The Annual Tree Hunt

The past several years we have made the annual trip out to the Kananaskis to go collect a Christmas tree for our home. We actually have a perfectly fine artificial tree that we bought the first year we were married but Dave made the suggestion to go cut one down about five years ago and we have never looked back. This annual even is a bit more regulated then you might assume. A permit is required that you have to purchase before hand and there are a bunch of rules about where and how big and what kind etc. Once you get past all that though the experience is always a good time. 

Selecting the tree is always the fun part but a bit of a challenge too. You see when you go to a lot you don't really appreciate that those trees were pruned and shaped and grown just right for a Christmas tree. Pine trees you quickly find don't grow naturally like that. Here is the tree that we found after a bit of walking. It was a spruce amongst a sea of pines. It looked to be a re-planted area that had been cleared or burned, it was tough to tell, but this tree survived all that for just this day.

A bonus of the new house is that the main room has a vaulted ceiling, which we had never had in the past. So we were able to choose a tree that was taller than any we had cut down in the past. Of course once you cut the tree down you have to make it back to the car with the tree. This is when you realize how far from the car you had walked to find it, and how heavy a big tree really is, and maybe you should have taken that smaller tree closer to the car, and man am I out of shape... Usually this task is much easier with a sled and some snow, but as you can see we have had a remarkably warm winter this far and so no snow.

Once you get it back to to car and tied on it's all forgotten. Note the matching scarfs in this family photo, a gift last Christmas from D and R. After we got it home and all set up we love it. I will be the first to admit that if we wanted a good looking tree the forest is not the place to find it. But that isn't why we go. It's a day with the family spent out in the snow (dirt) looking for that "perfect" tree to bring home to decorate for the season. I think most people like Christmas time and for us this makes it even more special.

Haydens B-Day

Well, here is our first Post!

For Hayden's birthday we decided (after a great suggestion from the infamous "D") to go with a rocket ship theme, complete with a rocket ship "cake", and a trip to the Science Center . I don't remember the last time that I was there, some time when I was a young kid, but neither of our kids had been there so it was new and exciting for everyone. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. As it turned out that only family came to the event. The facility is currently under renovation which made finding the entrance a little confusing, but we found it and made it in. They have a couple different areas that have a lot of activities for the kids to play with, it's a sort of organized chaos with a science theme to every event.

Technically if you want to have an event there, like a birthday party, you are supposed to book a room they have. It allows you to have a place to congregate and have cake or whatever but it also costs a couple hundred bucks... So we just snuck the cake in under my coat, very casually walking in and completely ignoring any of the staff. Well they never stopped us so it turned out fine.

Here is the awsome rocket ship "cake" taking off!

Here is Hayden with his sister and two of his cousins.

This is me experiencing 4.3 G's. Wicked!

Really the best part is when we show the video. Jen has been making these video's for the past couple of years for the kids birthdays. We usually sit down at their party or whereever is convenient and watch it with the party attenders. It's a great way to see how the kids have changed over the past year. Us and the kids love to watch them over and over, I know it's not as special to everyone else but we like to share too seeing as usually the people that come are also in the flick. So enjoy, and watch it as much as you like, I know we will...