Happy Thanksgiving!

Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October, so when we tell our friends in Calgary that our kids are coming to visit for Thanksgiving, we have to specify "American Thanksgiving" which (as you know) falls on the last Thursday of November. There is no Black Friday or Cyber Monday after Canadian Thanksgiving, so the Canadians have adopted the American Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Shopping is shopping in any country! We bought our turkey in October because I was afraid that if we waited, we couldn't find one in November. Fortunately, our freezer was big enough to hold it until we needed it!

We had a wonderful "American" Thanksgiving in Calgary this year. The kids came up to visit for the entire week of Thanksgiving. We were blessed with fantastic weather ranging from high temps of 37 F - 50 F throughout week. Thank you, Texans, for bringing the wonderful weather! We made a side trip to Banff for three days where we stayed in the amazing Banff Springs Lodge. The boys took in a day of skiing at Sunshine and the girls had massages at the spa. We are so lucky to be able to share our holidays with our children. Of course, we had traditional Thanksgiving dinner but we also had brunch and dinner with friends so that they could meet Casey and Anthony, Cindy and Ryan. 

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Gobble, Gobble.....and burp!

These pictures are in random order......

Casey and Cindy visiting our local celebrity pig, Alistair.

Casey, Ryan and Cindy having breakfast.

Man from the far north............. (Ryan)

Having dinner at St James Pub 

The boys at the base of the gondola at Sunshine

The beautiful ladies having a spa day

Dinner at Earls in Banff

Banff Springs Lodge patio 

Anthony having breakfast

Anthony and Ryan at the top of Sunshine

Ryan, Jim and Anthony

The kids on the Peace Bridge (also know as the $25 million pedestrian bridge)

Last day in Calgary - Anthony, Casey, Cindy and Ryan

Jim, Candy, Anthony, Casey, Cindy and Ryan in Banff

Woman of the far north....(Cindy)

Casey and Candy

Two beauties

Neighbors, Wayne and Dayna over for brunch

Brunch with the Hunnicutts

Andrew, Lauren, Will, Casey, Ryan and Cindy

Casey and Anthony at Lake Minnewanka

Ryan and Cindy at Lake Minnewanka

Candy and Jim at Lake Minnewanka

Banff Springs Lodge

The Hunnicutts and the Vowels

Cindy and Ryan

Casey and Anthony

Jim and Candy

Cindy, Candy and Casey

Castle Mountain Lookout Hike

As I sit here writing about our last hike of the season, we are getting our first snow. It started with early morning rain and turned into snow as the temperature dropped. A very heavy wet snow is descending on Calgary and it is beautiful. 

Last weekend we hiked to Castle Mountain Lookout, an iconic hike that you must take if you are in the Banff area. Castle Mountain sits halfway between Banff and Lake Louise on the 1A Highway. Castle Mountain was once the location of a fire lookout, but now all that remains are the cement ground foundations. It's a short steep hike that climbs to a expansive viewing area of the Bow Valley which extends in both directions. The hike is only 7.4 km round trip, but with a gain of 530 m in just 3.7 km you have to work to enjoy the panorama from the lookout. 

Jim climbing back up to the trail after retrieving his visor that he dropped down the side of the hill we were climbing......

A view on the way up to the top

Views of the Bow Valley from the top of the trail

More views of the valley

The Castle Mountains looming above the lookout

The views were breathtaking

It was a little chilly up top. We ended up putting all our layers back on.

Jim carved our Halloween pumpkin. Do  you know who it is?

Our first snow of the season

Oct 2013 in Houston

I was in Houston in early October to visit the kids and see the "baby bump." (Ryan and Cindy are expecting in Feb!) It's still hot in Houston in October! Actually, grossly hot, some days. I know the humidity is good for your skin, but you have to be able to breath too, right?

Steve and Bev hosted me for a few days while I was looking for a house in the Kingwood/Atascocita area. We are still up in the air about our time frame in Calgary, but we will need a place to land when we return to Houston in the future..... I also enjoyed dinner with Toby and Janet in their beautiful new lake house in Atascocita.

The Greek Festival was lots of fun with the kids, but we didn't get to see the Greek dancers. Bummer, they only have limited shows and we missed it. Oh well, the food was great! We'll see the dancers next year! I got to play golf with Casey, and she was AMAZING! Her first time and she hit the ball farther than her old ma! She is now my new golf partner. Sorry,Jim, you're out and Casey's in!

Karen and Mike Schaffer hosted their annual UT/OU party at their beautiful house in Magnolia. This was the year of the "kid". Times change and so do we. Every couple there was either expecting a child, had a child, was a grandparent of a child or a soon to be aunt and uncle of a child. Of course we still had folks doing "keg stands". Go, Heather!

Thanks Casey, Anthony, Cindy and Ryan for showing your mom a fun time! Love you and see you at Thanksgiving!

Greek Fest

Steve, Bev, Janet and Toby at their new Lake House!

Ryan and Cindy and the "baby bump" (Reese)

UT/OU Parth - Avery, Sammy (Brandon and Melissa's) and Olivia (Mike and Karen's)

UT/OU Party - Bev and Steve

UT/OU - Casey and Anthony

UT/OU - Dennis, Dana (Mikes uncle and aunt) and Mike

UT/OU - Chris, Lindsey and baby

UT/OU - Owen and Karen

What would a UT/OU party be without keg stands? Brandon, Heather and Ryan

UT/OU - Karen, Dan, Casey, Olivia and Kimberly

UT/OU - Brandon playing beer pong on the official BP table Mike designed.