Blair's Blog

It’s been a busy couple of weeks around our house during February. On the Family Day long weekend, we had four of our nephews over for three days to give Ronny and Carla a bit of a break. The boy/girl ratio was pretty lopsided for Alyssa, but she managed to hold her own for the most part with being the only girl amongst the 7 kids. It did wear on her after a while as she eventually snuggled up to Brenda and asked to have her hair brushed. She normally resists getting her hair brushed, but seemed to welcome 10 minutes of ‘boy-free’ time with her mom.

Following Family Day the kids had the week off school, so the normal schedule was out the window for them, even though I had a normal work week. One of the highlights for the kids was getting to see the brand new stingray exhibit at the Calgary Zoo. The rays had been acquired by the zoo only a day or two before, so the kids were pretty excited to be among the first to see them.

This week we’ve had Barry and Breana (Brenda’s brother and sister-in-law) and their 4 kids staying with us. Barry has work in Calgary this week and the whole family decided to come down from the Rocky Mountain House area, where they live. So, we’ve had 7 kids running around the house again this week but this time the gender balance has been a little more even – 4 boys and 3 girls, so Alyssa isn’t quite as stressed and doesn’t mind having tangled hair.

To round out the month we’re looking forward to having friends from Edmonton come to visit us this weekend with their son. It has been really nice to have the basement all finished – there is lots of room for our guests and we can send the kids to play Wii in the basement and manage some brief moments where the adults can pretend that we are having a grown-up conversation!

No Comments »

Ick. Winter has hit hard this week. Blowing snow, frigid temperatures and a nasty windchill. Really, we don’t have that much to complain about, -30 °C is just not that cold. We did spend 8 winters in Cold Lake where -30 was often a nice break, must be getting soft…

January hasn’t been all blustery and frosty though; Saturday was the last of quite a string of nice days before the weather turned and it was spectacular – sunny and about -5 °C. Steven and I got up early and met up with my brother Brian, then headed to Nakiska for a day of skiing. Steven has only skied a couple of times at the little hill on the outskirts of Calgary, so he started the day by taking a ski lesson. While he did that, Brian and I skied a few blue runs and I got a lesson on just how little I remember about how to ski, and don’t get me started about my wobbly legs. The last time I skied in the mountains must be 10 years ago.

After lunch with a one of Brian’s friends and his kids and one of my work colleagues and her husband; Steven and I headed for the green runs and did as many as we could fit in before the lifts closed for the day. Steven did really well and seems to have the bug for skiing and wants to go again as soon as possible. It might not be such a bad idea – maybe it would encourage me to get in shape!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to post as the camera was missing in action on Saturday – you’ll just have to take my word for it, it was a fine day.

No Comments »

The Christmas season is upon us once again! For the kids, the wait has been interminable, yet for us adults it seems that December has returned all too soon. The months roll by quickly and the final days of 2007 are at hand. We hope that the year past has been a good one for you and wish you all the best this Christmas and for the New Year ahead.

2007 was a busy year, as they all are with a growing family. The biggest event of our year was the basement development at the beginning of the year. We managed to go from ill-organized storage space into a place for the family to really enjoy. We’ve got lots of room for entertaining and playing games and have even joined the 90’s with a home theater! Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

We just got back from a great little family getaway in the mountains. All of Brenda’s side of the family gathered together at a wonderful resort out near Dead Man’s Flats for the family Christmas gathering.

We decided, this year, to find a place where all of the cousins (12 of ’em), aunts, uncles and Opa and Oma could gather together and have lots of things to do and room to play. In previous year’s, we’ve held the family Christmas get-together on Christmas Eve at one of our homes, but the crowd is getting fairly large. Ronny and Carla knew about this resort in the mountains and said that it would be perfect for this year. They were right!
Continue Reading »

No Comments »