settling in...

 

It didn't take Rosie long to settle in to the hotel room and make herself comfortable on my bed.  She was my little shadow the whole weekend and didn't leave my side, even when I went for a bath :)  She was as good as gold the WHOLE time.  Not one bark the whole time we were gone...never once ran off - actually she never does anyway...even off leash she always stick like glue to our sides...and she got adoring hellos from everyone we met - frequently people asked if they could pet her :)  The receptionist even asked f she could pet her and give her a treat :)  

After being told no once, Rosie even ignored the bunnies that hop about all over the place in Canmore :)  She was a total dream to take on a trip :)

Snapshots from hiking...

Frozen iced up steps to Grassi Lakes....

The reason we had to turn back and head down the trail and back up the other trail to the Grassi Lakes....there was no way to get beyond the waterfall view:

Grassi Lakes, Canmore

Today we hiked up to Grassi Lakes TWICE!!!  :)  First we took the more difficult trail which is much prettier and more fun...actually an easier trail to hike on your legs, but is narrower and you have to cross some small waterfalls and climb stairs which were completely iced up today (hence us walking back down to the car and then back up the easier (more tiring) trail..... In all its about 7km or so...of uneven/ uncleared pathways.  

We have hiked up to the lakes a few times before but always in the Summer, and we were really keen to see them in the snow.  It was well worth the climb even if we had to do it twice :)  

Friday fill ins!!

And...here we go! 

1. In the near darkness I can hear drip, drip, drip from melting snow off of the roof top.

2. I can not reply to Emails til further notice.

3. But this is where I truly belong - and one day I will either live here full time or part time.

4. As a child I loved to paddle, catch minnows and jump stepping stones in the stream. 

5. It's always nice to know I'm going to wake up here in Canmore :) .

6. Dogs truly love unconditionally and are wonderful friends and pleasant company.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to taking a walk with Susannah and Rosie to the store for a few groceries, then relaxing in the bath , tomorrow my plans include breakfast out with Susannah, then hiking somewhere with her and Rosie all day - then Susie wants to have supper at the Grizzly Paw so she can try their home made pop as recommended by her friend Julia - then back to relax in the hot tub with a book before bed and Sunday, I want to check out of the room then head out for brunch to our chosen restaurant before starting the long and sad drive away from this place towards home - but so pleased to see my home and children!


You can find the Friday Fill-ins HERE

Back in the place I love......

*  <3  *

Mountain backdrop...

Weekend getaway...

The condo we're staying in this weekend is actually owned by a family, but rented out by Bellstar when the family don't use it.  It's slightly different from the suites with rented before here - in that it has different bedding, a mat by the door, a few extra pictures and decorations here and there....and the table was laid attractively when we arrived.  There is also a guestbook here you can read and sign - full of messages from people from all over the world who have stayed in this condo.  Apart from that though, everything else is exactly the same, and if you hadn't stayed here before, you wouldn't know it wasn't part of the hotel - you still have all the housekeeping, tea/coffee...towels, little extras etc etc...

The pool is open unless the temperature or windchill drops below -20c Each block of condo's has it's own hot tub, underground parking...etc etc....

Admiring her first view of the mountains...

I don't think Rosie quite knew what to make of today.....of the hotel, the long car trip, her first elevator ride...her walks on the leash to the store and out to pee.....she seemed a little bewildered, unsure, happy to be with us...excited, nervous.....

She is quite clingy for sure - I had a long bath this evening and Rosie slept on the floor beside the bath tub the whole time.  I do love how well behaved Rosie is these days - such a friendly dog, and for a dog who NEVER walks on a leash at home - and is always free to run about, she is EXCELLENT on a leash...she always is - when we walk to the mail box even.  Mind you, even off leash she tends to walk right beside us.  Amber, her sister, always used to run off as soon as she could, and pull on the leash.....but Rosie always stays with us and walks beside us....and if someone is walking much slower than the others she will often stop and wait for them - she likes her 'family' to stay together <3

Right now she's asleep in the corner of the bedroom on the floor - it's soooo warm in here despite the window being open wide - I think she's too hot to sleep on the bed tonight!!

Almost there...

Evening sun over the mountains..

CrossIron Mills....

Today Susannah and I headed off for a girls weekend to Canmore - my favourite place in the world :)  

We left the other children at home, but we did bring Rosie, because we're planning a weekend of hiking - as much as possible anyway :)  Unfortunately Canmore got a good dump of snow on Thursday and the area is a bit of a wet, soggy mess....and as much as we've brought boots and plenty of socks, we were really hoping NOT to have to deal with too much of a wet and muddy mess...VERY different from last year in March when we were in Jasper and there was no snow at all!!

We stopped off on Gasoline Alley and found a quiet area for Rosie to have a run.....then we headed down to Balzac to the CrossIron Mills shopping mall....Rosie had another run there before we went shopping, and then another before we continued on our way!

The pictures above show the poutine I had for lunch at the mall - New York Fries do a Butter Chicken Poutine!!!!  It was YUMMY!!!  Totally unhealthy but delicious :)  

The light is another picture I snapped in a store - this time in Urban behaviour - I love how some lights look in Instagram pictures :)  

This was our third visit to CrossIron Mills....it was really quiet today.  I still MUCH prefer West Edmonton Mall.....but maybe that's because I'm not really into labels and designer wear...or shopping!!  But we did finally get Susannah some shoes - and I got a pair for myself at last - Rosie chewed one of my running shoes up about a year or so ago and I had never got around to replacing them...I'm not really a runners kind of gal - unless I'm running lol - but I really wanted some comfortable runners for wearing to walk Rosie when it dries up...and just around the acreage etc....and today I found the perfect ones.  Soooo comfortable!!  In fact I wore them the rest of the drive here and was so pleased to get my boots off.  

I'll post a pic of Susannahs new shoes tomorrow - she loves them - I definitely made one very very sweet girl very VERY happy :)

Brotherly love :)

Laurence and Sam were messing about on my bed this morning and making each other laugh....I snapped a couple of pictures of them because they looked so sweet together - and because with his mop of curls, Laurences head looked twice the size of Sams ;)  

They get on so well most of the time - because Sam and Laurence have the same kind of sense of humour - toilet humour makes them both laugh ;)

Fixed!!

Susannah fixed Sams badminton racket for him :)

I'm not to hopeful that it's going to work ;)  Sam thought it was kind of cool though :)

Message in a bottle...

This morning I was filled with love  <3  

My GORGEOUS little boy came into my bathroom as I was packing to leave, and he gave me a bottle.  He told me it was a pirates bottle - with a message in it - the kind of bottle people - and pirates - throw into the sea and then people find them and can read them :)  Awwww

I carefully opened the bottle and took out the rolled up paper - it was a little damp from the water inside the bottle <3

Inside was the note in this picture :)  He tells me it is the North Pole, with a rainbow over it :)

LOVE <3