Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Water Balloon Fight

Be in a water balloon fight
July 14, 2013

I wasn't sure about this one.  It would take a lot of planning and I would need to get a lot of people together.  Most of my friends live at the other end of the city and in the furthest neighboring-town from my house.  I figured this would be pretty difficult to pull off.  But I was wrong.
  My amazing friend, Tammy, planned this out in secret. A BBQ was planned at one of our friends houses on July 14th.  Once everyone arrived, Tammy took the floor and explained that we were going to have a water balloon fight because of my list.  Everyone knew except for me.  It was incredible!


The guys got to work on the balloons and filled 200.  They were packed into two groups and taken over to the nearby park.  We split into two teams and placed the bins opposite of each other in a small area of the park.

 A few rules were set:

- You have to take at least three steps away from the bin before throwing your water balloon
- You can only be holding one balloon at a time

Each team stood around their own bin and we got started.  We ran at each other with great force and everyone giggled the whole time.  At one point, I heard someone on the other team whisper, "Let's get Lindsay".  So, I broke the second rule and grabbed two balloons.  They got me pretty well, though. 


Soaking hubby
Revenge 




















Most of the participants regularly play dodgeball, so we were a lot dryer at the end than I expected, but it was so much fun.

200 balloons sounds like a lot, but the whole things was over in a couple of minutes.  Water guns and a running hose for the next time! 

While walking back to the house, everyone was talking about what a great time they had and I'm sure we'll end up doing more things like this at the next BBQ!

Thanks so much Tammy and all of my friends!  I'm lucky to have you!


Monday, July 22, 2013

Watch The Shining

Watch The Shining 
June 22, 2013

As we all know, the Shining is a classic.  Like many classic movies, I hadn't seen it yet.  Of course, I knew the story and had seen many of the iconic scenes (and the excellent Simpsons/the Shining episode), but that's not the same. 

I'm not a superstitious person, but there's something about our townhouse that really creeps me out.  The idea of watching a movie about a house that haunts a family had me a bit on edge.  But, I decided to suck it up and make it happen.

Luckily, Shaw had it available for me to watch on Video on Demand (I miss Blockbuster), so I downloaded and watched it by myself. We do this amazing thing called 'floor bed' where we use all of the couch cushions, lots of blankets and pillows, and make a bed on the floor.  Naturally that was part of this process.
 
So, I sat and knit and watched the Shining.  And when it was over I felt satisfied.  I don't know that I really enjoyed it so much as I'm happy to have seen it.  Like I said, it's a classic!

As for the creepy feeling in my house, I did a mini-smudging ceremony and am feeling a lot better about the whole thing.

I also haven't seen Back to the Future or some of the Star Wars movies either (I don't know which ones.  It would be none, but hubby disapproves).


Friday, July 19, 2013

Try Shrimp Again

7. Try shrimp again 
June 13, 2013

When I was a kid I remember enjoying shrimp, especially popcorn shrimp.  But I eventually stopped eating them and I don't really know why.  Sometimes I eat canned tuna, but that's it for seafood.  In general, it kind of freaks me out.  People try to get me to eat fish or lobster, but I just can't do it.  My husband, Chris, is allergic to seafood, so this really helps.  

Since I used to enjoy shrimp, I figured it was worth a shot to see if I was just being stubborn.  My mom loves the baked garlic shrimp at the Keg, so I decided I'd try that.

On my dad's birthday, Chris and I surprised my dad while he and my mom were getting appys at the Keg.  It was a great surprise that he didn't suspect.  

After we got there, I went to the washroom.  When I returned, Chris told me that he had ordered the shrimp for me because he didn't want me to chicken out!  That helped.  I might have.

When it arrived, it smelled great.  It's basically 6 (or maybe 7) pieces of shrimp, covered in cheese and garlicy goodness, with bread on the side.  The cheese was amazing.  The shrimp?  Not so much.  The texture (I really mean the popping crunch) freaked me out and I found the meat itself to be bland.  

I tried a few to make sure that it wasn't just a weird reaction and I just couldn't get into it.  

Oh well, I tried.




Ride a bike from one end of Fish Creek to the other

6. Ride a bike from one end of Fish Creek to the other (within yyc city limits)
AKA, is riding a bike really just like riding a bike?
June 8, 2013

 
My family moved to Calgary when I was 15 and the home that we bought is pretty close to Fish Creek, in the south west.  One of the first things that I learned about Fish Creek was that if you had some time, you could walk or ride a bike from our house all the way to the Zoo.   I've thought about this many times and figured this was a good opportunity to do it!

My dad is one of the best people I know.  Well, there's more to it than that.  He's one of the best people in the world!  When I made this list, I knew he'd want to do this one with me.  He jumped at it and I'm so glad he did.  It was so much fun spending the day with my favorite old guy!  :)

 I hadn't been on a bike in about 15 years, so I was a little nervous.  I kept thinking, "Is riding a bike really just like riding a bike, or is that just something people say?".  For the first km or so, I was a bit shaky, but I got the hang of it right away. 

So, my mom dropped us off at the Zoo and, after a few bike adjustments, we got started. We rode behind some of the animal pens and got to see a few of them.  My dad made noises at them and a few squawked back.  

Neither of us knew the route very well and it was so bright that we could barely see the parks app on my phone, so there was a bit of improvising, especially in the beginning.

 About an hour in, we decided to stop for lunch on the side of the river.  My beautiful moma had made us sandwiches, and we sat for a little bit and had a nice chat.  From where we were, we could see the Deerfoot (major highway) easily, but it still felt very secluded. 

Carrying on, I quickly discovered that hills are not my friend, unless we were traveling down them, which wasn't usually the case.  We went through a community called Riverview and found a beautiful private wetlands area.  There were lots of people around and we stopped to ask about the lake.  We met a young couple and their toddler, who made us laugh.

We kept traveling south, crossing the Deerfoot by going below it, which was really cool.  We saw some deer, who didn't seem bothered by us at all, and a lot of people on the route. 


When researching this, I discovered that Fish Creek ends around the Deerfoot, so the park north of this area has a different name (or names).  This made things difficult when talking to the city, Fish Creek, etc.  So, if you ever plan on doing something like this, keep that in mind!

The weather was beautiful and it rained a little near the end, which was welcome, as we were so warm.  The trip took about 4 hours, all in, and was so much fun!

If you'd like to see the route we took, I've plotted it out here:  http://goo.gl/Hg15h

So, in short, riding a bike really is just like riding a bike!


Another note about this.  We rode these paths a little less than two weeks prior to the floods that covered downtown Calgary and many areas of the city.  The zoo was underwater as was most of our route.  Not having been on the paths since the floods have subsided, I don't know what kind of shape they're in now, but I'm sure glad that we did this when we did!  I doubt that a lot of these paths will be ride-able for the rest of the summer. 

Also, Calgary was an inspiring place to be at the end of June and early July.  Many people had to be evacuated from their homes during this disaster and the rest of the city was there to help.  The need for evacuation centers was low, because so many people opened their homes to family, friends and even strangers.  I am so proud of my city and the people who live here!