Lunch break at work..

Chelsea has been very sick since Monday night. We've visited the hospital a couple of times and the clinic, only to be prescribed more anti-biotics, an inhaler and a couple days worth of prednisone (a steriod). Anyway, the final diagnosis was 'a touch of pneumonia'.

Tonight Kimberly is coming to pick us up for a weekend visit as Chelsea is feeling a little bit better. I think it will be good for her to be up and doing something rather than being trapped inside the house and sleeping the entire day. We haven't been up to see Kimberly and Emily's new apartment yet so that will be good. Come to think of it, they haven't seen my place either. Good thing I've had a few days to clean my house. Haha! On Sunday night my Mom will be driving Chelsea and I back to Calgary and possibly spending the night - will also be nice because Chelsea loves her Grandma.

Anyway, I'm off to lay the baby down for her nap and to get myself ready before I have to leave. Hope everyone is doing well. Shall update again when we're back home. :)

-J. & C.

.. Big Hill Springs ..

A few weeks ago my ex boyfriend Sean and I took Chelsea to a place just out of Calgary called Big Hill Springs. It's actually a really great place to take kids and alot different than I expected it to be, as Sean described it as "A spring. On this big hill..." Upon arrival I knew it would be a little more exciting than that because the surrounding area was GORGEOUS. It looks a bit like something out of The Lord of the Rings. Haha. Only, more hilly than mountainy and much less hobbit roaming about. Of course, pictures are horrible at showing scale.. so just know that everything was MUCH taller than it appears in these shots. The picture you see on the left is the view from the parking lot.. staring straight down the valley. Big Hill Springs is behind this view.

When you enter the path you're sort of immersed in this pretty little setting with overhanging trees and a very clean little creek laid out in front of you. They have a picnic area set up amonst some big limestone formations, but we were much too adventurous to sit around and watch the water.

Every trip we seem to go on seems to just be a masked "Chelsea Photo-Op". I end up scouting places to take cute pictures of her, dragging Sean along with me. I rarely pay attention to much else, like her safety, as you'll see in coming pictures. As we ventured along, I perched her up on this big hunk of rock a few feet away from the stream. She's usually pretty happy with the idea of having her picture taken, but not so much for that trip - so, you'll notice her looking crabbier and crabbier as the series progresses.
She sat well for these few though.

You can see how great the location was... very treed, but rocky and essentially mountainous on the way up the hill. Very green, and not very busy, so it was very quiet and a really awesome way to spend the day. And in areas where Chelsea could run around on her own, she LOVED it. I usually find that the biggest problem I run into with having a small child on outings is that she gets so frustrated that she has to be held most of the time, so it's great to find places like Big Hill Springs where there are lots of safe areas for her to run around and explore for herself. It's lot nicer for her, but for me too. Gives me some time to enjoy things as well.


Moving on, we came to a gorgeous little natural waterfall. Maybe only about 5 feet high, but formed so that you could get very close without getting very wet. Chelsea loves water to begin with, so she was super excited about the tiny fall. She got close, I put her hand in it, she tromped around in the splash pools a little bit. Lots of fun.

So, the history behind the land is that it belonged to some guy, he had a house built in amongst the creek on the hill and when he died, it was donated to the Provincial Parks. I can't even fathom having a house on a chunk of property this amazing. You could see where parts of the old foundation were laid.. or maybe where they had a waterwheel, but the natural features this place has are stunning. Obviously why it was made into a provincial park. I'd be interested to dig around and find out a bit more about the place. Maybe who lived there and things. It always seems like a waste to see things like this and know nothing about them.

So, getting back to the idea of a waterwheel and the foundations and such, you'll rememeber that I mentioned every thing being an impromptu photo shoot for my kid, and here's a good example. "Sean! Go stand her in that water! It's not THAT deep. It's not running THAT fast. They're JUST shoes... go!" and with that, we have a picture of Chelsea standing ankle deep in a section of the creek running up the waterwheel channel. Also, R.I.P. Dora hat. It was at this point that I accidentally left it behind.

Haha... this is where the pictures begin to take a turn for the unhappy. I decided that I needed a picture of my daughter in this small elevated limestone cave. I knew she'd hate it, but I couldn't help myself and basically said to Sean, "I'll put her in, you snap a picture, then I'll take her out. Quick." That part was okay. She wasn't even that upset until I took her out, and while bumping her up into my shoulder, smacked her head on a little piece of rock. Nice going, Mom.

Continuing up the path a little way, we came to what I would call, the main event. A big, waterfall with this awesome moss on the rocks and lots of fall levels. You literally turn the corner on the path and there it is. Chelsea might have been a little bit scared - all I know is that she would not sit still and smile for what could have potentially been the best picture in the set. So much for my photoshoot.

After a fit and some throwing of the sippycup she finally let me carry her to a little natural wall of rock that went onto an overhang where the creek undercut the rock. We went along the top as far as I could take her before I started feeling like I was going to drop her, and then turned back to let her look around the rocks for a bit. She made friends with a pack of old women wandering by, and she seemed a bit happier after that.

The little wall of rock lead up to where the path started into a switchback up to the summit of the hill where the camera died. The next few pictures document the trip to another small cave, at a fallen tree crossing on the creek and at the top of the hill where the camera died. Haha. Next trip? Probably want to check the battery.

And so it begins...

What better way to give updates and show off pictures than to start a brand new baby blog for Chelsea? Basically said, this is Mom killing some time - but the more I think of it, the more I like the idea of having one place for family and friends to check in on their own time to see how she is doing!

As for tonight - no posting! It's late and I need to be up early for work, but as soon as I have a few minutes I'll be sure to give a comprehensive update! Stay tuned..