I can't believe it! I am always really careful at respecting speed limits and I got caught speeding twice in one night while on my way to Jasper! That will teach me for trying to make up time to arrive before nightfall! Damn!

 

I've been wanting to try to make ice cream at home for a long time but never got around to do it! Last time, I found an ice cream maker on sale at Sears and decided to go for it... so I went for it... what have I got to lose really? I just didn't know what to try first! So, one day, while reading one of the many food magazines I have at home, I found this recipe for caramel ice cream... Looked simple enough, may be a little time consuming but nothing too bad. So, one night, coming back from work, I started the process... Man, it is pretty fun to make especially the "turning into ice" part... Jeff and I were like kids watching the custard freeze :) but I never imagined it would taste so good, and not only does it taste good, the texture was just fantastic... I was stunned that my little machine did something so perfect! I don't think I will be able to eat supermarket ice cream now! then I tried to make a sorbet:  an orange blossom sorbet. The results were just as good :) I wonder what I should try next??? Try and make your own ice cream, it will have nothing to do with the one you can find ready made...

 

Man, I love Jasper... this town in the middle of the mountain is just beautiful and camping there is just phenomenal... Except when it goes down to freezing temperatures at night!!! The first night was really cold and we didn't sleep much... I kind of knew that it would be cold but I didn't think it would be this cold... Our sleeping bags are not made for this kind of weather...My feet were like two giant blocks of ice :) I must have slept 4 hours on and off... Actually, it felt more off than on! That said, the second night was much better first because it was not as cold and second because I bought some whooly socks just in case :) That did the trick! So we were able to enjoy the mountain's natural beauty when we went horse riding for a couple of hours. The weather was just perfect in the afternoon and we went back to the tent for a nap before going out for dinner. Now, I know... we were camping, so there should be no going out involved, but there is no way that we would go to Jasper without going to our very favourite restaurant: Andy's Bistro! It just had to be done :) And quite frankly, we were travelling with Adrian and Christine and there was no space for cooking utensils.. I am not even making up excuses. Anyway, the food was awesome as usual and we came back to spend a very good night sleep. We had to pack up pretty early in the morning but I slept in a bit and Jeff woke me up with breakfast in bed in the form a turkey sausage rolled in a pancake. Isn't that cute... having to go camping to get breakfast in bed... what has a girl to do ;) We visited the Miette hotsprings on the way home, and I am not sure it was a wise thing to do as everybody fell asleep shortly after leaving except for me, although it was hard to resist... Pictures are in the Jasper album!

 

During August long week end, our schedule was supposed to be very relaxed... and then, you know how it goes, hell breaks loose and before you know it, your week end looks more like your daily meeting schedule than anything else :) But hey, I'm not complaining... I like going around so I was pretty happy! But first, we decided to paint the garage floor, that meant that everything in the garage had to go... that was not too bad really... we put all our mess outside and cleaned the floor before the actual painting began... we could only do half of it anyway since it takes more than 24 hours to completely dry and we had to put our belongings inside. So the first half was done over the week end and the rest was done during the week... it looks good now and should be easier to maintain! Our friend Fran who is moving away to Vancouver was in town, so we stopped by to say hello and have a look at his garage sale... we came back home with a smoker :) I can't wait to try my hands at that! Just one more hting to put in the garage.

Jenny was organizing a little friendly poker game at her place so Saturday night was spent in good company!

We had an awesome time watching the "Simpsons: the movie", man that was so stupid and at the same time so funny :) We were sitting next to Simpsons geek fans who were howling with laughter at every joke, just that was a show in itself!

The highlight of the week end though was Rob and Adrienne annual sloshball party :) It was supposed to be taking place on the Saturday but the weather was so awful that they rescheduled for the Monday. That was the best decision ever! For those of you who don't know what sloshball is, it is simple: same kind of rules as baseball except more fun to play and watch, with a lot of beer involved, a giant rubber duck and a slip and slide too!!!It was a very memorable party! I could not move any part of my body for three days after without having some sort of pain somewhere! Man, did we run, dived onto the slip and slide, fooled aroung generally speaking and drank whatever was available! What a fun afternoon! Too bad Dups was in Montreal, man you missed a hell of a party:) We finished the weekend by spending a nice evening at Theresa and Alain's where they spoilt us with delicious apetizers. We played poker yet again and witnessed our very first Royal flush! There was a lot of wows and we even took picture. I wasn't kidding when I said we had a busy weekend, but it was totally worth it and it took me all week to recover :) Check out the pictures!