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Calgary (November 2009)

Pat recently had a teaching engagement in Calgary so I took a few vacation days and traveled with him. It was wonderful to see my daughter and her family – and we were very excited to see their home renovations. It was a bonus week as well since Madison didn’t have school on either Wednesday or Friday.

Due to the house renovations I was staying at a hotel in downtown Calgary and used the train and bus to get back and forth. It worked out very well.

Wednesday, November 25
Ray and crew spent a lot of time working on the upstairs. When I arrived on Wednesday morning they were living and sleeping in what will be the living room. Cooking facilities were in what will be the dining room and the kitchen area held the fridge, sink and dishwasher.

Grandma stocked up on Play Dough, glue sticks, and crayons and I brought along one of my paper sample books and scissors so we had lots of fun with those.

We were happy to meet the newest member of the family - Louie.

Thursday, November 26
No visit with Grandma is complete until we’ve had some sort of a walk. After a short visit to a nearby playground we went on a bit of a hike.

While Gavin napped in the afternoon, Emma and I set out by bus to do a little Christmas looking – there were so many things that Emma liked in the toy aisle. We followed up the browsing with a bit of grocery shopping and then caught the bus home again.

I think the bag was heavier when it was filled with toys than it was filled with groceries.

Friday, November 27
On Friday, Kathryn and family arrived in Calgary. Dave was covering the Grey Cup festivities and they all came dressed for the part.

Saturday, November 28
Saturday was loads of fun – and thanks to Grandpa we have some photos. Kathryn, Dave, Pat and I took all the grandkids to the Telus Science World. The kids were so well behaved, but it was a bit of work keeping tabs on everyone.

Will and Emma enjoyed the bugs display.

Dave is showing Will and Emma the magic of racing.

Gavin is enthralled with the puppet show Uncle Dave, Will and Madison are putting on.

We had just enough energy left on Saturday night to go swimming. Will is a natural in the water, and although Emma and Madison don’t swim often they enjoy the water. Dave and Will took a trip on the water slide but no one else was brave enough.

Sunday, November 29
Sadly, we had to fly back home to reality on Sunday.