Month: July 2010

It’s true. Children conquered the World! What a wonderful country is a Children-land! Where everybody believes in a wonder, beautiful friendships, truth and justice.

To-day 5 hours in a row without intervals or breaks the six: Gleb, Liza, Jonathan, Christian, Frank and Curtis played the table game “RISK”, one can see them on the pictures.

The three brothers of ages: 19, 17, 15, visited us with their parents: Rudy and Patricia, including Pat’s elder sis Carmen and her husband Oscar, who came from Dallas, Texas, USA.

All had fun: adults and children. Those who were enjoying the most were the children.                   You bet! They really had fun conquering the world many times playing by the rules of “RISK” without risk.

Watch photo show about it.

What an interesting game is it if you are playing it with real friends.

[Show as slideshow]

Back in 1885 the park’s ‘ town’ was a stopping place along the brand new Canadian Pacific Railway called siding 29.  As visitors began discovering  the newly established park, services moved closer to the main attraction at the time – the mineral springs. The name “BANFF” comes from Banffshire, Scotland, the birthplace of one of the major financiers of the railway. Elevation 1384 m(4540′).

We took Trans-Canada Highway (#1), a fenced and divided through-way, to reach Minnewanka Loop: to Banff’s closest lakes: Cascade Ponds and Johnson Lake, one can see on our slide show below. It’s a great place to relax by the water, picnic, paddle, or put mountain bikes, hiking boots, cross-country skis or snowshoes to work.

It’s a popular place for families and social gatherings. Near the Johnson Lake we took 3 km (1 hr) trail around the lake for a lovely stroll, open all year-round. many photos here were taken and many activities.

The next stop was at the KEG to have refreshments and look around. The impressions were unforgettable!

Who said that there are no birch trees in Alberta? Here they are on photos taken during out trip to Banff, even there is Birch Avenue in Banff which hosts the log fort BUFFALO NATIONS MUSEUM across the Bow River for Aboriginal history, art and culture.

To the left and to the right are photos of front and back covers of the magazine “Parks Canada Mountain Guide 2010/2011” with the maps and our personal free admission ticket on that day.\

Watch  our slide show: “July 17, 2010 in Banff” :

Here is a video about Hiroyuki Suzuki, the winner of ” Yo-yo God Tournament of 2005″:   Hiroyuki Suzuki

1. Gleb, when did you start yo-yoing?

2. Since March of this year.

1. What is it? How did it happen? Where did you see yo-yo for the first time?

2. At school. The neighboring class mates, all played yo-yo in our Junior High. Yo-yo is a skill toy, first made popular in the 1920s, yo-yoing is still very much enjoyed by both children and adults.

1. Do you like it?                                                                                                                                                                                  

2. Yes, I do.

1. How much time do you usually spend playing yo-yo?

2. I depends. But it it’s good relaxation time from school and computer.

1. You’re right, perhaps.

Watch the video of the Yo-Yo World Champion 2010.

World 2010 Yo-Yo Championship

Summer in Calgary is very unusual : twenty times a day the weather is changing: a rainy morning, in an hour everything dried out, the sun showed up, the air is dry and clean, we are situated at 1500 meters above the sea level, the mountain ridge is on the horizon. It seems that they are not far, but it is a deceptive illusion, one needs one hour and a half driving to Banff, by the way on July 17th we are planning to go there to celebrate the 125th anniversary of National Park when the admission will be free and many events to be held.

There are many interesting things in town to do: bike riding, swinging, yo-yo playing or just chasing rabbits in the park and taking various pictures, capturing the moments of unique beauty in the nature and around.

This is next slide show of summer days: 

Everybody knows that night dreams are a reflection of the days’ activities. It’s definitely, yes. And definitely, no.

Liza’s night dream was lately a replay of the day. About her house on the fourteenth floor hanging somewhere in the air. She saw herself and her Mom, sitting at her kitchen table and talking. All of a sudden numbers “18” and “19” were shown on the horizon as warriors, plastic  figurines.

Gleb’s dream was different. That was a flight of imagination: digits “20/20” were as if dancing in his mind. According to Ioanne Bogoslov, Gleb said, it meant the end of the world is coming in 2020.

That is interesting.

But in real life we are more concerned about good manners of our children.

“Do not hurt my feelings!”, it means: be thankful for what you are given, never judge others or criticize too harshly if you do not like something, you can refuse but in a gentle, polite way. Otherwise you can hurt somebody’s feelings or strain your relationship. Doing it too often you may be no longer welcome. You cannot undo what you had said.

It’s better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it for all to see. Think before you speak. This is the first rule of good manners.

“Keep your privacy!”, it means: respect another person’s space in direct sense, and indirect, an individual’s personality, feelings. Never push too far and disturb another person’s tranquility. This is the second rule of good manners.

The third one is: be helpful, offer your services, don’t wait to be asked. If asking is constantly necessary, you give the impression that you don’t want to do it. We wish our teen-agers to be well mannered, not perfect but well mannered!

Listen to the song:“All I have to Do is Dream” by Everly Brothers