Badlands at Horse Thief Canyon

On a day trip up to Drumheller, Andrea and I took a short detour to Horse Thief Canyon to check out an impressive overlook of the Badlands.  Armed with a snapping T-Rex skull that I picked up at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, we shot a few pictures of our epic surroundings.  What's not to love about a day of dinosaur inspired attractions?  We had a lot of fun being local tourists on our short Alberta road trip.

Summer Afternoon Reunion

Although it's become more difficult for all of the family to gather on a regular basis, on our way back from our trip to Canmore a couple of weeks ago we stopped in Calgary for a brief afternoon reunion.  The meet-up was more meaningful than we realized at the time as my grandma has just been accepted into a nursing home and will be moving out next week. It's an emotional transition.  

It's crazy how quickly things seem to change, and how my own perception of the family has evolved so quickly in just a few short years.  Mostly it just feels like things have become more complex because I'm more aware of what everyone has going on.  It's not as simple as it used to seem.  I'm thankful everyone still makes the effort though.  For me, that Sunday afternoon with the extended family was long overdue. 

Week Long Staycation

Despite the week off from work there wasn't really an abundance of down time like I had convinced myself there would be.  The problem with taking a staycation is that you realize there are a ton of things that you've been putting off and should probably get done. Sleeping in (although amazing) only emphasizes this by making the days shorter and turning most mornings into a complete write-off.

I did manage to clean up my kitchen cabinets, DVD collection, and wardrobe to free up some space. Not very pressing activities, but things that I had on a to-do list since the beginning of the year.  I spent an afternoon giving my store room and car a thorough cleaning as well, however both of these activities seemed to spur more side projects.  In between this I got in some editing, a couple of small trips to Drumheller and Red Rock Coulee with my friend Andrea, went out for a few dinners, and spent an evening on skype catching up with Tyler.     

I can't complain about a week off, but I suppose in actuality I want a pause button more than time away.  In my mind I had pictured myself doing a lot of nothing.  Literally nothing.  It's tough to justify laziness when you take a week to hangout in the same place where all of your projects are though.  It's not really a holiday then, the wasted time just becomes a more formal kind of procrastination. It's almost like not needing to work for a living would somehow be better (read with extreme sarcasm).