Mini Man

Lucas is so much like Darryl.  He's smart and introverted and loves Lego and computer games and staying home.



Here he is in Darryl's hat and it's mini Darryl.   Expect of course when Lucas belts out BNL or Weakerthans or Adele.  Then he's a mini me.

Till Next Time

Jenn

Great Music in A Beautiful Setting

A couple of months ago (on my way to Europe in fact) I saw that one of my favorite bands, Great Big Sea were playing a show in Banff.  I emailed Tammy as so as I saw it and asked if we should go.  One of the best parts of it was that we could bring the kids.  It was an outdoor venue and the kids tickets were only 10 dollars.  So Tammy and her family and Darryl and I and the kids all headed up to the mountains yesterday for an awesome day.  Here are some picture highlights from it.



The reason for the concert was the Parks 100 anniversary, so there was the park beaver for the kids to enjoy.

Family One

Family Two

If you have never been to a great big sea concert you may not get it, but Great Big Sea concerts are some of the best, even if you don't know who they are or don't love their music.   When you watch them play and even if you've never heard the music you'll love it.  And they love it, they get the audience involved and so much of their music is so upbeat that you can't help but get up and dance.  And Canadians are so nice and polite that in most concerts there is very little standing or no standing at all.  But when Great Big Sea plays they tell everyone, get up!  Vertical Movement! Dance Around!  At this point Canadians then feel okay to stand up.  "Well the lead singer told me to, so I better" =)    At a GBS concert you can't help but clap and dance.  Even people who are non clappers, or not big GBS fans, they will have sore hands by the end.   If you ever get a chance to go I highly recommend it.    As you can see from our pictures we had a great time dancing around.  Especially Nathan. =)

Till Next Time

Jenn

Grammie and Grandad Come to Town

This past week Grammie and Grandad came to stay with us for a week. It was lots of fun having them around.


There was excitement when the little boys surprised them at the airport when picking them up.






Then there was amazement as we watch the horse jumping.


Then there was deliciousness as Darryl made a turkey dinner.
Then there was laughter that we caught Grandad's birthday minutes before we were about to serve dessert and so we could all sing happy birthday to him. There was also lots of slapping mosquitoes. Then there was trying to avoid the rain.  It was really great to have them around, even Emma really took to Brian, which is rare for Emma to like a man (especially not a young one). 

Till Next Time

Jenn

Soccer Time

Spring time means soccer for us.  Nathan has it on Monday and Lucas on Tuesday and Thursdays.    So we have been a busy family.  It's nice because both Lucas and Nathan play and it's really affordable.  With Nathan I've realized soccer is hard with 3 year olds.  The drills are not too bad becuase I can make them into little games, Simon Says, What time is it Mr. Wolf.  But the games are a challenge.  To try to get them to kick it the right way and then towards the goal and then stop once they are out of bounds is as much as I can handle most night (I'm the coach BTW).   Plus an hour of running around seems to be a lot for them. 

Lucas's soccer is more interesting.  The kids are more cooperative and the game is actually kind of interesting.  Still there are kids on Lucas's team who don't listen, but the have longer attention spans then on Nathan's team.  Lucas has improved over the last 10 weeks, but I'm not sure soccer is really his thing.  I wonder if he has a bit of me in him, which means he's not that competitive.  But it's been great to watch him grow and get better and better at the game.  Darryl was the coach for his team and did a great job.  He got lots of kudos after the game tonight and was asked to coach again next year, so we will have to see.  I don't have any pictures from Nathan's soccer, it was rained out the last couple of weeks, but here are some good ones from Lucas's soccer.

Till Next Time

Jenn

U2

Last year for Christmas I gave Darryl two U2 tickets. Darryl has always really liked U2 and when I heard they had rescheduled a show to June 1st in Edmonton I booked tickets. One of the things about me is I often do crazy things. As I talked about before I love experiences, and sometimes do things (or say things) without taking everything into consideration. So I checked Ticketmaster and there were tickets available, so I bought Darryl two for Christmas. It was a Wednesday and we both had to take two days off work, and luckily my sister was around to take care of the kids, so it all worked out.


The concert itself was incredible. There were 65000 people there and I don’t think I’ve ever been to something that big. Bono can really sing and the Edge is an amazing guitarist. They also had a really cool stage. It is 167 feet tall and it takes 100 semis to transport it from city to city. The stage had lots of lights and effects with it. There was also an inner and outer stage to it. There are so many great U2 songs and they played a lot of them. My favorite was probably Elevation, but they played so many of the good ones. Like most Canadian concerts most people stay seated and danced in their seats, but I would stand and dance whenever there was a song I liked. Plus there was this story, which had people talking.

The other crazy part was leaving. With 65000 people trying to get out there was hordes of people trying to get on the train. It was crazy. It probably took us an hour just to get on a train.


It was a super fun experience and something I’m happy to cross of my life list.

Till Next Time

Jenn

May Round Up

I was at work last night and I haven't been there in quite a while.  I kept thinking of all the things that happened this month, some planned and some unplanned.  I thought I should maybe start a monthly round up since the blog seems to have gone on the back burner.  But here is I"m sure a lengthy roundup of May

•  Started with Darryl and I returning from our trip to San Francisco
• We played ALOT of soccer.  More on that coming up this week
• Alexis and I went to London and Paris ( I know I still need a Paris post too)
• We finshed off the patio at the back
• I got a piece of glass stuck in the bottom of my foot, which hurt and I couldn't get it out.  After a couple of weeks of soaking it I went to the doctor.  He seemed quite uncertain about being able to remove it.  But after jabbing very painful freezing in my foot, he did get it out!!  YEAH!!  Amazing how such a small thing can cause so much pain. 
• I've done most of my vegetable planting.  I'm trying to plant them in square feet so we will have to see what the gardens look like.  I'm also trying to plant them every couple of weeks, so we will have harvest for longer.  
• Nathan has been doing some stuttering again.  It seems to be worse when he hasn't had a good night sleep.  It also seems to come and go.  It's something I'll have to watch.  They say for most kids it resolves itself by the time they turn 5, so hopefully it won't be a life long thing for him. 
• My dad got a new job, which he seems to be really enjoying. 
• My mom had her gallbladder out.  
• Lastly, we went to a U2 concert this week.  It's great to get one of those things crossed off a bucket list.  It was a really good concert and if you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it.   There is lots of lights and very entertaining (although a different kind of entertaining then BNL or GBS) Also very political and lots of awareness about Africa and Amnesty International.  

Whew, and June is just as busy.  Although after months of winter and staying inside it's nice to stay busy again.

Till Next time

Jenn