Easter Week(end) in Calgary

We had an adventurous day yesterday. We drove downtown and parked on Centre Street near the Calgary Tower. We had talked about going to the zoo, but we thought that since we no longer have our zoo passes that might get a little pricey - that and Faith has a sore foot and Len's heels are always sore. Then again, things like that don't usually stop us, do they...

So, we went up the Calgary Tower. It has been years since I've been up there, and as a family we had never gone. I'm sure I was younger than 10 years old the first and only other time I was up there. Sadly, I remember seeing a Super Mario Bros. arcade game there for the first time. I don't remember much else. This time we got to step out on to the new glass floor (which for many was dizzying). I loved watching the kids look out over the city trying to remember where all they'd been, looking for the airport, the zoo, Grandma and Grandpas' house, our old house, the Saddledome, and others. We also saw the banana-shaped Encana building under construction, and the one whole side of the downtown next to the river and the parks that is being redeveloped. Up in the tower, we took a look into the restaurant that has a rotating floor, taking you for a tour around the city during the hour you sit there waiting for your gourmet portion of food. It was kinda cool to stand on though. Micah tried sitting on the ledge by the window and a table and chairs tried to run him slowly over. Then we went down and back out to street level.

We wandered down Stephen Avenue and took in the empty street (it was Saturday, after all). A few of us got hotdogs and buffalo sausage from a vendor and listened to a talented busker on his fiddle. Then we moseyed on down to Devonian Gardens (which brings back memor... mem... me... I can't remember. I must have hit my head or something as a child.). It was closed and will be all year long. So we turned around and painfully walked back. Grandma, Micah, and Aslynn took the train home just for the novelty of it - but they had to walk extra far because they were street cleaning on 7th where the C-Train runs. The train kept turning around before it got to them.

Then we got home, some slept, and after nap we went bowling. Dear dear dear. Micah almost beat me. I was preparing myself for disappointment when I pulled a strike out of the bag near the end. Aslynn was around 88. Then again, she had the gutter barriers up and the little ramp to roll the ball down. Judah had a 93. He quit using the ramp and we waited painfully as the 3km/h ball took its jolly time bumping into the pins at the end of the lane. I had one of my gutterballs hop back out and hit a pin near the beginning. If it hadn't done that, I would have tied Micah. Of course, Micah was using the bumpers as well. It was fun.

Besides all that, we had a good old-fashioned easter egg hunt. You know, the kind where the only eggs are the chocolate kind and the bunnies are of the gummy variety. The hunt for me is a reminder of the search for Jesus body after he had risen from the grave - I can just see the Roman soldiers scrambling and the disciples baffled in my mind. And for us, it is a joyous celebration of new life, so candy all around!





















- Mark