Garage Sale

While the guys were out back building the Sambuca Hut, the girls were in the front having a gargae sale. It wasn't completely planned, but we had some stuff togethet so we figured we'd open the garage door and see what happened.

What happened was Maddie made 130.00 !!!! ( I made 40 lol ) I guess build abear and Bratz sell better than coffee cups! Well done Maddie!

We'll have to have another more organized sale, cause we need to use the garage for "CARS" not "stuff" but hey, I CAN see parts of the floor now!




Maddie's empty bucket!

Sambuca Hut

Here is the Sambuca Hut in all it's glory. Thankyou Papa!!!!! :-)


first meal in the HUT

Cheers

Papa's Masterpiece

Papa has outdone himself this time! While we were visiting Medicine Hat, we spent allot of time in the Napa's Bush and Shonk(English) = Buschenshank (German). We got to talking and Papa said maybe he could come build us one...... ( I was trying to contain my excitement until the day came....) and then it happened. Papa arrived with a car full of tools!! and a piece of paper in his jean pocket with the plans for our "hut". We needed a new twist on the name since Buschenshank was their name, and hard to spell to spell. So we named it after the first hut we had on our deck, the one where we couldn't open our patio door. The new and improved Sambuca hut was underway.

Papa John Original

In February we received a notice that our garbage pickup was going to be from the back lane from now on. Well... it was the middle of winter and we are told that we have to hike the garbage over the fence now, because the fence was built by the show home people without any back lane access. So every Thursday night Dean crossed his fingers that the garbage wouldn't break over his head and survived every week. Then In June the Napa's came for a visit. In doing my part of keeping Papa happy and not bored, I had a "little" list of " Papa, could you do this?..... " on that list was a back gate. Well! he got to planning a Papa John original and starting getting the wheels in motion. He was out there sawing, and trimming and nailing. I think he may have even been whistling? Then, Voila! A beautiful gate was born! We happily used this gate every Thursday, and even sometimes left out the back way just because we could.

Fast forward to the Napa's next visit...... and Papa John witnessed his design, being stolen, exactly... by the neighbors!!!! We'll just say that's the best compliment ( aside from OUR happy faces ) that he could get.

Our beautiful gate.....

... the neighbors caught in the act!

Their finished gate

they tried to camouflage their gate... but it was too late. We witnessed it already!

R.I.P. Larry

Larry has gone to the big living room in the sky.....

he had a good life, and was loved til the end.

Your Friday Pinette!

We were in Medicine Hat watching TV late at night and we stumbled across Mr. John Pinette. He cracked us up! He has some great bits and we will feature John for the next few Fridays. So here is your Friday Pinette. I hope you enjoy him as much as we did.

Larry the Couch....

Picture this.... Maddie and her friend Addy go to the corner store. They call later, " mom what would you do if we brought home a dog?" I say.. " I wouldn't be very happy" then Maddie asks, " what if I brought home a scooter"? now I'm confused and cautiously answer.. " nothing" next question " what about a couch " well by now I'm playing along... " I would sit on it" final question "what about flowers"? "I'd be be very happy" I answer quickly....


After the longest walk to the corner ever, the girls come running in, laughing and panting.... "come see, come see, you have to see your most awesome gift" so I go to the door thinking there are flowers sprinkled on the front lawn.. or something to that effect.....


Screeching to a halt I look out onto my lawn.... to see..... A COUCH!!!, YES, I said a couch!!! A full size, broken back, flower print COUCH! They were laughing so hard they couldn't even talk. Then finally I learn that they "rolled" it up the hill about the equivalent of 10 blocks. If anyone is familiar with where we live, they rolled it from the Evanston Sign!!


So there is a couch, named Larry sitting on my front lawn right now... Larry can't stay. But how do I break it to my giggling teenager!

No lions, No tigers.. But bears, Oh My

What started out as a drive to Cochrane, ended up being a hike in Banff!


As you can see it was everyone else's idea too.... good thing we weren't trying to get away from traffic??

2 minutes in we saw a black bear crossing the road....


We started out on a hike to see the Bow Falls, and saw this reassuring sign...someone added a truthful addition to it.

the trail begins...

The water was churning...

a glimpse of the Banff Springs Hotel from the opposite side

on the trail, hanging on

a peek thru the trees....

the rugged terrain and beautiful sunshine


last glimpse before heading back

Down town Banff


Stopped at McDonalds for food and finally ice cream!

MWHAHAA

:) maddie has hacked your blog!
now what i say! now what.
mwaaahahaaaaaa.
now people will laugh at youuu, because you idnt post thiss blog.
hahahaaa. i am evvvvil! (and if u delete this i will steal your diet coke and coffee)

MWAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! you have been warned.

and here is a lovely picture of a cat.



gooodbye. : )

What would it cost?..........

A classic commercial proposes a wish for the world. Selena would LOVE to buy the world a DIET Coke but...



..... the question becomes, what would it cost?

I knew it!!!!!!!!!

Things I Just Didn't Know!

If you have an animal that has bad posture problems or has lost the spring in their step, apparently, there is help!

I did not know there were such things as Animal Chiropractors - here is photographic proof. You learn something new every day!

Is That a Picinic Basket Boo Boo

I didn't want to do a rant blog about the mosquitoes in Calgary. So I will just say this.... mosquitoes suck ( well actually they inject, but they still suck!! ) and leave it at that.


By the way I have been to this town, where this giant "skitter" sits Komarno MB.

Regardless of the population of human vrs. bug... we had a very nice picnic! We packed up the Coleman, chairs and 2 great books and headed to Bowness Park. We had to move the blanket a few times to keep in the sun... you could hear the buzzing in the shade, waiting to attack!!




The water was freeeeezing, and people were swimming, my legs were numb in an instant!~!

We sat and waited for the ducks to swim by...

...and saw a whole family :-)

( sigh ) I love summer.....

Bubble Tea

This new craze, I'll say new, but really it's only new to me, Bubble Tea has been around awhile. The one Maddie introduced us to is a fruit Bubble Tea with "pearls" at the bottom. You need a huge straw to get these tapioca balls out of the cup. But even though I am chewing my drink.... it's really good!! I was surprised. Maddie talks about them all the time, so we had to try. My favorite is the Mango. So I recommend heading to your closest T&T market, and getting one for yourself.

God 1, Evanston 1

On Thursday night, as posted below, God took out a house in Evanston with a spectacular lightning strike. Wow!

Well, last night, He tried again but Evanston won this round. Selena captured some pictures of the "fight." Enjoy!