Weekending: Stampede Parade, Movies & Family Time

I have trouble getting these posts up the night before because Sunday nights are usually reserved for movie watching or catching up on our latest show on Netflix. Last night was no exception! We watched Paul Rudd's newest flick on Netflix (a Netflix original), The Fundamentals of Caring, and it was so good, guys! Sweet and funny with that total indie vibe I adore in movies. But it was classic Paul Rudd with his usual demeanour and humour.

Anyway...backing up!

I kicked off my weekend early Friday morning when I woke up earlier than I ever do, in order to meet up with Ange and Jen to take in the Stampede parade. I was out the door by 8 a.m. to catch the train downtown along with the rest of the people in Calgary. Let's just say, I'm lucky I get on the train at the very first stop it makes. It was packed by the second stop!

We met up at Ange's place, then walked to Starbucks before carrying over to the end of the parade route (where it's usually a bit less busy according to Ange). I wouldn't know, this was my very first Stampede parade experience. I decided not to bring Sully along since he's not an early riser and I wasn't sure how crazy the crowds would be. While the parade was neat and something different to do, I have to be honest for a minute here, I don't really understand the big deal about it. I mean, going to it is one thing, but people literally camp out the night before just to get a spot sitting on the curb! THE NIGHT BEFORE! This isn't 1995 and lining up 3 days in advance for Michael Jackson tickets! This is just a parade, people.

We hung around watching the parade for just over 2 hours (we didn't see it all since we were at the end and starting to get really hungry), and then we walked over to The Beltliner for brunch. Their steel cut oats with walnuts, raisins, goji berries and fresh fruit was calling to me so that's what I ordered, and I am serious when I say it was the best bowl of oatmeal I've ever had. So delicious!

After brunch, the three of us headed south and caught a matinee showing of Me Before You. The movie was so good, I cried a lot (which was to be expected) and I almost wanted to just watch it all over again as soon as it was finished. The casting was perfect!

I headed home after the movie, exhausted, both from all the walking and standing, but mostly from the crying. I hung out at home for the rest of the evening, catching up on The Mindy Project while Jim went to Stampede to see Walk Off the Earth.

Saturday I was still feeling tired, and I had a headache for most of the day that would just not go away. I didn't get up to much that day, other than running some errands with Jim and Sully. Jim went out to watch UFC that night, so I had a google video chat date with Becky and Ange. I didn't even know this was a thing, but it was really fun! We chatted for two hours before calling it a night. I watched the movie Mother's Day afterwards (so disappointing!) before heading to bed.

Sunday was another low key day spent at home. Sully wouldn't nap despite seeming to need one, so we packed up and headed out to Fish Creek Park to walk along the river and let him throw rocks in the water (one of his favourite things to do). I feel like it's so rare that I get any good, non-blurry photos of him these days so I was pretty pleased with these one's we caught. And yes, I'm sharing all of them! Haha.

After we got home, we had dinner, gave Sully a bath, and then crawled into bed to watch The Fundamentals of Caring. And just like that, another summer weekend has come and gone!


Local Friends: Do you go to the Stampede parade every year? 

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!