Spring 2017 and the End of Grade 1

The first order of business to kick off Spring is Easter. Brandon was up at about 3:30am Easter morning. He couldn't sleep because he was so excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought him. I eventually went downstairs with him at about 6:00am. He was thrilled with his basket! He got Lego, smelly markers, chocolate, candy, a fart machine(!) and a new game for his Nintento player.
Once we were all more fully awake, we made our way down to the Mount Pleasant Community Center where Brandon did an outdoor Easter "shell" hunt and had his face painted. Later that day we celebrated Easter with just ourselves. We made mussels in white wine sauce and enjoyed our non-traditional feast.

Brandon started soccer in May and I'm pleased to say that he quite enjoyed it this year. He had three really great coaches and plenty of little school friends on his team. The team was called "Dynamite" and he sported lucky number 30 on his jersey. I think his team only won one game in the whole season but no big deal - the kids were having lots of fun.

Our good friends Shawn and Christine spent a few months in Europe this Spring and were kind enough to offer us the use of their cabin. We absolutely love it at Lake Windermere and so we gratefully accepted their offer. Our first visit was over the May long weekend and wow, were we lucky with the weather! We stopped at some of our favourite spots - those being the Fairmont Hot Springs and the Hot Spot pizza joint. We also tried some new venues like the Panorama ski hill and the Radium Hot Springs. Panorama was fun because we jumped on a chair lift and went to the top of hill. Brandon loved the lift and said over and over "I'm flying!" I'm flying like Superman!" Once at the top we attempted a hike but the trails were not well marked or cleared and they had bear warning signs everywhere. We took the lift back down where Brandon tried one of those crazy jump swing things and then we visited the local fire station so Brandon could shoot a fire hose and ride in the fire truck.

Radium Hot Springs was nice to visit but it's not nearly as fun as Fairmont. At Fairmont Brandon can jump off the 9ft board and impress all the onlookers ;-) Also a first for all of us - we saw a grizzly bear! It was right off the side of the highway as we were heading home. It was incredibly large and impressive and we were very happy to view it from the safety of our car.
Our second trip back to the cabin was in June. Again we had fabulous weather and spent most of our days hanging out at the beach on Lake Windermere. Once more we spent time at the Fairmont Hot Springs, dined on the best pizza at the Hot Spot and tried some mountain biking trails on the other side of Invermere. We had a fantastic time and couldn't wait for our next visit in July.

For Father's Day we did something a little different this year - we agreed to go camping with the gang up at Crimson Lake in Rocky Mountain House. Feeling adventurous, Jamie and I decided to rent a trailer for the occasion. We grabbed it from the rental company, picked up Brandon's new kayak (courtesy of his grandparents) and drove up to Rocky Mountain House in the pouring rain. Thank goodness it cleared up an hour or so after we got there and our weather was perfect from there on out.
The campground itself ended up being really nice. There were seven families total and all our camp sites backed onto a playground. The kids played for hours and hours and Brandon had the time of his life! We did some biking, swimming and kayaking down at the lake, campside singing and of course marshmallows over the campfire. All did not go as smoothly as hoped (ie I hated the trailer!) but all-in-all a lovely weekend with some of our best friends.

The end of June brought with it the end of Grade 1. Brandon successfully completed his first year in French school and I was so very proud of him. Admittedly the year started out a bit rough. Brandon had a nice young teach named Caroline Paquette. She had never taught a class before and she had just moved to Calgary from Montreal. I think she was sometimes overwhelmed and a little homesick. Brandon found the constant French a bit too much and he started to develop anxiety. For most of September he cried and didn't want to go to school. He said he "felt dumb" and he didn't like sitting in a classroom all day. It broke my heart but every morning I would wipe his tears and tell him he had to go. He eventually got used to the idea and, I think, even developed a bit of crush on his teacher. It was around Christmas that he started feeling more confident and began making academic improvements. He was never (and likely never will be) a star student but he was liked by all his classmates and he tolerated practicing his reading every night.
Brandon's best little grade 1 friends were Brayden and Gavin. After school, he attended the Summit Kids program and played mostly with Tau and Brayden while there. It was definitely a busy year filled with field trips, birthday parties and play dates. Just as others before me had promised, once your kids are in school, time really starts to fly. Hopefully summer gives us a chance to slow down and catch our breath. After all, grade 2 is only two months away!

Winter 2016/2017

We returned from Maui on Nov 6th and just like that, we were back to reality and living our busy lives. The first order of business was Brandon's 7th birthday party. This year he decided he wanted a pool party at one of his favorite places - The Westside Rec Centre. The party was booked for November 18th and about 10 of Brandon's little friends showed up to celebrate. We started the first hour with everyone in the pool. This turned out to be a little stressful for me as I was responsible for keeping an eye on all of them. With a waterside, lazy river and wave pool, you can imagine the kids were all over the place. After an hour Jamie and I manged to wrangle them into the party room where the kiddos enjoyed some snacks and a Pokemon themed birthday cake. Brandon reported having a blast and I was just glad it was over and done with for another year ;-)

December came quickly and we started our typical assortment of festive activities. It began with a trip to the mall to get photos taken with Santa. Soon after we were at the Shaw Family Christmas Party (another fabulous event) and then the Calgary Zoolights. We picked out a tree at Superstore and the cats marveled at how wonderful it was to put decorations on a tree. We did shopping and baking and put up the lights. We saw the fireworks at Confederation Park and when the snow finally came, Brandon spent hours sledding down the hills in the park. When we needed a break from the cold, we strapped on some roller blades and had a blast rolling around at Lloyd's Roller Rink. I even took Brandon to church one night in hopes of showing him how other people view and celebrate the season.

Jamie was scheduled for hernia surgery in late December so we missed Brandon's school event known as Marche du Noel but our friends Shawn and Christine were able to take him so at least B was able to go.
Through a strange series of miscommunication with friends, we ended up spending Christmas home alone this year. It all worked out well though. Brandon was in his glory on Christmas morning - opening gifts of Lego, Pokemon, Nintendo gameboy, games, and clothes. In the late afternoon we headed over to Bob and Marilyn's house (Danica's parents) for Christmas fun and a fabulous dinner. We were made to feel really welcome and we had a lovely time spending Christmas evening with them. The rest of the holidays were spent as a family. We went to the movies (Star Wars), played mini golf, and went swimming. For New Years' Eve, we went to Sloane and Mitch's house to ring in 2017 and celebrate with them.

My goal for 2017 was to pay off the truck. With this in mind, I spent the month of January trying not to spend any money. It was an interesting challenge. I didn't buy any lunches or coffees at work. I didn't buy any clothes or succumb to any of the Boxing Day sales running rampant throughout the city. My hard work paid off and in February and Jamie and I wrote the last cheque on the truck (Yippee!)
Speaking of February, I also took my Mom to Palm Springs for a four day girls trip. I wanted to do something special for my mom's 70th birthday so I asked her where she'd like to go. She picked Palm Springs for the dates Feb 3rd to Feb 6th but left the rest up to me. I ended up reserving our stay at the The Hotel California and I don't think I could have picked a more perfect spot. It's a family run boutique hotel on the fringes of downtown Palm Springs. Our room was super comfortable, the pool was really warm and the folks we met while staying there were also tons of fun. The Hotel California offered free snacks, all-day coffee and they even thew a party on Superbowl Sunday. The best thing they did though was give my mom pink champagne on ice to help celebrate her birthday. Thanks Larry!

Palm Springs itself was a great little town. It was very friendly and easy to get around. The weather was good so we spent most of our time at the hotel's pool. We also did some shopping, had birthday dinner at the fabulous Colby's Restaurant and even took in a polo game at the Empire Polo Fields! We felt very posh hanging out in the VIP section, dining on our lunch.

Our holiday was over much too soon and I found myself back in snowy Calgary. Winter progressed without too much excitement until we got to Jamie's birthday. I always view Jamie's birthday as the end of winter. The weather is usually still pretty bad but at least it's a time of year where we can start looking forward to -30 degree days being over. For Jamie's birthday this year I bought him a gym membership to use at the city pools. With his membership, I was able to include Brandon for only an additional $30. This proved to be an excellent idea. Both Jamie and Brandon have been enjoying their time at the pool. Hopefully this will be a good primer for many swimming days ahead this summer!
It sure was a long winter but things progressed as they do and we really didn't have wait long for Spring to arrive.

Maui 2016

Ahhh Hawaii! How I longed to return after experiencing the warm tropical breezes and soft white sand of Oahu back in 2014. Truth-be-told, Brandon actually had the idea to go to Hawaii once he found out our trip to Turks and Caicos was cancelled. I was worried he was going to be disappointed but the first words out of his mouth were "oh does this mean we could go to Hawaii instead?" Clever boy! He knows my weakness for tropical vacations so my mind immediately began to formulate a plan that could get us to one of Hawaii's most popular islands - Maui.
I began by setting a budget and putting my internet search skills to the test. I found us a one bedroom condo at the Westin Kaanapli Beach Villas for one week and then a 2 bedroom condo at the Ekolu Village in Wailea for our first 3 nights. I transferred the Turks and Caicos flights to Maui and voila! Just like that we were booked for 10 nights (Oct 26th to Nov 5th) in paradise!
On the morning of Oct 26th we got up early and caught a cab to the airport. We had a quick connection in Vancouver and, after a very long flight, we arrived around 2:30pm Maui time. The first item on the to-do list was to pick up the rental car. What a joke! We waited in line over two hours to get our car. The only good thing was I had reserved us a small car - like a Nissan Sentra but by the time the car rental company finally got to us, they had no small cars left. The had to give us a small SUV for the same price so at least that worked out.
After the car we were off to get groceries. As it turns out, Safeway in Maui is exactly like it is here - only they sell booze in-store and for considerably less than what we pay at home. Fast forward one hour and we were on our way to Wailea. It only took 30 minutes our so to get to Wailea and find our condo. As a high-end golf community, Wailea is easy to love. To me, it didn't even look real. Everything was so green and perfectly manicured. Our condo was easy to locate and was quite large. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. At first I was disappointed with how dated it was (think early 90's) but after I stepped out onto the lanai and saw the view, I was in love! I had requested ocean view and the Ekolu delivered. Our condo sat on the 11th fairway and had a 180 degree view of the water. It was truly outstanding.

We spent the next three days enjoying Wailea. They had a high-end outdoor mall called "The Shops at Wailea" and we visited there a few times. We used the car to visit different beaches with our favioute being Makena Beach (or "Big Beach"). Another lovely beach was called Wailea Beach and we shared that with the well-to-do crowd at The Four Seasons. One day we spent in nearby Kihei to visit Kamaole Beach and dine on fish tacos by the ocean.

Our time in Wailea seemed way too short but after three days we packed up the car and headed North to the area known as Kaanapali. Little did we know, the best was yet to come.
Just like every other Westin I've ever visited, the Westin Kaanapli had beautiful grounds, wonderful service and perfect accommodations. When we arrived at the Westin we learned we were upgraded to an oceanfront condo. Wow! Our room was just mere steps to the beach and we enjoyed beautiful Maui sunsets every night from the lanai.
It didn't take us long to settle into our new condo. Every morning we'd head to the beach to play in the waves, snorkel and build sandcastles. At noon we'd return to the condo for lunch and a little rest. After that we'd make our way to one of the two huge pools and lounge the afternoon away.

About half way through the week we discovered the Westin never closed the pools or hot tubs so we also started swimming in the pools at night by the lights of the tiki torches. We would float on our backs, look at the stars and listen to the live music that played at the poolside bar (one of my favourite memories).
Before going to Maui we had discussed doing all kinds of activities. Once we got there, however, we never really got up to much. Jamie and Brandon went jet skiing, we all visited the Maui Ocean Center, I enjoyed a morning at the spa (my birthday present!), we had our photos taken on the beach and that's kind of it. We did try to visit a beach known for having turtles but once we got there the surf was huge and Brandon had forgotten his bathing suit so that was that. We also ventured out one night to eat some of the best sushi of our lives. A little hole-in-the-wall spot called "Miso Phat Sushi" served fresh fish daily off their boat. The sushi and service made up for the lack of ambiance but that bill sure hit the wallet hard. Ah well when in Maui . . .

One of the highlights of our trip was the Halloween parade in Lahina. We used the hotel shuttle to get us to the town where hundreds of people in costume lined the main street to watch the high school band and town mayor go by. After that, the "keiki's" were invited to parade down the street and collect candy from bystanders and shop owners. It was fantastic! The people of Maui really enjoy Halloween and I couldn't believe how much candy Brandon collected. I think this event will stand out forever as the only time we were ever warm while trick or treating on Halloween day.

Ten days in paradise went by really fast and before we knew it, we were back on the plane to spend a night in Vancouver before going home. I really loved Hawaii back in 2014 and, on this trip, I fell in love all over again. It is such a beautiful place with a laid-back vibe. No one is in a hurry there, no one seems stressed  or even like they have a care in the world. The weather was perfect every day and the beach was never more than a few minutes away.

Now I have more happy memories of a wonderful family vacation. May we have many more to come!