Wow, what a wild ending to June 2013 in Calgary! On Friday, June 21, we woke up to reports of serious flooding and evacuations in parts of Calgary near the Bow and Elbow Rivers. School was cancelled. Greg did make it into work that morning, but by 11 a.m. he was shutting down the yard for the day as the roads in and out were quickly filling with water. The kids and I ran to Walmart mid-morning to stock up on water and a few other essentials. The store was complete chaos, and the water was long gone. Greg did find some on his way home from work, and we spent much of the weekend at home and laying low as city officials suggested. Swim lessons were cancelled, as the aquatic center was being used as an emergency response location. Downtown was essentially 'closed'...streets were flooded, over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Thankfully, there were no deaths associated with the flood in Calgary, but it will be hard to imagine how life for those affected will get back to normal anytime soon after seeing the destruction. It is estimated that the flooding will cost the city over $400 million in repairs. Heavy rains caused flood damage in 2005 as well, but nothing compared to what the city is currently experiencing. Truly heart-breaking. The first picture below is of a dry Calgary, the rest all show flood damage to different parts of the city.
After hearing the reports and seeing the images all over TV, it was hard to imagine that the Stampede would still take place in two short weeks. But, on Monday, June 24, the president of the Stampede said that the 101st Calgary Stampede would go ahead as expected, "come hell or high water". He said crews were pumping millions of litres of water from the rodeo grounds, which had been completely swamped, to prepare for the July 5th opening. He said, "Throughout our entire history, we have never cancelled a show, despite two wars and a Great Depression - and 2013 will be no exception." The Scotiabank Saddledome, where the Calgary Flames play hockey and also a site for the Stampede, was hit exceptionally hard. Floodwaters reached the 8th row of seats in the lower bowl. It is expected that the concerts to be held there during Stampede time will be cancelled. We'll be praying for safety for the workers and clean-up crews and hoping that we may still get to see the Stampede in some way, even if it's a little soggy.
Due to the flooding, school was cancelled on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the following week. Tuesday was supposed to be an end-of-year class picnic and Wednesday was scheduled to be the last day of school. Ben's last day would now be on Thursday, June 27th for just an hour. What an unexpected way to finish up kindergarten. Luckily, the picnic was still a go, with a change of venue. Instead of meeting at Edworthy Park, which was closed due to flooding, we met at the school playground. It was a little damp and cool, but all the families had a nice time eating, playing, and being together. Senorita Sanchez even came to visit for a few minutes. :)
Ben's last day of kindergarten!!! I realize we made a major move right in the middle of the school year, but it really did seem to go by too fast! I added a picture below of his first day of kindergarten back in August and his last day in June. He looks so much older! And, what a full year...he is reading, writing, speaking and understanding Spanish. After the quick hour at school, all the morning kindergarten classes met outside for freeze pops. Biggest ones I've ever seen! Big smiles with Senorita Sanchez, and now kindergarten is history...congrats Ben, we are so proud of you!
After an appointment that afternoon, Mommy treated the kiddos to a last day ice cream treat at DQ. :) Check out Nathalie's spoonful below...brain freeeeeeze!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside. Nathalie is definitely the best of both worlds...loves to paint her toenails and dress up like "Cinderelly", but certainly doesn't mind getting messy and dirty. :) She loves the sandbox that GreeMa and PeePaw bought and will sit forever just scooping, filling, and dumping. I also had to include a few pictures of the trees in our backyard...also known as "my nemeses". Oy! The tree on the right is a pine tree, and as soon as the snow finally melted off in April, there were pine cones EVERYWHERE! Once we got all of those cleaned up, then little sap seeds (??) began to fall and leave their stickiness everywhere. Did I mention they stain clothes also? That was May. And now, the tree on the left is leaving these cotton ribbons all over...the yard, the roof of the garage, in the gutters, etc. It actually looked like it was snowing one day as we watched all this little 'cotton' fly away. This yard is about one tenth the size of the yard we had back in Streamwood, but it certainly keeps us busy!
Lastly, we were busy in June with a round of swim lessons. The kids love the water, and it was a great way to stay active before the weather truly warmed up for outdoor water fun.
June was a busy month, with some very unexpected things thrown in too! And, I think July will be just as busy, as Shipley family starts arriving in a few shorts days...yay!
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