So we kind of feel like our lives are one big whirlwind of activity lately, and we haven’t been able to squeeze in a post, but here’s one from today! We decided to take a relaxing stroll in MacKenzie Ravine, and snapped some pics while we did. Enjoy!
Currently the Telus World of Science, which is conveniently very close to us now, has a show in their Planetarium that combines Sesame Street and stars, which are two of Belle’s favourite things. So off we went for a morning filled with the wonders of science! Belle sat through the entire half hour planetarium show, which is a rave review, as far as we’re concerned, and we all learned about the constellations and went to the moon with Big Bird and Elmo.
We spent the rest of our visit in the kids wing, playing with water, rubber balls, building blocks and pianos. All in all, an excellent morning.
Today we headed off to the Muttart Conservatory for their Easter themed celebrations. There were tons of bunnies, bears and flowers all over the place. Belle especially enjoyed watching the goldfish and having tea in the daffodil and tulip pyramid.
Today Isabelle had her first Easter Egg hunt! Despite her inexperience, she appeared to know exactly what to do, as evidenced in the 5 minute video clip below. Other firsts of this Easter included our first time cooking a ham, and our first time making scalloped potatoes (which, we discovered, take much longer to prepare than we thought they would!).
Mid February we headed off to Banff with our friends Craig and Katie for a week of skiing and exploring the Rockies. Katie’s parents had given us a place to stay in a Banff for a week (thanks so much!), so we had a great little condo as our basecamp for the week. We were able to check out the Sunshine Village and Lake Louise ski resorts, as well as the Chateau Lake Louise, the town of Banff and some surrounding trails. We were also able to have lunch with my Aunt Janne and cousin Ben, who drove in from Golden. It was a great vacation, though it made us miss the mountains even more; Edmonton is just too flat.
So since we didn’t make it out to the Island for Christmas, we decided to meet up with my family on another island. We rented the three bedroom top floor of a vacation house in Kona and spent a week relaxing in the sun in Hawaii. Most of us had never been to Hawaii before, but I think we all ended up enjoying Hawaii even more than we thought we would (and we were all pretty excited to go). The Big Island is fairly undeveloped and seems to have a little bit of everything, plus we loved the place that we stayed in, so I will definitely not be surprised if we go back again.
We spent lots of time swimming and sunning ourselves on various beaches, snorkelling with manta rays, poking through the shops in Kona, relaxing and grilling tuna and marlin in our rental, and checking out cultural sites. The weather was incredible and Belle loved the beaches and spending time with her aunt and uncle and grandparents. And of course her hair went super curly in the humidity, prompting even more cuteness comments from strangers.
While usually we spend Christmas on the Island or in Langley, a number of factors had us staying in Edmonton this year, and Guy and Shirley came and joined us! We had a fantastic Christmas and having Guy and Shirley out definitely helped us get over missing BC. I especially had a great time, since our Christmas present to Guy was a ticket to the Christmas Eve Day Canada vs Finland match of the IIHF World Juniors, and of course we couldn’t send him alone. A merry Christmas was had by all!
Early in December, we headed out to Langley for THE Christmas event of the year, Guy and Shirley’s annual Christmas party! We had a great time visiting with friends and family and the party was fantastic, as usual.
So this is the post that’s been holding everything up, mostly due to the massive number of pictures involved. We’ve both done our best to narrow them down, but we’re still left with 132. Mostly I’ve been humming and hawing about where to split them, and how many posts to split them into, but instead, I’m just lumping them all together and moving on! Voila!
So Jamaica was a special trip, in that it marked a few different events. Firstly, it was to celebrate Michelle being finished all of her medical training, from medical school through two residencies. Secondly, we went for Michelle’s birthday. Thirdly, it was our first proper vacation (ie. leave the country on a jet plane to somewhere exotic) in over three years. Since we’d all been working extremely hard (Michelle the most though, of course), we wanted a vacation that mostly involved laying on a beach, which is why we picked a Beaches Resort in Jamaica.
Beaches is great because of a whole bunch of reasons, but mostly because their Sandy Bay property sits on one of the most amazing beaches I’ve ever been too. The water was nice and warm, the sand soft and white, and there was barely anyone on it (obviously that’s partially due to the time of year). The air temperature averaged about 35 degrees and the water about 30, and other than a few short bursts of torrential rain, it was beautifully sunny every day. We spent our days playing in the ocean or the pool with Belle, reading on the beach or on our balcony, taking advantage of the various beach activities (water trike, paddle boards, scuba diving, etc) and just generally relaxing. Michelle read a book for pleasure for the first time in three years! We also had reciprocal access to another Beaches property five minutes down the road, and we spent a few afternoons and mornings there, playing in their water park and trying out the restaurants there. We chose a nice seafood place for Michelle’s birthday dinner (taking advantage of the available babysitting service for Belle) that was right on the beach, and had a fantastic Japanese Village style meal on our last night.
All in all, we had an absolutely fantastic time and did a pretty good job of recharging our batteries.
