Hello to all the dads out there who are reading this blog! Happy Father's Day! Where would we be without our fathers? I would like to honor my own father in this post. Here are my 5 favorite memories with my dad:
(1) Canoeing on the North Saskatchewan River near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada. We set a record that was only tied but never beaten for the number of times our canoe tipped and we fell into the ice cold, glacier-fed North Saskatchewan River. My dad would always make us an oatmeal cookie bar (he would use an oatmeal chocolate chip recipe and then bake it like a cake in a 9x13 pan, cut it up into squares, wrap each square in aluminum foil, and the bring the ENTIRE thing for us to eat throughout the day as we canoed). It was delicious, and I always had a lot of fun going through the rapids with him.
(2) My dad was the only dad who came out for Parent Night during my Grade 6 Outdoor School at the Silver Creek Ranch campsite (somewhere in Alberta). Upon arriving at the campsite, my dad was informed by the Principal that he needed to pick a wilderness name, like an animal or tree name. My dad picked the name "Owl" because owls are very wise (at least, I think that's the reason he told me he picked the name owl). All the grade 5's and 6's gathered around the campfire and sang a song that would get each teacher (and parent) up and dancing. Sure enough, we sang, "I like the way the Owl does the hula", and down came my dad to dance with the other teachers by the campfire!
(3) I'm not sure that this is a favorite memory, but I think it's my first memory EVER of my dad. We were at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. My mom and dad had brought me to Edmonton to visit one of my mom's friends. There is a big indoor water park at West Edmonton Mall, and so the adults and myself had gone to play at the water park. Unfortunately, I was quite small (probably 2 or 3 years old) and couldn't go on most of the slides. So the adults took turns watching me while the others would go down the slides. I can remember my dad took me to the giant wave pool when it was his turn to watch me. He would say, "Watch this, Kylie!" and then duck his head under the water every time a wave came.
(4) Going "Bull Busting" in Wyoming with my dad, his friend Big Joe, and a couple of other cowboys(I can't remember their names). We rode horses all day long, moving 3 or 4 HUGE bulls from one pasture to another (away from the cows, I think). I was probably 10 or 11, maybe 12 (I can't remember exactly). But it was a lot of fun! My dad spent a lot of time on his grandfather's ranch growing up, so I got to see his adventurous cowboy side that day.
(5) Driving with my dad in Australia on the other side of the road. I can still remember pulling out of a parking lot in Cairns...yikes! He went to turn on his turn signal, but ended up turning on the windshield wipers! (Everything was opposite about the vehicles in Australia: the windshield wiper lever was on the side that our turn signal lever is on, etc). Then he pulled out and almost went down the wrong side of the street (an oncoming vehicle honked at us). My dad just said, "Woops!" and chuckled in his calm way.
I certainly love my dad, and I am very grateful for him.
