The Topps

Rainy Days in the Big City

2012-01-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Brisbane from the Museum - Old and New

There are some really great things about living in a big city, like when it rains, there's always something to do.

Super Fun GOMA room

Evan and Oli were in Awe of the "Art" Above them.

The Southbank area of Brisbane is a hub for the arts. Many of the major museums and galleries are located there, as is the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
It was pretty rainy this past weekend, so we took advantage of the city and went down to see a few sites - on Saturday GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) and the Queensland Public Library, which has an exhibit on art in Children's Lit right now - and then the Queensland Museum and Science Centre on Sunday.

This is one of many "art" displays in "Miss you Magic Land" ??? Hope Chloe and Kai enjoy it!

Fooling around at GOMA

Evan and Oli were served up for lunch at the Sci Centre

All the museums are free, you just pay for touring exhibits and the Science Centre (which we did this time, but we won't again).
The sun is out again today, so we hope Brisbane dries out and we can enjoy the outdoors again.

Brisbane Life

2012-01-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

So far our posts have been about our adventures, but today as I was out for a run, I was thinking about everyday Brisbane life. Here are some of the differences I've noticed between here and Canada:

There is life everywhere. So many kinds of birds, trees and critters. We really want to get a bird book because they're constantly singing and visiting the many trees in our yard and the neighbours' yards. And yes, the kookaburas are often around and their laugh is very loud. When we go for a run, critters are constantly scurrying into the bushes: usually little, or big lizards, geckos or birds. It's pretty awesome.
People walk around with no shoes...often. It's not uncommon to be in a shop and see someone with no shoes. In fact, the other day when I was handing out resumes, I saw a teacher, who was probably getting his classroom ready, walking around the school with no shoes. It's really weird for us Canadians!
Drivers are really polite. Really. They let you in and move over for you. Brisbanites complain about the driving, but we think it's pretty mild, even compared to Calgary, even during rush hour. Ryan Strom, from Ontario, thinks it's a dream compared to Toronto.
People really do say "G'day Mate", all the time. It's not just a stereotype. (Also, "how you going?")
This morning, on the way to school, we followed the stream of uniformed kids. That really shows a big difference.

Here's a couple of pics of the kids in their uniforms, just before we joined the crowd this morning.

G'day!

8 Year Old Weekend

2012-01-21T02:26:00.000-08:00

Well, Evan turned 8 yesterday, or... today in Canada, and we've had a great weekend so far.

For Evan's birthday we went to the local waterpark and had lots of fun on the slides and pools. (Ok, we had fun, that is, after Oli and I decided to break the rules about the height restrictions, which the lifeguards didn't seem to care about, and when kids weren't cutting the line in front of us...seemingly common at that park.)

Then, when Adam was done work, we headed out to a restaurant in Fortitude Valley which is recommended for its gluten-free options. Evan ordered his favourite...gluten free pepperoni pizza, and the rest of us had fabulous meals as well. We'll definitely return to Giardinetto Restaurant another time for gluten free or other. The service was quick, friendly and the food was excellent. In fact, Adam and I shared a salad and pizza, and we don't remember the last time we had such a good pizza (I don't even really like pizza). Oli had ravioli with a creamy garlic sauce, and I could have eaten it all up!

Here's a pic of Evan on the stroll in Fortitude Valley on the day he turned eight.

Today, we summited another of the Glass House Mountains. Our brave little hikers scrambled up to the summit of Mount Tibrogargan, the legendary "father" of the the other mountains. For about three hundred meters, we were really scrambling... I'll let the photos do the talking. Our little hikers outdid a fair number of adults, in fact one young guy who saw the kids on the way up dubbed them "legendary". Yes!!

After our hike, we had a picnic which a lace monitor lizard decided to join. When I first saw it, I thought it would be shy, like the one that ran into the bushes when I saw it in Noosa, but this one had decided to join us for lunch. It made an absolute bee line for us, to the point where we were scrambling for the top of the picnic table (see pics). It then picked up all of our scraps and hung around for a good 1/4 hour. Though it looks relatively harmless, it's claws are significant and we didn't want to take chances. An Australian woman who walked by had a good laugh about us being on the top of the table though, as she said that the claws are for tree climbing, which apparently monitor lizards are great at.

Now, for the funniest part of our day... we are still laughing about it. After our picnic, we were still thirsty and quite tired of the pretty warm water in our hydration packs. So, we stopped at the IGA in town and picked up some "juice boxes". That's what we thought they were until we took a sip of the thickest juice syrup we had ever had. It was disgusting (except to Oli, who loved it). Then I started reading more carefully and realized that it was juice concentrate...add to 2 litres of water. Oops.

Our last stop was in Kilcoy, in the hinterland. On the way there, we ran over - not on, - a snake. It fit right between our wheels and reared it's head up as we passed. It may have been a black-bellied snake or a rough-scaled snake. We're not sure. Either way, I'm glad we didn't see it too close up. That makes our second Queensland snake - the other was the carpet python we saw in the tree in Noosa.

As for Kilcoy (rhymes with killjoy)..not a lot going on there, but Adam did get some great shots of some beautiful birds. The birds in Oz are absolutely amazing, starting at about 4 am. We'll talk more about that in another blog.

Surfing and the Sunshine Hinterland

2012-01-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

First of all, here are a couple of photos from our deck. The first one is of our dinner the other night, and the 2nd is from when we were going to bed. Oli said "there's a cat in the tree," only to discover that it was actually two possums.
They don't seem interested in our deck, but rather in the neighbour's dog food, which is good. Apparently they make a real mess if they get into your stuff.

The next day we headed down to Queen Street in downtown Brisbane. There was a kids' comedy fest on, which was fun. It was a really hot day though, so we tried to keep to the shade as much as we could.

On our way camping, we made our first foray into the "Hinterland", north of Brisbane. When I hear the word "hinterland", I think of barren wilderness, snow and desolation. Well, this is not the case in Queensland, at least not the part we've explored during the past few days. On our way to do some more camping along the coast, we took the scenic route through the Glass House Mountains. We made our way to the lookout and did a short walk to begin with. The mountains are the remaining lava cores of former volcanoes.

They are also sacred to the aboriginal peoples and there are interesting creation stories related to them. The mountain in the picture, Mt Coonowrin, is said to be bowing his head in shame for abandoning the rest of his family in a flood.

We then had a great lunch and look around at the town of Maleny, which has beautiful little shops, local cheeses and wineries. We also passed through Montville - again very cute with shops and retreats. The roads in the area are extremely steep and windy - 10 to 12 percent grades. It was fun to drive them on a nice day, but I wouldn't want to try it in a storm. Oli and I agreed that the best moment came when we stopped at a lookout over the valley and the out to the coast. We had the coolest breeze we've felt in Australia and were refreshed. It's the mountain people in us!

We spent a couple of fun days around Noosa again, including a stop in Great Sandy National Park. The highlight for the boys was trying out the surfboard. It was a big hit and Evan is definitely hooked. He got up on his 3rd wave and hasn't stopped since. Oli has learned to arch! Eric, Marcia, Nathan and Josh joined us for some beach frisbee, boogie boarding and beach fun.

The next day, we also saw our first "wild" kangaroo on a hike near Lake Cootharba. As you can see, he wasn't all that wild as he let me get this close! On the way, we also saw these cockatiels on someone's lawn. It was interesting to see so many "exotic" birds just milling about.

Finally, we returned to the Glass House Mountains again today and did a great summit hike of Mount Ngungun. The boys were pretty hooked on the hike and are now talking about how we should do one of the Great Walks in Australia (they're 5 days - 100 km). We'll see!

Beach Paradise

2012-01-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we just finished our first Aussie camping trip. We used some of the Christmas money that Jane and Lynn gave us to buy a really big tent - or so we thought until we arrived at the caravan park where we were staying. There are some really, really big tents in Australia - and cool set-ups like 4x4 tent trailers and the like.

The camping was pretty cool. At caravan parks they have a fridge, bbqs and a sink for campers to use, so it's quite easy to go.

We went to a place about 1.5 hours north of Brisbane called Noosa. Noosa is a group of little townships and beaches - all interconnected. We went to a different beach each day - starting with the famous surfing beach: Sunshine Beach. The waves were pretty powerful, but it was safe to swim and body surf in the patrolled area. The view down the beach, which stretches for kms and kms is spectacular.

The next day we decided to try out the Main Beach, right in town. It was much gentler as far as waves go, and much more crowded. We parked the car at about 8:20 am, and we had to walk about a kilometer to get to the beach. By the way, at 8:20 am it's about 27 degrees. The daily weather reports advise the UV index from 7:30 am until 4pm. We bought a family friendly sunscreen with a pump - 1 litre size and it won't last! Evan and Oli spent some of their Christmas money from Granny and Granddad on boogie boards - thank you!

They had tonnes of fun riding the waves. After being at the beach for a while and having lots of fun, we walked along to Noosa national park - which is absolutely gorgeous. It was amazing how quickly we were away from the coast and into the rainforest.

On day three we went back to Noosa National Park and did about a 6 km hike. It served the dual purpose of keeping us out of the sun for a while and giving us some great scenery.

We think Dr. Seus visited here before writing his books. What do you think?

We ended the walk at Tea Tree Bay, where we watched the surfers and got in some more body surfing. It is a quiet, cool beach we would definitely return to.

Our fourth day we went to a place called Peregian Beach, a little further south of Noosa. It was laid back, and had great waves. We played some frisbee on the beach, body surfed, checked out the very cute town and generally enjoyed our day.

Finally, on our way home, we stopped at the Big Pineapple, one of Australia's "Big" tourist attractions. We're hoping to get our photo next to quite a few of them this year. Luckily, today (Saturday) was the weekly market, with loads of organic, local farmers selling their wares. It was an awesome stop.

All in all, we'd recommend Noosa to anyone who loves the beach, shopping, cute shops, restaurants and cafes, beautiful walks and... ok, we recommend it to everyone!

xoxo

Julie, Adam, Evan and Oli

New Year, New Adventure

2011-12-31T22:36:00.000-08:00

It's been almost one week in Brisbane now - well, it feels like a whole week but really it's just five or six days now.

Despite a bit of jetlag, (we've been getting up between 4 and 6), we've seen some beautiful and amazing things this week. To start off, is our pool, in which I know we'll spend lots of time.

Then, we went to the beach in downtown Brisbane,

Southbank (like a big amusement park/water park/man -made beach near the river and the city centre - we took the city ferry to get there),

Redcliffe beaches (about 4o minutes drive from our house), Mount Coot-tha which has views of the city and a gorgeous botanical gardens,

And today, the koala sanctuary - a present from Auntie Ang and Uncle Ron.

No, we didn't make it to midnight for New year's eve last night, but we were up at 6 am and Adam went for a run. That is probably a first. We're up now, though, as the Canadians prepare to celebrate New Years in about 18 minutes. We will raise a glass!

The running paths near our house are awesome, and running before 7 am is not at all lonely. In fact, it must be the best time of the day to get out there.

A lot of people had told us that Brisbane reminds them of Calgary, but we don't really think so. In some ways I think of Vancouver, and in others San Francisco (specifically, the hills - I'm glad we have an automatic transmission!!) It's cool that there are a lot of local businesses. Today, we stopped at a "fresh food market" we had seen yesterday, just a few minutes from home. It turned out to have not only great prices on produce, but also beautiful local and imported (mostly Italian) delicacies. I've just finished a great snack of herbed cheese, lemon olives, basil/cashew dip and crackers by the pool side...oh and of course some Australian wine to accompany it!

We also bought a tent yesterday, which we are going to take up the Sunshine Coast a couple of hours to a place called Noosa. It's reported to be very beautiful. We'll let you know how it goes.

Until then, wish us luck with staying on the left hand side of the road!

Jules

Winter Quiet

2009-12-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing mostly on, sometimes off for the past couple of days.

When the snow comes down it comes in large, lazy flakes that you just want to catch on your tongue. This morning I got up early. The house is quiet and calm and so is the street outside. I'm sitting by the fire and the Christmas tree, looking out the window at a world blanketed in white.

It's the perfect winter calm before the Christmas frenzy, which will begin later today with our first family gathering.

Hope you've enjoyed this moment with me.

Peace,

Julie

Songs 2009

2009-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well,

It would appear that we are extremely poor at posting!

Anyway, this seems like an easy forum to post our playlist for the "Songs 2009"

CD we made for Ang, Ron and Kai's party.

Here it is:

I Don't Lie Chic Gamine
Fatima K'naan
Jailer Asa (Asha)
I Want You Back (Stripped Mixes) Jackson Five
Dance in Your Car K-Os
Wavin' Flag K'naan
Last Dance Raveonettes
You're Too Cool The Zolas
The Calculation Regina Spektor
You Can't Always Get What You Want Glee Cast
I Will Follow You Into the Dark Amy Millan
This Charming Man Stars
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away Eddie Vedder

Where did the tune choices come from? I've been downloading songs I like from the radio for the past few months (lots of CBC Radio 2).

Also, I really like the show Glee (Yes - really). It makes me laugh which is more than I can say for most of the stuff on TV.

Hope you enjoy.

Happy Holidays!

A Little of This, A Little of That...

2008-12-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty typical Calgary winter weekend - at least if recent weeks are any indication.

That means that on Saturday, because it was so beautiful out, Adam and I went for a run along the river.

We've come up with a pretty great system for getting some exercise and spending family time:

we put Oliver in the chariot, which he loves, and trade off pushing him.

As for Evan, he rides his bike along side us. It's really a great family outing and gives us all a bit of what we're looking for.

On Sunday Evan and I headed for COP to try out his new skis. As we were driving there, it started snowing like you wouldn't believe. It was about 0 degrees, so pretty wet snow, but snow none the less. We had a good time: me on my teles, Evan on his new downhill skis. We took turns being the leader on the way down. It was fun to watch Evan going down the hill with his tongue out to catch snowflakes.

By the time we headed home the city was an absolute ice rink. I was driving the minivan and, let's just say it wasn't made for winter driving. There was no way it was going up the hill to our house. In fact, it wouldn't even get up 10th st. I ended up trudging up Edmonton Trail and that's the best it would do.

Needless to say, the winter tires are going on tomorrow (yeah - I know - they should have gone on a month ago!)

So today, we stayed out of the car and in the snow. That's the way it should be. N'est-ce pas?

A la prochaine,

Julie

Let it Snow!

2008-11-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about having kids is getting the chance to "be" a kid again. On Wednesday we had our first snowfall of the year: big, fat, beautiful, sticky flakes fell from the sky and covered everything. Needless to say, there was no question that we would spend most of the day outside.

Oliver would have been perfectly happy just sitting around eating the snow. But the bigger kids and I got him involved with building a full-on snow fort.

Later, at Finn's school, we had a snowball fight and built a snow cat taller than

me.

Ahhh... if every winter day was like that one, I could handle winter all the time.

After grocery shopping Wednesday evening, we stuck out our tongues and caught one lovely, huge snowflake after another on our tongues. Sweet!

I have to add in one other humorous event from this week. Whenever the kids argue with Oliver, I tell them "Don't argue with a two-year-old. You'll never win." They know this well enough now that they say it to one another if one of them is arguing.

Anyway, the other day Evan and Oliver were in the car with me and Evan started arguing with Oliver about something. They were going, "Yes it is...No it isn't" at each other and then Oliver came out with, "Don't argue with a two-year-old, Evan." I laughed so hard I almost needed to pull over. Oli is quite the comedian.

Happy Hallowe'en

2008-11-02T17:40:00.001-08:00

As promised we got out the camera on Hallowe'en night and got some cute pics of the kids to share with all of you.

We started the evening with a little party for our little friends and their parents. On the menu were monster fingers, ghost grub and such. It was a lot of fun, though somewhat crazy with eight kids who were totally excited for Hallowe'en running around the house.

In the pics you'll see Evan, Oliver, Lola, Kaiya, Finn and Theo. Missing are Abby and Rudy (who was a super cute super hero!).

Cutest moment of the evening? Oliver waddling along in his lion costume trying to keep up with Evan and Finn, who were literally running from

house to house. His little tail wiggled from side to side.

At first Oli didn't seem totally sure about the whole experience, but he quickly caught on. Soon enough his routine became: "Trick or treat" then he's pick the candy he wanted if he had the chance, say thank you, and before he'd even be down the steps he'd be saying "Mom, let's go to another house". "Ok Oli, let's go!"

Now we have enough candy in our house to last until the summer, literally.

We've put a bunch in the freezer to pull out for special occasions. Got a sugar craving? Come on over!

Julie

Hallowe'en

2008-10-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

I was thinking that perhaps I could post a blog about how I'm not really a blogger. Not that I don't write, I do...often... but obviously that's not the case for my blogging.

So why today? Well, last night I spent some time reading our friends, Mel and Mike's blog. I couldn't believe how much their kids have grown, how much Oscar looks like Mike and what a big sister Lucy is now. I was glad to be able to catch up on that sweet family and I thought that I'd better return the favour, and soon.

A link on their blog page also made me realize how precious life is and how much I want to cherish every moment with my kids. They change so fast and you really never know what life will throw at you. So I'll endeavour to keep this blog more up-to-date, for myself and for any of you who care to tune in from time to time.

OK. There's my reasoning. Now for the details. The fall has been beautiful and busy. I don't think I fully realized how consuming the dayhome would be, but it is! I love the time with the kids, and cherish the time I get to myself as it seems a lot less these days.

I'm always trying to think of activities that will keep them engaged and happy. When the weather is good, as it has been, we spend a lot of time at the playground. We've also gone on dragon quests (you'd be amazed how many dragons hang out at the local dog park), to the zoo most weeks and on tours of the neighbourhood.

When it's not so fine, you'll find us playing "make believe" (their specialty), games, colouring or doing crafts. And in those ways, we've spent the past two months together.

This week is special, of course, with Hallowe'en coming. Today I painted the kids' faces for fun. Tomorrow we're all dressing up and on Friday we're having a Hallowe'en supper party complete with Monster Fingers and Ghost Grub to eat.

Our family is dressing up as the cast of Peter Pan (Evan's favourite movie these days). You know, I've always loved the story, but I'd forgotten how nasty the characters can be. Peter thinks that all women adore him. Wendy can talk of nothing but mothers. Tinkerbell is downright skanky and Captain Hook, well... I guess we always knew he was nasty.

But when Evan watches the movie, he sees nothing but the magic and his eyes light up with it. That's what I remember too and I love that part.

Oliver and Kaiya, the Horses

Our cast is: Evan as Peter Pan, Oliver is a lost boy (poor kid), Julie as Tinkerbell (lucky me) and Adam as Captain Hook. I'll definitely post after the event, complete with pics.

Dragon boys and best friends: Evan and Griffin

Until then love and Hugs to all our friends out there. I'll leave you with a few pics of the kids from today.

xo

Julie

Summer Blog

2008-08-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's true, this summer seems to be getting only one blog post. It's not that we don't record our adventures, but hey, summer is too short and we already spend too much time in front of the computer. What have we been up to?

Lots of ultimate (Kelowna, Ho-Down, Potlatch, Regionals and Nationals - the last one is beginning in two days).

Some boating on Koocanusa. Evan even got up briefly but doesn't really want to try it again right now.

Tonnes of biking - Evan is cruising all over the place on his two-wheeler.

A folkin' good time at the Folk Fest

Great camping through southern BC, Washington and Vancouver Island. WE LOVE OUR TENT TRAILER

Good times with good people. A highlight was a weekend with Di in Nelson at her beautiful house.

Preparations for the Kirk/Choe wedding at the end of the month. Exciting!

Oliver's second birthday and our anniversary. Eight years of bliss....ahhh....

No - unlike the rest of you we're not moving, living overseas, having a baby or getting marrried!

Oh yeah - I decided not to go back to teaching this fall. I'm starting a small (two other kids) dayhome and staying with the kids for now.

Love you all - wish us luck at Nationals.

xo -Julie

Summer and Winter, But Where's the Spring??

2008-04-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

We've had the good fortune to experience summer-like weather in California, and winter in Fernie over the past two weeks. But where's the spring? It's kind of peeking its nose around the corner here in Calgary, but it just feels a bit like winter still.

Perhaps we were spoiled with being able to walk out the door in shorts and a t-shirt in Cali, and we've forgotten that this "spring" weather in Calgary is perfectly normal - at least the weather stats tell me that we're right on track.

Let me tell you about California. We got to experience the amazing San Diego Zoo, to which we would return anytime. It was so beautiful: the animals, the plants and the layout were amazing.

That was followed by Legoland, which was nice, but not so fun for anyone outside of the 4-6 year range. Evan had a blast!

The grand finale was Disneyland where we all got to be kids again. It is really set up well to handle the crowds and the rides were accessible to all of us. You really do feel the happiness and joy of childhood there, despite the lines. I guess we knew it would be busy so there was no shock. Evan got to experience the Thunder Mountain roller coaster with his hands up the whole way. He actually cried when we got of because he couldn't go again.

Combined with the Pirates of the Carribean ride, he was in kid-paradise. And yes, we did do the classic Dumbo ride and lots of fun adventures for Oliver. The great thing is that he was allowed on most of the rides. Yes, they trust that parents will hold on to their kids. Imagine that!

In between those outings we were guests of Jane and Lynn at their awesome timeshare which included several pools, a spray park, fishing pond, golf, recreation centres... really we would have had a great time without leaving.

So, that was summer, and then we went almost directly to winter in Fernie. Evan got to try the top of the mountain though we spent most of the day on the Deer and Elk chairs. Let me just say that those tree runs I used to seek out are NOT made for adults on snowboards! Evan, Sarah and Mona, however had a blast.

Our plans that day were changed when we were turned away at the first chairlift with Oliver in the backpack. We'd never tried to take him before, but we knew we'd just be down on the easy runs so we wanted to bring him. No way - apparently it's banned in Canada. Oh well, Adam and I traded off playing with Oliver in the snow while the other person cruised the runs with the kids. Fun times.

OK - on to spring. We had promised Evan a new bike with no training wheels when we got back from California. We bought it the first day back and within a day he was cruising down our street. It's now been just over a week and he can handle the dirt trails at the dog park, the alley, hills... let's just say he's got it. And the true sign that spring has sprung: our first round of disc golf of the year with Joel and Janelle last night. Fun for the whole family.

Sunny Days

2008-03-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

The sun is here, at least for now so we got out by the river today for some vitamin D and fun.

Evan has decided to be a skateboarder and then he wants to be a snowboarder. He's going to get some tips from Joel and Uncle Rob, but for now, he's just out practicing and getting better all the time.

Oliver's having fun watching him and practicing running up and down hills.

Yay for Spring.

Still Life and Snow Life

2008-02-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Still Life with Evan

I thought I'd post a few of Evan's recent pictures. He's become obsessed with taking pictures around the house. As a result, I just finished deleting about 30 pics of: our kitchen floor, my dresser, Evan's grilled cheese sandwich before it was eaten, with one bite out, two bites..., Oliver eating cheese, Evan's feet, and more pictures of the kitchen floor.

Cute.

Snow Life

We happily spent three of the past four weeks in Fernie. Because of that, Evan is officially a skier. He can turn, stop, go straight, negotiate other skiers...and best of all, he loves it. His second day at the hill last weekend, when we told him that it was time for lunch he said, "Great, let's eat and then I'm coming right back here to ski!" And that's just what he did until 3:30. Though there were falls, his only tears of the day were when it was time to leave.

Hurray! We've got him hooked on a totally expensive sport!!

Other than skiing, we had a wonderful time just playing in the snow. Oli's favourite snow activity appears to be eating snow which he happily does while waiting around for Evan.

Fun, fun, fun. We're going back next weekend again, I hope.
Oh yeah - watch it when you're tobogganing. I did something to my tailbone about three weeks ago and let's just say that I'm still walking around in pain. The bunny hill is about all I can handle. `A la prochaine.

Outdoor Hockey = Canadian

2008-02-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

Sticks in the middle

Hit the post

Give the kid some room

Keep it low

Fact#4 - Outdoor hockey makes you feel Canadian.

Total Blogger

2008-02-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, I blog.

Everyday

I am totally hardcore.

Fact#3 -Skiing French Fries is more fun than Pizza.

Evan 2007

Back in the saddle again

2008-02-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

After starting this blog..

I have never posted....

(well, maybe not never)

However, It is true that I rarely post.

So bad in fact that our friends Mike and Mel have changed their link to us as.

"The Topps..mostly Julie"

So bad that I couldn't remember our password today

I simply reset it

But what does one say on one's blog?

..Job..the same..

..Kids..the same..

...Winter...the same..

...House...the same...

...Health..the same..

... Winter Belly .. the same

I decided I will give short facts and some funny pictures.

Here I go

Fact #1 - Peanut butter and bacon taste good with coffee and baileys.

Fact #2 - Beer does taste better when you are thirsty.

Immune Booster

2007-12-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

Every illness a person has, and survives, makes them all the stronger for it. In our household, therefore, we'll have some pretty strong kids by the end of the year. I remember thinking in October how healthy we'd all been for so long. Since then the kids of bounced from chickenpox, to flus, to colds and on to another round of flus. I've done all the right things naturopathically and traditionally, but it's just one of those months (or two)!!

Anyhow, I hope that we're on our last bought for the time being.

Here's a cute shot of the boys - in between illnesses (two different flus, in this case).

A la prochaine (whenever that may be).

Julie

Circus Train

2007-10-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great time creating a family costume for Halloween this year. We were the circus train in the "Halloween Howl", a family fun 10k run. The first car in the train was driven by the ringmaster, Adam and had the ferocious lion, Evan. His roars were super scary, especially when we were going through tunnels.

The second car of the train was driven by the circus clown, Julie. Inside was a very rare site indeed: Oli the circus giraffe.

We had a great time and we're sad to see that this was the last Halloween Howl run scheduled. Hopefully we'll find another run for next year.

In other news, Evan has the chicken pox. It makes for a very scary Halloween costume but not a very happy Halloweener. Unfortunately, we'll miss out on the rounds for this year but at least we know that this childhood right of passage will be done with in a few days (though of course we're expecting Oliver to be sporting spots shortly).

A very scary and sweet Halloween to you all,

Julie

Catch Up

2007-09-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends,

I'm not sure why we haven't updated our blog in so long...perhaps we've just been too busy enjoying summer. But, with the threat of frost looming tonight and the official end of summer just days away, all that's come to an end.

Here are our updates for the past several months:

JUNE

Evan's first team: soccer. Yes, we did show up with orange slices when it was our turn to bring snacks. Evan had a blast with his friend, Finn learning how to dribble, pass (not a 3-year-old's number one priority) and, of course, score! Whenever Evan is in goal he is the indomitable "Kipper", no matter the sport. As for Oli, he had his own fun on the sidelines as you can see.

JULY - THE CAMPING MONTH

We had lots of fun camping and boating this summer. We stayed relatively close to home, starting at Dickson Dam near Innisfail AB. We spent our time there with Mona, Sarah and a host of friends and family who came and went. Later we spent a few days in Fernie and then, la piece de resistance, we found our new "home away from home" on Lake Koocanusa in S.E. BC. The kids got used to spending plenty of time on the boat and on the beach. Koocanusa was warm enough for everyone to swim with no fear of hypothermia and the adults got to practice their wakeboarding and waterskiing skills. Good times!

AUGUST - DAYS TO REMEMBER

August 11th marks Adam and my anniversary, and, as of last year, Oliver's birthday. This year Adam had to be away for the festivities as he played at he Canadian National Ultimate Championships in TO.

Oli, Evan and I had a great little birthday party here in Calgary. We decided to have the party at a local park where the kids could play to their hearts' content. It was an all-round success.

SEPTEMBER - SCHOOL DAYS

Here we are at last, up-to-date in September. Of course, I forgot to mention Folk Fest, Adam's horse trek and a million things in between.

At any rate, Evan started preschool the first week and he's doing really well with it. The highlight so far has been having Giggles, the school bear, for a sleepover. Giggles and Evan had fun all over the place.

As for Oliver, he is talking a tiny bit (kitty, DaDa, Mama...), signing lots and still crawling. We figure that he'll walk when he's good and ready.

Adam has a new job with the CBE teaching grade six and I'm tutoring, trying to be "supermom" and working my way up a couple of badminton ladders. LIFE IS GOOD.

Peace to all of you.

-Julie

That was then...

2007-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

We've pulled some old clothes out of the closet for Oliver in the past couple of weeks. Among the treasures are a pair of old pyjamas that Adam wore when he was a kid - yes, they're as good as new 34 years later. Maybe you can tell that Oli was trying to chase me and get the camera as I was taking the pics of him crawling. Man, he's getting fast.

We also pulled out one of the cuter sleepers that Evan had. The first picture is Evan at 8 months and the picture below is Oliver at 9 months.

I thought it would be fun to compare the pics of Evan and Oliver. Unfortunately I don't have one of Adam in those PJs.

On the theme of retro (sorta), Evan is totally into bowling these days. He has a little preschooler "bumper bowling" class on Mondays which he adores. While he bowls, Oli scooches around and trys to get at anything he can grab.

Happy Days.

Lil' Fang

2007-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

You never know how those teeth are going to come. In Oliver's case, he's taking after his dad and perhaps, Dracula.

Here are some recent photos of our munchkins.

Island Life

2007-04-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

We spent the better part of the last week out on a little travelled Gulf Island: Lasqueti, with good friends who have found their ways and paths there.

It was such a great week for all of us. For me, I reconnected with my longtime friend, Jenny, and her son Gryphon who are both so close to my heart.

For Adam, it was a time without a schedule or a bell ringing.

For Evan and Oliver it was a week of the outdoors and the unexpected.

For all of us, it was a week of open experiences and open people. I'm so glad that we all had the chance to get "out of the box" and feel how our friends are living.

Highlights: marimba intoxication, 9 on 9 and 3 on 3 ultimate, wheelbarrows of delight, forest wanderings, sleeping in the home that Jenny built and Evan's absolute trust of the people to whom we introduced him (within minutes he was peering into Peter's eyes, hanging between his knees - - - Ok, maybe you had to be there!).

It was also a great chance for us to jump ahead to spring. Though March 20th has come and gone in Calgary, the green is just peeping through. In contrast, on Lasqueti the flowers are in bloom and we were eating from Jenny's garden. I'll never forget the site of Evan hanging out in the garden and asking if he could eat more kale from the Jenny's plants. (Please let him ask for more kale at home!).

It is so so good to get an alternate perspective every so often. We live in such a consumer-oriented world here in the city that we need the retreat of the island life every so often - yes, maybe more often. It was touching to see how affected our kids were: Evan cryed his eyes out on the ferry when we left; wishing already for our next visit with our dear friends both old (Jenny and Gryphon), and new (Sue, Peter and Sheila).

Thanks to our hosts for their generosity. We hope to reciprocate in the not-so-distant-future.

Milestones

2007-03-04T20:09:00.000-08:00

It seems that time is literally flying by with Oliver these days. Six months was an eternity of milestones with Evan, but now that we have two, six months has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Oliver is now eating some solids; so far avocado, sweet potatoes, apples, pears and bananas. He took to eating with vigor, literally ripping the spoon out of my hand and shoving it in his mouth! He also sits up with just some support from the back and rolls/wiggles around the room.

Last, but not least, he has a new tooth (bottom front) which broke through today. That explains his lack of sleep and slight fussiness as of late.
In some ways I just want it all to slow down - I want my little baby. In others, I'm excited to see this new little person growing up and getting ready for playtime with his brother. Everyday is definitely an adventure; I just need to take time to absorb all of the amazing changes our little Oli is going through before he's all grown up.

Winter Fun

2007-02-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

Anyone who lives in Calgary, or anywhere "North" for that matter, certainly won't argue with the reality of global warming. There are too few days to get out and enjoy the snow in the city.

However, we were blessed with lots of snow and some mild weather last week - the perfect combination for outdoor activities. Evan got to try out his new skis and build a snowman.

We all had a blast tobogganing and playing outdoors. Evan Oliver got in on the adventure.
Thanks to Eric for the great pictures.

A Smile's Worth...

2007-01-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are far away and wondering how things are going with our boys, let the pictures do the talking! Enjoy.

Skiing Young

2007-01-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

We spent most of the week between Christmas and New Year's in Fernie - our favourite hangout.
All last year Evan was dying to try skiing. Whenever we'd go out he'd practice on our skis by laying them out in the front yard and pretending to ski. He would even bend his knees and pretend to be careening down the hill, and then fall over yelling, "crash!"
We figured that this year he would be old enough. Some friends with experience in this sort of thing recommended that we start by going down the hill with him standing on our skis.
Adam went out with him a few times and then I went down. We even braved the Deer chairlift which was a total thrill for him - at least the getting on and off parts. We spent most of the middle part of the trip discussing why the chairlift is so high up and how much longer it would be until we got to the top.
At any rate, skiing is a total hit with Evan. We definitely have to get his skis fitted for boots before we go out again; as long as we can convince him not to turn to snowboarding, that is. You see, our friend Joel has told Evan that snowboarding is much cooler than skiing so Evan is determined to be a snowboarder! I told him that once he is comfortable skiing, he can try boarding. Then, we'll move him on to the teles. He can follow in my snowprints, though I am guessing that he'll progress through the sports about twenty years faster than I did.
As for Oliver - I doubt he'll have much trouble keeping up with his big bro in a few years. He is jumping like a mad man - in my arms, in his exersaucer and in the jolly jumper. He'll have legs of steel by the time he's one!
"Peace in" (Evan's response to Peace out - and I like it) and all the best of the new year.
Jo Larson with Oliver, Finn and Meredith

Santa's Biggest Fan

2006-12-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

We did the mall thing the other day - Evan is so excited about Santa that I can't help but go.

Evan loved "Santa's playland" and was totally attached to "Norman the Adorable Snowman" - he followed Norman everywhere. Luckily, Norman seemed to like Evan too. Evan told Norman that he wanted to go with him to the North Pole to help feed Santa's reindeer. Hmmm... I don't think I'm ready for him to go on such a big adventure quite yet.
Evan had no qualms about sitting on Santa's knee, in fact I think he was disappointed that he didn't get more time with the jolly fellow so that he could complete a thorough interrogation, Evan-style. (See the post on questions if you haven't yet experienced and Evan interrogation!)
Oliver loved seeing the kids at the playland. He is really delighted when he sees other kids playing these days.
All in all, not a bad trip though I'm glad it's only once a year. The best part was Santa's Storytime, during which Santa, Mrs. Claus and some of their friends (like Norman, the Sugarplum Fairy and the head Elf) told "the Night Before Christmas".
As for Evan's excitement, I think that this Christmas will be the best one in a long time. There's nothing like a totally excited almost-three-year-old to make Christmas morning an event to remember. We'll definitely have the camera out this year. In the meantime, his play involves loading up toys on his sled (a cardboard box) and distributing them to the children (usually Oliver and I, even Ali the cat gets a gift sometimes). Who is his helper you ask? Joel, of course. Thanks, Joel!
By the way - Evan doesn't think Christmas is only about Santa. When he was looking at his grandmother's Nativity scene the other day, he learned about all of the figures: Mary with her arms out to hold the baby, Baby Jesus, and Joseph with his hands together in prayer.
He looked at them briefly and then asked, "Why doesn't Joseph want to hold his baby too?"
Good question.

What a Funny Guy.

2006-12-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Oliver has his first laugh last week and it was inspired by none other than... his energetic brother Evan.
Evan had just completed building a baseball diamond (pretend) and he really wanted Oliver and I to come and see it. He was so excited: smiling and pleading with us to hurry up and come to see his invention. Oliver just stared at him for a minute and then he started laughing in a very cute, baby laugh. It was so fun to see and hear.
Ever since the first week of his life, Oliver has turned his head to hear when Evan is talking. Now that he can see and react well, he just can't keep his eyes off of his funny, energetic big brother. As for Evan - he gets upset when Oliver isn't looking at him. He's becoming very protective, caring and sweet to his "yiddle broder".

Hallowe'en

2006-11-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

This year's Halloween was a lot of fun for Evan.We thought that he'd be into it, but we didn't realize to what extent!We took him out trick-or-treating to a few houses on our street and then to a few friends' houses. He didn't want us to come up to any of the the doors with him. He would command us, "Mom and Dad, you stay back there!" indicating the sidewalk. Then he'd tromp right up to the door and yell in his loudest voice, "Trick or Treat!" When the door opened he'd let the person know that he wanted "Candy please" in case there was any chance they had misinterpreted him. It was neat to see how independent he can be. He was also very enthusiastic about the candy!
Adam and I enjoyed the experience but we were commenting that Halloween seems to have changed a lot from our day. We remember gangs of kids on the streets, competing to see how much candy they could get.One of our friends, Bruce, told us that Evan was the only trick-or-treater to come by all night. Sad! (At least for us old folks).

Family Vacations

2006-11-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

We discovered recently that a family "vacation" is indeed a departure from real life, but not necessarily a relaxing one.
We spent that last week of October visiting my uncle and his son in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. They have a gorgeous condo on the beach with three beautiful pools.
When we first arrived we spent a lot of time at the pool which was nice, but Adam and I couldn't help thinking that we were missing out on something. Shouldn't we be seeing the sights? Practicing our Spanish? Getting local with the locals? Hmmm... shouldn't we be seeing some Mexican people on our trip?
So we ventured forth on two different occasions. First we explored the streets of San Jose del Cabo with our two kids and our 4 year old cousin, Dawson. One local remarked: "Hmm...three kids and you're still on your honeymoon!" A couple of hours of that and we were all tired so we caught a taxi home.
The next outing we took was to Cabo San Lucas which is about a 1/2 hour bus ride. We just had Evan and Oliver that time. The ride there was great, but it seems we picked the hottest day of our trip to tour the streets of Cabo. We decided after a couple of hours of dodging the sun and keeping Evan away from the breakables (everything, that is) in the stores, that we would take the bus back to the condo. In the meantime, Evan and Adam did get local haircuts which gave us a break in the air conditioning and much needed trims for those two.
After that outing, we looked at each other and said, "What are we thinking, trying to get local with two small children in tow?" We quite enjoyed spending most of the rest of our trip by the pool and on the beach!
Thanks to my uncle Adam also had the chance to golf what he says is the most beautiful golf course he's ever been at. The picture is taken from the tee box and the green is the space in the distance. The cacti in between are out of bounds!
The moral of the story is that we plan to keep our "vacations" pretty simple until both kids are quite independant. Then we'll get back into the adventure travel we love so much.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2006-10-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last night Evan told us what he wants to be when he grows up: a farmer.
He informed us that on his farm he'll have a tractor and he'll grow vegetables and he'll have hay. He'll also have two horses, one for him and one for his friend, Joel. We asked him if we were going to live at his farm and he said, "No, just me and Joel. Mom and Dad have to live at their own house with Oliver. I'm going to live with Joel!"
Hmmm... I'm not sure if Joel (Adam's friend) is totally prepared for these future plans.

Oliver continues to grow and smile and coo. I wonder what he wants to be when he grows up. Probably it'll have something to do with being bigger than his brother so he can hold his ground!

Half Marathon and training

2006-10-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

Do you really need to training for a half marathon? I guess the answer depends on how much pain you enjoy. If you like mild tightness, then maybe you should run a bit before jumping into 21 km. However if you enjoy not really moving for the next 30 hours then you don't really need to train. Just buy some beers, chips get some movies and sit.

All jokes aside, it was a lot of fun. I, Adam ran the Harvest Half Marathon in 1:44 and really enjoyed myself. It was a beautiful run in Fish Creek on the warmest fall morning this year. Check out the web site.

http://www.harvesthalfmarathon.com/

Questions, Questions!

2006-09-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Responding to the never-ending questions of a 2 1/2 year old can be a daunting and tiring task.

Evan seems to have no shortage of questions, especially when we're in the car. A typical "interrogation" might go something like the following.
Evan: "How come we're going this way, Mom, and not that way?"
Mom: "Because this is the way to the store, Evan. That way would take us somewhere else."
Evan: "Where, Mom?"
Mom: "The other way, Evan. Then we wouldn't be able to get to the store."
Evan: "How come?"
Mom: "Because the store is this way and not that way."
Evan: "Why?"
Mom: "Because this is where someone decided to build the store."
Evan: "Why did they decide to build the store here, Mom?"
Mom: "I don't know, Evan. I guess they thought that this would be a good place to have a store."
Brief silence.
Evan: "And why are we slowing down now, Mom?"
Mom: "Because there's a red light, Evan. Do you remember what red means?"
Evan: "Red says 'stop!'. And what does green say, Mom?"
Mom: "You know what green says, Evan. What does it say?"
Evan: "Green says 'go!' and yellow says 'be careful!'"
Mom: "That's right, Evan. You remembered."
Evan: "But why does yellow say 'be careful', Mom?"
...
Ahhh...It's fun, challenging, frustrating and sometimes dumbfounding to try and answer all of those questions. I'll admit that after a while I sometimes tune out and then Evan has to ask several times. Sometimes I just say, honestly, "I really don't know."
Adam has a different strategy to deal with the questions. It's kind of a stream-of-conciousness monologue in which he anticipates and answers every possible question.
It goes something like this:
Evan: "Why are there workers there, Dad?"
Dad: "There are workers there because they're fixing the road. They're fixing the road because the City of Calgary Master Plan calls for better traffic circulation. That's because urban population continues to climb because people move to Calgary for the jobs. There are lots of jobs because we have a booming economy. The economy is good because it's based on natural resources which Alberta has lots of. Natural resources are things like gas and wheat. Gas is what makes our car go..."
The main advantage of Adam's approach is that Evan can't get a word in edgewise, but Adam eventually runs out of breath.
Sometimes, ususally in the early evening, I just tell Evan that I don't have any more answers today: I'm all out!

A Morning Laugh

2006-09-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

It seems that TV programming is getting worse and worse these days. New sitcoms just aren't funny and otherwise it's reality (bites) TV or a show about someone murdering someone else.
I have found a great way to start the day though: Good Morning World. It's just the enough of a blend of ridiculous and humourous to actually make me laugh out loud.
I read about it in Macleans, and recognized one of the actors, Peter Oldring, from highschool days. I used to be into the drama scene in highschool and Peter Oldring was the king of the Calgary highschool theatre games competitions. He's even funnier now.
The added bonus is that you can watch Good Morning World anytime of the day you like! www.goodmorningworld.com

Two Year Old Fun!

2006-09-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I feel some pressure with this whole blogging thing. Everytime I open the internet, our blog is there to remind us that I haven't updated it for a while. Maybe as I get more used to being the mother of two I'll have more time for updates.

Anyhow - I wanted to share a fun photo from a really fun birthday. Our friend, Kate Lawes, is an amazing mom with the most creative ideas. For her son, Ari (the cute redhead in the center), she had the coolest birthday"cake" I've ever seen. As you can see by the pictures, the kids loved it.

Oliver's Filling Out

2006-08-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

Oliver had his two week visit today. He weighed in at 7lb4oz: he has definitely mastered the eating thing! In the past few days he has had his first bath and his first shower.
He is eating up a storm and generally giving us lots of joy. Evan is enjoying his role as big brother and is ready to teach Oli all about life in the big world.
Tomorrow will mark two weeks in Oliver's life.
Time really does fly.

Evan eats corn

2006-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Taber corn is in and Evan loves it ! Not only does he eat the whole cob, he laughs as he eats it.

Evan also loves cutting the grass. Nana and Poppa got him this great lawnmower.

The proud parents

2006-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

This was us 2 hours after Oliver's birth. Boy, we look happy !

The First Post

2006-08-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, We have decided to start the craze. We are so hip! Oliver and Evan are the main focus of this blog. Plus any rant we may have. Here is a picture of the latest Topp. Oliver !