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August 4, 2014 11:37 PM If we see, we remember. If we do, we understand. — Confucius They heard me singing and they told me to stop, Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock, These days, my life, I feel it has no purpose, But late at night the feelings swim to the surface. Cause on the surface the city lights shine, They're calling at me, "come and find your kind." Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small, That we can never get away from the sprawl, Living in the sprawl, Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains, And there's no end in sight, I need the darkness someone please cut the lights. We rode our bikes to the nearest park, Sat under the swings, we kissed in the dark, We shield our eyes from the police lights, We run away, but we don't know why, And like a mirror these city lights shine, They're screaming at us, "we don't need your kind." Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small, That we can never get away from the sprawl, Living in the sprawl, Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains, And there's no end in sight, I need the darkness someone please cut the lights. They heard me singing and they told me to stop, Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock. Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small, Can we ever get away from the sprawl? Living in the sprawl, Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains, And there's no end in sight, I need the darkness someone please cut the lights. — Arcade Fire August 4, 2014 10:49 PM Almost Camping  The weekend was booked off. Food was bought, coolers packed with ice. Activities planned. Excitement was building. Our family has talked about going camping for months. This was to be the weekend it happened. We loaded up the minivan and headed down to Waterton National Park. We paid our park entrance fee ($nearly $20!) The scenery was amazing - majestic mountains, blue skies, rolling hills. We pull up to the campsite entrance. Do we have a reservation? No... Sorry, our campsite is full. We checked a number of other campsites in the area, and found one site availble within the town of Waterton itself in the middle of a field, but as we were driving in the skies opened up and dropped torrential rains and hail, to the point that the streets were running with water and the "camp site" they were offering for one night only was a water-logged section of grass in a field. Not fancying to sleep in a puddle, we decided to take the long shot and drive up to Kananaskis. Hours later, we get there only to be met with "Campground Full" signs everywhere we looked. Apparently Elkwood is now 100% reservation, despite what the web sites say. It used to be half and half, but now the reservations have won and there is no first-come-first-served camping there anymore. Spray Lakes were the same, so we reluctantly retired in a hotel in Canmore and tried to make the best of our weekend. We spent the day at Forgetmenot Pond and Elbow Falls with some of the cousins, and had a pretty good day of it all things considered. Still, according to the kids it was not the same as sleeping in a tent. I couldn't disagree.  Two best friend cousins sit along the bank of the Elbow river.    My little guy found this tree that was the same height as he was and was very excited about it, requiring me to take his picture beside it. Taking after me in that regard, he simply LOVES taking pictures.   The floods of last year have certainly changed the face of Elbow Falls.  We spent an hour or so throwing rocks into the river, young and not-so-young alike. Here you see Uncle lobbing a small boulder into the rushing waters. As he claimed, It just never gets old.  My little family in 2014.  All day Kristi and I were taking bets on which one of the children would be the first to go in the water. Remarkably, not one of them fell in!   Effortlessly, Kristi uses her mom force to stop a running boy in his tracks.    You are right here, Daddy...     You have cookies you say? I might be interested...  One of the greatest parts of going out in the wilderness is being able to let the kids run around. These two were the designated "seekers" in a wide game of Hide and Seek, seen here getting ready to chase their siblings and cousins over and through the woods. Fun in the great outdoors. One of the best attributes of being a kid is the ability to have fun anytime, anywhere.  Ooh, that was colder than it looked!      A very fun day indeed. BACK to Journal Index |