So we had a little Halloween party last night. I had to work night shift so I went for supper dressed as a nurse in my scrubs... Hal was my patient, he stayed and had fun. It was at the Zachary's (some of you might remember Melissa, the piano player at our wedding) lots of fun, Melissa was Cleopatra, her boyfriend Jarrett was the chair, had Austin Powers, Elvis... and a few more... good people, lots of fun!

So the deck is done except for the stairs and the railings which we will do next year. It was warm yesterday and today so the snow is pretty much all gone, not for long I am sure! Briela and I went for a run last week and there was some glass on the trail and she cut her foot, ended up needing stitches. Hal was going to have to bring her to the vet in athabasca and when he stopped by at the firehall one of the doctors in town was doing their physicals and he said he would have a look at it... to make a long story short, Briela was a patient at the hospital that night and got four stitches in her foot. She is doing much better now, and she got to hang out with Hal all week last week at work so I am sure she enjoyed that!

So inbetween finishing off the deck we headed off on a little holiday to Montana to check out Glacier National Park. We stayed in a cute trendy town called Bigfork right on Flathead lake, it was beautiful, lots of fun and nice and relaxing, exactly what we needed, other than the "going to the sun highway" that was not relaxing for me, I got a good look at the ditch on the passenger side! Then we headed north to Radium (highway through the mountain pic.) and soaked in the hotsprings, then headed back home to our awaiting projects...

Well I thought I should get some updated pictures on here. This is the start of our summer/fall project. Of course before we could put the new deck up we had to haul in these "screenings", pack them down perfectly so the deck had a good base. Mom, Dad, Pepere (grandpa Dan), and our friend Richie thought they were coming for a visit one sunny summer day, they ended up earning their pizza! Anyways I will put more on to show you the progression....

Its been a big couple of weeks. It started off with Donald & Donna deciding to go back to Scottland (Shetland) to bring their baby to the world. And us giving him then a Diggeridoo for his birthday. He was stoked! It was a great thing to give.

Then after some cake and things we went out and got him all tattoo'd up. Good fun for the whole family!



A few days later we went up to see our friends Mark & Margi who have 2 fun little fella's named Sam & Kainan. Sam & Mae are great friends and they also like to trade clothes!

Now just this Sunday we headed up to Leura in the Blue mountains and saw some bits and pieces. Once again just when we got there everything fogged in and we were pushed into a great little cafe called, "Stock Market" where they make terrific soups and stews. We had a chickpea and lentil soup (more like a stew) that was to die for. A little sour dough bread to go with it and bam! a great meal.

The last picture (below) is from the walk along the "Leura Cascades" walk. Absolutely fantastic. I would suggest it to anyone.

R

So, I thought that I would put up a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment of what we got up to while we were away for the Australian Laborday long weekend. We had a really great time haniging out with a group of friends that we latched onto through Sonja and Arthur. It was an absolute blast and we for sure had the largest tent that I have ever seen. It had 2 rooms and a split down the middle of the "main" sleeping tent where you could make 2 rooms out of it. Each large enough to hold a queen sized bed! Anyway enjoy the pics of the trip.
This is Meli with the tent. And Mae with her partner in crime Ella. The pictures that follow are (going from right to left then moving down the page):
Arthur dining with his "head light"
Crackers with Chris in the background
Mel goofing off with our Scottish friends Donna & Donald
Mel enjoying the campfire with some friends
Mae after she landed face first in a thistle bush
My little Aussie
Crackers with Alica on his back and me in the "Fig tree" cave
Donna & Donald, Mel and Mae at a resevoir dam near Sydney.

<=Aurthur














<= Crackers & Chris












<= Mel with Donna & Donald
<= Mel enjoying the campfire














<= Mae 0 / Thisle bush 1













<= Aussie Mae



















<=Crackers & me in the cave

So I've had some work done on the bike, it was in pretty rough shape seeing as how I hadn't done anything to it since Uni. Had to replace the:
Rubber
Big and little rings
Bottom bracket
Grips
Chain
Brake and gear cables
Crank arms

And I had to get the wheels trued up (they were kind of wobbly). So now really the only origional parts on the thing are the brakes, the wheels and the frame! Cost me a mint but now I basically have a new bike. Cool stuff. Problem is, I won't be able to ride it for a week because I just got some body work done on myself!

What you see here to the left is not a fake! It is a real, full on Canadian flag tattoo! I am now branded for life with the Maple Leaf! I am stoked. Now when I ride my bike and zip past someone they will go! HOLLY CRAP! That Canadian bloke was going fast!

Anyway. Thought I would share that with everyone. I've got a heap of pictures from my weekend camping as well but I'll post those at lunch.

R.