Banff, Canada

Each time I go to Calgary, I learn new things about the area.I've learned where to stay-where not to stay, where to eat-where not to eat, that sort of thing. One of the good things I learned this time was that there is a great little town named, Banff about 2 hours away. Thursday afternoon, I took to the open road and made the trip. Even though it was pouring down rain, there was an outdoor concert going on and the townspeople were out in full effect! Its was great. Banff is a very exclusive town, they actually charge you ($9 per person) to visit!

It would have been great if my road trip partners were with me (Mal and Nick), they would have loved it! Lots of shopping and eating and general merriment! They like that.

On my way back into town, I saw for the first time Calgary's Olympic Village from back in the day too. I saw all of the ski runs and the louge tracks. Its all there still. That's the closest I've ever been to anything Olympic, even though it was deserted, it was still cool

Greetings from the airport!

This morning, I'm on my way to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have packed what seems like the biggest assortment of clothes I've ever taken on a trip. Craig and I looked at the weather forecast last night and found that today it will be 103deg, tomorrow it will be 83deg, and progressively colder until its really cold and rainy with a high of 56deg on Friday. I have a swimsuit, a suit jacket and then a puffy vest for Thursday & Friday. Interesting stuff.



This weekend was errands, dinners out, golf and then a trip to Sunsplash/Golfland to end the summer. Very productive weekend, I would say. So, here's the final boarding call; I've prolonged my entry onto the plane as long as I possibly could, it seems. Every time Craig and I fly, we buy the customary pretzel pizza combos and they were out of them this time. So, I'm smarting a bit from that, but somehow I'll manage with the gummy bears and chocolate covered pretzels I brought from home.

Holy cow, I just heard some Canadian answer his phone, eh? Ugh.

79

It is my pleasure to state that I finally broke the 80 barrier in golf this past weekend with a 79 from the tips of the beautiful Westin Kierland course in the enchanting city of Scottsdale, AZ. 7000+ yards of fun on the Mesquite 9 and the Acacia 9 (which is probably one of the better 9's in the valley).





Not sure if it was luck or skill considering I only hit about 4 fairways off the tee, but I'll gladly take it. Up next: Round 2 on the TPC Stadium course Saturday. Miceli and I hope to improve upon our last trip there prior to the wedding where we both played rather average. Luckily Kevin Harper was there to keep our score respectable...I won't even mention what Gibson shot... And yes, that is a picture of Kevin feeding a sheep at Whistling Straits, and yes, the sheep does now have a restraining order against Kevin.





On a final note, I start working Monday so I've got 3 final days of freedom. Going to be wierd going to work again, but it's time to start getting paid. I know Vic's ready for that...



Lastly, because I know no one reads this blog to hear about me, Nick and I went golfing last week and on a par 61 he shot an 87 from the red tees. He doesn't hit it very far yet and he needs to keep working on his putting, but he literally didn't have one miss-hit using his driver or irons. He already has a near perfect swing that he can consistently repeat. Really impressive. Nick has tremendous potential.

Another Birthday Girl!

Saturday night we went out for my birthday celebration. We had a wonderful, low-key night with a few fabulous friends. We started with dinner at Ra, I love sushi and there's a new one near our house. After that I thought it was time for all of us to go bowling! When's the last time you've been bowling - a long time ago right? So, we found some lanes that just opened recently and it seems to be the new(ish) thing? It was a bowling center that was really customized, they had couches and cocktail tables instead of the normal round booths to sit on,lights, music and a full bar! The bowling centers in Palmyra PA don't look like this? The only bummer was how long we waited - almost 2 hours!

Before Sat. night, and when the girls asked me what I wanted to do, I immediately said let's go bowling, guys against the girls! And we should get some kind of t-shirts or something. Well, the girls took this one comment and ran with it. That night they had gotten a 'bowling chicks' t-shirt for all of the girls! I was super excited. Somehow they managed to combine bowling with my favorite thing, chicks?

Let's be honest. These shirts are no one's style really, are they? But the fact that these friends of mine purchased them and had the spirit (of friendship) to wear them as a team all night for me is priceless. What a wonderful group of girls I have and I love them all. I appreciate this so much, it will be a birthday not soon forgotten.

More photos, here.

Birthday Parties!

After what seemed like a two week-long celebration for Mallory's birthday, we finally wrapped things up on Friday night with a concert. As a present, I took Mallory and Kacie to see Jordin Sparks and Jesse McCartney. I knew right from this start it would be a very specific demographic, MOMs and teenage girls. I was fairly dead on. So, I made sure I had snacks. I always feel like you can get through any situation, as long as you have some good snacks. We had great seats for the fun - the girls had a good time! And, since it was their first concert, we tried to glam it up a bit with makeup, eyeliner and some red streaks in the hair!

Outside of the concert, she also had her first boy-girl party this year. We made a hot pink/lime green palm springs desert theme. Everyone had a good time, it always seems that the group start reallly shy for about the first 2 hours and 45mins, then..... everyone starts to come alive with 15mins left. I am particularly proud of the cupcakes I made this year. They looked pretty, but I guess they tasted good too, cause the kids pretty much snarfed them up! As they get older, it gets harder to fill a loot bag, especially for the dudes. I had no idea. So, I gave them what I thought was funny - Rubber chickens. I love them, I think they are hilarious and it takes me back to rubber chicken shots (of fruit punch Mallory) in the sorority.

Baby Mohawk!

This weekend we had our good friends, Michael and Shelsea and the kids over for a swim in the pool and a bar-b-que. After we ate, the men had the clever idea to shave Bodey, their 1-year-old's head! They gave him the mohawk you see here. I'm really not sure what I would do if I came home to find Nick's hair like this? I'm a bit undecided on the baby mohawk? It looks like he should have a studded dog collar on and a leather vest. And I wonder how it will grow in eventually too? Its going to be stubbly on the sides for awhile, right? Shelsea has reported that when its not spiked or gel-ed up, it doesn't look so cute. OOhh!

I hope the rest of our friends are not afraid to bring their children near our home for fear that Craig will cut their hair? Their original idea was to give him a mullet! Business in the front, party in the back. Thank goodness we at least talked them out of that!

Lazzzy!

Hey, thanks for moving the bowl in front of me so I don't have to get up to eat. Awesome.


Love,
The Dog

Birthday Week(s)!

The end of July always marks the crazy birthday season for me and my family! I think we must set some kind of record for sending the most birthday packages in one week? Here's the rundown;

1. my dad - July 29th
2. the kids dad - July 30th
3. my sister - August 3rd
4. me :o) - August 5th
5. Mallory - August 9th

Whew! So, Happy birthday first to my dad! He is exactly 20 years older than me. Its a bummer we can't be with him on his birthday, but we are glad he got the balloons we sent to his office! The kids celebrated their dad's birthday with him on Tuesday night this week and were able to give him the new golf shoes we got him. Sunday is my sister, Steph's birthday. I have no idea what they are planning this year. With our birthday's so close to gether, we usually got the combination party growing up. Maybe we can still blow out the candles simultaneously on the 4th, using the webcam?

And finally, even though there are 4 other family birthdays before hers, Mallory, of course gets the most concentrated effort. Planning for her birthday always starts weeks in advance of any other. This year, she will have her first boy-girl party on Saturday (early because she's with her dad on the 9th). I'm hoping these 7th graders can remain civilized to some degree. Their parents seemed oh-so-eager to drop them off for a few hours? As usual, I am behind on party planning. We will get the party decorations, bake the cupcakes tonight and hope all goes well on Saturday.

Happy Birthday to Dad & Steph! We love you and hope you both had/have fantastic birthdays this year! More to come on my birthday (I hope) and Mallory's, of course.