Calgary

Quote of the day: Would you like a free week at Curves? ...I thought you looked interested in fitness. -Some lady
Song of the day: We Are Family by Sister Sledge

Tomorrow I'm off to Winnipeg from Calgary. It's been fun, I must say. All my cousins are much different than when I last saw them... they're all five years older so a lot has changed.

Saturday was pretty relaxing. Woke up at the crack of 11, got dressed and ate honey nut cheerios. Autumn (13) came over and chilled for a while, then we headed to the Botterils' with Grandma. We hung there for a bit and then took Clare (9) to the South Centre mall. It's all under construction so it's kind of gross but it was fun to walk around. There's a bunch of expensive stores there. The goal of our trip was to get Autumn's cell phone fixed/replaced. It took a long time so Clare and I chilled out on the couch outside the store and fooled around.

I like Clare a lot. She's only nine so she doesn't remember me but we get along really well. She's an easygoing kid with lots of enthusiasm. As we were walking around the mall I would lightly push her into walls and plants and things and ask her why she was walking so crooked... ahah. She took it well though and played back.

For lunch we went to the food court and got Edo Japan. I had shrimp with veggies and rice... very good. No purchases at SC except Autumn got a hat. I would have gotten one too but Susan is making me one just like that so I didn't bother buying one!

After the mall we took Clare and Autumn back and came back to the grandparents'. Auntie Lori, (step-)Uncle Mike, and Geoff came over for burgers. They were really good. I get along with Mike well. Dessert was lemon meringue and rhubarb pie. Mike and I fought over the lemon pie. It was good though!!

At 10 step-cousin Olivia (19) picked me up and we went to meet her friends at Donagals, a pub. I've never been to a pub before but since the legal age here is only 19 she thought it would be nice to take me out. It was pretty cool. I met like 10 of her friends and they were all interesting. It was nice just to be able to go to a bar, low key, chilling out with some cool people. I never really talked to Olivia too much before so it was nice to get to know her better as well. She was enthralled at the fact that in the States there are actual fraternities and sororities and frat parties, etc. She goes to school in BC so it's different there. I told her she should come visit and we can go out and party together. That would be fun I think.

We got back to Lori's at around 2 and I slept over there. The bed was very comfy! I got up at about 930 and got dressed and stuff but nobody else was around/awake. Eventually I got a bagel and Gram came and picked me up. We went back to her place and got ready to go to the lilac festival with the Botts. We drove over there and acquired Erin (15), Hannah (12), and Clare. We went to Calgary's Lilac Festival, this big street fair with vendors and food and stuff, named because it takes place when the lilacs are coming out.

The Lilac Festival was pretty cool. We all got Mini Melts and I introduced Hannah to the Cake Batter flavor... she loved it. Success. We didn't buy anything else but we got a couple small free things and Gram treated us all to Jungo Juice, which was pretty tasty. We sat on a couch made of bricks which was neat. Some lady tried really hard to give me a free week at Curves. I told her that I don't need it because I swim competitively and she said, "Good for you... I thought it looked like you were interested in fitness." I'm not exactly sure that that's what she was really thinking, but whatever. It was funny to say the least. We had to head back to drop the girls off because Clare and Erin had soccer games. At their house, Clare and Hannah each played a song on the piano for me, and I played a couple for them. I was impressed with their playing!

Gram and I went back to her house for lunch and she made me a great ham sandwich. Then Grandpa and I headed out to Clare's soccer game. It was pretty funny to watch. Her team won 4-0 and she scored a goal from defense. I think it was kind of an accident, but hey, it counts and it was awesome. She was pretty pumped. After her game we headed to Erin's game, which was at a different park. They lost 7-0, unfortunately. Erin wasn't too happy. Oh well. Then we took Hannah home with us and the rest came over a bit later for dinner, chicken and steak. Gram made molten lava cakes for dessert and they were amazing!! They stayed for a while then headed home. Clare hugged me like 3 times before she left, and got my email address. :)

Gram and I watched a movie we rented, Doubts. It was okay but kind of weird. Apparently it won a bunch of awards. Whatever, it's not exactly my style but that's all right. After the movie we checked-in for my flight tomorrow and chose a seat. I got an aisle seat which I'm happy about. Now I'm off to go repack my suitcase... aka shove everything back in so I can make it to the 'Peg!