Canada day in Canmore....

We had such a good time celebrating Canada Day in Canmore! The town did a spectacular job with all the events and Neil and I remarked the whole day long on how everything was so well organized and clean and friendly. We started the day with a Pancake Breakfast in Centennial Park. It seemed as though the entire town came down to the park to snaffle their free pancakes and when I looked at the line up I thought we'd never get ours. To my surprise the pancake-making-ladies had the production line running like a well-oiled machine and they were producing pancakes at warp speed! Within 10 minutes of arriving we were sitting on our blanket in the sunshine enjoying our pancakes, sausage patties and syrup, they even gave us free coffee and juice for the kiddies! 

After breakfast in the park we ambled along to Main street soaking up the sunshine and blue skies. 

Main Street was bustling even an hour before the parade was due to start. Luckily our neighbours-in-the-know had been very thougtful and set out our chairs at 8am in a great parade-viewing spot. We were with a whole gang of four families from our street so we sat and chatted and sweltered in the heat until the parade began. 

The parade was fantastic! It's pretty hard to get a real sense of the atmosphere from the photos. There were about 6 or 7 different marching bands (so cool!) , a bagpipe group, flag twirlers, roller derby girls, skate skiers, stand-up paddle boarders, kayakers, Fire trucks, Mounties, clowns, Cowboy's and girls, squirt gunners (thank goodness! it was HOT!), endless candy throwers and so much more!

After the parade we headed back to the park for a party and some more fun. The kids played and jumped around on the bouncy castle while we watched the "battle of the marching bands".  By the time we headed home the kids were totally pooped! 

As it doesn't get dark until pretty late, the fireworks were scheduled to begin at 10.30pm. We put the kids to bed as normal and told them we'd wake them up for the fireworks. It was a good idea in theory but in reality Bel is like monster when she's tired (we call her Igor) and she was not happy to be dragged from her bed and plonked in the car in her PJ's. 

Rather than go all the way into town, we drove five minutes up the road to a spot where there's a really good view of Canmore. Apparently we weren't the only ones with this idea, there were literally hundreds of people all over the hill, some with chairs and drinks and picnics, and there we were with a couple of tired children in their PJ's :) 

As it turns out it was a beautiful place to be. The atmosphere was lovely (apart from Bel being stroppy) and we got to enjoy the last few moments of sunset over the rocky mountains then a pretty spectacular backdrop to a fabulous firework display! 

We were eaten to shreds by the mosquitoes but that seemed like a small price to pay to celebrate Canada's birthday :)

oats + banana = yum

I promised Bel banana muffins today but someone stole the second to last banana. With one banana and little enthusiasm I turned to google and came upon a brilliant idea! Cookies made with one cup of dry oats and one banana. That's it. Two ingredients. Hurrah!

Mix them up, scoop the mix onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes. 

No sugar, no mess. Just healthy yummy-ness! It could not be any easier! 

I was sceptical that the mix would not stay together, I used an icecream scoop and packed it quite tight before dumping it onto the cookie sheet. They came out perfectly! The oats on the outside were crisp and the centre of the cookies were just perfectly chewy. They were just sweet enough as is but of course you could fancy them up by adding berries or chocolate chips. They are the perfect emergency snack!

I'm so impressed and so were the kiddies, check out Isobel's face......

She's taken one bite and she's already eyeing up the rest of the plate! They were gone in a flash! 

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

just hanging.....

Blue sky, bare feet, grazed knees, dusty bums, rosy cheeks, wind blown hair. A splinter, a few tears, ice creams dropped on hot pavement. The smell of sweet flowers and bbq in the air. It's summer. 

Growing and building.....

 Bad news....my seedlings failed. Twice. Yes, I made two separate attempts to start seed of tomatoes, lettuce, various herbs, arugula, not to mention a few other things and the only solitary thing that has survived is one Genovese Basil plant. I call him my precious and skulk around him possessively, chattering to myself like a crazy bipolar creature. I carry him gently to the bathroom every night so that he doesn't get chilly with the cool mountain air coming in the open window and every time I pass him I spritz him with room temperature water and whisper sweet nothings to his leaves.  Too scared to plant him outside.....but he would love it.....cold nights...squirrels.....noooooo! I think I am crazy....but isn't he beautiful!?

 Meanwhile Seb is growing something......

We're not sure what it is, he was blindfolded when he planted it. From what I can see of the seed I think it will be a sunflower but it's quite fun waiting and guessing.
Neil hasn't grown anything but he has been building stuff! He built this workbench for our garage.......

It's really quite sturdy. It has a shelf, a pegboard and a connected multi-outlet power supply! I was so impressed I immediately asked him to build me a planter for the deck and within an hour...voila! 

Isn't it nice! Just a shame I wasn't able to fill it with my own plants. Oh well, that's what the Garden Centre is for I suppose, failures like me :)

Luckily we have the Community Garden, we are proud members of the Tomato Crew. So far Neil and I have helped build eavestrough wicking planters and a passive solar wall out of old pop bottles for the tomato house and it looks like we might be able to have our first nibbles of tomatoes in the next week or two! It's really cool to be a part of the garden and I'm seriously hoping I learn enough to get my home garden growing strong next year.