We Have the Ickies!

Spencer has been under the weather for the last few days.

Today he wanted to curl up on the floor so I made him his own little bed in the middle of the living room floor. His tummy has been empty and he refuses to eat anything. He's barely drank anything either. Poor thing.

This is what is right behind me right now...


He had me get a whole list of things to get him on his blankies... he wanted his teddy bear, his "Thomas tv" as he calls it (it's a little kids Thomas computer) and he wanted the quilt his Mama made him.

I sure hope he gets better soon! I hate seeing him sick! Todd's going to get us some Gatorade so hopefully he will at least drink that.

We have SNOW!

Over the past two to three days we have had quite a bit of snow here. Crowsnest Pass was closed for 2 days and reopened yesterday morning. It's typically closed to due to visibility issues. The road is literally sandwiched between 2 mountains and the stream in places. It can be VERY narrow coming into Sparwood. We're hoping that it remains open and the weather stays clear... at least until Tuesday when we have to drive to Calgary to pick up Mom and Dad from the airport.

This is a picture of the mountain range directly behind the house. We took this photo from the Community Center this morning.

The trees look especially frosty and snow covered at the higher elevations.


There is small area of trees next to the community center and we came to see this scene this morning.

I believe they're being removed due to the invasion of the beetle that has been killing all the pines in our area. I think they are trying to limit the spread by cutting paths through the bush areas. We have some harvesting going on just down the highway from the house. It's sad to see but a necessity to control the spread of the pest.

Hope everyone's having a good Friday!

Salamanders & Laundry at 1am in the Morning!

This little monster had a BIG day yesterday!

Todd and I enrolled him in swimming lessons for this session at the Community Center. We had him assessed by one of the lifeguards at the pool and they put him in the "Salamanders" level of swimming.

Here he is waiting to be called for his swimming class on the stairs to the pool.


Thankfully his class is small... only 4 kids. One great little swimmer, one no show, one additional kid in the wrong class and one little girl who refused to get in the water. He has a male instructor, Aaron. Nice guy.

His first class of 30 minutes, went pretty good considering his attention span being about 10 minutes long. He listened and completed everything he was asked to do; some floating on his front & back, some gliding, some blowing bubbles, some games, etc.

He did have one problem though. I put him in some swim trunks that apparently you need have a butt to wear them! He's not wearing swim diapers under his shorts any more so.... about half the class he spent with his butt stickin' out the back of his shorts... funny but next time Mommy will put him in swim trunks with a drawstring!

You'll have excuse the poor photo... it's hard to take photos from far away at the pool. The flash isn't so effective!

He goes to his class twice a week until the end of March. We should see lots of improvement by the end of next month!

As for doing laundry at 1am in the morning.... Spencer was sick last night. We striped his bed at about 11ish and put him on the couch for the night in the living room with me on the other couch and he had a pretty good night. He's had a nap today and he's resting on the couch right now. I think whatever he has, is kickin' him in the butt. Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow.

Todd's back to work tomorrow after 12 days of being off. It's supposed to snow tonight so we'll see what his drive will be like in the morning!

Ta ta until later!

Oh Jeepers!

Just after lunch today, we packed up the cooler and Spencer's bag and away we went on a little adventure to find Grave Lake somewhere between here and Elkford.

We drove up Highway 43 from the house and went to the Line Creek Mine site and drove the "dirt" road in front of it. We followed the back roads and ended up here... Grave Lake.

We started out by parking the truck and taking a walk across the lake. We met a family at the lake's edge having a bon fire lunch. Spencer even managed to join them in a hotdog!

Before we left, we took some family photos with the tripod.

The family that we met along the lake decided that they would take up some more back roads for a little tour behind them. They were from the area and were very familiar with the roads and the conditions.

We drove past a settling pond built for the mine and up a ridge and truly into the back country. We saw a sign warning people NOT to stop due to an avalanche area.... hmmm... wonder what's up next?

Just after the sign, this is what we came across. This was a photo taken looking up more than 45 degrees!

Yup... taken right in the avalanche zone!

Taking the back roads with our new guides in front of us....




There were some spots in the road the width of truck! The above photos are of areas that were much wider.

We waved goodbye to our guides and drove the way back to the main road.

Just coming out of the back country to the mine site, we saw a herd of elk resting on the ridge before the mine. There was close to 60 animals.

We crossed the paved road to the mine entrance and drove along another road in front of the mine that paralleled the highway. We crossed over a "wooden" bridge over the Elk River to the other side..... gorgeous isn't it?

Along this road we came across 3 families out having a bon fire again! They had a few kids too... a little older and a little younger than Spencer. We stopped to say hi and Spencer got to snacking again! He even managed to get a ride on a sled down one rather large hill ALL BY HIMSELF (thanks to a nudge from Daddy!). He lost a boot at the end and skidded on his cheek a bit but he was okay. Needless to say, he didn't want to go again!

We said goodbye to the 3 families and drove back out and back to the highway.

We took a right and drove into Elkford to finish off our little drove. Just as we entered Elkford, we spotted some elk in one of the horse farms. They were in feeding with the horses.

This fella was only 5-6 feet from the fence line at the road.


We had a nice drive and enjoyed the positive degree weather and sunshine. Except for a few, "glances over the STEEP drops" times, we all had a good time!!

A New Look

The blog has a new look.

Check it out here!

It's almost 3am and I just am not tired so I thought I'd fiddle with the blog a little bit. What do you think of the new header?

A Treat for ME?

So last Thursday Spencer went to his one hour library time in the afternoon. The theme for the day was Valentine's Day.

The kids always read 1-3 books first and then they go to the back area and create a craft or play games and stuff like that.

When Spencer came out, he had this for me.... a card coloured by him and a heart shaped cookie decorated by him too!

Yup... that's right.... it also came it it's own BITE MARK in it too! Apparently the first cookie that they got to eat just wasn't enough and he just HAD to taste test this one too!

So I gave the cookie to him to eat.....


Let me tell ya... he LOVED it! LOL!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a pretty normal day today. We went and got groceries and took easy all day. Instead of cooking today, we bought some chicken and fries and some cool cheesy bread from the local pizza shop in town. It's been nice to not having to cook today.

Spencer made Todd and I cute little Valentine's card and decorated a cookie for us at his library group on Thursday. He also decided that he was going to taste test it for us too! I will post a picture of it for you later.

We enjoyed a nice swim before dinner and just taking it easy today. I've had a huge headache all day and just need to get some sleep. Off to rest!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

SOOOOOO Angry!!!

I could just about string him by his feet... Spencer that is!!

The little brat just wrecked the screen of our 3 month old flat screen tv!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOO mad!!!!!!

The little worm had one of Todd's screwdrivers, which of course, was NOT put away in his tool chest (typical!) but in a drawer that Spencer can get in to, and Spencer took the end of it and scratched the screen! I'm livid!!!!!!!!!

Anyone want a bratty 3 year old who doesn't know how to listen?????? GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

An Average Week

We haven't really been doing much this week. While Todd was off we got some fresh snow and the world is a little whiter again.

The other morning the boys let me sleep in and this what cam to visit us that very same morning.... 3 white tailed deer.

This looking out on our neighbour's front lawn. I think they came in to check out the suet bird feeder hanging off the tree.

Isn't she pretty?

And this was deer #3.... trotting across the lawn across the road.


An FYI... my foot is better and there was no swelling.

Todd on day #2 of 4 today. As of Friday, he'll be off for 12 days as part of the mine's scheduled shutdowns.

We found out yesterday that the family that we have gotten to know since we moved here are moving back home. They are packing as we speak and Spencer and I will be dropping by this morning with a few boxes. We're sure going to miss them! It was nice having another family almost like ours... 3 people, one being a 3 year old little boy. Oh well... I know their families have been missing them so that 's a good thing that they're going home again!

Off for the day!

At The Park and a Visit to the ER

We have a few pretty decent play grounds around Sparwood so I called up my friend Miss B and asked her is she and her son Mr. J wanted to go to the play ground today. It's about 8 degrees here today and sunny so I just wanted to get out of the house! I also wanted to take some more pictures of Spencer!

So we met down town just behind the community center this afternoon for a mini play date.

Spencer and I had arrived a few minutes early and he loved climbing up high and hanging on to g on to all the ropes.

He was telling me that he was driving his "ship" and that I'd better get up on the boat so the sharks didn't eat me. Too cute!

I love this shot....


As we all were getting ready to head back to the vehicles, I felt my right foot go over while standing in the snow and I fell onto my side into a snow bank. I think I caught everyone by surprise... especially myself!

I got up slowly with help from Miss B and hobbled over to the other side of the play ground equipment. My foot hurt but that was it..... until.... about 2 mins later when the world started to spin and I began to see stars and my hearing went on me! A scary feeling! So I braced myself on the logs and lowered my head for a few mins. I began to feel better but my "world" still felt a little on the "drunk" side so Miss B took me to the ER. Thankfully it was just down the street!!!

Thank goodness for good friends! Miss B watched both boys as I got everything examined.

I had my ankle and foot examined and my foot x-rayed and they said I didn't break or fracture anything... THANK GOODNESS! He said that the dizziness was probably due to a movement in the liquid in my ears when I fell. All said and done, we were out of the ER in jst a little over an hour. I'm now out of commission as far as walking and standing for long periods of time. I'm off to "elevate and ice".

Hope everyone's doing well back in Ontario! Stay warm as I hear you're getting the brunt of winter from Mother Nature again! Sounds like you guys are having more of a "winter" than we are! Ta ta for now!

Oh Deer! Just another day....

Todd's at work today so Spencer and I were on our own. I had some stuff to mail in town so we drove in after lunch.

On our way home we decided to take a detour up to Spawood Heights, an area between Sparwood and out trailer court.

We drove up and around the highest road to check out the new houses and came back around to the gas station and what did we see.....

...three deer at the gas station (there's one behind the snowbank)! We fed them some cookies we had in the truck and then zipped home to get the camera and more snacks.

Luckily they hadn't left when we returned.

We parked the truck and turned off the engine, cranked the window open and slowly opened up the cracker box and threw some goodies their way.

This little fella was the PIG and BULLY of the bunch. He thought that since he saw us first, that he was entitled to all the good stuff! He literally would chase and kick the other two around the truck so they couldn't get "his" crackers. He's also the one that would come the closest.

The bully wouldn't allow the other two too close. This poor fella watched from behind.

He did manage to circle the truck and I took this shot of him in front of the Jeep. I did throw him a few crackers over the hood on the other side. So I think he had a few.

This is a picture of the smallest of the three deer. She was the most timid and didn't come too close. I think she only got a single piece of cracker.... the one stuck to her nose!

Just before we left, the other fella wandered off towards the door of the store. A lady had gone in to grab something and when she came out the door again I think she was a little surprised to see a deer at the rear of her car!!! It was kinda funny!