Day 144 (May 24, 2010): Fishing, finally!

So today marks our last day of our visit home.  We had planned on going fishing and camping all weekend while we were in Saskatchewan but the weather didn't cooperate with us.  On Friday when we drove up the weather was beautiful.  It was sunny and warm and the sky was clear (as you can see by the pictures of the Santa Clause).  Then when we woke up on Saturday morning the wind was blowing (over 80 km/hr) and it was rainy and cold.  It was too cold and windy to take the boat out on the lake.  Sunday was much the same.  We woke up this morning to a bright and sunny day.  What a bummer, today we are leaving.  We have to get in the car for our 8 hour drive home and once again it will be a bright, sunny drive!  Just our luck.  Anyway, we decided to take this opportunity to go fishing for an hour or so with my brother before we got in the car for our long ride home.  We went to the river by our farm and cast our rods a few times.  It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air and just enjoying nature.  While we were fishing there was a Prairie Chicken thudding his wings near by and we also saw a beaver swimming around the river.  Ken and I didn't catch any fish but my brother caught 2.  He generously gave them to us so we could bring them back to Edmonton and enjoy some fresh fish one night this week. 

This is a picture of me saying goodbye to Scooter.  I am really not wanting to get in the car.  I wish I could just sit here and enjoy this nice day.  Don't mind the expression on my face, the sun was really bright!

I just had to show you this picture because it totally cracked me up.  Right before we were getting in the car to leave the dogs chased a squirrel in to this shed.  If you look closely you can see it peaking down at Bailey from the crack above the centre of the doors.  Bailey has absolutely no idea it is up there watching her.

Day 143 (May 23, 2010): Brunch with Family

This morning we were invited over to my cousin's house for brunch.  These are cousin's on my mom's side of the family (yesterday we visited with relatives on my Dad's side of the family).  My cousin Katherine is graduating high school this year.  It was her that we bought the camping stuff for.  Now that she opened her gift it is no longer a secret.  Her grad is next weekend so we won't be home for it but at least we got to see her and give her the gift in person.  I also got to see her dress which is beautiful.  I can't wait to pictures of her in it.

We got to visit with alot of our family today.  If I counted correctly there were 20 of us at the brunch.  Wow, thanks for cooking for all of us Cheryl, the food was fantastic! Breakfast food is my favourite!

Day 142 (May 22, 2010): Visit with my grandpa!

Today we were lucky enough to have a visit with my grandpa.  He is currently living with my aunt in Regina, which is 3 hours away from "home".  My grandma is living in long term care in the hospital in Preeceville, the town where they are from.  Since it was a long weekend my aunt decided to bring my grandpa for a visit.  He is elderly and get tired very easily so making the 3 hour trip on a regular two day weekend is too much for him.  Anyway, we visited for a couple of hours.  We talked about the weather and HOCKEY, one of his favourite subjects.  It was so nice to see him again. Since we only get "home" a couple of times a year we were very fortunate to be there at the same time as him.

Day 140 (May 20, 2010): Separate things again..

I just realized that I totally  missed this day and blogged about Day 141 before Day 140....oh well. It might show up in the wrong order on the blog but whatever. 

Anyway, Ken and I had to do separate things today because of my work schedule.  It was also a very busy day because we were getting ready to go to Saskatchewan for the weekend tomorrow (the day I already blogged about, oops!).  

Ken decided to learn about his gun today.  He was cleaning it and had some trouble putting one piece back together so he took it to a special gun shop and they showed him what he needed to know.  As you can tell by this very vague account of his "activity" today I don't really know much about it.  Perhaps he will have time to clarify this in the blog later, lol.

I played some games online today.  I am not much of a "gamer".  I really suck at video games that take alot of coordination like Hockey or combat games.  I have found in the past that I did enjoy puzzle and word games though.  I haven't played any in a really long time.  Today I went on msn games and played a couple of puzzle games and a word game.  I got through quite a few levels on each and was quite proud of myself.  I think it is good to challenge your brain in a different way every once in awhile.  Although if I really wanted to challenge myself I should have taken out the playstation and tried hockey, maybe next time!

Day 141 (May 21, 2010): Saskatchewan including Santa Claus at Watson

Today we drove 8 hours from Edmonton to my parents place near Sturgis, Saskatchewan.  The drive is always really long but we do our best to make it entertaining.  Today I took some pictures of the beautiful bright sky (good thing I did because it was the only sun I saw all weekend!).

We also stopped at Watson, SK and took a picture of the Santa Claus statue.  This is something that I have known about my whole life and driven by countless times but have never really put much thought into taking a closer look at.   Watson is a small town of about 700 people.  When we get to Watson on our journey home we feel like we are sort of  entering the "area" near where I grew up.  In other words we feel a bit closer to home eventhough we still have a couple of hours to travel.  On a sign outside of the town it says something like "home of the original Santa Claus parade".  Here is the statue:

Day 139 (May 19, 2010): Buying camping stuff

I got this pic off the internet, this is not what we bought.  I couldn't post a picture of it yet, we haven't given the gift yet!!

Today we bought some camping gear as a gift for someone (can't say who right now). It was so fun to look through all of the camping stuff and pick out our fav's to buy, even if it wasn't for us.  I could spend HOURS in camping/outdoor stores looking at all the cool stuff.

Day 138 (May 18,2010): "The Urban Dog" has moved or doesn't exist?!?!

Today our idea was to go to "The Urban Dog".  It is supposed to be a high end, really cool pet store.  I got the idea and the information off of the Old Strathcona website the other day when we were reading up on the history of our community.  So I checked out the website and got the address and thought that we were all ready to go.  When I pulled up at the correct address I couldn't see the store so I got out of the car and looked around and sure enough, the store with the address where "the Urban Dog" was supposed to be was empty!  "Okay, plan B"....I had to be leaving for work in about a half hour so I didn't have a lot of time to come up with a new idea.  I had a look around and spotted a funky looking store two doors down.  It is called "Polly Magoo's Ltee".  I found a description of it on the Old Strathcona website and this is what it said "From Bangkok to Marrakesh, we import unique clothing, jewelry and home décor. From funky to sophisticated, Polly Magoo's Ltee…a world of beautiful things."  It was very cool inside.  They had all sorts of things like Women's clothing, shoes, jewelry, furniture and knicknacks.  They had alot of unique stuff and as I was checking it out I made mental notes of a few things that I would go back and buy as gifts for certain friends.  I never would have found it if "The Urban Dog" hadn't moved or closed down or whatever happened to it.....I still haven't figured that out.

Ken went to "Gordon Price Music" in lieu of "The Urban Dog".  Polly Magoo's isn't really his thing, lol.   He says that Gordon Price Music is a really nice store.  He thought the selection of music books and instruments was quite good compared to some of the other "guitar" stores on Whyte Ave.