And We're Back!

My daughter told me that her friends were looking at this blog, which reminded me that it existed.   Let's see if I can remember to keep it going...

January 2012

Hi everybody! Happy New Year! Here are some recent photos:

This is our neighbourhood

That's Amy in the middle - as well as being the shortest reindeer, she's also the choreographer for her group's part in the Christmas pageant. Notice how all of the other hula-deer are watching her? I was so proud.

Here's Erin in her class performance at their Christmas Concert. Unfortunately my computer's not allowing me to upload the videos of the performances. Erin had the best moves on stage!

And here's Sadie in her performance. Again, the photo just doesn't capture what the video does. Apologies.

For New Year's Eve some friends of ours organized a tobogganing/skating party followed by a barbecue and hot chocolate in the evening. It was a lovely time. We watched the New York broadcasts for the countdown, as it was two hours earlier than where we were, and then we managed to get the kids home a bit earlier. This is the only shot from that evening that I have.

Erin and Sadie are seen here helping me with Christmas dinner. We get together with a few families who also don't travel at Christmas for dinner every year, and this year was our turn to host. Needless to say, it was quite an undertaking: huge bird, lots of veggies, tons of prep. It was a lovely time though, and I regret not taking more photos. There are a few below.

This was taken on a hike we did with our friend, Cypress. This gate is on her parents' property. They have a gorgeous view of the entire Peace River Valley.

Here's that view I was talking about

Amy at the Christmas party. I'm not sure why the sour expression; I probably made some teasing remark to make her smile. Nice dress, huh?

Again at the party. That's our friend Steve (not me) dancing with Sadie

Sadie's first snowman earlier this year. You can tell by the size that there was not a lot of snow. There still isn't - it's the mildest winter we've ever experienced while here.

We went camping via jetboat up the river in August - it was a marvelous time.

Those are thousands of tiny dead flies on my tent. They're not black flies, and we couldn't even notice them in the air; they just showed up on the tents.

Another shot of the campsite. We had a great evening, and then it rained all night. The big tent in the middle was solely used by all of the kids (I think there were three other children plus two of ours - Erin was at a sleepover). The fly on the kids' tent came off in the wind that night, and we woke up to them all shivering and wet! They never thought to tell us! So we got them all warm and rushed them home - I stayed behind with two other friends and packed up the site. When the boat got back a couple of hours later, we had been having a lovely morning. Then North (our friend who has the boat) told us he was basically out of fuel so we'd have to drift home and only engage the engine when navigating around obstacles. Thank god the river flowed towards town! In the end we had a very enjoyable six-hour float through the wilds of Alberta.

Sherrie took this one, so I don't actually know where it is. I'm assuming it's on Wolfe Lake this past summer. That's Amy reading.

This is Z on our cross - Canada trip this past summer. Those are miniature grain elevators. They're really close to him. I thought it made him look like a giant.

Forgive me for having so many of Amy; It's what I could find in the computer from the most recent photos. This is on that same hike mentioned earlier. She's using the camera in her new ipod.

Erin with a mango that reminded us of Ghana. (for those of you who don't know, its colours mimic the Ghanaian flag so we added the star)

Our beautiful children... and Z.

The girls with their friend, Polina. she lives across the street. Beautiful Autumn colours.

Some more Steve Art.

That's all for now. Take care.

I'm a Newfie!

Hi again

On Sherrie's computer now, so I can put up some photos I've found:

Isn't this gorgeous? It's from a Crow I think.

That's me at the Peace River annual Newfie Screetch - a party where twelve lucky people (me included) get 'screeched in' and are therefore honorary Newfies. It involved reciting some Newfie speak, having a shot of some very strong 'screetch' and kissing a fish. Yes, you heard me. So I'm a Newfie now!

The mule deer are everywhere in the winter - that's our lawn.

Sadie loves skiing now! (this is last winter by the way)

Me and Sadie on the slopes

This is one of the towns I rode through on my way to Ontario - That brown 'mountain' behind the buildings is timber - about three stories tall! It was so impressive and novel I had to take a photo.

Another view from my drive across Canada - the lakes were picturesque and many. Z and I stopped to swim often.

Amy and Erin came with me to pick up my mom in Toronto. That's them in Matthew's apartment enjoying the view (can you see Skydome/the Rogers Center?)

Sherrie loves holding babies - Here she is with little William, Brad and Crystal's son. She loves the vomit.

Ice cream with Nana at the marina in Westport this summer

We had a couple of lovely trips to Ottawa this summer. One highlight for me was hanging out with Z while the girls went into the National Gallery. Can you see him swimming in front of the Houses of Parliament?

Nana visited last Christmas. This is her mini golfing with the girls in the West Edmonton Mall.

That's all for now - take care!

September 2011.

Ok. So here's the thing: I've been using my computer a lot lately, as Sherrie usually keeps her mac at work now. I've been uploading photos in the past couple of years via the bluetooth on my phone, to Sherrie's mac. I don't have a cable for my phone camera to connect it to this computer I'm using now. That's why I've been so tardy at getting posts up. Well, I'm going to make a concerted effort to get my photos up now. I need to go buy a cable to communicate with this computer, so I will. Please forgive the sparseness of the posts up until now, I'm working on it.

Here's a news update sans photos for now:

• Had a fabulous summer! My band opened for Trooper at a festival in Athabasca so we began our holidays by going there. The festival provided us with a lovely cabin for a few nights. I'll put photos up later. After that I drove the girls to the airport in Edmonton and then Z and I drove across Canada to the cottage. It was a lovely adventure with much swimming and some downright terrifying weather. Made it to the cottage by 3am on the night of day 3.
• The girls loved the cottage as usual too - and now even Sadie (5) jumps off the jumping rocks at the lake! so cool!
• We're back in Peace River now, getting a routine down again. Sadie is in kindergarten in the mornings so I've got some time to get things done now - already the house is looking better and I'm feeling more fit. Have just finished my application to be certified to teach in Alberta, so will start subbing soon.
• unfortunately due to a lack of venue there will be no gymnastics this year. Fortunately the girls have all found things that they're interested in doing: Erin's starting ballet tomorrow and Amy's first session at musical theatre begins tonight! Sadie just wants to swim, so I'm going to sign her up today.
• While on holiday many friends from around Peace River were texting us to make sure our house was ok - torrential rains bombarded PR for a few weeks, and there was a flood scare. All's well, though, and our house was fine.
• We bought a fire pot for the back yard and have enjoyed a few marshmallow roasts in the evenings now. Some neighbours have come over and enjoyed our fire with us too.
• Went camping with some friends up the smoky river via jetboat this past weekend. Unfortunately it rained and rained at night (after a beautiful warm day of swimming and playing on a gorgeous beach) which shouldn't have been an issue, but in the morning we woke up to find that the kids' tent's rain fly had blown off partially and they never thought to come and tell us, so they were soaked and very cold in the morning. I felt so bad for them! It was still raining quite heavily when we all got up, so we threw the canopy on the boat and the moms rushed home ( a 45 minute ride) with the kids - didn't even bother getting them dressed - I think all of their clothes were wet anyway. I stayed behind with two others and we packed up the camp. About twenty minutes after the kids left, it got sunny and beautiful again! I made a lovely fire, made coffee, we got warm and dry and enjoyed a wonderful day at that beach. My friend in the boat came back in about two hours (ran some errands back in town I suppose) but upon returning realized he didn't really have enough fuel for a ride back. The solution? we drifted for about seven hours to get home. Thankfully it was a gorgeous day and we had many provisions and a guitar, so it turned out to be a highlight for me!

I'm sure more has happened, but that's all for now. Will be sure and put up photos soon.

Hi everybody. Just so you know, I'm working on getting some photos for another posting - can't seem to find anything new in the computer other than some shots from a professional photographer of the girls - so here's one for you. Yup, they're getting bigger.

The news, in point form:

• a good friend here passed away two weeks ago. The funeral was lovely - and huge - people were overflowing into the basement of the Cathedral, and there was a huge party at the banquet hall afterwards. I played in bands with him, and he sort of got me my start here in PR doing that. I was in the choir band for the funeral too.
• Sadie's riding her two-wheeler without training wheels now. It was funny - her first day practicing was just her screaming and crying the whole time. The next day she was fine, and the third day she was riding.
• Beautiful weather here - almost all of the snow is gone around town (down at the river) but the ground's still covered at our friends' places up out of the valley.
• Sherrie's busy as usual, not traveling this week, which is nice. She's looking into getting a masters' degree, which would mean we're staying here for a while. We're happy here.
• I'm about to apply for substitute teaching for next year, something I can do while Sadie's at school in the mornings.
• We're looking forward to our trip to the cottage this summer, as always. I'm going to be driving out after my concert in Athabasca. Sherrie and the girls will fly.
• Just fixed an old broken guitar that was given to me as a thank you for fixing someone else's guitar. It's pretty nice! I'll put up photos soon.
• Amy's doing very well at school - top of her class, I think. Her best report card ever.
• Erin's excelling at any sport she tries; She's a natural, apparently, at skiing now. Funny, because she's the one who was most reluctant to go. Now she loves it. She's quite the rollerblader too.
• I'm heavier than I've ever been! I thought I was losing weight, but I guess I just have to stop eating so much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

Hi Claire, my lovely sweetie pie! Happy Birthday (on the 8th, that is)

I hope you have a great year!

See you in the Summer!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hi Everybody! Ok; You're about to see another posting with the same title - I sort of goofed up. Never Mind. Enjoy the photos!

Sherrie took this one on one of her work trips, I think.

Sadie enjoying cookies and hot chocolate at our friends' place - we have a weekly skating party, when the weather's permitting.

Nana visited at Christmas time, and Erin and Sadie got "Build a Bear" stuffies as their presents from her. Here are some shots of them in the shop building their new stuffies:

My mom relaxing while Sadie eats a snack

Somewhere at the West Edmonton Mall, Nana getting a kick out of how much Amy reads. The speed with which she devours books is inspiring to say the least!

The girls decorated gingerbread houses again. My geodesic dome was again a failure. Next winter I'm making a more conventional structure, but I'm sure I'll impress.

Sherrie did some baking as well...

Here's Sherrie helping Sadie skate. I even skated! I even played hockey! First time in my life.

Sherrie Sadie and I at a school assembly.

Late January saw a huge dump of snow. Here are some shots of the girls playing in it:

That fourth girl is our neighbour, Polina. She's new to the area, but has quickly befriended our girls - she's lovely!

Now if you continue down the page, you'll see the first posting I did today, with more photos.

Take care guys!