Before any of my friends here on Canadian soil think that I forgot Canada Day I thought that I would post something patriotic, something uplifting and musical to speak to the patriotic heart of all Canadians.

Happy Canada Day, eh!

Chuck bought a book called Canadian Rockies with Kids and I spent the next several days reading and rereading the entire book. I dog eared the pages and tried to pencil as many hiking days in as little time as possible. In the book it has day hikes and mountain biking trails for several areas and then a bunch of different itineraries to choose from. We chose one of the closest and easiest itineraries and took the family to Grassi Lakes in Canmore, named after Lawrence Grassi who built a rock stair case by hand on a portion of the trail up to the Grassi Lakes.

The hikes is about 4 km with an elevation gain of 165 meters. It normally takes about 2 hours although it took us a little longer but we stopped to take pictures of the view and we spent time talking with the kids along the way. I love how being outside as a family gives the kids a chance to talk to us and ask us things that they don’t normally ask. We talked about how difficult things in our lives can bring beauty and we told them not to be afraid of difficult times. We pointed out the view and the kids were amazed to see how high up we were while standing next to a giant waterfall. They were incredibly proud of themselves, for good reason. At the top there are the Grassi Lakes which have a blue-green color to the water. Ive never seen a lake that color although Lake Louise comes close since it has an intriguing blue color to the Lake. Even though the Grassi Lakes are green they look clean and gorgeous and you can see right down to the bottom.

The kids sat on a park bench eating cherries and trail mix while I nursed Laurelyn. We watched the rock climbers scale the cliffs that hang over one side of the lake. Apparently this trail is one of the most popular rock climbing spots in Alberta! Who knew?

On the way down we took the less scenic but faster route back to the parking area. This was a very good idea since David decided that he had to “poop real bad” and pooping while scaling down shale would be very difficult. I am so proud of all the kids but especially David for hiking all the way up there on his own steam. I love that the kids enjoy the mountains so much. Jocelyn kept stopping to look around, sigh deeply and then announce to everyone that “this is the greatest day that ever was!” or that we should go back tomorrow and bring everyone we know because everyone should see that view. I agreed with her but pointed out that we would quickly run out of seats in our minivan.

Once we finished the trail we rushed Jason to the dentist office. Today was his double root canal appointment. He needs root canals in the two teeth that broke during his fall. I could try to write about his visit but it’s still too fresh for me. The short and sweet version is that his appointment took 3 and a 1/2 hours and he was brave and calm the entire time although he got weepy in the last 45 minutes. He was rewarded with fish and chips for dinner and a family movie with all of us squished onto a couch, taking turns snuggling with him while we watched Inkheart. Great movie by the way!

Jason’s teeth aren’t completely done yet but we’re one more step closer and I’m going to go out and get him a new FULL FACE bike helmet as soon as I can. I don’t want any more teeth being smashed our of his head. I think we’ve learned this lesson and can now move on to other life lessons that will result in scars and colorful dinner table stories.

Here are some pictures from our hike today.

On our way to the trail head we drove through the Stoney Reserve and we are almost always able to see wildlife and cattle. This time we had to stop and allow a herd of horses pass the highway. I should have brought carrots or apples in our hike packs because these horses were right outside my window and if I wasn’t worried about a horse bite I could have touched them. They were beautiful.

This is a flower called Indian Paintbrush. If you wet a rock and rub the flower against it the color will transfer to the rock. It’s a lot of fun with kids, try it out.

This is the view once we were halfway up the trail while along the waterfall. It took our breath away, or maybe that was the hike but either way this was gorgeous! I love where I live…for the months of June until August. After that I try to remind myself that the next June is coming eventually.

This is the rock staircase built by Lawrence Grassi in 1912.

Laurelyn, sadly, missed a good chunk of the hike but I don’t think she minded. She laughs and giggles almost the whole time that she’s in her carrier and today was no exception. I prefer when Chuck carries her because his hair is too short to be pulled. There’s something about having a one year old on your back, pulling on your ponytail that makes you feel like a pack horse. I did carry her for the first half of the way up though so I didn’t wimp out entirely!

One of the Grassi Lakes in all its glory. It was hard to choose a good picture because the water is so clear that the mountains around it are reflected off the surface like a mirror. It’s hard to tell what reflection and what’s real in this picture but you get to see the bright colors in the water.

We ran out of time to see the petroglyphs on the rock walls or play much in the water because we had to make Jason’s dentist appointment but that only means that we have to go back soon so we can see what we missed.

Anyone up for a day in Canmore?

I am so glad to have a man in my life who not only appreciates my quirks but will email me articles from the National Post that would be of definite interest to my quirks.

This past week Colby Cosh, from the National Post, wrote an article on a new development in the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. I am so glad that news like this is reaching large media outlets in Canada like the National Post. It would be nice if we could get to a point that the medical field no longer approaches childbirth like it’s an illness and approaches it like the natural procedure that it is. There are definitely times when a more medical, hands on approach is necessary but to approach pregnancy and childbirth, on the whole, as an illness is a terrible message to send to mothers everywhere.

Colby Cosh wrote a great and enlightening article and I hope you have the time to read its entirety. If not, here are some of my favorite bits.

On Wednesday, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) changed its clinical guidelines and dropped its recommendation that Caesarean sections should be considered automatic for mothers carrying a single fetus upside-down, in the breech position. This may seem like a quiet bureaucratic change. But it marks the end of one of the most extraordinary controversies in modern medicine — a battle which seemed, less than a decade ago, to have been settled forever in favour of the other side.

…other studies suggested that C-sections led to more maternal complications, and that the two delivery methods were equally safe in places where obstetricians are especially well-trained in “catching” breech babies.

…a generation of obstetricians has been turned loose without training in planned vaginal breech birth — essentially limiting mothers in countries like Canada to C-sections they may not want, and creating more risk for those who, for medical reasons, have no choice but the vaginal route. So the SOGC, the authority on childbirth in the very country that unleashed the TBT, has put its foot down. It intends to not only change the clinical guidelines, but resume training obstetricians in both delivery methods.

I didn’t realize when we bought our house that we now have a provincial park less than 15 fifteen minutes away. North and East from our house is Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. There isn’t a steak house, a candy shop, a 7-11 or anything else where you can buy something sweet and yummy but there is beautiful views, year long flowing waterfalls and a nice, easy trail to walk. There are bears and cougars in the area so it’s best to stay on the trail and make a lot of noise which was very easy for us. Making noise has never been hard for my kids. In fact, while I’m sitting quietly, typing out this blog post, Jason is sitting next to me watching another DVD of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. David is hopping all over the room, ramming his cars into each other and hollering at them to be careful. It’s a noisy house and it’s not even 9:00 in the morning yet!

This was the first time that we hiked the trail and I wanted a picture to mark the start of our journey. This was really funny when less than 45 minutes later, walking at a 3 year old’s pace, we were at the end of the trail. It was beautiful so we kept stopping to take pictures of the spring and play in the water. We saw lots of animals tracks but no animals besides the birds.

Jason was having so much! He kept searching for large boulders to climb onto so he could sit and ask me to take a picture of him. Then he would find a way to climb to the top of the waterfall and ask me to take a picture of him there. The he would climb a tree and ask me to take another picture of him. Somehow I get the idea that he could be perfectly happy to be in the mountains every day.

A mother could never be more proud.

There’s something especially peaceful about watching a baby sleep. I couldn’t help but take a picture of Laurelyn in her car seat while we were driving to Johnston’s Canyon.

We have made some friends with our neighbors and one of the families has come from Scotland. We thought that a good foundation for learning about Alberta has to start in the Rocky Mountains. One of the easiest and most beautiful hikes is Johnston’s Canyon. It’s paved, not very steep and gave us an opportunity to take a million beautiful pictures of the mountains. I’m sure I have posted more pictures of the mountains than any one person wants to look at so I’ll keep the pictures quick and simple.

Jason on the trail.

Jocelyn couldn’t walk by a flat rock without lounging on it and smiling for the camera.

My new friend, Helen, was enjoying the walk along the river. She had a bad day at work and was telling me how nice it was to leave all of it behind her and enjoy being outside. That’s when I told her to stop on the trail and look behind her. This was what she saw. We just smiled at each other, turned back to the trail and made plans for another family hike.

Here are all of the kids, minus Laurelyn who was happily strapped to my back.

Finally we made it to the first stop, the Lower Falls. We bent low to crawl through the low cave opening to get right in front of where the waterfall crashes. It’s beautiful…and very wet. We all got a good soaking if we stood there long enough. We decided against hiking up to the Upper Falls or to the Ink Pots. We were starving and it was now 8:30 and we hadn’t had dinner yet! It’s tradition for us to go into Banff and eat at Melissa’s Steak House, they have the best deep dish pizza and hamburgers.

That was our Saturday last week. It’s taken me a whole week to put these pictures up! I need to get better at posting. I haven’t even written about my new job so that will have to come on a later post.

Enjoy the weekend!