Evy's last week of Kindergarten

Today was my daughter's last day of kindergarten, and I feel bittersweet about how quickly time is passing.

Doug was only 3 1/2 and Evy barely 8 months when we moved to Nanton, arriving Mother's Day weekend, 2006.

Doug, 3 1/2, biking to get the mail

Baby Evy and yvE ybaB
playing in our new house

I remember feeling a little nervous about our cross-country move, but excited to start exploring our new home.  Never having seen mountains before, my husband Ken took us on our first adventure drive straight west of Nanton, through herds of cows,

I'm almost embarrassed to admit how many pictures of
cows we took during our first few months in Alberta

in the scenic foothills,

and up over "the hump"

into the mountains

Our first trek into the Mountains, as new Albertans
Mothers Day 2006 - Livingstone Falls, on the
Forest Trunk Road.  About 1 hour from Nanton (over "the hump")

Alberta was so different to anywhere in Canada that I had ever travelled before, and I was instantly captivated..... how could I not be with a new backyard that ranged from the Big Sky Prairies to the Breathtaking Rocky Mountains.

Our family has found so much to do, within 2.5 hours of Nanton, that 5 years into our big adventure, and we still haven't seen and done everything - and time has flown by.... and today we've met another milestone.

AB Daley Community School, here in Nanton, is a really special place.  Both of our children have had wonderful experiences there so far.  The teachers and support staff have been empathetic and nurturing, and are always ready to quickly answer any questions we have, and to work with us to address concerns about our children's classroom and playground experiences and education whenever they arise (which hasn't been often).  The K-6 school is small enough that, while there are almost 2 classes of each grade, everyone knows everyone else by name, and whenever one of our kids is away for any reason, inevitably 2 or 3 students in grades other than theirs ask them how they are feeling, when they return.... how welcoming is that?

Being a little "artsy" myself, I particularly appreciate one of the arts programs that the school brings in each year, allowing all of the students to work with a professional artist for a week of intensive study.  Last year they put on a wonderful 2 hour musical presentation all about the different regions of Canada.  This year the entire school put on a magical performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and everyone learned their parts in less than one week....

Doug as one of the Puck characters... You wouldn't be able to
guess how shy he normally is would you??

 

Evy and her class playing Queen Tatianas

 Now that June is drawing to a close, with Evy finishing kindergarten today and  Doug wrapping up grade 3 next Tuesday, I find myself reflecting on the last year and being extremely grateful.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Mrs Mahan, Mrs Campbell, Mrs Fenton, Mr Donnelly, Mrs. Ransom, Mrs Wallace, Mrs Adie, and all the teachers and TAs I haven't mentioned, for being such wonderful and inspiring role models to Doug and Evy this year.  

As much as ours is not a household of morning people, (we tend to drag our feet a little too much during the morning rush to get out the door), I have never had to fight with my kids about going to school.  They have loved being in your classes, and are already looking forward to returning to AB Daley in September.  You and your colleagues at the school are doing a phenomenal job at instilling a love of learning in my children, and giving them a sense of informed curiosity about the world and all of its wonders.

Evy helping her little friend Claire on a Nature Scavenger Hunt
Kindergarten's Year End Picnic at Chain Lakes Provincial Park
30 minutes west of Nanton

Evy the flower girl :)

Stop one on Doug's Grade 3 hike at the
Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area
1 hour north of Nanton

Stop 2 - the Chinook Honey Company in Okotoks,
40 minutes from Nanton.  Doug's
holding a real honeycomb while learning
all about how bees make honey from a real
beekeeper!!

Doug - the wannabe Beekeeper??
What a fun day!!

So while I feel a little sad that my babies are growing up so fast, I couldn't be happier for them at being surrounded by such a great school communitiy, or prouder of the wonderful little citizens they are becoming.

Have a safe and happy summer kids!!!  Daddy and I Love You very much!!

A Great Place to Call Home

My family and I moved to Alberta from Ontario partly to follow my husband's work, but mostly for the adventure of living in a new province. It was a HUGE move for us, because we had 2 very young children and were leaving absolutely ALL of our family and friends behind - we knew NO ONE out here. We told each other that we would give Alberta 3 years before deciding to either throw in the towel and move back east OR lay down roots and stay..... that was 5 years ago.

What made us decide to stay was the WONDERFUL community of Nanton - 35 minutes south of Calgary - and here's how we got here.... According to the terms of my husband's transfer, we could live anywhere we wanted in Alberta. He travels alot across Western Canada, so it was important that we find a place that was in relatively close proximity to the airport BUT we didn't really want to live in the city. We were leaving behind the bedrock, lakes and forests of our outdoor life in Northern Ontario's cottage country, so we really wanted to be close to the mountain wilderness that we looked forward to exploring...WELL, we quickly realized that rural living and proximity to mountain wilderness west of Calgary did not fit our real estate budget, so we began looking elsewhere.

Me and Evy on "the hump", less than an hour from home
Summer 2009

North of Calgary felt too far from the mountains, so we focused our search south of the city.  At the time we were house hunting in 2006, there weren't too many housing options for us in High River and Okotoks, so we stumbled into Nanton, almost as an afterthought.  At first we were afraid it might be a little too far away from the Calgary airport; but our initial drive down to Nanton, from Calgary, was a breeze,  with practically no traffic.  - An amazing perk, considering how close we realized we were to the big city.  Best of all, not only is Nanton an easy 35 minute drive from the south end of Calgary, it's also an easy 45 minute drive up to a mountain pass called "the hump".

We were sold on Nanton during our first visit to the community, and that was before we even found a house to buy!  Nanton is such a pretty little town, like an oasis on the prairies, with lots of mature trees and what reminds me of a traditional western streetscape through its downtown.  On that first househunting trip, we learned that Nanton's elementary school (AB Daley Community School) has an excellent reputation and that the Nanton Medical Centre operates in such a way that if we moved to the town, we would be immediately guaranteed access to a family doctor.  Nanton is a fully serviced community with a full range of professional practices and retail services (including a grocery store), an active recreation centre, and a rich history that is preserved in both the Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre AND the Bomber Command Museum of Canada.........

... and then we met the people.

The people in my community are not just neighbours, but real friends.  The passions and interests that Nantonites have, seem to magically manifest themselves into tangible realities.....
Here are just 3 examples of what I'm talking about:

The Bomber Command Museum of Canada is a wonderful museum with internationally significant displays.  It is home to Canada's Bomber Command Memorial - the only monument of it's kind in the country that is dedicated to the more than 10,000 servicemen who lost their lives in Bomber Command during WWII.  The museum was started 25 years ago, by a group of local residents who had an interest in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and WWII aviation history.  It eventually evolved into the incredible venue that it is today....and oh the stories it tells!!  To this day, it continues to be developed and run mostly by volunteers and is an absolutely phenomenal attraction for a town as small as Nanton.

The Nanton Children's Society - 2010 playground build.  Experiencing this event was like participating in an old fashioned barn-raising.  I had never seen anything like it!  On the day of the build over 300 volunteers came out - men, women AND children, bringing their own tools, shovels and wheelbarrows to help construct a much-needed new playground for the community.



Raise the Roof 2011 - Last winter, our local ice rink was shut down, because the roof was in serious risk collapsing. 

Tom Hornecker Recreation Centre Arena Roof Supports

Thankfully the structural problems were identified before anyone got hurt.  Unfortunately, this meant that almost all of Nanton's winter sports teams and activities were either cancelled completely, or relocated to other communities.... the closure affected figure skating, hockey, gun club, fitness club, raquet ball, and the public swimming pool.  The cost to repair the roof was estimated to be in excess of $1,000 000.00 - that's alot of money for a small town to raise - but raising it we are doing!  Just about everyone in town is organizing or participating in all types of Fundraisers imaginable, from ball and golf tournaments and dances, to bottle drives and raffles - it's wonderful to see how creative and generous everyone is when it comes to helping make Nanton a stronger community.

Needless to say, my family and I feel very lucky to call Nanton home;