to blacksmith by her sister, who is actually a blacksmith.
Then we headed across the grounds a bit to see Little Ray's Reptile show. It was awesome.
The animals are all former pets who got too big for their owners. I'm not sure who would want a crocodile as a pet, but...
Fiona (the Caiman) sure is pretty.
When we went to leave the reptile show, we realized we'd missed out on a pretty decent summer storm.
Hail and massive amounts of rain left little rivers running through the Stampede grounds and caused weather delays on a couple of events.
We missed it, though, and grabbed some food and headed back to the Agricultural side.
We caught the end of the Heavy Horse Show and then watched as much of the Stock Dog World Championships as our kids would let us.
Calista and Craig were fascinated with it for a while, Craig happily pointing out the sheep ("Animals!") and Calista hoping with the rest of the audience that those stinkin' sheep would just get into that dang pen already! ("Yay! That dog did it! Yay!" or "Oh no, he's going to run out of time!")
After an hour and a half of stock dogs, our kiddos were about done and we headed home, and the kiddos went straight to bed. It was a long and fun day!
Obviously, one of the big reasons we went on our road trip was to see family. Loradona herself was a huge draw, since I hadn't seen her since she left on her mission (and she'd never met Craig!), and my parents were fantastic. But when we had the chance to spend the day with my cousin Mariana, we jumped at the chance... and took a trip to the zoo.
With Aunt Loradona, too, of course!
Calista was begging to see the polar bears from the moment we got there. We don't have polar bears at the zoo in Calgary, so she enjoyed seeing them. And growling.
Craig didn't pay attention to the polar bears, because Kyler's hair is more interesting.
We saw basically everything, which is what you do when you don't have a zoo pass!
I especially liked the ocean/Stellar Cove area, I think mostly because there aren't really aquariums in Calgary.
Waiting for the water spout.
With the Sea Lion.
Climbing through logs.
Everywhere Calista saw the word "zoo," she would announce loudly, and repeatedly, "Z-O-O! That spells zoo!"
Calista letting Craig be taller than her!
Because he was almost walking, at a number of the exhibits we let Craig out to get a closer look at the animals.
Like the crocodile.
My favorite moment of the trip was when we were at the condors. They were so interested in Craig.
The zookeeper thought it was because they thought he might be a condor - he had a black jacket and is about the right size... hopefully they wanted him to join them, not just to eat him.
My second favorite was seeing the little pygmy goats, Because it was winter, their exhibit was "closed," which means you can't go in and pet them, but they are still out in the yard if they want to be, and so we were able to see and pet them.
Calista thought it was so funny that they'd kiss her hand or something. Craig had to be convinced a bit to touch them.
Once he did, every time he'd touch one and the pull his hand quickly away, giggling.
And an honorable mention for my favorite moment of the zoo trip: In the aviary, one of the birds (a hamerhop), flew right down next to Calista.
She listened to us when we told her to stay still and not go towards it, and it hung around for a few seconds (long enough to take a picture, at least!), before moving on.
I'm pretty sure the highlight of the trip for Calista ended up being Marianna.
They were best buds.
PLUS, after we were finished with the zoo, we went out to eat with the whole family and got lots of yummy food... ahh, Mongolian Grill...
So, remember how we got a pass to the dinosaur museum for Christmas (Thanks, Cliffy!)? The last weekend in May, we went up for a third time. This one was a little different, though, because it was the first time we've gone when there wasn't snow on the ground! Yay! This means it's the first time we got to do anything outside, which in turn means that I need to blog about it. Obviously.
We started off by doing a short (1 kilometer) interpretive hike of the badlands outside the museum. Calista walked the whole way (I strong! she says), and Craig got carried like the baby he is.
Poor Craig, borrowing his sister's too big (pink) hat... it kept falling into his face.
It was a beautiful day to do the hike, warm but not hot (because the badlands can get HOT), slightly overcast with a very mild breeze... so pleasant!
The hike itself was beautiful and fun.
See? Beautiful.
We taught Calista that the striped rock is called...
Sedimentary rock!
(So, for those keeping track at home, we have a future pianist, paleontologist, geologist over here).
Definitely fun.
By the end of the hike, Calista was ready for a break. So we went to the outdoor picnic area and had lunch, tried not to feed the gophers/prairie dogs (unsuccessful),
or let them eat Craig (mostly successful),
and let Calista play on an awesome play structure.
Complete with a dinosaur "skeleton" you could discover.
Lastly, we went through the actual museum and then headed home. My updated review of Royal Tyrell Museum? Come visit us and let's go see dinosaurs together (inside and outside!).
In honor of and sadness about the Calgary Zoo being flooded and thus closed the next two weeks,* I present "Conversations with Calista:"
'Po! 'Po! Two 'po!
Yes, there are 2 hippos at the zoo.
RAAAAH! Ohne, two RAAAAH!
Yes, there are two girl lions in front of us. And what's over there? RAAAAH! Ohne, two RAAAAH!
Yes, 2 boys lions! How many does lions does that make? .........
Four! 1, 2, 3, 4! Can you count to four? ........
Keacock! Keacock! KEACOCK!
Yes, that's a peacock.
Calista loves the zoo!
*Yes, Calgary is flooded! Downtown and about 25 neighborhoods got evacuated - about 75,000 people. We are fine since we are further away from the river. The zoo, which has a bridge spanning the river connecting the two main areas, was not so lucky. All of the animals are fine and uninjured, though. Oh, the zookeepers, too! Exhausted, I'm sure, but fine. So in two weeks or so whenever the zoo opens again, we will go and celebrate/support them!
Last week, I finally bought myself a zoo pass. I did the math: if I go three times in the year, I'll break even. If I go more, well... yay for going to the zoo for free!
So last week and this week, we have gone to the zoo.
And Calista loves it.
She spends a lot of time pointing, like this.
At the bison...
At the heron...
At the penguin...
At the hippo...
At the condor...
If she can point to it, she will.
We are having so much fun going to the zoo and seeing all the animals. Her favorites last week were the bison, giraffes, and penguins. This week, it was the giraffes, elephants, and lions.
She's getting pretty good at saying "giraffe," although her way sounds more like just "affe."
Calista also roars like a lion every time she sees one, real or a picture, or if you say the word.
And elephants... she has started sticking out her tongue. I think it's to be a trunk? She does it every time, so it obviously means something...
The gorillas and peacocks she's not a huge fan of.
While we were watching the gorillas, one came over next to the window where we were, and she backed up and climbed on a bench to get away.
When we encountered a peacock, she wouldn't walk around it or be near it. Instead, she got into the stroller and I was able to protect her.
I'm excited to go to the zoo, hopefully once a week, and let Calista run around, play, explore, and have a good time. And it means I get a bit of a work out, too...!
Kyler and Jeanette got married on the 25th of August 2007, after knowing each other for four years and being each other's rebound date. It's a healthy relationship.
