It's time for an update! *warning - contains an overload of pictures and rambling stories*

Unless you have some time to commit (or waste) to reading this, then don't even get started!

You've been warned.

We've been doing so much recently that I wanted to keep everyone up to speed! I promise that I will back blog later to fill in all the gaps, but for now you'll just have to settle for knowing what we are currently doing.

Sean has started his Residency, and his first rotation is doing Family Medicine in Drumheller. Now the really nice thing about it is that the program provides housing for residents who are out of "home base" (in our case Lethbridge). The accommodations in Drumheller just happen to be a 3 bedroom, fully furnished and equipped duplex! It's why we requested this site actually. Anyway, Sean headed up here on the 5th, and we soon followed on the 9th. We brought a few more "essentials" with us, such as toys, coloring books, sidewalk chalk, movies, and favorite blankets (I packed some stuff for the kids to do too - *wink*)

The first thing we did after finding our house, was go to the Tyrrell Museum. The kids LOVE it there!! We've been here a week, and we've been three times already. We decided to buy a year pass, since it's very inexpensive ($60 for the family) and it pays for itself in 3 visits if we all go.

----Heading into the Museum----

---Anise striking her current favorite picture pose---


---Anise at the listening station. Every time it was finished she would say, "OK, Bye!"---

---It's a dinosaur, it's a dinosaur, and he's going to eat you up!---
(sing to the tune of the opening score from Jurassic Park - try it)

---The kids checking out one of the Tyrannosaurus skulls---

---Traveling back in time---


---making friends with a prehistoric salamander---

---Sean had been on call the night before (which is why he had the day off and was able to come with us) but by this point in the museum, he was ready for a nap!---

---the inside of an Albertasaurus---

---all finished the museum, and already asking to go back in!---

We are also very close to a really fun playground, and we've gone several times here too. It's kind of funny because every single playground in this town has some sort of dinosaur something as part of it, or by it. The kids think it's the coolest thing ever, and I wonder what kids who grow up here think of it all. When they go visit other places do they find it weird that there aren't dino's all over the place? I'll have to take some pictures of all the dino's all over town to show you what I mean, but for now trust me, they are everywhere!

---Anise mastering a tricky ladder---

---the dinosaur by the playground---

---the dinosaur in the playground---
(I didn't get a picture of the dinosaur "fossil" that was part of the rock climbing feature)


--I just love this picture - her face says it all!---


---climbing up the slide---

Right beside the playground (unfortunately) is an ice cream shop. So being the nice Mom that I am, I took the kids for a fudgesicle after we were done at the playground. It was hot and windy that day - not a good combination for ice cream treats!

---this was before things got really messy! A lady walking by told me I'd better go hose them off, and that might not be enough!---

For FHE (Family Home Evening) we went to Fossil World. It's a total tourist trap (which we knew before we went), but the kids really wanted to check it out since it's also right beside the playground, and they see it all the time. So, we sucked it up and took them. The biggest attraction here is the animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex, and I have to admit that it was pretty cool, and a little bit scary. He had a heat sensor in him, so whenever someone would stand close to him he would start "sniffing" you out, and then roar at you.

---It's hard to tell in these pictures, but he moved, wagged his tail, blinked and roared!---

They also had a cool climbing structure that was one of the other few things included in admission.

There was also this cool wall projector thing that could "detect" you and would react to how you moved. One of the screens was a field with soccer balls. Without touching the wall you could "kick, hit and head" the ball all by just making that movement. We all had a lot of fun with this one.

One of my most favorite things about summer is sidewalk chalk. I had forgotten this, because in Calgary our house was on a busy road - so no playing in the front yard - and our backyard is either wooden deck or grass. So for 7 long years I haven't really played with sidewalk chalk. Sure I would join in when we were visiting my parents in Lethbridge and the chalk was busted out, but Grandma is just way more fun and I just can't top her lion. *It's true. Ask anyone who's seen it. If you ever get the chance, ask her to draw you a lion. His name is Leo, and he has a heart at the end of his tail. Awesome.* Anyway, so this spring as we were discussing what kind of house we were looking for the number one thing on the list was anything on a quieter street. Now, in Lethbridge we would have to live on Whoop-up drive to have the kind of traffic we do in Calgary, but I digress. So when I was in Costco one day and saw this giant box of sidewalk chalk, and the thought occurred to me that we would have somewhere to use this chalk, I have to admit I got a bit giddy. I tried to resist (not very hard), but for $10 how could you go wrong! (that's how they get you on everything in Costco - but I'll save that rant for another post) So I got this:

---I am the proud owner of 100 pieces of sidewalk chalk, and it makes me happy---

OK, so maybe I'm a bit weird that sidewalk chalk makes me so happy, but maybe it just means that I'm easy to please. I was so excited to try it out that it was one of the first things I packed to bring to Drumheller with us - and one of the first things I got out to play with. I even let the kids use it, on the condition that they put the pieces back neatly in the box when they are finished with them.

---proof that I share my sidewalk chalk---

The other day we went to the spray park here in Drumheller. It's so much fun!! In fact we ended up staying for 4 hours! The kids still cried when it was time to go home. The bad thing is I wasn't planning on staying that long so I didn't bring the sunscreen to reapply, so we all got a bit burned - oops, bad Mom moment. But despite my shortcomings, we all had a great time!

---Anise running away from the water - she probably stayed the driest of all of us! (and I wasn't wearing a swim suit)---

---she preferred to try and catch the seagulls - she would come back with her lower lip sticking out saying, "He flew away, HUMPH!"---

---she did eventually show some interest in the water---


---Kaden on the other hand, I could hardly get out of the water! He played with this water canon for the majority of the time we were there. I had to keep giving him reminders to share with the other kids!---

Since we are living in the Drum for a while, I decided to embrace the whole dinosaur thing. I found these dinosaur cookie cutters and since it's too hot to bake, the kids and I made jello jigglers instead. The worked really well, and I think we'll be making them again really soon. We ended up making 3 layers because I bought the smaller packages (4 serving) instead of the bigger ones that I usually get and one package wasn't thick enough to cut anything out of - it barely covered the bottom of the pan I used. So I was going to do a second layer, but then the kids couldn't decide if they wanted grape or raspberry on top of the blue mystery flavor, so we just went ahead and did them all.

---it's too bad you can't see the layers in the picture, but aren't our dinosaurs awesome (and yummy!)?---

Ok, one final picture for you. Kaden and I were playing in the basement while Anise was napping (kind of). We got out the work tools and were pretending to saw some of his building blocks. He stopped me right away, and reminded me that I should have the safety goggles on if I was going to be cutting wood. Since it's a kids play tool set I wasn't sure if they would fit. You be the judge:

---safety first!---

So this is what we've been doing this last week. I know, we did all this (and more) in a week! Crazy. But that's how life has been for us this last while, so why stop now. I mentioned to my sister a couple weeks ago that I'm looking forward to life getting boring for a bit - but when I look at all the fun we've had, maybe boring isn't for us, maybe we just need to keep living up to our names and enjoy it!