The Swarrell Life

Note: This is the fifth installment of my Banff Log. For the first four go  here ,  here ,  here , here  and here . I know it's been long, but this is it! Then it's back to our regularly scheduled program! Day 13 - Banff to Silverwood! Time to leave! Wow it was wet. I am really glad that we packed up most of our stuff. I am even more glad that I brought a tarp and drop cloth. It helped when we loaded wet bikes into the camper. We were out of there in a little over and hour. Then I delayed things by wanting coffee from Starbucks. Say what you want about the coffee giant, they serve a consistent cuppa, which I very much appreciate. I never did get it though, since the Safeway we went to had closed their kiosk temporarily. Bummer. So we hit the road without coffee, but cheerful spirits nonetheless. We then proceeded to stop about every 20 minutes for the next 2 hours. At least that’s what it felt like. It was likely less than that, but mileage was ...

Note: This is the fifth installment of my Banff Log. For the first four go here , here , here and here . I know it's been long, but there's only one more after this. Then it's back to our regularly scheduled program! Day - 10 Date Day #1 I am typing this during nap, so it won’t include our evening activities, as they haven’t happened yet. I might speculate at the end for you though! It was date day #1, which means that Kal and Jen were off for their date around lunch time. For our morning activity we rode along the Bow River from downtown Banff and parked our bikes for a little hike up Sundance Canyon. It turns out that the recent flooding in the region has left many of the trails washed out and unusable. Being good citizens we of course ignored the signs and hike up a little way up the canyon. It was a pretty steep hike on the side of a steep canyon, so it ended up a short excursion because it really wasn’t a good place for young children. We did see a great...

Well, he isn't a baby anymore. It's not that his third birthday marked some special change in behavior or stature. It's been coming for a while, a little at a time. My guess is that this is going to be a pattern over the course of their lives, that they change suddenly over a long period of time. The kids are so much fun right now. And they drive me a little crazy right now. I hear that's a pattern that continues for a while too. I was walking through the house today, telling Trinity something, and it occurred to me that I am a dad. I have kids. I am married with children (cue "Love and Marriage" them from that horrible show from the 90's). It's all a little surreal sometimes, when I take a step back from the daily rut to look at the bigger picture. But it's also beautiful and messy and imperfect and perfect and heartbreaking and fun and full of so much love. I think that's a good reason to have kids: love. So Teagan turned three last week...