Happy 10th Birthday, Mishka

Sarianova Lucky Fella turned 10 in human years on the 20th September, or 70 in dog years. Always has been a stubborn, playful, gentle, loyal and intelligent part of our family. Long may he continue thinking he's a teenager!  And just to think we almost didn't get him - he and his sister arrived as a complete surprise 24 hours after their other brother and sisters!

Canmore & Banff Camping Weekend

This weekend the weather forecast looked good, and as it might have been the last weekend of warm weather for some time, we took the opportunity to take Harvee the RV out to Canmore and Banff on Saturday and Sunday.
The weather wasn't quite as warm as we hoped, but Harvee stayed nice and warm and it was great to be able to set up quickly on Saturday afternoon and leave quickly on Sunday morning. Lara and I had a one-hour trail ride booked in Banff, a round-trip through forest and along the banks of the Bow River, and we took the opportunity to drive up to the Mount Norquay ski area to see how Harvee liked the hairpin bends (no problems) and to take some scenic photographs of the RV overlooking Banff.

Thanks, Baba! Спасибо, бабa!

Baba Luda has sent a couple of parcels over from Russia, and in one was a lovely bow-tie for Danil, he couldn't wait to wear it this morning to go to PreSchool.  Olga reported that he did feel a little self-conscious once there, as none of the other boys were wearing one, so it came off, but he looked so sweet while he was wearing it! Here he is practising some of the French words he knows.

Dan starts French Pre-School

Dan had his first morning at French Immersion Pre-School today - three mornings a week, playing games and doing crafts. The French part just means that the teachers will speak in French, there is no pressure on the kids to learn to speak it, but it just gets them ready for when they start French Immersion classes in school - next September in Dan's case, when he starts kindergarten - so they've heard plenty of French and won't be completely spooked by the whole thing.
He also got a new backpack, which he was very excited about too...

Cabo dodges a Hurricane

Our new favourite foreign holiday destination - Cabo San Lucas in Mexico's Baja peninsula - dodged much damage from Hurricane Newton yesterday, which we're pleased about. We had a great time there last February, and will be going back for a week next February - it's a very Calgarian thing to head off to the sun during the worst of the winter!
This was the view of the sea battering two large sea stacks at Cabo during a hurricane in 2013

For scale, here is the right-hand one of those stacks during our trip in February, they are huge, and the waves were breaking over the top of them, apparently.