Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Stampede....take two

I have a friend who had a baby a week after I did who I meet up with once a week.  Its been the perfect arrangement since we pushed ourselves to get out with newborns, worked through teething and sleep issues together, tried out new places with the kids, etc.  This week, we definitely pushed ourselves and decided to make our weekly outing a trip to the Stampede.

The day started beautifully with lots of sun.  We met early in the morning and even got some awesome reasonably priced parking close to the entrance.  Unfortunately, the reason why we got such amazing parking was that we got there at 9:30 and then found out as we got in line that the grounds don't open until 11:00 on days that aren't Family Day.  Whoops!  Anyway, after standing in line in the sun for a bit, we finally made it into the grounds and started the day.

We did a ton of things and my feet were aching by the end of the day.  We saw all the livestock and went to the animal discovery centre where the kids loved the baby chicks.  Afterwards we ate lunch and other tasty treats and the kids got their picture taken in Stampede gear for free.  Near the lunch area there was a kids play area with face painting, games, a clown show, and bouncy castles which was all free.  The kids were a bit young for those things but it was nice to see that there were things to do for small kids for future trips.  Since we were about an hour ahead of the crowd due to our early start, the place was nearly empty so we tried putting the kids in the bouncy castle.  They didn't bounce at all and just held on tight and looked around but I think from the huge smiles on their faces that they had a good time.

We didn't try any of the shows this year even though I'm a die hard Superdogs fan.  We would have had to leave the strollers in a parking area that didn't look all that secure and the crowds were insane to get in.  We weren't sure that the kids would sit through a show that long anyway so decided to save it for another time.

The only real hassles from the day were the heat, the crowds (it's been raining all week and this is the first nice day so people were out in full force), and the lack of changing areas for the babies.  I ended up changing Isla in the stroller because of the lines for the bathrooms.  We did end up finding some more change areas in the art display area later on in the day but by then we didn't need them.  In the end, we were tired and hot but the day was a success and I'm sure we'll be going back again next year.

Location: Calgary Stampede Grounds
Cost:  $14 admission (you can save $3 with 4 Dentyne Ice packages, which we did), kids under 7 are free
Gear for Isla: Stroller (we have our Bumbleride Indie which was awesome), Carrier (we have a BabyHawk) for naps, Hat, Sunscreen, Water in a sippy cup, stuff for lunch, a bottle of water for me, lots of Cheerios, a blanket to put over the stroller to block the sun a bit, and a camera to capture those first moments.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Pancakes and horses.....it must be Stampede

Every year in July, Calgary is overwhelmed with cowboys and cowgirls (some a little less authentic than others) for 10 days of rodeo, exibitions, rides, fireworks, and pancake breakfasts.  Most years I try to get out to at least some of the festivities even though I'm not a huge fan of crowds.  The breakfasts are the best place to go since you get free pancakes and sausage.

This year my in-laws were volunteering at a big breakfast in their neighborhood and they invited us to come down and check it out.  There were bands, pony rides for the kids, a lassoo station, a petting zoo, and (of course) the prerequisite pancakes and sausage.  Isla enjoyed her first taste of pancakes, which she loved and we all had a really fun morning.  She was a little young for all the kids activities but liked to look at the horses.  Maybe next year she'll be on there riding.

Location: Signal Hill pancake breakfast
Cost: Free other than a donation of your choice to the Calgary Food Bank
Gear for Isla: We didn't have any Stampede gear so I settled for a "country" looking dress.  Grandpa provided the Cowboy hat. 

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Cake Adventure....

....also known in our house as "what was I thinking?". 

I'm going to start off by saying that this adventure was a total failure and I will not be repeating it any time soon.

 It all started with the fact that I'm cheap like borscht (actually with the price of farmers market veggies lately, borscht isn't all that cheap anymore but whatever, you get the point).  I'm obsessed with getting deals and clipping coupons, to the point where I will lament for hours if I find something at a cheaper price than I bought it or I forgot to use my coupon.  I think it would drive any spouse up the bend but fortunately Dave is as cheap as I am so we both live happily in our frugal empire.

Since I'm so cheap (and partly due to sentimental reasons), I decided that I wanted to make Isla's birthday cake this year for her first birthday.  I figured I've watched enough cake shows on the Food Network that I could easily do something simple myself. We're planning on having a low key BBQ for our family and some close friends so I figured that even if I was a bit of an amateur in the cake decorating business (I'm a good baker but I never bother to decorate), they would be fairly forgiving of any small flaws.  The theme of the party is garden party so I looked on-line and found a lovely picture of a rectangle cake with flowers on it made out of candies.  It sounded perfect for me since I'm a total newbie to any kind of icing (we just don't eat icing in our house) and the less icing the better.

Dave, in his ultimate wisdom, convinced me to try baking and decorating a cake in advance to make sure that we wouldn't have any last minute disasters; so this past Friday, while Isla was asleep for her afternoon nap, I pulled out my new rectangle cake pan and set to work. 

I think we will be buying a cake for Isla's birthday.  :o)  The cake part turned out fine and both the icing and the cake taste delicious but that's all I can really say that's postive about my efforts.  Apparently icing a cake is much harder than I thought and my efforts look pathetic.  I then decided to get creative with my never used icing applicator (that I've had for at least 5 years) and do some decorating.  Despite my initial faith in my artistic abilities (my dad is a wonderful artist and I figured there had to be some genetic material passed on to me), I can't even write in a straight line. 

Fortunately for us, I made this attempt several weeks before the actual date of the party so I have plenty of time to order something from the professionals.  Dave and I also have a lovely huge cake to enjoy this weekend along with our farmer's market goodies so I'm not complaining about that either. Now, without any further introduction, here is a photo of my lovely effort:




Location: My kitchen
Cost: $5 for a new rectangular cake pan, $2 for food colouring, about $10 for all the ingredients for the cake and icing.
Gear for Isla: Forunately she was sleeping for this effort so she was spared my colourful language as I decorated the cake and I didn't need any gear for her.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Canada Day

Two years ago, Dave and I went on a tour of Eastern Canada.  We started in Quebec City for their 200 year celebration, then went to Montreal for the Jazz Festival, after that we took the train to Ottawa for Canada Day.  Later we flew to Halifax where we spent several days touring Nova Scotia and PEI by car.  It was an amazing trip.

Out of all the fun things we did, though, both Dave and I agreed that Ottawa was our favourite city. I had been there for Canada Day once before but Dave was a newbie to the city and we had a great time discovering (and rediscovering for me) all the city had to offer.  The Canada Day celebration was the icing on the cake.  We saw concerts, did tours of places, ate tons of delicious food, marveled at the hundreds of thousands of people that were out in the streets, and then finally capped off the day with a fantastic fireworks show. 

This year was a little less exotic but not any less fun.  We met up with friends that have a son the same age as Isla and headed to Prince's Island Park downtown.  There were a bunch of concerts, several kids activities (which our babies were a little young for but they should be able to do in future years), lots of multicultural demonstrations, and some tasty food.  We didn't go too crazy with trying to do everything but instead just enjoyed some time with the kids on the grass by one of the stages.  Afterward we walked around a bit and then played in the splash park in Eau Claire.  There were no fireworks for us this year since we figured that it would be too much for Isla.  Since I'm a huge fan of fireworks, I'm looking forward to the days when she thinks they're great too.

Location: Prince's Island Park, Calgary
Cost: The events were all free.
Gear for Isla: I didn't have a Canada t-shirt for Isla so we settled on her Montreal Canadiens shirt instead.  We also had a hat, sunscreen, stroller, lots of cheerios, and a camera.  The free paper Canada flags were also a huge hit as a chew toy.