The Garden of the Williams

We finally started working on a garden today (you're not supposed to plant in Edmonton until "May long weekend," which was last weekend, so we're not that far behind). The goal: to turn that tiny strip of dirt you see running behind the house into a strip big enough to plant. Today we got most of the sod out. We ran out of steam about supper time, so we'll try and get the rest of the sod out tomorrow. Then we add more dirt, and build a little frame around it. We already have all the plants, sitting on our kitchen table - so we'd better get the dirt ready pretty soon. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can get some pictures up of the garden all planted and ready to grow.



We are planting: cherry tomatoes (2 varieties), cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, and a raspberry bush. And we already have a rhubarb - you can see it in the picture in front of David.



Today was an exciting day even before we started gardening - we graduated to "green stripe" in Taekwon Do." The levels are: white, yellow stripe, yellow, green stripe, green, blue stripe, blue, red stripe, red, black. So we are now on level 4 out of 10 on our way to black! :-) Here are some pictures of us back when we were yellow stripes...

Monarch Mayhem

Andrew had a really cool week at school last week - a group called Trickster Theatre (www.trickstertheatre.com) spent the week with the students writing and rehearsing a play by each class. The kids made up their own scripts and planned the costuming and props, and then they performed it Saturday night. It was amazing what they came up with! Andrew's class did a play called Monarch Mayhem, in which they were Monarch butterflies, and their "Mama Monarch" - played by their teacher - was stolen by Bill Nye the Science guy. It was hilarious, and really well done.

Brothers...

Andrew shows Matthew his new Gameboy on Mother's Day.

Spring weekend

This weekend we took a bike ride through the Mill Creek Ravine to the Muttart Conservatory. The four pyramids you see in this picture are loaded with plants from different climates - tropical, temperate, arid, and one that's all flowers. We discovered that if we come after 5pm, it's free!

After that, Andrew mowed the back yard - his first time by himself - and we cooked out for dinner.

Here's a great "only in Canada" picture - Poutine is kind of a national dish: french fries, topped

with cheese curd and brown gravy. Nothing but fat, and really pretty good. It is served in

many restaurants and fast food places, including this Harveys in the foyer area of Home Depot.

Immigration Trip

This was taken on our "immigration trip" - when we had to drive south to the Montana border, make a u-turn, and come back through customs to have our passports stamped as permanent residents. On our way back, we drove through the "badlands" of Alberta, including this beautiful place called horseshoe Canyon. One of the things that is so remarkable about this area is that the canyon is such a surprise - there is Kansas-style prairie/farmland for as far as you can see, and then suddenly this incredible canyon appears. The stacks of sandstone in the area are called "hoodoos." We had fun hiking around those as well.