Festival of Eagles

A couple weekends ago Canmore had it's annual Festival of Eagles where we got the chance to see a Golden Eagle and some different owls up close.  Last year we went as well and the boys were pretty timid about getting close to the owls.  On the drive over I explained to them what we were going to do and they were so excited.  They kept saying "I want to pet an owl, I want to pet an owl."  But then when the time came around they got a little stage fright...so I got to pet an owl.  Casey tried to be brave and he reached out with his finger and touched it for a split second.  Still a pretty neat thing to experience!

The Burrowing Owl

The Great Horned Owl

The Barn Owl

One Last Paddle

The leaves are in full colour and fall has arrived in the mountains but the sun keeps shinning as if it were still the middle of August.  It's been glorious.  Last week we took the canoe out to Upper Kananaskis Lake for what was probably our last paddle of the season. 

The water started out calm but it was a matter of minutes before the wind picked up and all of a sudden it seemed like more of an adventure than what we wanted.  Instead of battling against waves and wind to get to where we wanted to go, we cut over to the shore a little sooner and found a nice spot protected from the wind for our picnic lunch.

The boys had fun playing on the stumps...and I had fun taking their pictures.

Liam

Casey

The same stump also came in handy as a tri-pod to set the self timer... (a rare occasion to get all four of us in a photo!)

What a beautiful day it was.

From One Paradise To The Next...

On the last week of August we went on a family camping adventure set out to find one thing; a nice sandy beach.  There was no set destination or planned schedule (because where's the adventure in that?) we just took it day by day and ended up discovering our beach paradise just south of Nakusp (B.C.) in the West Kootenay's.  It was beautiful, quiet and just what we wanted.  Plus it had hotsprings!  Although I didn't get any pictures of our little adventure up to the hippy St. Leon springs.

There's too many photo's to share...if you'd like to see the full slide show version click here. :)

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Last week we got a little crafty and eco friendly too boot.  We turned a regular old milk carton into a beautifully handcrafted stream-worthy sailing vessel...

Liam pretty much claimed the boat as his own once we got down to the water.  You'd think a mother of twins would know by now to make two of such a thing (and that thought did cross my mind) but our time and resources were limited.  The reality of it was, Jack (the dog) was out on the deck banging his paws against the door begging to get out for a pee and in turn rushing our whole operation...That, and the fact that I only had one empty milk carton on hand.  Luckily Casey was fine with it...he had his car to keep him happy.

Nature Walk

Yesterday morning we finished off a carton of eggs which reminded me of a great little idea I saw on pinterest.  I painted each compartment of the carton a different colour and then cut it in half so Liam and Casey each had their own.  Then we headed outside for a nature walk to look for the colours in nature that matched the colours inside the egg cartons.

Nature Boys Liam and Casey

First we found something Purple...

"Showy Wood Aster"

 Then we found something green...

Grass and Clovers

And then we found something brown...

Only the "brown' was too big to fit into our little egg carton...I'm just glad we saw a brown elk and not a brown bear!

We called off the nature walk after seeing the elk to give them their space.  Maybe we'll try to find the rest of the colour's another day...