Canada trip - Day fourteen

Home at Last! The girls are sleeping off the trip and getting ready for Fiddler's Grove, so dad will finish the blog. First let me say how proud I am of my precious daughters. Despite getting strep throat and being plunged into an unknown environment with new people and situations, they were absolutely wonderful. This has been an amazing trip for all of us. Thanks also to Roger and Karen Rinker who have given their lives to serve the native peoples of Canada.

On Tuesday, we presented another seven programs at the Sunchild school. Afterward, Rodger cooked us an amazing dinner, then drove us three hours to Edmonton where we awaited an early flight Wednesday morning. After flying back to NC via Toronto, we are finally home. What wonderful memories we have! Thank you all for your prayers and your interest in what is going on here at Sunchild First Nation.

Bucky Thornburg, our elementary P.E. teacher, used to take us on this bear hunt. It terrified me! But then, Mr. Thornburg always terrified me, even when he wasn’t taking us on the bear hunt. Since I’m not that scary, I had to rely on some choice minor chords by my piano accompaniment to deliver the thrills.

The kids absolutely loved the trick fiddling. So, this time we came up with a new trick just before the kids came in. It was fun! 

The Ballad of Old Blue. I learned this one from my dad, who sang it to us when we were kids. I figured the kids here would like it too. I was right!

Canada trip - Day thirteen

Today had pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and Ocean and Jalyn ate with us! Then we had fiddle camp, even though only a few people showed up. The only fiddle student daddy taught was a girl named Keshay, which was exciting. One of the main reasons we came to Canada in the first place was because of a video Mr. Rodger sent to daddy of Keshay playing the fiddle. We were looking forward to hearing her play, but until today she hasn’t come to Fiddle Camp because of things at home.

The other major difference in today’s Fiddle Camp was that Lorien started offering prizes to her piano students. Those who learned Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star got an ice cream cone. Those who offered moral support to those who learned Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star also got an ice cream cone. Lorien got an entire bowl of ice cream because she was the teacher and she deserved it. Jalyn didn’t think Lorien deserved extra ice cream, because Lorien had made Jalyn practice an especially hard version of Twinkle Twinkle over and over for thirty minutes.

After Fiddle Camp ended, we all drove to the Zonneveld’s house for dinner and band practice. In between band songs, we took tremendously long, though well deserved breaks. For hours we played Quelf, Clue and Apples to Apples, until it was time to say goodbye. After many hugs, bye pats and pretend tears when little Savannah wouldn’t give hugs, we got in the car and headed back to Mr. Roger’s house. There we ate a midnight snack of sourdough cinnamon rolls that Mr. Rodger made for us, and finally - finally got in bed.

Here is a video of Keshay fiddling for some of her six brothers and sisters. This was her first day with us!

00063 from John Cockman on Vimeo.

Canada trip - Day twelve

Today Arwen and Mama made bacon, eggs and applesauce for breakfast. Then Arwen and Morgen went with Mr. Rinker to pick up kids while Mama, Lorien and Daddy prepared a short skit about Abraham and Sarah for Sunday School. We finally got all the children together, and though it was chaotic, we made it out alive!

After that, the Zonneveld family showed up, along with some of the other native children. Then we had fiddle camp, and Lorien taught piano again. The little fiddlers did an awesome job on the songs that they learned. They are all improving so much!

Afterwards, Mr. Rinker took the kids home and we ate dinner with the Zonnevelds. Then four of the native girls came over to Mr. Rinkers house to spend the night, and Mr. Rinker once again made his wonderful smoothies (no sugar, just fruit with a little bit of cream).

Writing the blog!

Snow? What? It's May!!!

Abraham and Sarah

Learning 'Old Grounndhog'

Canada trip - Day eleven

Another full day of fiddle camp... We are too exhausted to write a blog post, but also very thankful that we are here. We did create a little video with some snipits of our interactions with the kids here. Enjoy!

sunchild from John Cockman on Vimeo.

Canada trip - Day ten

Today we packed up and left the hotel. We drove all the way to Rocky Mountain House, where we ate lunch with the Zonneveld family. Then Arwen and Lorien stayed with them at their house for the afternoon while Mama and Daddy gave their two oldest boys a ride to Mr. Rinkers house to help set up for fiddle camp. Arwen and Lorien played Clue and Apples to Apples with the other kids, and then Mrs. Zonneveld drove everybody to fiddle camp. We spent the rest of the evening jamming and making music. Then we said goodbye and cleaned up, finishing off the day with some of Mr. Rinkers amazing smoothies!

P.S. Sorry! No pictures today :-(

Canada trip - Day nine

Today was rainy and we are still getting over our strep (Arwen is worse), so we stayed at the hotel while Mamma and Daddy went for a walk along the river. There they came to a fence that reminded them of the dinosaur containment area in Jurassic Park. Can you tell we are in bear country?

After dinner we all went out, and came across a mother and daughter bear (we think). Arwen was brave enough to snap some photos before we made our getaway!

We wanted to watch a movie on our last night after a day of rain, and Daddy found a website called "vidangel.com" that filters out all the bad stuff. It is a great site!

Tomorrow we leave the mountains and head back to Sunchild for four more days of fiddle camp!

Canada trip - Day eight

We were worried it would rain today, with forecasts predicting a 60% chance. We were all under the weather this morning, so we got off to a late start. Mamma and Daddy felt the best, so they left us at the hotel and went on a nine mile hike in the mountains. We stayed behind and watched “Singin’ In The Rain.” After Morgen’s nap, we three walked down to “The Village” for ice cream, then went for a walk by the river before eating dinner at the Town House Cafe.

Daddy was a bit down, since the camp stove blew up on him yesterday evening and singed off some of the hair on the top of his head. So, Mamma agreed to go with him on a long hike. It was a tough one -- a nine-mile trek that climbed more than 2,250 feet in elevation from their starting point in Lake Louise. The hike took them to top of the “Big Beehive” that overlooks the lake. They had lunch at a shelter on top of the Big Beehive, then hiked down to Lake Agnes, a high lake that perches 1,800 feet above Lake Louise. That part of the hike was perilous, on a steep snowy hillside 400 feet above the frozen lake. Lake Agnes is the home of a beautiful little Tea House, which receives its supplies by helicopter and is open from June - October. After the hike down from Lake Agnes, they ate a well-deserved dinner in at the Lake Louise Lodge -- just before it began to rain!

After leaving Lake Louise with a spring in her step, 

Mama finally reaches the top of the Big Beehive.

2,250 feet above Lake Louise

This high shelter had an amazing view.

Mama rests before hiking down to Lake Agnes

Daddy on a steep slope 400 feet above frozen Lake Agnes

Watch your step!

The trail down is still covered in ice.

Still hundreds of feet above the lake.

Lakeside at last!

Daddy at the end of Lake Agnes

Lake Agnes and the Big Beehive

A nice Australian couple took our photo at Lake Agnes

Beginning the descent back to Lake Louise.

Lake Agnes pours into the gorge in a beautiful set of waterfalls.

Base of the Big Beehive. 

Now you know how it got its name!

A hungry porcupine along the trail.

Our table at the Lake Louise Lodge

Canada trip - Day seven

Today we decided to split up. Arwen and Daddy were going to rent bikes and ride up to Moraine lake (17 miles total), while Mama and Lorien and Morgen went sightseeing around Lake Louise.

Arwen and Daddy got their bikes, which were named Sven and Kimi. They biked all the way to Lake Moraine in 1 hour and 45 minutes, taking pictures all the way. The lake was beautiful, and they once again fed the chipmunks on the rocks. Then they biked back down in 30 minutes, taking a mountain biking trail past the train tracks and down to the visitor center.

Meanwhile, Mama, Morgen and Lorien were relaxing at a local cafe, drinking tea and eating crackers with cheese. Soon they were on the road, headed down the mountain on a sightseeing spree. First, they stopped at a tiny playground by a lake in an equally tiny town called Field (very original name, I know, especially considering that there wasn’t a field in sight!). Anyway, Field was just about the most adorable town known to man. All of the houses looked like Thomas Kinkade paintings brought to life.

After leaving Field, Mama, Morgen and Lorien moved on down the mountain. Their final stop of the day was the “Spiral Tunnels”, which were a series of train tunnels that made spiral shapes through the mountain. These were built to keep the trains from having to run straight down the mountain. For the rest of the ride up, Mama and Lorien sang “Wreck of the Old 97” and pointed out mine shafts to each other. This brought up the story that Mr. Rinker had told us a few days ago about why so many miners died. Black lung was a horrible disease that ran rampant among miners, where the coal dust would settle into the miner’s lungs. If left unattended for too long, this was deadly to the miners. The only way to get rid of black lung was with a shot of whiskey. But that presented another problem - because of the frequent use of whiskey, the miners often became alcoholics

After Arwen and Daddy returned from their excursion and were picked up by the rest of the family, everyone ate a quick supper, jumped in the car and headed to Lake Louise. The sky was sort of cloudy, but the lake was still a beautiful turquoise color. We could have stayed out and gazed at the lake for hours, but the cold air was making Lorien cough, so we finally went inside the huge, water-side, castle-like hotel. It was very fancy and very expensive, but we had a lot of fun looking through the shops. Inevitably, Arwen and Lorien found the bookstore, which sidetracked us as the bookstore was filled with quite a few of their favorite books. Eventually, though, we had to leave the hotel and lake, promising to come back and canoe on Lake Louise if the weather stayed nice. At this point it was around 8:30 pm, but still looking like it was 5:00 pm, so we drove for a while on a lovely, scenic road until Morgen’s head drooped and we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

Lake Moraine!

Morgen hugs a bear!!!