Young Men's Encampment (2 of 2)

So what do you do when you are in such a beautiful place? You help make it a little bit better through service. Samuel and his Deacons Quorum helped clear paths at a nearby historical park. It was at the coal mine in Nordegg, Alberta. They also cleared litter and then got to see some of the old mine and equipment.
Camp wouldn't really be camp without a great hike. The Scouts scaled a local peak to eat lunch one day. After the hike up, they slid down the snow patches on their bums. At one point, the guide slid down a portion of the snow, planted his feet and vaulted/summer saulted over a boulder, then finished the slide down to the dry area. The boys were very impressed.
Since you cannot hike everyday, all day, why not go mountain biking? The Scouts took a ride on the White Rabbit Loop on the last day in camp. They had a great ride, and all of them finished the trip without injury, (except for one of the adults who cut his thumb when he bonked). Samuel managed to break the derailleur on his bike, so he only had 3 gears to ride in.
While the Scouts stayed in camp, or were close by on day trips, the Venturers (Teachers and Priests) spent most of their time out of camp. The first excursion was to rock climb and rappel. See Joseph (nick named "mountain goat" by the guides) above? This was his second climb. The guides asked him to clean the route of loose stones. His first ascent of approximately 45 feet took him all of 1 minute and 10 seconds. After the climb, the boys could hike up another 65 feet to rappel down 110 feet to the starting point. I got to rappel as well.
The venturers also took a 2 day canoe trip down the North Saskatchewan River for about 75 kilometers (47 miles more or less). The scenery was great. There were about 40 class 1 rapids, and about 7 class 2 rapids, and 3 class 3 rapids. Everyone of our group ended up in the water (snow melt from mountains that never loose all their snow) swimming for their lives. It was a difficult trip, and very challenging, but very rewarding. I ended up pulling one young man from the water, and he later told me he thought he was going to die until I got to him to help him.

The Venturers also built a section of fence to keep the bears in camp. I'm sure the fence was originally intended keep them out, but since we already had one (or more) in camp, the fence must have been to keep them there. The camp leaders called the Rangers, who ended up shooting the bear with rock salt and making him mad. The bear then played hide and seek with the Rangers for 3 hours, and eventually won. One Tranquilizer, or one 30-30 would have been better in my opinion.

Canada Day - July 1, 2008

Canada Day is much like Independence Day in the US. Canada was officially an independent country in 1867, or 1982, depending on who you talk to. Check out Wikipedia for all the details. More info later in this post.

Samuel (see above) was honored at his school on the last day of school along with some of his friends. Here is a young man from our Ward, Gaetz Salmon, with Samuel. We are pleased with his efforts in academia.
Since fire arms are not allowed, most folks here have paint ball guns to defend their things, or to shoot up the country side. While riding dirt bikes this week, one of our friends brought his PB guns so we could shoot at anything that didn't move. We tagged the power poles, signs, high tension power wires, etc. with about 1000 paint balls. Samuel was the first one to hit the wire. Joseph hit the pole 7 times in a row from about 50 or 60 feet. Alan was the first to knock over a bottle from 50 feet away.
Samuel, in a still of his rendition of "Put a Banana in Your Ear" from "Charlie the Unicorn 2" on YouTube. The whole video is available for the low low price of $(teach me how to embed a video on this blog) He says the song is annoying, but the home made video is kind of funny.
Joseph and Samuel planting sunflowers in a small bed they lined with a few little rocks from our yard. There are still about twice as many other rocks still in the yard. With the long days, the flowers are already poking their little heads up, after only a couple of days.
Seems like the new favorite activity is riding. We ride bicycles, motorcycles, ice skates, skate boards, etc. Even Michelle went mountain biking the other day. She says the boys tried to kill her, but after only two bruises smaller than Rhode Island, she completed the ride and got home safely.

Now, more on Canada Day:

We went to a concert in one of the big city parks here. We listened to 4 local bands, and one emerging Canadian Rock Band called Hawk Nelson. They were pretty good. Samuel wanted to go see them, so we arrived at 6 pm, only to have to suffer through the hoards of mosquitoes and drunks for 5 hours. After the concert, there were fireworks at midnight, because that is when the sky is finally dark enough to see them. It helped that there were many clouds in the sky also. After the fireworks, as we were leaving, we watched a woman get her foot run over by one of the afore mentioned drunks. She was not hurt bad, but the ensuing fight was entertaining.

On Canada Day proper there were more activities in the park. more concerts, a stand-up comedian, cultural shows by east Indians, Pakistanis, South Pacific Islanders, Filipinos, Chinese, and others. The Royal Canadian Air Force had a fly by of some of their newest planes, and there were fireworks again at midnight. We are thinking of having a 4th of July picnic/BBQ for a few of the American folks we know here. We will see.

All in all, the celebration is very similar to the Independence Day celebrations in the States. We had the Elders over for dinner tonight, and we had a cook out on the only charcoal bbq in town. It seems that everyone else in town uses gas grills, which in my opinion, simply do not impart the same taste to meat as good old fire and smoke.

Tomorrow it is back to the grind, but things are going well, and we are improving our home to get ready to receive more guests. The next "visitor" will be Jacob. He returns home from serving a mission on July 16. We are looking forward to having him here for a while before he returns to college. More on that later.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan

Summer Time is Here!

Summer has really arrived in Alberta, and with there are a few million mosquitoes. Here is your first lesson in speaking like the locals: Say "Nipper." That is how you say mosquito in Newfie. Newfies are the good folks from Newfoundland and Labrador, or "down east" as they say. Many of the people here in Fort McMurray are Newfies, and they are almost all friendly to the n-th degree. In the background you see the trees on the far side of the river. Notice the thunder storm brewing the the northern sky? We had a doozy that night, it woke everyone up at about 3 am.
On the 18th Samuel turned 13 years old, and had a party with girls and everything. He wanted to go to the local bowling alley where they have both 10 pin and 5 pin bowling. They opted for the 10 pin. That game is exactly like in California. Five pin bowling is a Canadian game, and the 5 pins form the front V of the pin layout. The back or inside 5 pins are not setup or used in the game. Each bowler gets 3 balls per frame, and each frame is worth a possible 15 points. Strikes and spares are just like in 10 pin bowling. The other major difference is that the balls are smaller (no finger holes). People say it is a much harder game to play, but little kids like it because they can handle the balls by them selves.
Zoom up on this sign. It is not too far from where the boys ride motorcycles. Of course we do not ride through the trees, and the space between the road and the trees is muskeg (think bog and nipper heaven), so you really want to stay out of it. There are several trails around the area, and almost all the open land is owned by the province, so it is public land, and open for riding any trail or power line easement or pipeline easement. Today when we rode, the nippers and the horse flies were out by the hundreds, then came the dragon flies and the nippers decided to go else where. Joseph and Sam are getting much better, but Joseph did look like the mudhead kachina doll when he was done riding today.
Both boys played in the Summer Solstice Concert in down town Fort Mac on the day of the solstice. That day the sun was up at around 3 am, and set after 11 p.m. The concert was a lot of fun. The band director, Mr. Eddy, will teach one more year, with a new band teacher to help them learn the program, the students, etc. and then he sill ride off into the proverbial sunset. He is a great teacher, and a very nice man too.

Samuel received an award for Honor Roll at school this year. We are pleased with him and his efforts for academic excellence. As you can see, he kind of pleased with himself too. Joseph did well in school too, but the high school does not have an honer roll (or so he says).

We are starting to look forward to the return from missionary service of our other son. We have really enjoyed watching him mature and grow from an adolescent into a man. He seems well adjusted, and is teaching the gospel at every opportunity. He has been on a diet over the last year, and we hope to see pictures of him soon. We hear he has lost about 60 plus pounds. We are starting to get excited to have him home, but not as excited as many of the local young ladies (or their mothers). I chuckle every time I see that in writing. We shall see in just a few more weeks.

Alan had to go back to the USA to revise his visa status, which he did, and as of today, he is officially the General Manager of Casman Construction, Ltd. He is very excited, and is ready to work hard to grow the company.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

Happy Father's Day Querido!

Alan wanted a motorcycle for Father's Day, so... He talked a woman in our Ward into giving him her keys for a few minutes. He rode her bike, and took the boys on a little ride on her bike, and her husband gave Alan a hard time about riding the girl bike.
Maybe next year...
We take pictures every Fast Sunday, but because of rain, we are a little late this month. This picture is taken at a small promontory over looking the Clearwater River near down town Fort McMurray. Alan is almost the runt of the Simpson litter. Joseph is taller than him, and Samuel is very close to passing him up too. Alan has no hope of ever getting taller, but he is looking into elevator shoes.

We are in the middle of a great caterpillar infestation right now. for the last 2 weeks, the caterpillars have eaten almost all the leaves off every birch and poplar tree in town and the surrounding area. when they migrate, the roads and sidewalks are literally completely covered, and it looks like black, wiggling, skin. We have seen groups of caterpillars in the trees bigger than softballs. They are making cocoons now, and in a few weeks the air will be full of moths. This is the second year of a three year period when the caterpillars are out, then they will be gone for about 10 years. It is cool that we got to see the phenomenon, because who knows where we will be in ten years.

We love you all.

Hugs and Kisses,

Michelle

One Week's Activities:

We started last Saturday on a Temple Trip to do baptisms in the Edmonton Temple. We had a little 5-hour drive (one-way), but we did stop at Wally's for a snack. They have a milk shake menu that is over 20 flavors long. The experiences that the youth had were every bit as wonderful as we all have in the House of the Lord. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve in these callings (YM and YW Presidents). After the Temple, the stake held the Iron Rod Games for seminary students at our brand new stake center. Joseph was honored for having 100% attendance throughout the year. We are very pleased with him, his efforts and example. Even before the Temple Trip was completed, we received our first visitors to Fort McMurray. Yvette and Lane just dropped by for a few days on their way from Dallas to Victoria, British Columbia. It is kind of the long way around. We really enjoyed having them here. We took them to see some of the machinery we use at the oil sands sites to mine and refine petroleum. It is amazing to see some of the machines that are bigger than buildings and weigh more than 500 tons each. Who's next?
Then, just to get ready for the summer play days here, we went to teach the boys how to ride motorcycles. We have 2 dirt bikes in our garage, but we borrowed a small bike for the boys to learn on. Starting the bike, learning clutch, brakes, shifting, etc. There is a lot to remember on a motorcycle. It appears that they had fun, although the smile on Joseph's face seems to tell most of the story.
The concentration on Samuel's face tells the rest of the story. Concentration and determination.
Of course, the summer needs to include lots of other fun and games, including the weekly game of Ultimate Frisbee with friends and neighbors. This little neighborhood park is one of approximately 100 in this section of town. About half of the parks include a small lake or fountain. This one does not, so the Frisbee does not end up in the pond. Perhaps more importantly, the boys do not end up in the pond. By the way, this photo is taken at almost 10 pm. Today the sun set at about 10:40, but it will rise again in less than 6 hours. The summer is both short and long, short in number of days, but long in hours of sunshine.
We are looking forward to lots of activities all summer long. Girls camp is in August, the Young Men in the northern half of the province will have an encampment in the mountains (at a place between Banff and Jasper National Parks - look them up online). and of course Jacob will complete his mission service in July. We are looking forward to the summer fun. We hope some of you can make the trip to share a little time in a truly beautiful place.

Hugs and Kisses,

Michelle and Alan

Party in California

The Simpson family was together again in California to celebrate the graduation of our daughter Amy from UC Berkeley with a Masters in Public Policy. We were glad for the opportunity to see family and friends, and celebrate in together again in the Park. Here we are, except for Drue (working in SLC) and Jacob (serving a mission). It was a great time to be together again, and to build and share memories. We enjoyed seeing everyone and hearing how you are doing.
This little boy is definitely related to Alan.
Is there anything better than coming home at the end of a busy day playing with friends to fish for crawdads? Like the great Jim Mattson always says, "It doesn't get any better than this!" We are grateful for John and Faye letting us stay in the cottage. Their yard is beautiful, and the spirit of the home is equally as beautiful.
On the way home, one must take some time to contemplate the important things of the world.

While we were there, we also signed the papers on our house, completing the sales transaction. We will be forever grateful for our realtor, the magnificent Cathy Baigent, for all her dedication and hard work to help us find the right buyer. We had been praying for the new owners to find the house, and be willing and able to make the purchase. We are happy to confirm that all our prayers were answered. We hope the new owners of 3562 Kimball will be as happy living in the house as we were, and we hope they build similar great memories.

We are finishing up the purchase of our new home in Canada, and we will build more family memories here. Thank you to all of you for your love and help and support during our many years in California.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle

May We All Be Thankful

So here are a few things that we are grateful for. We are grateful for a son serving a full time mission. He has really grown and matured since he began his missionary service. Here he is in Edmonton, on the campus of the University of Alberta. He is teaching at the institute there, and they teach lessons for about 45 hours per seek. The students bring their friends and find new contacts all the time. He really enjoys serving there.
We are grateful for two other sons, also good boys, who are faithful in their priesthood duties. They are active in school, band, guitar, outdoor activities, church, and sports. They are helpful around the house, and tonight they built a compost bin for our garden. Joseph played golf with a friend tonight, and saw lots of wildlife on the course. Samuel is composing a song for his mother.
We are grateful for the natural beauty of this area. With the grass greening daily, and the trees budding, we know that a glorious spring is just around the corner. We have a garden plan, and will have planter boxes installed by the end of the month, planted, and growing flowers and vegetables. We are grateful for a local gardening club, and the information we received at the junior college so we can plant appropriate plants.
We are grateful to serve in this ward as YW and YM presidents. This is a recent joint activity where we helped clean up the city after the long winter. the trash hides under the snow for 5 months, so there is lots to pick up in the spring. This is just some of the deacons, beehives, and teachers. No Priest or Laurels were able to come to the activity because of other commitments.
We are grateful for our heritage. We have "goodly parents" who taught us well,and we are grateful for the opportunity to teach our children well also. We are also grateful for the friends we know, and the things we share. We are also grateful for beautiful things that remind us of our family and friends.

Hugs and Kisses,

Alan and Michelle