Spring Break 2015

I'm severely behind on posting. So many things happening in the past few weeks.

Sunday was even my birthday, 10 years old! Hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I began living with Roger and Tracey. I've seen people born and also witnessed people pass, I guess that's what happens during a long span of time. Most notably, I've seen the kids grow. Malcolm and Melody becoming part of our family has been most eventful occurrence in my lifetime. As I reflect back on the past ten years, I've enjoyed a very good life. Roger and Tracey have been very kind to me. Also, with Grandma home most days, there's very little time I spend alone. It was somewhat of a rocky start way back when in 2005, with Cleo and my seasickness on the ferry. Suffice to say, there's still a lot of spring in my step and no slowing down in my near future.

The family just got back from a little trip down south to Seattle. They spent the first three days at the Great Wolf Lodge and the last day in Bellevue. A bunch of different families spending some time together. Here are some pics from the past few weeks. Here are a few film shots Roger took a couple months back. Auntie Shannon's 40th Epic Birthday Party: Edana's Birthday Party at the Quay (Vancouver Circus School):

Happy Valentine's Day

As parents Roger and Tracey try their best in raising, kind, compassionate, and upstanding human beings. They'd like to think that they're succeeding, but these days those feelings are unsubstantiated. The kids have been fighting a lot lately, their behaviour towards each-other is often mean-spirited to say the least. I guess that's what happens when you bring two strong willed and stubborn people together. Sure, everyone says it's a phase and everyone says that it's normal. So despite what every one says, it drives Roger and Tracey absolutely crazy!

To get a little break from it all, Roger and Tracey spent Valentine's Day without the kids and went out for lunch and a walk. Carol was nice enough to come over to watch the kids for a few hours. They finally made it to Meat and Bread for lunch. The Porchetta sandwich is renowned. It was actually very delicious, now they know why people line up for their sandwiches there. They also got to try the special of the day, Teriyaki Beef... equally delicious. Here's some pictures from the weekend, including a short trip to Iona Beach. Unfortunately, their trip was cut short due to some pinching and screaming that occurred in the car ride home.

Busy, busy...

The last few weeks have been pretty busy with school, activities, get togethers and photoshoots. We just had a four day weekend with family day coupled with a professional development day on Tuesday. The family went skating with Matthew, Lucy, Jayden and Sierra on Sunday. That evening Grandpa Harry treated everyone to Chinese dinner. Carol and Eun Yeop were able to come along too, it was a very nice time.

Today, Roger took the kids to see Spongebob the movie. Roger wanted to see Paddinton Bear instead, but Melody said that she'd rather see Spongebob, truth be told Malcolm probably enjoyed it the most. It's amazing how much popcorn those kids can put away.

In other news, we had quite a good run with Malcolm's behaviour right up until Christmas and beyond, but these day there have been some difficult moments. Roger and Tracey push on and hope for the best. They know you're never supposed to wish away the wonder years, but all the same an upgrade in maturity would be a welcomed change sometimes. The sibling rivalry and button pushing gets tired very fast.

Roger has been helping out with skating lessons for the past few weeks with Melody's kindergarten class. He's enjoying his time with the kids. Although, it is quite sad to see all the parents sit on the sidelines and not get involved. Surprisingly he's the only parent on the ice with the kids. Even Mrs. Baird laces them up and heads out on the ice with the kids. Melody is doing very well on the ice, much better than most of her classmates.

Here are some pictures from the past two weeks:









Family day skating with friends:

Pictionary Against Humanity.

Well Tracey's "adult only" games night/birthday party was a roaring success. Roger surprised Tracey with a game themed birthday cake from the Pink Ribbon Bakery down the street, they made a lemon berry cream cheese cake that was not only beautiful, but delicious.

The gang played Pictionary, Taboo, Cards Against Humanity and finally Pictionary Against Humanity, where the contestants would have to draw what was on the CAH cards. It was a challenge to say the least. So the kids stayed at grandma's until almost 9:30pm and Tracey and Roger put them to bed soon after. Malcolm had a bit of trouble falling asleep because of all the noise, but eventually closing his door helped. In the morning he said, why do adults have to laugh so much when they're playing games? If that's not a good indicator of a good time, I don't know what is.

Tracey and Roger handed out some prizes, had some yummy treats, and enjoyed a good time with their friends. Here are some pictures from the evening, lots of laughs for sure:

Happy Birthday Tracey

Another year another birthday, this year may not be a milestone year, but certainly we're all getting older.  This year Tracey's birthday coincided with a professional development day with the kids. So much for having a relaxing day! They did manage to get Carol's help to watch the kids for a few hours so they could get away to a movie. They quite enjoyed "The Imitation Game", but it was such a sad story. After the movie the family enjoyed a dinner out at the Match Eatery in New Westminster. The food was great, but unfortunately the food took a really long time to come out.











Melody also started her skating lessons from school this past week too.





2015 will mark the big "10" for me too! It's hard to believe.

Snow tubing.

It's been an abysmal ski season this year with disappointing levels of snow or should we say lack thereof.  The family has been thinking that this would be the year that Malcolm would try skiing, but with the warm temperatures and low snow pack, the season is quite questionable. It's almost reminiscent of the 2010 year when they had to fly in snow to the Olympic events to ensure the events would take place.  Well despite the low snow, the family headed up to Cypress to do some tubing with Camila and uncle Nick. Here are some pics, oh and Joseph and Nicole came along too! It was a fun few hours on the mountain.

Happy Birthday Alexander

Last weekend we got to celebrate Baby Alexander's 2nd birthday. The truth is, he's not really a baby anymore. The family had a great time at his birthday party at the community centre. It's always a good time when good friends get together.

In other news, the kids have settled back into school very well. The two weeks off during the holidays didn't really phase them. They did a full week without any miss-steps.