Friday and Saturday

These were the days of the visit to unwind. After all the walking in the sunshine of Calaway Park and the zoo, and the driving out to Drumheller and back, we deserved some rest and relaxation. That included taking down the tent: Ian slept in it by himself for a couple nights after Miranda, Bri and Zach retreated to the indoors. He would have happily slept out in it some more, but there were thunderstorms in the forecast and we wanted the tent in while it was still dry. Lunch on Friday was a “Stampede Breakfast”. Hey, it’s a guy in a cowboy hat making pancakes. Close enough.

We played What do you Meme? in the afternoon, and dinner was chicken Caesar wraps. For a while it looked like Tristan was going to get his wish and see a big prairies thunderstorm. We went out to the fields and watched a storm approach from Cochrane, but it veered north and missed us.

Today Miranda worked at 10, so she headed out on her bike after breakfast. Ian and I watched the Tour de France stage 20 (individual time trial) and then we made our plans. Stephanie and Tammy needed to go shopping, so they went to Walmart and A-Mart while I took the kids to the Downhill Carting at Winsport. Tammy and the kids had done this with Sepideh and Ilia in 2019, but it was the first time for me and the first time for Zach and Bri. We had a great time. It was a blast, really.

Considering how often I’m at Canada Olympic Park riding up the road, it’s the first time I’ve done any of the activities there.

Here’s a view of it from the chairlift.

After lunch, we went down to Abbey’s Creations and got some ice cream and saw Miranda at work. Everybody enjoyed their cones, except Ian and Tammy who had Vietnamese coffee milkshakes. When we got back, we heard jets and Ian, Zach, Tristan and I headed over to the park with a frisbee and watched the Snowbirds performing at the Springbank Airshow. We could see them in the distance as black specks trailing smoke. Evidently the CF-18 was earlier in the afternoon. Probably while we were getting ice cream.

Tonight’s dinner was pizza from Mitillini’s and we had a “birthday cake” for Ian and Zachary. Their respective birthdays are in four and twelve days. Close enough!

More storms threatened, but nothing has developed yet. Tristan may have to come back another time to get some full-on lightning. Our visit is winding down. The kids are upstairs playing Gang Beasts on the Xbox and having a great time of it.

We will see them again in August. Not too far away!