Not Quite New Year

Hena taking River down the slope

Yes, it's me. Still here. I'm gonna try again to keep up this thing. As usual, I am mad at myself for missing so much. River's 8th birthday, Christmas, New Year's Eve at the beach (well, I think I will still post a little about that). Recent trip to Calgary, new jobs....too many new jobs! Kids and outings. All the things that I started this blog in order to document. Of course, I am still journaling - but it's not for anyone's eyes but mine, and not particularly useful. I may recap some events, but time keeps passing and I don't want to play too much catch up. I'll just start from here.

Might as well get down to it, so here are a few pictures from our recent few days in Calgary, visiting Mike's parents. It was a good trip. Not without it's awkwardness, which I could go into if I had more time. It was nice to spend time with them and Gloria kept plying us with delicious food, which is always welcome. We also spent time with Hena, Nicky's cousin (Bronwyn and River's step-cousin?). The kids had fun together and Hena did a great job at teaching River to swim...and toboggan (until a bunch of kids, unexpectedly, crashed into him at the bottom of the hill). We were only in Alberta for a few days last weekend, but on Monday we borrowed the car and drove to Banff. My first visit. We'd arrived in Calgary on the Friday and had already spent the weekend at their place. River had been on his best behaviour. Staying under control and contained takes a lot of effort for River. Just following along with everything, especially new things, is a challenge, but he did well. And we were quite busy; toboganning, swimming at the pool attached to their complex, visiting. It meant that the drive to Banff was a chance for him to relax and so he was quite silly on the way there and driving us crazy. Just as we got to Banff he took a deep breath and announced, "Ok, I've stopped being silly now". "Thank you", we said in relief. I do believe that it is difficult for him to control his silliness when he's had a period of time where he's tried hard to keep control. It tells me what a struggle school must be. Overall, he is doing very well these days and it is good to see. The kids had a great time playing and swimming. They actually took some minutes away from their devices...gasp!

Banff was beautiful, but cold. Around -10 (which is very cold as far as I am concerned). We walked around the Banff Springs Hotel, which is quite an amazing building; majestic and well positioned in the snow-capped mountains. We were playing out in the snow, which was mainly what the kids were interested in doing, and a friendly passer-by/conference goer offered to take our picture. Bronwyn perched herself on top of the mounty statue. Nicky is in the background, leaning on the horse. Of course I will post better pictures as I get back in the groove.

Family in Banff

Mike and Nicky at the top of the hill

Look out below!

Nicky, Bronwyn, and Hena

Banff Hotel

River and I walking in snowy hills near the house

 

The family photo

It was River's first time on an airplane since he was 7 months old. He was very nervous, and so was I. Everyone assured me that he'd be fine, but I wasn't so sure. I had visions of him panicking at take-off. My fears proved unfounded. A few deep breaths and he remained quite calm and even said he really enjoyed going on planes. What a relief!

There have been quite a few adventures since my last post, and I wish I had written about them. Where I can I will try to add some notes about them. The whole purpose of this is to try to record happenings in our lives, mostly for my own benefit and so the kids have something to look back on...and also so that far away relatives, who are bored, will have something to do when every other form of entertainment has been exhausted. Back soon.