YEEHAAA!!! Calgary Stampede Day 2

Well we returned to the Stampede for Day 2!!!

This time we got to see the Rodeo!!! We saw bull riding, Bareback riding, Barrel Racing and Calf Racing - all of this was FUN and EXCITING to watch!

At the end of all of the heats there was a 'tweenies' group! These were the children Cowboys and Cowgirls who had to catch a wild shetland pony then try and get on it's back! Zara you would have loved this part! The horses would have been about the size of Peggy but not as nice or friendly as Peggy was! The children were very good though and some even managed to get onto the back of their wild pony!

After the Rodeo we yet again walked around the grounds and the carnival - can you see who I met?

Jack I told this Mountie Police Officer how you found information about them and that I needed a photo with him to show you - he was very impressed you were researching about Mounties and said to say a very BIG hi to you!

We also went and had a look at the native village at the Stampede. We got to see lots of teepees and got to see some traditional indian dancing - it was AWESOME.

That night we once again went into town. This time we went to a bar called Cowboys!!! This is a very famous bar in Calgary and is a known local hangout for cowboys - fancy that. We also learnt while we were there that the bar was going to be pulled down and set up in a new spot, so we were lucky to be able to go there and have a beer in this very famous local bar.

From here we couldn't help it, we decided to return to the Karaoke bar from the night before - no we didn't sing but we sure did have a lot of fun singing along with the locals there - a lovely little bar and yummy yummy pizza!!!

So that was our time in Calgary and attending the Stampede!

This weekend we are off to Drumheller - will not ruin the surprise of what we are doing there, you will just have to tune into our next blog!!! All I can say is that Lumsden I am sure you will love it!!!!!

O.k now some personal notes;

Firstly, thanks Mrs Harris for your posts - Mum had said you were interested in what we were doing so it was nice you were able to do this via our blog. Am impressed that it's the 'oldies' who seem to have more technical knowledge than some of our younger friends. Thanks also for keeping us up to date with all the sports results we appreciate it. Keep your posts coming.

Michy, great to hear Shona and Ray are alright!!! Nice your Mum and Dad are having a nice time in Surfers - are they blogging their trip too? The photo of the tractors is for your Daniel just in case you didn't know - hope he likes it, I realise it's not that clear but he should get some idea.

Trace; GREAT news about your Bro. You are an aunty 3 times over now!! Henry is a lovely name and I bet Chris was chuffed his name was used too! Yep, me missing our chats too - no worries will be back before you know it and will make it a priority to ring you. We are thinking about coming to Palmy soon after we get back so it might have to be a marathon shopping spree too - though I don't have a lot of money left!!!!! Will keep you posted.

Ruth the bathroom sounds like it is going to look fantastic - can't wait!!! Glad that our little one is doing ok. Not only are you keeping her company on the weekends but I bet Ollie is enjoying you guys being there too!!!! Ha ha.

Ngaire and John, great to hear from you both. Sounds like you have some adventures of your own to share with us when we return. You would have loved the Stampede and we all thought of you both many times during the weekend!!!!

Skanky, gosh you get around!!!! Christina will be such a COOL concert! Just behave yourself!!!! Yep knew Honky might find it hard to leave his chair - tell him from me he's getting like a grumpy old man - that will rark him up a bit!!! So sorry to hear about your mongrel Max. Both Shane and I send our condolences. We did have a chuckle though when we read how Honky had made the kennel then Max decided to cark it - typical! Will you be getting a new mongrel? Great to hear from you, keep your posts coming, I love hearing whats happening!

Hi Uncle Tony and Mary, great to hear from you again. Typical of my brother to want to get the best deal he can and also typical that he is looking at doing something that makes him look good!!! Hope it all works out for everyone in the end though! Send my love to Poppa won't you! I don't like hearing he is unwell and I do worry about him. Hopefully Mum will have sent him my blogs so that might cheer him up a bit!!! Nice to hear Mum and Dad will be paying you a visit soon - should be fun! Keep the posts coming.

Lumsden, it sounds like you have all been very busy. I like knowing what you have been up to! The necklaces sound like fun and I hope someone has made one for me! Zara your diary sounds like a WONDERFUL idea and I am just so happy you are taking responsibility for everyone there - keep up the GREAT work. I would like to know what you think about the photos of the stampede - I thought about you the whole time I was there, knowing you would love to be there too. Now you asked about the castle you saw in my pictures. Well, it does not belong to anyone, it is a Hotel so people can stay there. We didn't we stayed in a pyramid hotel called the Luxor - it's a lot like Egypt. The castle is what we saw from our hotel window. I would have liked to have stayed there too. Yes I did see the Eiffel tower in Las Vagas - it's not the real one just a pretend one - cool though. Well done to you and James for recognising the Sphinx!

Anna you are right there are caves here in Canada for the bears. Unfortunately I will not be going on any bear hunts but I did get to see lots of them standing on the side of the road when we were driving through the Rockies! If I see any more I will let you know.

Make sure you check out my next blog as I am sure you will all enjoy seeing where I am going. I wonder if you can guess where I might be going and what I will see?

Miss you all heaps and am really enjoying hearing what you have been up too. Keep them coming.

Until next time

Rak and Shane xxxxx

O.k, o.k, I will put you all out of your misery - No Shane and I did not get hitched at the chapel in Vegas - firstly Elvis wasn't working that night and secondly Shane didn't want to pay out the $100 it would cost to get done. Plus, as you can see from the picture I wasn't looking my best and I would have liked to have worn something a little nicer!! So there you go we are still the same as always!!! Hope that has put every ones minds at rest!!!

YEEHA!! The Calgary Stampede Day 1

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I have not added this post earlier in the week but we needed to get photos put on a disc so I could add them to this blog!

O.k so we spent two WONDERFUL days in Calgary and had a lot of fun going to the Stampede!!!

Zara, Harriet and Ffion you guys would have loved it!!!

There were so many horses and sooooooo many cowboys EVERYWHERE!!!!

The atmosphere was electric and was HUMMING and busy we just got taken along for the ride too! You may notice that we even got into the theme by all wearing cowboy hats! Shane and I even took it a little further by both wearing cowboy boots and big belt buckles - yeah we wanted to go the whole hog, why not, when in Rome..............

The Stampede is not just about the horse events there are also concerts performed by country singers, there is a carnival and there is also a huge indoor market where anything and everything can be bought!! There are also arts and crafts to see that people have made and display! Just AMAZING!

On the first evening we got to see a welcoming ceremony and then it was straight into the Chuck Wagon races - now this was AWESOME! The riders each have a wagon which has 4 - 6 horses pulling it. The horses have to race around the barrels then race around the track - they have to go really fast - which of course they did - and try to be the first horse and wagon over the finish line! Man it was so exciting! We had never seen anything like it and it was so much fun! All four of us were cheering the riders on it was GREAT! Zara have you and your family ever done Chuck Wagon racing with any of your horses?

Between the heats the track had to be raked and prepared for the next wagon riders. To do this they used John Deere tractors - I took photos of the tractors especially for you Harry and Daniel Brown, I thought you might like to see them!

Also during the break they had a horse and cart ride - Zara and Harriet I thought you would love to see this - I wanted to have a ride in the cart too but there was already too many people!

After the races we got to see the Grandstand Show - WOW, this was FANTASTIC! The show went on for over 2 hours with singing and dancing. There were lots and lots of dancers - some of them were even young children - Jack you would have loved all the dances they did and all of the beautiful costumes everyone wore - lots of sparkly ones!!! In the show there were acrobats doing tricks! There were also motorbike stunts and throughout the show there were fireworks being let off all the time - it was AWESOME!

After the show we stayed at the stampede and played a few of the carnival games and listened to some of the country music being played. We then went into town and happened to come across a small local bar where we ordered pizza and listened to the locals sing karaoke - not as good as the Cloverlea Ngaire and John - but still fun!

We were all very excited about returning to the Stampede the following day!

Check out the next blog for day 2 ................................................

Viva Las Vegas!

Hi Everyone, yes, I realise we haven't added anything to our blog for a wee while but Shane and I have been living it up in Vegas Baby, Vegas!

Yes, that's right, we went and spent 3 nights, 4 days in Las Vegas!

Man, unbelievable comes to mind when I think about the place. I wasn't that keen to go at first but for the small amount of money to get there I thought, why not!

Am so glad we made the trip, believe me, you will not see anything like this anywhere else and it is worth just going to Vegas to see the 'extremes' that make the place the way it is!

Everything is done on such a HUGE scale and so 'Way Out' that little old NZ pales in comparison with our buildings - not saying this is a bad thing, just trying to put it all into perspective for you. For those of you that have already been, you will know what I am talking about.

O.K so Shane and I went to Las Vegas on Sunday night. We stayed in the Luxor Hotel/Casino - now my friends from Lumsden will see that I got to stay in a pyramid and I wonder who can see what was right at the front of the Pyramid?

In Vegas the temperature was a mild 45 degrees so it was a little hot outside!

In the time we stayed in Vegas we were able to go down 'the strip' a few times. Once via the monorail, stopping off at each Hotel Casino to have a look. The second time we walked most of it but did not go into the hotels, more sight seeing than anything - did have to take cover in shops as we went just to get away from the heat - but hey, I'm not complaining!

So as I have said the place was just too unbelievable for words - to try and put a small understanding of it for you I will describe some of the AMAZING things we saw inside the Hotel/Casino's. Each Casino/ Hotel has a theme, and within their space they will stick to this theme throughout the building.

In the MGM Grand, which was one of my favourites, they had a natural, wildlife sort of theme going on. There was a rain forest restaurant where you sat amongst (pretend) wild animals, vines, fish tanks, and the night sky on the ceiling. While you ate there was a simulated rain storm as well as you got to see the animals move and make sounds - really quite AWESOME!

Now, the rain forest might have been set up and pretend but the lion enclosure was not - yes you heard right, there was a big lion enclosure right in the middle of the casino, so while you gambled you could watch the lions at play - AMAZING!

Now, one of the Casino/Hotels was called the Paris - I wonder if from the photos you can figure out why? I am sure you all can!!! Here the whole set up was of France and was just magnificent.

I have forgotten to mention that each casino/hotel has a multitude of restaurants a shopping centre, clubs and pubs, theatres, shows, concerts, some even have roller coasters and theme parks and this is all INSIDE the building - see what I mean - UNBELIEVABLE!!! The Venetian even has water canals throughout the building so you can go for a Cruise along the water - now remember, all of this is inside the building!

Some of you may already know about the famous water feature outside the Belligio Casino/Hotel. This water feature comes on every 30 minutes and is a presentation and display of water dancing to music - FANTASTIC!

We managed to see two shows while we were there. One of them was put on by Cirque Du Soleil! WOW, now that was AWESOME!

Now of course there are the standard icons Vegas is know for - The Strip, Elvis, and chapels. We got to see all of the above!

There were even stores dedicated to particular merchandise such as M & M World and the Coke shop! Yes, both were a few stories high and at Coke you could get a drink (coke of course) and walk around the shop with it as you shopped! Unfortunately you couldn't eat M & M's as you shopped in M & M world - I was a little disappointed about this!

O.k, so I know many of you are wondering if we came away either bankrupt or millions of dollars richer! Well, neither! Yes we gambled a little - well hey, we were in Vegas! But to put all of your minds at rest, we were there for the atmosphere and fun so very little of our time was spent gambling.

Did we enjoy ourselves? We sure did! But as fun a place as Vegas is, both Shane and I agreed that the 3 nights was enough! Would we go back again - sure would! It seems that if you are American, it is the norm to return to Vegas at least once every two years if not every year! It's like a place where people go to get away from it all, which does sound hard to believe but is true. Even though we know it as the Gambling Capital of the world, there were so many families around! And yes it is true that it is the City that Never Sleeps - there is always something going on no matter what time it is and there are always crowds of people everywhere and anywhere we went! Truly AMAZING and an experience both Shane and I would recommend to anyone and everyone!

So now we are back to good old Edmonton with Lorna, Sanford, Tegan and Leah and the fun is here is also continuing. Tomorrow the four adults take a road trip to Calgary, where we will be attending the Famous Annual Calgary Stampede! Can't wait! We are all really looking forward to it and have each gone out of our way to get into the theme of the event - watch for upcoming blogs to see how we got on!

It should be another AMAZING experience for Shane and I and we just can't wait to see the events and take part in the celebrations later in the evening!!!

We are going for the weekend so I will hopefully have a post on the blog when we return!

Now I need to return comments to our wonderful friends and family members who are adding their own comments and questions to our blog;

Firstly; lovely to see that Uncle Tony you are making an effort to keep up to date with latest technology and of course our whereabouts! Wonderful to hear from you and it was so nice for Shane and I to read your comments and know you are thinking of us! Keep tuning in for new instalments and we look forward to your continued comments - hint hint.

Well done Kirk for finally adding a post - was wondering where you had got to! Big Ern's 30th sounds like a hoot! Can't wait to see photos from it! Will be back before you know it so will have to have a marathon phone catch up when I get back and I will get back into my helpful big sister mode! Shane Dogg was impressed you noticed his Clive attire he has been wearing on the trip - Cougars have also featured a little bit - had you noticed?

Michy, am very sad to hear about the Brown's - I am actually hoping you might send me a happy post soon!!!!! Please keep me informed about them! Poor little Daniel! I hope he gets better soon!

Anita Frew where are you? You start off with a fun blog and then nothing!!!!! Please add something so I know you are still out there!

Trace, am assuming you are fit and well - add another post please so I know!

Marzie, am sure things are all good with you and that beautiful little baby of yours!! If you get some spare time drop us a post would love to hear from you and what's new with Kiara!

RuBays where are you??????????????????????

Want to hear from you all again!!!! Tanya and Ivan and Ngaire you all would have loved Vegas - Ivan did you see who I got to meet - ok so it's not the real King but hey, it's the next best thing!

Ok so now my friends at Lumsden!!!!

Firstly Zara - Ka pai to you for practicing your commitment and sending me interesting stories from Kindy - I love reading about them and also love how you are finding interesting information for me to read - keep them coming! Thank-you for keeping Maggie and Sheree under control!

Wow Anna, I have also been to the craters of the moon in Taupo and know how cool it is - thank-you for telling about your visit. When I get back to Lumsden you will have to tell me all about it - we could compare stories!

Now what is this about Kahis? He sounds like a WONDERFUL friend for Kahu! I can't wait to meet him! Is there a list to take him home too? If there is, maybe you could add my name to it so I could take him home when I return! What an AWESOME idea Anna - you are truly so creative!

Bye Bye Bryny - I am really going to miss you! Am glad to know Llewellyn has started!

Sad to hear so many of my friends have left but I am really excited to meet all the new children that have started since I have been gone!

Oh I hope Collie was ok at the Vet! I remember how she gets a little scared about going! Did you all remember to tell her to practice her courage?

Now Mags and Shirl, good luck with cleaning out the big shed - do not throw out anything that I think we should keep - I will know!!!!!!

Oh, I am really disappointed I missed the digger and Darren! I would have liked to have gone for a ride on a digger too! I hope you took photos so I can see it when I return!
Well done Jack for noticing the optical illusion I did at the Science Centre - It was a really really big one and it made everything look so HUGE after 20 seconds of looking at it!

Now about the blog - my suggestion, why don't you write down what the children say then type it on the post? I know it is a bit of a double up but this way the children's ideas get to be heard and I get to read them. If it's a problem no worries! Shame I am not there to see the renovations though I can't wait to come back and be surprised! I am assuming you are documenting all of the progress!!!!!!!! another project maybe????????

Also, I ask quite a few questions in my blogs to you guys so if the children answer my questions I would love to know who answered it and what they said - ie, I loved knowing that Jack remembered the optical illusion experiment - see that's what I like to know too!!!!!!!

Ok, enough moaning from me will send another post after Calgary but will check to see who has been on and reading - means you need to send us a post ok!!!!!!!!

Until next time,

all our love

Rak and Shane. xxxxxxx