After dropping Diane off late after the games party on Saturday (which was excellent), I headed home and got a little bit of sleep before a big day on Sunday! It was Diane's surprise birthday/graduation party and it was my job to try and distract her while the appropriate arrangements were made in the park. Also, one of my friends from high school who is now living in Montreal is back to visit for a couple of weeks. So we plotted and planned and decided to take Diane to Fort Ed to spend some time at the Aboriginal days event they were holding there.

It was pretty fun - I haven't been to fort ed as a tourist for quite awhile, so it was cool to go and wander around looking at all the old things. We had a couple of questions answered like why there were polar bear skins on some of the beds ... and it turns out that Edmonton was a major hub for the entire northwest fur trading - so while polar bear skins weren't common, they did come through on occasion. Neat!

We made some bannock at one booth, which is something I haven't done a couple years - mmm ... bannock :) And pretty soon it was time to take Diane back "home for dinner". We drove into the park and I was surprised just how many people her mom was able to get out to celebrate the occasion. It was pretty cool!

I got introduced to a whole bunch of people, and I must say that while I really do have trouble remembering people's names and faces, I do remember being very proud to be introduced as Diane's "new guy". =D. One lady even said she "saw sparks" ... oooh sparks!

So the party was a rousing success, with lots of people coming and going. We started a game of ultimate frisbee later in the evening and that was really fun. Afterwards, a few of us went to red robin to have a snack and hang out a little longer. Overall it was a very cool event. I think (hope) that Diane had fun :)

Heraldk