Grama, Grampa and Hail

Hello everyone,
I, Andrew, will be doing the posts now. Nadine is quite busy at work and is not one to use the computer when at home now.
We realized that our last post was a while ago and so much has happened.
A couple of days after Trevor left, Grandma and Grampa came to town. As they were celebrating their 30th married year, I think the trip in the mountains with thier grandaughter was a great way to celebrate. If only it was not quite so hot. The daytime temp here has been getting to 30C easily making the morning the only time to go do anything.

Here they are with Dinara at Lake Louise. It really is an amazing place.
Daddy also likes to dress Dinara up for outings like that. I think that Pink and Camo go really well together.


After Grandma and Grampa left, Canmore had a massive hail storm, the likes of which has not been seen here in decades (according to the locals and the paper). At about 9:30pm, I watched this red cloud system come over the mountains and there was a noise that sounded like marching. The wind gusted up and the marching got louder. I even began hearing screams of people (poor folks that got caught in it). Then the real noise began. The condo here in Canmore has a metal roof and hail stones were driven into the building, some stones the size of golf balls. The noise woke Nadine but not Dinara who slept through the entire thing. The next morning, there was branches and leaves everywhere, stucco and tile sheared from buildings, a few broken windows and exterior lights and dents in some cars. Dinara and I went out to get photos. The storm was over by 11PM and the photos were taken at 9 to 10 AM the next day.





The white in the photos is NOT snow but rather hail all clumped together. The town of Canmore put out the planters seen above the day before. They WERE full of flowers before the storm.

The last thing to report on this post is a new storage unit. We got a stand for the Xbox and router with the drawers as storage for DVDs.


And becuase it is just too cute, this is Dinara sleeping....

Work, Work, Work and Work Some More

Hi everyone.

Sorry I have been lax in my blogging...work has taken up most of my time. I am not complaining abou this at all though. I love what I am doing and what company I am working for. I was a little worried when they told me I would be doing seismic interpretation (that's normally what a geophysicist would do) but I am loving it. The downside is that I don't have as much free time to do my web logging. I get up at 5:30am, I leave for Calgary by 6am and I am at work between 7:45 and 8am. I then work for 9 hours (lots of breaks and lunch is in there too) and then leave for home around 4:30 to 5pm. I end up getting home around 6:30pm. Long days. Oh well...my family gets to be in Canmore for the term.

Dinara is doing great. She is eating more and more so we think a growth spurt is going to be happening any day now. She still doesn't say too much besides momma and daddy but we think it is going to be any day now. She has taken to singing E-I E-I ooo lately. Very cute. Well that's all for now...I know not as much as many of you would like but I have other things to do right now. Enjoy the pictures.


Our friend Trevor's face...I told you I would post it eventually. This was taken while we were on the Banff Gondola.


Dinara on the Banff Gondola. We didn't really enjoy this too much. It was expensive and not that good. We prefer the one at Kicking Horse Resort in Golden.


The family in the mountains. I love this picture. I wish we were smiling more but we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.


The mountains and the city of Banff.




Dinara playing Peeka Boo with Mommy.


Dinara is already learning how to get money out of Daddy. This is while Daddy is trying to pay for our lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise.


Our friend Trevor at Lake Louise.


Beautiful picture of Lake Louise.

Well that's all for now. Keep the comments coming as we do still read them. Thanks for being understanding about our new time constraints.

Oh and I just want to thank a few people for some adorable gift we have received. Karl and Gisi thank you so much for the very cute and cuddly jacket and amazing card for Dianara (I hope you like the pictures). I didn't know they made congrats on your adoption cards. Also, thanks Kerri for the adorable sweater...I think it is a little too hot right now for it but she will fit it in the following months.



Dinara in her adorable bunny hug...ok it isn't a bunny hug but this fits the definition better.



The beautiful card from Karl and Gisi.

Canmore Here We Come...Here We Are Actually

I know, I know...I'm suppose to be posting more often. Well I am sorry. We have been more then a little busy this week. To make up for it I will post lots of photos (I would've anyway).

Let's see...Monday I drove 9.5 hours from Saskatoon to Canmore. It took much longer as it was raining for all of the trip except the last 2.5 hours. So to say the least it sucked. Dunkelzahn was suppose to be sedated...which I interpreted to mean sleeping...he was only drowsy for the trip. This meant he still meowed but not as loudly. It wasn't too bad. It did smell a little like damp cat but I can deal with that. I arrived late in the evening on Monday and had to get all sorts of things ready quickly. I had to unpack the car, organize the material, grocery shop, and eat. I did all this and ended up going to sleep around 10pm. So I didn't do too bad. The next morning I drove to Calgary and went to the airport to pick up Dinara and Daddy. Dinara looked very surprised when I was waiting for them in arrivals. This is to be expected...Mommy wasn't on the plane what is she doing here now. Very cute.

For the remaining time we have been chilling out. I have driven to Calgary twice and determined how long it will take me to get to work each day. I have to find some people to commute with...it will cost me $30 per day to drive. Just a tad expensive. Oh well...we aren't paying rent so this can be our rent money. Our friend Trevor is visting us right now. He is having a great time just relaxing with us. Uncle Trevor has also been a big hit to Dinara...she just loves his cooking! We do too! Tonight it is a marinated chicken breast with pesto pasta for our main course. Yummy! Well enough chatting here are the photos.


Nana and Opa's Canmore condos with the addition of the new TV. Doesn't it look great!


Same but now you can see the new cat condos too.


Dinara in her Nike pink suit. She looks like a little Anna Kornikovia (spelling?) doesn't she?


Dinara running around on the new floors. Have you noticed her hair yet? Yep she had a hair cut. We just couldn't wait any longer for our friend in Edmonton (translation Mommy couldn't get to Edmonton anytime soon and baby needed a hair cut).


Dinara playing with one of her favorite toys...the blocks Nana and Opa bought her in Saskatoon. She also loves a Grama and Grampa toy...her pot and wooden spoon.


Happy Canada Day! Dinara's first Canada day...I think she shows good Canadian spirit. She is at her first Canada Day parade...well actually her first parade end statement.


Trevor watching the parade. I didn't get one of his face...whoops. I'll try later today to accomplish this.


Clown number one...it said Jerque du Soleil on his back.


Second clown of the parade. This one had a moving pink flamingo puppet. Very cute.


Shriner's new cars. These are much cooler. I think Opa will agree.


Dinara is one cool little girl...thanks to Aunt Heather's and Uncle Kat's gift of the No Zone suit. We love it! Andrew refers to it as her superhero outfit. It worked really well this hot Canada Day. This suit means that we don't have to put sunscreen on her (except her face, hands, and feet). We made the sunglasses fit by putting the strap around the hat as well as her head.


Dinara on the swings. She loves to swing her time away. Daddy and Mommy like pushing her on the swings too.


Dinara still on the swings with her baloon. I just thought she looked cute.


Daddy and Dinara at the park. Cute, cute, cute!