Wow - July has been packed full of fun and neat stuff. It is hard to believe it is already almost over! With the Flood of 2013 some of our usual activities have changed. Many areas are still not open due to extensive repairs being needed, some were all out destroyed by the flood, and others were cleaned up but I am leery of the germs and chemicals required for the clean up. So we steered clear of some places and made mini trips of others.
Drumheller was in the flood zone but had much less damage than our city. Some houses right along the Red Deer River were affected and the Newcastle Beach was a mess, but the campground we usually stay at was just fine. We did wait until the night before the July 1st Canada Day parade to decide if we were going to honor our reserved campsite. We pulled in late June 30th and had a great time at the parade on the 1st. Rowan and Poppy LOVE the candy and treats that are thrown out into the crowds at the Drumheller Parade. One of the nice things is you can show up right before the parade is due to start and get a great seat.
The Drumheller Parade was Rowan's favorite when he was really little due to the number of trucks in the parade as well as the John Deere vehicles. I am not exaggerating when I say there are a LOT of trucks in this parade - probably the #1 entry!
After the parade we found a shady spot to have a picnic and climb a dinosaur. If you visit Drumheller you will find a dinosaur statue around almost every corner, especially uptown.
We stopped at the Tyrell Museum after the parade. The kids' favorite part of the museum is right at the beginning where there is an exhibit meant to demonstrate pollination in the prehistoric era. Basically there are tubes and wind blowing things in a room where you can pop small balls into the tubes and they fly out across the room.
Traditional photo at the end of the camping trip with the kids being made into Dinosaur Soup!
One place we would visit through the summer is the Calgary Zoo. However, our beloved zoo experienced over 50 million (yes, million) dollars in damage from the flood (our zoo is on an island and was basically under water at the peek of the flood) and is closed for a bit longer. They have lost millions of dollars in revenue while they work to make enough repairs to allow people back in to visit. Several other Calgary attractions are offering 50 % off admission to zoo pass holders, such as the Telus Spark, our Science Centre. We have only been once before as we do not have passes and the cost is rather outrageous. The photo above is of Poppy's favorite part of the Centre.
Our central library also experience much flood damage being downtown where there was a lot of affected area, which had a benefit to us in that the data was irretrievable for a period of time from library cards - meaning I had some fines waved until the system was back up again. We did make it to our closest library where Rowan read to Poppy.
We decided the night before the Calgary Stampede Parade that we would attend this year. The parade route was very much affected by the flood and while people worked quickly to have it cleaned up, there were still remnants of the dirty water in the grass and roads if you looked closely. There was also a smell like no other that indicated something had happened in the area. We ran into our neighbours there as usual (in a city of over one million people it is a bit funny that we run into each other unplanned almost every year!).
We were invited to a wonderful birthday party about Birds at the Bird Sanctuary - however most of the Bird Sanctuary itself outdoors was damaged by the flood so we were mostly indoors.
Surprisingly the same facilitator was at a birthday party the following day at the Ralph Klein Environmental Centre where the birthday attendees learned about wetlands.
Our generous friends have had us out to their community lake (for members only) where we have enjoyed some hot, sunny days.
We met up with Zoe at the Stampede Caravan Breakfast for the first time which was awesome! Great food, entertainment, and music!
We have sampled not one, but TWO self-serve frozen yogurt parlours in our community this month!
Yum!
We tried to cross the same bridge we have crossed in my family to get to the Stampede Grounds for the last 38-ish years.....only to find it was one of the ones TOTALLY wiped out by the flood. We had to walk further down to find a new one.
Rowan and Poppy look across the Elbow River wondering how they will get over to the Stampede!
Lots of rides to be enjoyed!
We enjoyed the Closing Ceremonies at the Indian Village including a speech by our own Mayor Nenshi.
Rowan enjoying a piece of deep fried bannock - so delicious!
A photo of my beautiful Rowan, with evidence of disaster behind him, in a spot I have taken many photos of my children along a pathway I have walked for many, many years to and from the Stampede.
Something very neat that has happened in our family I am not able to show a public photo of is that we have a new foster baby! He is 5 months old and an absolute DELIGHT. We are all adoring him and he is growing and thriving. Rowan and Poppy are amazing with him and shower him with kindness and care. I am bleary eyed with the night feedings and my fingertips are burned from sterilizing bottles, but it is a good feeling to care for this little angel in hopes that he will be a little further ahead when he gets to go back with his birth parents.
But that's not all......this only takes us to mid-July! I'll be back with more!
