Bake fest..

Susannah has been having a total bake fest this week.  It is Spring Break here and amongst all our other activities, Susie has been making us all kinds of treats!!  Among other things, she has made Chocolate Tiffin (no bake chocolate cake), English Flapjacks (a type of oatmeal cookie) and these lovely cheesy hearts!!  They were just yummy!!!  I know she has a list of other things she wants to make before the weekend too - and we went shopping for the ingredients yesterday.

Yum, yum yum!!!

Geocaching at an old school site...

Today we went to find a geocache at the foundations of an old school.  The school stood there between 1908 and 1951.  Rhonda - do you recognise this sign???

It was a great cache to find in a fabulous location - so funny to think I've lived here so long and had no idea this location was even there!!  One of the best things about geocaching is that it has introduced us to all these little places that we would never have known about if it wasn't for geocaching!

This cache had some wonderful things in it - we traded three of our little items for one of theirs because their stash was so good - hopefully that means that if anyone goes there with something small then they can trade for something small too :)

Abby chose a compass/ whistle/ thermometer:

It was a great trek through the woods and a fun find - as  well as a little bit of local history!!!!

:)

Random Dozen...

1. How do you feel about the marshmallow Easter Peeps?  I think they are cute and look very sweet and 'Eastery' but I personally don't eat them - YUCK!!!  Some of my children like them and so we buy them....

2. Chickens are notoriously nervous creatures. When you are nervous, what is the best way to calm down?  Alcohol ;)  Or a soak in the bath...or holding Lloyds hand...having him there...

3. People say, "April showers bring May flowers." Do you enjoy Spring rains?  YES!!!  We rarely get rain - we live in a  drought area - we get some snow during winter - not as much as most parts of Canada though.  In the warmer months we get very little rain - the odd thunder storm but last year we didn't even really get that here - all the storms seemed to keep missing our place - our pond even dried up :(  I love the sound of rain and that smell after the rain - so fresh :)  Now when it rains I fling open the windows and listen to it :)  I love having a  wraparound porch as it means that no matter what direction the rain is falling, there is always somewhere outside I can sit without getting wet :)

4. When I was randomly flipping through TV channels this week, I saw a show in which tattoo parlor employees received tattoos of a co-worker's face on their bodies. I can't imagine having a portrait of a colleague tattooed on me. But if someone forced you to receive a portrait tattoo (face only) of anyone, who would it be? Why?  Hahahaha  ok um....I have to admit that I DID answer this to my husband but the answer is not suitable to put here - but did get a big laugh from both of us........

5. Would you rather have a tattoo (any kind) or a nose ring?  I've always quite fancied a tongue piercing but I suck my thumb so that kind of puts me off...I like the idea of a tongue piercing because it isn't obvious but you can show people and shock them - it's quite conservative but shocking too ;)


6. Do you have any special plans for Easter? A few... :)

7. Cadbury Eggs or Reese Eggs?  Eeew definitely Cadburys and NOT  Reeces!!

8. What was the last thing/person you took a picture of? About half an hour ago I took a picture of the children at our latest geocache site - and in particular a picture of Susannah by the sign of an old school site that closed down in 1951!!  It was really interesting!!

9. What book are you reading now, or what was the last one?  Still Alice.  Not sure what I will read next.  I am currently reading magazines.....

10. What do you think is the most difficult task when it comes to Spring cleaning? That frustrating feeling when you turn around and see it all dirty again - that feeling of 'why bother' - with 5 kids, two dogs....the dust, dirt etc never ends...you get the kitchen clean and you turn around and it's a mess again!  So I figure I may as well just keep it clean enough - and have fun and enjoy life instead ;)


11. How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?  I don't like flip flops - so NONE!!  I do love sandals though :)  Lovely strappy sandals :)

12. Which color makes you happiest?  Turquoise!!  The colour of swimming pools, the colour of the lakes in Banff and Jasper National Parks....it reminds me of Summer :)


Find your Random Dozen HERE

For today......

From The Simple Womans Daybook

Outside my window... It is sunny with blue skies and those lovely little puffy white clouds that move very fast - it's been very windy since last night.  I have several windows open as it is warm out, but the wind is very noisy through the house!  All the snow has now gone and the ground is dry except for Sams favourite puddle which always remains for a long time thankfully - he loves it so much.
I am thinking...how lovely it is listening to the girls giggling in the other room - they are playing Guess Who.  They are laughing away at something!  We've had a lovely day out and now they are playing a game in front of the tv and laughing so much.  Laurence and Sam are outside playing soccer and on the trampoline and with the dogs. It's been a good week.
I am thankful for... an early Spring.  An Easter with no snow - being able to hide the easter eggs in the woods again (it's been a few years since we've been able to do that - it's always too snowy or too wet!!) The ski hills are closing and the golf courses are opening!!
From the kitchen... the chicks are quickly outgrowing their 'nursery' in the corner of the kitchen, but are just oh so sweet!  Their chirps are just the cutest noise and the chicks that we thought were going to be white are no longer white - their white wings have changed to brown over night!!!  

I am wearing..shorts and a t shirt.
I am creating...numerous swaps for swapbot, haikus, various yarn projects, various art projects,  various little bits and pieces going on in my craft room - I've been playing about with my fragments - altering them ready to add them to things...
I am going..to breakfast with Val this morning and then out for a walk with the children this afternoon and I think Stacey is joining us!!
I am reading... this months FAB Cosmo magazine - if you haven't read it then GET IT!!  ;)
I am hoping...for good weather this weekend and a nice relaxing, fun family weekend :)
I am hearing...Global breakfast news and nothing else - everyone else is asleep (or not here - Laurence slept at a friends last night and Lloyd is at work)

Around the house...Not a lot was done this last week as we were away for the weekend and this week is Spring Break - the girls have been doing a lot of baking but we haven't done much else around the house...playing, crafting, relaxing.....those have been more important!
One of my favorite things...Attic 24 - the colours and language are sheer joy to the senses.
A few plans for the rest of the week...walks, seeing friends, geocaching with family and friends, hair appointments, date night, dinner with friends, the zoo, April Fools jokes, Easter egg painting, Easter egg hiding, family movie watching.......these are a few of our plans over the coming days...

A picture I'm sharing with you:  a stormy sky from a few days ago...there was a thunder storm brewing in the distance and we heard one clap of thunder - it ended up missing us completely, but the clouds were stunning to see!!

(some of this was written yesterday and some today)

Pink Saturday - thank you Ruth!!!

I was very fortunate to win the Pink Saturday contest on Ruth's Blog recently.  This gorgeous little mini album was my lovely prize and it arrived in my mail box yesterday all the way from London, England!!

Thank you so much Ruth!!!  I can't wait to fill it with special memories very soon!

PS I'm still working on my DH re the dancing lessons.....sigh.....

On Miriams Mound....

Chris on the top of 'Miriams Mound'

(Being a 16 year year old he of course found this hilarious and made numerous comments about being on Miriams Mound -comments which made his 14 year old brother snigger...so we of course took this picture of him and called him the nipple on Miriams Mound....):

Laurence with the cache that we found at Miriams Mound:

We followed the exact same trail back to the car BUT on the way back out we came across these fresh prints.  They were HUGE - much bigger than a dogs!!! Not sure what they were from but there have been numerous reports of wolf sightings in the area lately....probably not but not sure......any thoughts what animal they are????  I don't think they are bear prints as they are the wrong shape....and far too big to be a normal dog...we didn't see anything but we wonder if anything saw us ;)  There was a LOT of fresh animal poop along the trail of all shapes and sizes so we knew there was all kinds of animals in the area - it was a beautiful trail!  We didn't see anyone else around at all:

Can you see the bridge in the far distance??  (click on the picture to enlarge it if you like) It is where the road is and where we left our car to walk to Miriams Mound to find the geocache!!  At the far end of the lake.  Miriams Mound is the name given to the KAME  (a cone shaped pile of stone left by a glacier) by the couple who put the cache there - they named it after their Granddaughter.  

The view from the top of the Kame was amazing - but it was very high and very narrow on the top and the boys were threatening to push me off!!!  Lol:

The bridhe where the car was parked, that you can see from the kame above:

Walking the trails around Athabasca Falls...

One tree had fallen across the trail and was the perfect height to make a great tunnel for Sam to walk under:

and for Abby to hang from:

Lloyd threw a big stick into the river and we watched it go down the river:

We ran down to the top of the Falls and watched our stick tumble down the falls:

Athabasca Falls...

Part frozen, part flowing - TOTALLY beautiful!!!

We've been here several times in every season and it's always stunning!!!

Fascinating to read all the information boards around the site too!!

Wheeeeeeeeee!!!!

Play clothes?

On the fence...

iphone snapshots.....

The only bear we saw was this one outside a souvenir store - we asked in the information office and were told no bears have been seen yet this year - they are normally first seen from mid March but one have been reported yet....very odd considering this year has been VERY mild in Jasper - much milder than normal!!  I blame Lloyd - I never see them when I'm with him - always when he isn't around!!

Typical tourist shot - someone complained that we were looking like tourists - my point was that we WERE tourists... ;)

Posing outside the candy store:

suicidal dog (looked like it was going to jump lol):

Don't think Abby was wanting to be in this one:

Geocaching in Maligne Canyon

The stunning frozen waterfalls - Chris offered to climb over to take a closer picture - I declined his offer - there were plenty of footsteps in the snow and ice showing that many others had climbed over before - the canyon is popular amongst ice climbers and they even do many official ice walks here every day organized by the wardens - I would LOVE to do one of those one day!!!

Getting VERY close to the cache!!  Laurence and Chris were on the geocache app on the iphone:

Lloyd and Abby using the gps:

Susie with the cache!!!

The 150ft deep canyon:

Scenes from Jasper National Park....