sadness and thankfulness

shocked over the news today.

{photos from CTV and Global News}

it isn't unusual to hear of fires in the vicinity of Slave Lake. northern Alberta has many forests and is susceptible to fires. i believe the initial fire was small enough that it did not really make any local news here. from what i understand it didn't concern the residents of the area a whole lot either, because it was small. for the last half of the week we have all had very strong winds, 30-50 km/hr. yesterday it was even worse. apparently they were experiencing gusts of up to 100km/hr which had disastrous results.

thankfully there are no reports of injuries or death. however many families have lost their homes. there was very little warning to the residents. i could guess that everyone has a respect for forest fires and the ability to change very quickly.

{arial view of destroyed homes. photo from ctv}

i had caught some details on facebook last night, but had no idea the situation was so terrible. some reports are that 40% of Slave Lake is burned to the ground. buildings such as the library and only radio station are gone. the news reports that various highways had been closed during the weekend and residents only had a few ways to actually flee the area. 

the story is that there was not even a formal evacuation order. it moved that quickly. it really is a miracle that the situation has not been worse.

i came across a blog that has phone numbers and addresses for donations or locating residents now displaced. 

Slave Lake was one of our favourite places to camp with our kids. 

the lake is so big and there are many campgrounds on the shoreline.

there was a section of land that had been burned by Chisholm in 2001. last summer you could see that growth of vegetation was visible while driving by enroute to our campground on Slave Lake. however you could still see how devastating it was.

sad to hear of more devastation. terribly sad for those who have lost their homes. thankful that lives have not been lost. hope that the fire is soon under control.

anticipation

the sun has been shining for a few weeks now.

do i dare say that this spring, the weather seems to be more normal?!

in the past few years, we've had a few super nice days....then the weather starts to act like fall....with strong cold winds and dark clouds. sadly the weather just couldn't turn back to sunshine and get some good, long-standing warmth back! making us endure some long and yucky summers.






i've been looking at some summer photos from years past the last few weeks. talk about entering nostalgia....oh. my. realizing how much our kids have grown in the past few years. given the number of outgrown clothes....bags of new and bigger sizes coming into the house...this is no surprise. the surprise is in looking back at great memories.

i am so thankful for the number of photos we have. there are still other memories that don't have a photo to go with it. i love looking at the kids expressions. the smiles. the grumpy frowns. the ecstatic grins.

we are coming up to our 2 year anniversary of our "big move". i see it as a major landmark for the kids. Aidan's move from preschool to kindergarten. Kiara's move from being just a toddler to a preschool kid. at the time THREE years old seemed like such an old age.....now it just seems so young! one of our new neighbours had just had a baby when we moved in. she is now 25 months old. it is still shocking to all of us that Kiara was only 8 months older when we moved here.

i am a completely visual person. i really have to see it myself in order to understand. {one of the reasons i stayed far away from any scientific field!!}

to see this little girl and think of her as a baby....then to look at my big girl and think of her as a little girl. and to realize how little she was when we moved. comparing what our wee neighbour is doing and what Kiara was doing that summer. then to think of the changes in the next few years. this "baby" will be out on the walking trail with the rest of the girls and playing together happily. {well....as happy as kids can be for periods of time!} at that time it won't be as obvious of the age gap between them.

it makes me thankful for the different activities we all did together. especially when i think back to how busy the days were!

randomness

this poor blog gets so neglected these days. sigh.

there were TWO hills of snow in our backyard for the last {and final!} part of winter. hills? hmmm.... no. MOUNTAINS!

it was the best part about the winter. it's doubtful {i hope!} that we will have sled-worthy hills in our backyard again.

but then the snow melted.

the worst part about winter in the prairies....i've always said...is the kids get all excited thinking about snowmen. however the snow is so dry that putting a snowman together takes patience at the best of times. other times it is not even possible.




initially i had no idea why they had scattered the snowman hat and buttons on the pile of melting snow. then i actually looked at it from the right angle. my kids are hilarious!! this is so definitely going in their scrapbooks. {when i have the courage to scrapbook winter again.}

don't you love how there is a bike in the photo as well? only in Edmonton.



the kids are outgrowing bikes like pants these days. Kiara took a trial run to see how she would do without training wheels. if she could have focused, that would have helped. it also didn't help that she hit the brakes whenever Kris let go of her!

it is kind of interesting. Aidan totally breathes cycling. Kiara enjoys it. just not to the same level. in this way, the kids are the mirror images of their parents.



this was the nasty surprise of the season. note that we did put on a plastic bark protector. never would we have guessed that the snow level would be so high and cause some issues.

the culprit? Killer Bunny!



they didn't just rip off part of the bark. they ripped the trunk to shreds!

bunnies are no longer considered cute and funny in our home. they now get yelled at and run off the property. ha!

what is with the bunnies down here? we always found a bunny in our central city yard....never did they do any damage. it was the squirrels who caused the problems. maybe we need more squirrels?

so much for getting a few apples this year. i told Kristian that it would probably bear terrible and sour apples anyway. that stopped his tears for a few hours.

since this is just a random post. here is a total change in topic...



2 months ago i spent a day putting a scrapbook class kit together. Kiara was home. she wanted to help. actually she was a great help. i had bingo numbers and pins and brads for her to sort, then put into bags. it was awesome! for both of us. she got to practice counting. and sorting. then she had the fun to put it all into bags for me. she must have worked for an hour on it. i could have done it in less time, but i was beside her working on other parts of the kit. in reality she totally saved me some time.

it was a massive kit to assemble. Kristian and Aidan - and Kiara again - helped me a few days later with the rest of it. apparently they enjoyed it. Kristian and Kiara enjoyed it enough to help me last month. you can see the pile of filmstrip ribbon that was waiting to be cut and added.



this time around, the work for Kiara was much less. i think she knew it.



i do think she loves this embellishment as much as i do!

i thought i had created a simpler kit to assemble. sigh. so far from the truth. but it was fun to have help. it's fun to chat and let my family share in my work.


i am FINALLY taking time for myself to exercise. i find it hard to believe that i once had the strength and endurance to run a half-marathon. complete short triathlons. never fast {right, Carol!} but at least i could complete them...and manage to improve a bit. i have joined up in a Core Strength and Balance class. i should have been doing this long ago. better late than never! now to add in the running.

i was pretty good when Aidan was younger. it was Kiara who hated being squished inside the running stroller. it came to a point that i dreaded taking them out....it was not a matter of "if" there were tears....it was always "when".

my last run with the two of them had me at a poorly planned night race at Hawrelak Park. Aidan wanting to run, but totally slow. Kiara screaming. then Aidan screaming when i told him he had to be a passenger. i ran half the distance, with several runners lapping me. then discovered that all 3 tires were out of air. how i missed that earlier, i'll never know. surprising how i found that discouraging?! it was a course that involved 2 laps around the lake. i stopped halfway. i was nearly out of energy and completely out of patience!

in all the irony...it is Kiara who will point out my jiggles.