Sunday, July 3, 2011

Calgary day one

The drive to Calgary went well.  The kids are good little travellers, but not as good as Joanne.  She’s amazing.  I was driving and sitting in awe while she made up more and more verses to sing in “The wheels on the bus to round and round.”  I particularly liked, “The Lucy on the bus goes woof woof woof,” and “The Phinehas on the bus does a little dance.”  “Itsy bitsy spider” was also joined by a great big hippo, which also climbed the water spout.  I have a very resourceful wife.
The Rocky Mountains are amazing.  Just stunning.  We also kept track of the animals we saw.  (Atticus, ever methodical, made sure we wrote them down each time.)  We saw 1 bear, 1 fox, 1 elk, 8 deer, 1 coyote, 4 mountain goats, several bald eagles, and numerous ground squirrels that posed for pictures at Roger’s Pass while the boys giddily picked dandelions to feed to them, which the friendly rodents gratefully accepted.
The space they have for us here is great.  We were able to put the boys on two mattresses side by side on the floor, which they think is great fun.  There’s even a kitchenette attached to our room, which they are letting us use – a huge blessing!  Unfortunately the mosquitoes are worse than we imagined.  I received more mosquito bites in my first minute in Calgary than in my last ten months in Vancouver.  Seriously, I got out of the car, and they descended upon us.  I think I heard one ring a tiny little dinner bell and shout “Lakin blood!  Come and get it!”  They’ve always been bad here, but these are the size of small sparrows.
Prayer requests:  Please pray for health.  Both Phinehas and Beatrice have bad coughs, and it’s waking them (and us) up at night.  Also please pray about the mosquitoes.  That may sound like an insignificant thing, but Atticus has strong reactions to them, like I do, but even worse, and he’s afraid to go outside.  And the thought of being cooped up indoors for a week is unbearable for Joanne, especially when it’s so lovely outside.  Phin also dislikes them, but he doesn’t react as strongly as Atticus.  Even so, he has asked if we can move back to the country that doesn’t have “skomeetoes.”
-A.