This past weekend was so fun.
SO - FUN!!
Abby, Jessica and I spent the weekend in Calgary supporting Jessica in her first ACC experience. Back in December, we received word that Jessica had been recommended by her beloved mentor Linda Burwell, and had been awarded a place on that Alberta Children's Choir.
The choir consists of young singers from all over the southern half of Alberta. They receive a packet of music to practice, met as a group one Saturday in January, and then spent four days rehearsing as an official choir this past weekend, with a culminating formal concert at Knox church on Sunday.
Because Jessica had to be at rehearsals from Friday- Sunday, we decided to make a girls weekend out of it. I am so glad that we did this!!
We would drop Jessica off each morning and then Abby and I would tackle our "Abby To - Do list."
We visited a couple of malls, ate at KINJO and dined on our favorite sushi rolls, spent a chilly afternoon at the Telus Spark center, and visit a downtown cemetery in search of my great Grandma Catherine Rausch. Abby had really done her research and knew exactly where to find her! It was a nice moment to stand there with Abby and feel connected to an ancestor we had never met before.
Abby wowed me by driving from our small town home all the way to downtown cow town with absolute competence. She braved Deerfoot trail like a champ!!
Each day we would pick Jessica up around 4 or 4:30 and go on an adventure.
Our evening adventures involved eating out at our favorite places (hello Freshi;), doing face masks at the hotel and hot tubbing before bed.
On Friday evening (before the hot tubbing and the eating;) we purchased tickets and rode the elevator up to the top of the Calgary Tower. It was so fun! The view was incredible and our knees would get weak and shaky whenever we got remotely near the glass floor. It was pretty cool.
On Saturday evening, our adventurous hearts took us to the Top Dog puppy place where we pretended to be looking for a dog to buy. We were so delighted with this cute little guy, we almost forgot that we were just pretending. We came pretty darn close to walking out of that store with a new pet in tow. (Wouldn't John have loved that;)
Sunday was a lot more chill but equally enjoyable. We dropped Jess off at the Knox church and went and read books while sipping hot chocolate at Tim Hortons. With the city experiencing temps in the -20s we were pretty determined to stay as warm as possible before attending the concert.
Uncle Ben, Aunt Kat, Blythe, and Marilyn came to the concert to support Jess and it was so nice to see them! Jessica looked so happy and radiant and the singing was so beautiful, especially considering the spectacular backdrop and acoustics. It was a lovely concert!
Linda even made the trip up to support her choir kids.
Considering all that this dear woman is going through, I was so touched by this sweet gesture.
She has been the main reason Jessica has come to love music and I am so grateful for her influence.
We returned home Sunday night, happy to see the boys, but thrilled to have gotten to spend three days with my girls. I'm thinking that I need to make this whole "Girls weekend" an annual thing.
