Christmas, Cuba and everything in between.....

Mommy and Graham

Graham in the kiddie pool

The family christmas card picture-love that water!!!

Palm tree lined walkways- need I say more???

A small section of the pool- swim up bar in the background

Yes, I know it's been awhile, well November, since we last posted. We just havent had time to actually sit down until now.

So what's been going on? Lots of course. Graham is now 21 months old and running everywhere. And I mean running. he never stops. And of course, he has tumbled and hit his head many, many times in the same spot on his forehead. We used to freak out, now we just pick him up and say nothing. He is a constant source of giggles. He is chatting non stop, and literally said "Canada" today, since he was wearing his olympic hoodie with Canada on it. Then he said Barbeque. Why? I have no idea!! But it cracked me up. He has almost all of his teeth in now, and uses them to bite the other little boys at daycare when there is a fight over toys. Not happy about that, but they all do it, so it's hard to break that bad habit when you ar enot there with him.

Christmas came and went, and this year it looked like the tree had exploded- with gifts for Graham of course. It was so fun to watch his face as we opened gifts. The winter this year in Winnipeg was by far the mildest one we have ever had in a long long time. The snow did not arrive until just before christmas, and it melted early March. Unbelievable!!! And we hardly had any snow , and we only had two days of -30 this year. Not like last winter, which seemed to drag on forever. Figures, I'm back to work and this winter is super mild.

At the beginning of April we went on holidays for 17 days back to Ontario to visit Scott's parents. The original plan was for us to spend the first week of our holidays (and easter) in Elmira, then leave Graham with Nana and Papa for the second week, and fly off to a resort down south somewhere totally last minute. Scott's dad unfortunately got sick the first week and ended up in
the hospital (everything's fine- it could have been worse), and all other babysitting options fell through, so we decided to take Graham with us in the end. So that altered our "free as a bird" last minute plans to just jump on a plane and go wherever. We ended up going to Cuba.

We booked into the Paradisus Varadaro, which is the top of the line of the Melia Hotel chain's resorts. They touted being kid freindly, and having a baby club, so we booked it. We did get a super price for it, but it wasnt as kid freindly as we had hoped. The resort was beautiful. Palm trees everywhere, the beach was stunning, and the rooms were decent. However for a resort that has families from all over the world staying there, I found it incredible that they only had two highchairs in the dining room. What a joke. Trying to feed a toddler on your lap was so annoying. It was a mad scramble everynight to get a highchair at dinner. Other than a few tumbles, digging up every cigarette butt on the beach, and a ton of mosquito bites, Graham did have a great time. He loved tthe pool, but starved the whole week. The kid literally lived on bread, cucumbers and spaghetti noodles. The menu was a very European based menu. Lots of olives, artichokes, and fish. All the things a toddler eats. The poolw as the best part of the whole place, and we met many parents and kids there from around the world each day. We met one couple fromOntrio named Paul and Rosa, and their little girl Chloe. Graham loved Chloe, and of course wanted to do everything Chloe did. But chloe is about 8 months older than him, as as such she was much more steady on her feet than Graham was, and wouldnt run away from the dinner table if she was let out of her chair. That caused a few meltdowns at dinner a few nights, so evenutally we had to eat by ourselves in order not to spoil Paul and Rosa's dinner each night. Scott and I had a great time , it just wasnt the trip we had envisioned. We did make use of the baby club so we did have a few hours each day without the little one. We would definately go back to Paradisus Varadaro, but not with a child, and if we did have to vacation with Graham, we will be bringing family with us from now on. Any takers??? Graham did travel extremely well, apart from a fussy period it the Varadaro Airport the night we left, which was super hot and humid and he had to be confined to his stroller. All in all, it was a great trip as our first family trip. The resort was beautiful, but Scott and I have decided Varadaro is not our cup of tea. Too touristy for our liking. Plus the bugs were insane! They gave Winnipeg in July a run for it's money!

I will post again with just images from the trip, easter and after we got back from Cuba!!

Yes, Its been awhile...

Lauren, Carson and Graham at the hotel.

Alex's kids Dori, Callista and Nick with Graham

Scottie and Craig installing the new tile!!!

Graham running as usual.......

Okay. For all of you that have been kindly "reminding me" to update my blog, here it is. Sorry it's been so sporadic, aka non existent lately. This whole getting back to work thing has thrown a wrench into my facebook and blog posts. My office has some staff changes happen once i got back, so we were scrambling trying to find a new designer, which we did. Enough about the boring stuff.

Life in Winnipeg is good lately. Scott, Graham and I enjoyed a rather nice warm fall this year. September was super hot, and October and November have been great so far. We renovated our bathtub surround this September, which was a real pain in the a** for me with a 13 month old toddler. Our shower ( the only one in the house) was out of comission for two weeks while we re-tiled and re-glazed the exisitng bathtub. I thought I would lose my mind having to shower and bath at my mom's house every two days. But it is finally finished, except for the new paint onthe walls, and Scottie did a great job and worked so hard to get it looking like the spa shower I always wanted. A big thanks to our freind Craig who helped up with the tiling. I wanted to contribute, so I grouted the new tile myself!! It was kind of fun.

After that project, we started investigating building a new house in one of the new developments in South Winnipeg called Bridgwater Forest. it has lots of mature forest they have kept, and walkways and lakes. Its beautiful. So we have found a plan we like, and are just running numbers now to see if we can make it all work. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In mid September, I went to Calgary on business, and took Graham with me. I stayed the weekend, and visited with my freinds Tracy and her kids, as well as Alex and her kids. As a special treat, we booked a hotel room at the Port O call to use the new waterpark I worked on. It was finally open ( the source fo the trip) and the kids loved it. It was a busy, busy trip, trying to do work and juggle Graham at the same time. I will never do that again on my own. I give my cousin Lindsay credit for travelling with her two kids by herself so much.

Graham is running around everywhere. I mean, the kid never stops. He has a permanent bruise on his forehead from the numerous faceplants he has taken in the house, on the street, at walmart.... Poor little guy. He went out for Halloween as a pumpkin this year, and hated his fleece costume his mother insisted he wear all night. But boy was he cute.

Murphy also had an accident last weekend, with a tree. We were at his favorite dog park, and he was running like a goofball with another dog, wasnt looking, and ran right into the ONLY tree in the area. He hit it so hard, he bounced off of it, rolled over and whimpered like he had been hit by a car. He came over to me shaking and limping, with a cut nose and bleeding eyesocket. So we headed home and I gave him some advil and he took it easy for the rest of the weekend. He now has a big scab under his eye, and is still kind of bruised, I bet. Silly boy.

So that's our life so far. We are getting ready for christmas, and maybe will be heading to Scott's parent's place this year for a change. it all depends on certain factors in Elmira, so we will see. So enjoy the photos. I promise to try to be more up to date.

More photos from the summer that never was...

The birthday boy and his mommy.

Graham's new "ride".

Weird clouds above the house before a wicked thunderstorm.

The birthday loot!

Graham's Girlfreind Marlee.

Mr. Messy enjoying his cake.

Marlee and Graham

Graham in his Adirondack chair.
All he needs is a beer.

AC/DC, Walter Gretzky and the summer that never was.

Scottie and Graham in their Scotland shirts to go to Folklorama

Family Portrait in the in-laws back yard.

With Walter Gretzky

Cake massacre

The cake before Graham got his hands on it!

So it's now the middle of September, and I know I havent posted a blog for a while. It could be that we were too busy building an ark, just to survive the insane amount of rain Winnipeg received this spring and summer. I say summer lightly, because well, we actually never had summer until about a week ago. Last weekend was in the high twenties temperature wise, so we went to the lake and I actually swam in the lake for the second time this year. But let me recap the last few months or so for you, as even though the weather was the s**ts, we did have some interesting moments occur...

In July we had to take a trip to Elmira Ontario, where Scott's parents live. His mom Pat had a health scare with her Chrone's disease in early July, so Bill and Pat were unable to come to Winnipeg for Graham's first birthday in August. So we hopped on the plane and flew into Hamilton ( much less stressful than Toronto and the 401 death ride) and spent a week there visiting. They threw a family birthday party for Graham, complete with a huge cake full of icing. It was such an awesome cake with a picture of him and a caption that said "It's cool to be one". I loved it. And Graham loved the cake!!! Scott and I got to escape to the country a few times and biked along the trails near their house, without getting eaten alive by mosquitos. While the weather wasnt great, we did have a couple of days of sun, and more importantly, Graham free time! Thanks Nana and Grandpa!

While we were visiting, Graham took his first steps and walked on his own. I was so happy he did when we were in Elmira, so Bill and Pat could see it. It was so funny, he was furniture cruising, and the next thing I know he just lets go, and walks over to the patio window. I was screaming with excitement,and so was my mother in law! Now he just runs everywhere.

When we were there, our freinds Colin and Veronica celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. So Nana and Grandpa babysat once again, and we went to Milton (where they live) for a "grown up "meal. The restaurant we went to was a small Italian kind of place called Pascalluci I think, but it was awesome. So we were in our corner of the restaurant chatting when in walked Walter Gretzky. In case you have been living under a rock, or not Canadian, he is the father of the greatest hockey player in the world, Wayne Gretkzy, and almost as recognizable. Anyways, he was working the room, saying hello to everyone, and stopped at our table. We took our picture with him, and he asked us where we were from. When we said Winnipeg, he perked up, and told us this story about how his mother lived on a farm outside of Winnipeg when she first came to Canada. He only knew this from some woman he met in the Winnipeg airport ten years ago that mentioned it to him. But this woman never knew the name of the town closest to the farm, so he immediately wanted us to try to find out. We chatted some more, and to make along story short, I now have Walter Gretkzy's personal cell phone number, home phone number and address. I dont know where to start looking for this information, but we promised him we would look into it, so I guess I have to try somehow. The funny thing is, that this all happened in Milton, Ontario, which is a small sattelite town east of Toronto, and hardly a Celebrity hotspot.

I headed back to work August 4th, and began the nightmare of trying to get organized each night with Graham's food, clothes etc. It was rough. I did many late night Safeway runs buying yogurt and bananas for his lunch each day. Five days after I went back to work, it was Graham's actual birthday on August 9th. So I got balloons, had a cake made (one for him to destroy and one for us to eat) and invited a few close freinds and family over for a BBQ celebration. Luckily the rain held off and we only had a short sprinkle come down. For the most part we were able to have the festivities outdoors, and more importanly the cake. Graham was so funny- he dug right in again, and had icing everywhere. Now his little freind Marlee was'nt too sure about the cake, and definately would not put her hands into it and get messy. It's so funny how different little boys are from little girls. Graham could have cared less how messy he got. I did make an effort to have only white colored icing this time. Blue icing stains clothes I found out! So we are now the proud owners of every Fisher Price little people set on the earth it seems. At least that's what our basement looks like.

Mid August brought around AC/DC to Winnipeg. They were playing the outdoor Stadium on August 22nd. We had bought tickets for us and our freind Andy back in the winter. Our freinds Art and Teresa are like the biggest AC/DC fans in the world, and we all talked about going as a group if ever Angus and the boys came to town. So when the time came to get tickets, I offered to buy online for them, but they declined and went with a buddy "who had an in". I know first hand from working with my arena clients, that for big concerts, there are no "ins" on tickets. So I went ahead and bought 2 tickets for ourselves and two for our freind Andy. In the back of my mind, I was thinking "get six" but I didnt. In the end, Art and Teresea did not get tickets, so Scott and I decided to sell them ours. They were flabbergasted, but accepted, and we ended up seeing the whole concert for free by sitting in the Toys R Us parking lot across from the stadium!! It certainly was loud enough. We even brough Graham with us, although he went to sleep in the car right after it started! I figure if he sleeps through an entire AC/DC concert, then I shouldnt worry about my creaky hardwood floors at home waking him up.

So that's our summer in a nutshell. Not great weather wise, but so far September has been pretty good. Maybe this means our winter will be warm! Yeah right.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Boy wonder in action at the lake.

Side A.

Side B. Yes, it was very badly infected.


So, did you ever wonder what $$165.00 dollars looks like??? Check out the pictures of Murphy attached. It looks gross, and it was gross. And smelly.
Poor Murph. He finally got to go to his "happy place" at the lake in June, after a long and hard winter, and ended up at the vet's office.
Now Murphy likes to swim at the lake, and he jumps off the dock with such gusto that he submurges his entire head. His ears are wet, his face is wet, and if they dont dry properly, his skin doesnt dry and gets infected, with what is known in the golden retreiver world as "hot spots". His retreiver neck hair is so thick and heavy, that it doesnt let the air at the skin very well. We thought we had solved the problem ahead of time by getting our groomer Charlotte to cut down his fur a bit, but no such luck. Even my "all natural" hot spot medicine did not work this time. Off to the vet we went. It took three of us to hold him down while the vet shaved off the fur on his face. Antibiotics, pain pills, and ear infection medicine later, he is on the mend. Just in time for summer swimming season to begin.
Murphy we love you, but this was a bad one this time. My wallet still hurts.

Lindsay, Luke and Evelyn's visit

Mom and Lindsay with the kids.

Luke, Evelyn and Graham.

At the children's museum with Daddy

Mom- can I have the car keys???

The three amigos.

Family portrait.

The bobbsey twins discussing bathtime.
"You go in first and test it out...."

At the end of June, my cousin Lindsay and her kids came to visit us for 5 days. They are moving to china in September, so Linds wanted to visit the Winnipeg relatives before they move half way across the world!

The visit was a great sucess. It was great to see Luke in all his boisterous glory ( it gives us a head's up for what's ahead with Graham), and Evelyn was only two months younger than Graham, but practically the same size as our kid, so they looked so cute together. Murphy went to stay with my mom for the first three days, as we figured his stress level would go through the roof with three little ones running and crawling around. The weather was pretty good, and we did trips to the park and Children's museum to fill the days. We also had a nice family dinner at Uncle Pete and Nicole's house one night, where we celebrated Peter's birthday. Lindsay and the kids went own to the lake for two days, where unfortunately it rained for the two days she was there. however, they did see a bear, actually Luke spotted it first, and told his mom there was a "teddy bear" by the garbage cans!! It was great to see Lindsay again, as we dont get to see each other as much as I would like. Now that they are moving to China, we will have to plan that adventure so the three kids can get together once again!!!

Sunshine Coast pictures- Part 2

Uncle Jim paddling out to sea.

(No the motor did not die.)

Our hosts.


Sunset from the beach.

Horseshoe Bay.

Comox yacht club.