Hmm News News News, do we have any

Not a lot that I can think of but here are the highlights:

Mosquito season has struck again, the mixture of warmer weather and lots of rain has aroused the little monkeys to much higher levels of activity and don't I know it. I innocently completed one of my fabled early morning strolls earlier this week and within 5 mins I was totally regretting it. I have a bad reaction to them I'm afraid and I will be carrying the evidence round with me for a while yet. This is what I look like atm:

On the plus side for Jacqui it means that I've left her alone for a couple of nights now as I'm sleeping downstairs, seems unfair to keep her awake when I can't get to sleep.

One of my saviours in this is the programme Wipeout schadenfreude is definitly meine freund.

In baby news Jacqui has booked US into prenatal classes, I hate to inform her that it's her having the baby and not me, silly girl, why would I want to go? She can discuss her folly with her family when she travels back to the UK next week, I hope she has a great time.

I also wish Alun and Carolyn a truly excellent wedding, and that it all goes exactly how they want it to go!

And I would like to say massive congratulations to my American friends Rob & Lauren now that she's out of hospital and hopefully on the way to a speedy recovery. Now you can start enjoying that married life you've heard so much about.

Impending visit from the stork

So as Richard has told you in so many words, we are expecting again which is wonderful after the upset of last autumn. The baby is due on November 2, and I am in my 25 week, so just leaving the second trimester.

I have been extremely fortunate to have very few of the symptoms of pregnancy - no sickness, no insomnia and very few aches and pains - but definitely have a few of the others - tiredness, swelling feet, deteriorated vision and absent mindedness. Because of last time and also my age, we have had several scans, and an amniocentesis test for chromosome deficiencies (i.e. Down syndrome), which fortunately came back negative. I'm also having a scan every couple of weeks so we're getting so see the baby very often. In the last couple of weeks I've felt movement for the first time (feels a bit like wind!) which is amazing, but I'm sure will wear thin pretty soon.

We know the sex of the baby - the amniocentesis is very conclusive, so if you want to know let Richard know. Makes it slightly easier for choosing names (which we haven't yet). So that's all the news for now, but I'll let you know if anything changes.

What to do in Edmonton While on Holiday

Afternoon tea at Rutherford House. Mmmm

The Devonian Botanical Gardens. 190 Acres of woodlands, trails and manicured gardens.

Fort Edmonton Park - Reconstruction of Edmonton's history from 1885 when it was a pioneer settlement, through to the 1920s. Includes a street car and steem railway. Ok, not quite up to England's concept of historical but a good day out.

Visitors #2

About a week after my we left my sister and brother in law in Banff, my parents came over for a month's visit. It was there first time in Canada, and indeed the first time my mum had travelled long haul anywhere. She was actually quite impressed with Air Canada.

They stayed with us for just over a week and Ricchard took them out and about while I worked, and they also got the hang of St Albert and Edmonton Transit so were able to discover the delights of Edmonton for themselves.

We then all went down to Banff for a couple of days in the mountains. We took the gondola up Sulphur Mountain and had a wander around the boardwalk at the top. This included sharing space with dozens of other tourists and some unbelievably cute but persistant ground squirrels, but the views were well worth it. We had a bit of rain but on the whole the weather was pretty good.

I think it sensed nuts

Mum and Dad then took a two day coach tour across to Vancouver where they stayed for a few days before getting the Rocky Mountaineer Train back across to Banff. In the meantime, we went home and resumed normal life for a week and then drove back down to Banff to meet them.

For the second leg of the journey, we stayed in Banff for another couple of days. The weather was reasonable, although we did one walk up at Sunshine Meadows, where the incoming weather was evidently oblivious to the name of the area.

Look out behind you

We then drove up the Icefield Parkway to Jasper. Unfortunately the weather was fairly rubbish that day, so the spectacular views were a little less than spectacular, but nevertheless Mum and Dad enjoyed it, and got the idea of how fantastic the Rockies are. We also saw a bear on the journey so that definitely added to the day.

In Jasper we did various walks, including one to see the Hoodoos. The Whichdoos? These are pillar rock formation things, caused by corrosion, corrasion, attrition or aliens, if my memory of GCSE geography serves me right. Bit weird anyway.

We then came back home for one final week with my parents before they headed back home to France to tackle their 6' weeds in the garden.

Man and Other Machine

As well as telling you about his new lawn mower, Richard forgot to mention the other toy he has acquired recently. Our neighbours were getting a new barbecue so offered their old one to us. Richard, being a man and having this thing about fire, accepted, and so we are now the proud owners of a real Canadian Gas Barbecue. Of course it is quite small by Canadian standards, but Richard the Grillmeister has cooked some fine meals on it. Some of them have even included vegetables.

Three and a half bears

While we were on trip to the mountians with Elisabeth and Paul, we saw a bear for the first time since arriving in Canada three years ago. Then we saw another bear. Then we saw a third.

The first bear was a cinamon bear with a cub and we saw them while we were out hiking through woodland fairly close to Jasper. As we were walking, a young German couple over took us and disappeared on ahead. However, we then rounded a bend and they were walking rather hurredly back towards us. They told us they'd come upon a bear and cub which had fortunately wandered off and could they stick with us as there was safety in numbers (and we didn't look like we could run as fast as they could).

So we walked together making lots of noise and fortunately just saw the bears a couple of times from a safe distance, and not close enough to take a photo.

The second and thirds bears were black bears and we saw those from the safety of the car as we were driving along the Icefield Parkway. In both cases, they were just grazing by the side of the road, completely oblivious to the hoards of tourists who had stopped to take photos.

Visitors #1

My sister Elisabeth and her husband had a belated honeymoon in May in the States and Canada, and visited us for part of their itinerary. They stayed with us for a couple of nights and they we took them to Jasper, where we stayed in a log cabin. It was luxurious rather than rustic but that suited us very well.






The log cabin













View from outside the camp





We spent a couple of days in Jasper and then drove down the Icefield Parkway to Banff, stopping at the various sites en route.









Athabasca Falls







Lunch - who can boast this sort of view when they're having lunch?

We then stayed one night in Banff and saw Elisabeth and Paul to Banff Station to take the train to Vancouver. As a final delight, as we were saying goodbye at the train station, a herd of elk wandered by.

Row, row, row you fool

I'm very proud to note that I managed to row 5 km today, first time in about a year. I was still sweating about an hour afterwards but I am very pleased with myself.

Definitely more exercise going on this week and I've cancelled my World of Warcraft account, not saying i wont go back but it's a step in the right direction.

Virtual Update July 14thish

Jacqui's doing well, she has promised to add some baby updates in the very near future, wouldn't hold your breath though. She has definitely started to 'show', and she is encountering other pregnancy related issues, I am hiding my head under the blankets, it's safer that way. As way of a baby summary the little monkey's fine, the amneo results were good news for us, Jacqui will fill in the details I'm sure.

I have been away from Focus for two months now and getting into the swing of things, especially now that we have the house back to ourselves once more. My cooking continues as well as my investigation of new projects and my mission to rekindle my imagination. My roaming around St. Albert is increasing, my walk in the morning is now taking 1 - 1.5 hours, and i've had the bike out again for when i really want to suffer.

This week is insurance renewal, house tidying and other bits and pieces, I might go and post Jacqui's dress for her, who can tell in this crazy world of mine.

Shhhhh it's almost over

I'm not sure what I'm going to when the world cup finishes all that time back but I'll find something. My new team Holland have made the final, now I just need Spain to beat the dirty Germans and the world will be a happy place.

On an exercise front I pumped up the tyres and got the bike out yesterday. I went for a ride down by the river and it was all very pleasant, of course when I got home I was aching like a man who doesn't ride enough but I am glad I did it.

Jacqui and her parents are out for fish and chips and Shakespeare tonight, I will be here watching bad films and eating tagine and couscous. I have the option of beer, wine or something softer, it's not a bad life.

No more mountains please, no more...

We have just returned from our third trip to Jasper & Banff in the last month and I'm looking forward to not going there again for a while :) The mountains are lovely but it's a fair drive (400 km each way) to do so often.

One good thing to mention though, I am driving a lot more now. I did a couple of hours on the way to Banff and another couple on the way back from this trip. This is going to make things better for Jacqui and I, she was doing all the driving before.

Couple of updates.
We have Jacqui's parents here for another week, and it's been nice to have them over, we like visitors.
The pregnancy is going well, 5 months now, only 4 left to go and Jacqui's showing all over the place:)