We had a phenomenal Christmas season here in Fernie. Grandma Sandy arrived mid-December kicking off our Christmas on a fun note! Ruby loved all things Christmas this year – the decorations, the songs, the tree, the stockings, presents, Christmas shows, ALL of it was just super exciting for her. It’s so much fun experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a 4 year old! Christmas morning was just magical. Lucy and Charlie don’t really “get it” yet but they certainly enjoyed the whole experience. We had a nice relaxing Christmas morning, headed out for a fun walk along the river and did some tobogganing in the afternoon and then had our friends Alison and Pete and their boys Doug and Doran over for Christmas dinner.
On Dec 28 Mike, Carla and Daniella from Vancouver and Nic, Heather, Sebastien and Natalie from Ottawa all came for a visit. We had a full house but was it ever fun!! All the kids played wonderfully together and the adults had lots of time to hang out and catch up. The boys had a night out at the local Ghostriders hockey game and all the adults had a nice dinner out at the Curry Bowl one night (we had 2 babysitters for 6 kids!). Heather and Nicole had a fantastic day up at Island Lake Lodge. We took a cat up to the lodge, hiked around the lake, had a delicious lunch overlooking the lake and the mountains and then had a massage. THANK YOU Nic and Heather for the special treat! Grandma Sandy was in her usual super-Grandma helper mode, doing laundry and dishes and playing a tonne with the kids. She also did a bunch of babysitting for us allowing Dennis and I to get out and do some skiing on our own and with Ruby. What a special treat! Thanks Grandma!!
As I type this, we’re officially into ski season (the ski hill opened last weekend)…the Fall has been busy and active! In mid-September we went away for the weekend with friends Sheri and
Our friends Craig and Pippa and their girls Avery and Addison came for one last visit (they’re moving to
Halloween was a hoot this year. Ruby was a dalmation puppy, Lucy was a peacock and Charlie wore Ruby’s old chicken costume. We went to
We had extremely nice weather towards the end of October and into November so we tried to take advantage and spent lots of time outdoors. We did a lot of bike riding, Ruby had lots of adventures with her friends along the river and at the duck pond in
On Rememberance Day weekend we decided to head to the Coast to visit with a bunch of our friends. Shane and Tammy were gracious enough to let us stay with them after Dennis called them and put them on the spot! :-) We're not what one would describe as 'low impact' when we descend upon someone else's house. The low point was definitely Ruby sporting a 24 hour stomach bug reupholstering their couch. Thanks again Shammy's... man do we owe you guys one!! Highlights other than hanging with Shane/Tammy included visiting the Aquarium, lunch with Nic's colleagues from Lilly, Swiss Chalet (we don't have such fine dining in Fernie) diner with the McIvor's (thanks again for treating Agnes), an amazing get together with the Steveston gang (we missed you Kristina and family), a visit with John, Niki and Liam and a great Sunday brunch with Mike/Jane/Sophie and Mike/Carla/Daniella. After 3.5 days of crazy visiting with our flu-ridden children we headed off on Sunday evening with all the kids in their PJs for the over night drive back to Fernie. (Driving all night is no fun but much better than 12 hours of daytime driving with 3 kids not wanting to be buckled into car seats) We loved seeing all of you and sorry for not catching up with others we missed.
Shortly after our return from the Coast in the middle of November, we got an absurd amount of snow so the past few weeks we’ve been tobogganing down our driveway (and other bigger hills around town), pulling the babies around in sleds, and we’ve started skiing. Ruby has been to the hill four times already and seems to be enjoying it as much as she did at the end of last season. Sandy arrives next week to stay with us over the holidays and we we're looking forward to hosting the Leducs and McIvors for a few days after Xmas.
The second half of summer has been busy and fun filled. On July 18, Ruby turned 4!! She and Dennis celebrated by "camping" in a tent outside on the deck (directly beside the sliding door to the living room). She absolutely loved it and has plans to do it EVERY year on her birthday (we'll see when she's 16!). Ruby's been lucky enough to float the Elk River three times this summer - With Andrea and Ky, a second time with Nicole and then with Dennis and friends Jordan, Jason and Brodie. All of the swimming lessons and time spent at the beach has helped her comfort level around the water and she really enjoyed rafting this summer.
Our friends Nic and Heather and their kids Nicolas and Natalie stayed with us for a couple of nights as part of their 2 week trip through the Rockies. It was awesome to see them and they really enjoyed seeing Fernie for the first time. We hiked at Island Lake one day and then spent another day at the beach at Sandy Shores. Our next visitor was Fred, our neighbour in Steveston. Although Roxsane didn't come along for the trip, it was super fun to see Fred. He finally got to meet Lucy and Charlie in person and had a fun reunion with Ruby. We did a fun hike one day but Ruby's highlight was getting to go for a ride on Uncle Fred's Harley (she still talks about it everytime we see one).
Our Calgary friends Craig and Pippa and their twin girls Avery and Addison came the following weekend and we had another great time at the beach and then we all went into town to watch Ruby participate in the TransRockies Kids Bike Rally. The TransRockies is a fairly large international mountain bike race that starts in Fernie and as part of that event, they had a free bike rally for kids. They rode their bikes to a few checkpoints around downtown and collected cool things for their bikes (horns, bells, stickers, etc). Ruby took part with her friends Fiona and Teagan and had a blast.
Grandma Nandy arrived next, just in time for Lucy and Charlie's 1st birthdays! Ruby enjoyed their birthdays the most as she got to open their gifts AND eat cake!! Lucy and Charlie quite enjoyed their first sampling of chocolate cake and icing :) Although Grandma Nandy came out to help us with our move, we did manage to squeeze in a bit of fun stuff too. We spent a day down in Whitefish Montana. We had lunch on a patio at a restaurant, browsed the stores and hung out for a while at a super fun park/playground. We went to the Baynes Lake Market one weekend and had a pancake breakfast before checking out the stalls at the market. Afterwards, we explored a beach we had heard of but had never been too - Waldo Cove. What a gorgeous spot! Ruby, Grandma Nandy and Nicole went out to brunch one morning too. Grandma Nandy had her share of wildlife encounters this trip. While browsing some clothing racks at one of the stores in town, a BEAR appeared and was walking towards her across the parking lot (she got inside pretty quick). A couple of days later, we had another bear in our backyard twice on the same day. We've also had a number of deer (including a doe and a super sweet little fawn) in the backyard.
We've decided to extend our sabbatical in Fernie for at least another few months. This decision was partly driven by the fact that there was not a position available for Nicole to go back to on the coast. She has taken an extended leave from work for an additional year but has the flexibility to return to work during that year if a position becomes available. We're really enjoying spending this time together as a family. It has been a special experience so we're grateful to have the ability to continue being full time parents for a little while longer. Our decision to stay in Fernie also meant we needed to find a new place to live as the owners of the house we had been renting came home. We're in a new rental right in town and we're really enjoying it. It's a large bungalow with 3 bedrooms on the main floor and 2 downstairs. It's great having everything on one floor so the babies have lots of space to roam and play. It's a 10-15 min walk to Ruby's preschool and about 20-25 min to all the shops in town. It's only a 2 min walk to get to the fantastic trail system that runs along Coal Creek and the Elk River as well so we're taking lots of advantage by walking and biking as much as we can.
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Our summer so far has been filled with lots of adventure. Lucy and Charlie absolutely love riding in the backpacks and Ruby’s becoming a great little hiker so we’ve spent lots of time exploring the many trails in the Fernie area.
Mamie and Gord came for a visit in June and we celebrated Gord’s birthday with a fantastic hike, balloons and a cake. The weather was great while they were here so we spent lots of time outside on the deck and even got out the baby pool for the kids! Ruby played Timbits soccer for the first time. She had fun with the drills but was a bit intimidated by the game situations. Dennis was away for Canada Day so Nicole and the kids got decked out in their red and white and had a fun day with Sheri and Brodie at the festivities here in town.
Andrea, Ky, Zea and Loic arrived in early July for 2 weeks. We had a fantastic visit spending lots of time outside on hikes, at the park, at the beach and in the backyard. We took off overnight into Montana to drive the “Going to the Sun Road”, an incredibly scenic road through Glacier National Park. We came back into Canada via Alberta and visited Waterton National Park for the day which was also spectacular. Unfortunately we don’t have many photos of those two days as we forgot our camera (or so we thought…we later found it on the floor of the van…argh). Zea had the opportunity to learn a bit about horses when she spent a few hours with a friend of ours and her horse. She was treated to a couple of rides and even Ruby and Loic got a special ride around the yard one of the days!
The Klantzer’s rolled through for a night while en route to Ontario in preparation for their big move to New Zealand. It was just awesome to see them but very sad to say goodbye. Lorne and Judy (Gord’s son and daughter-in-law) also came for a visit for one night. We went for a fun hike up at Island Lake Lodge and had a yummy dinner and drinks.
We celebrated Ruby's birthday a little early so that Zea and Loic could be a part of her party. Her friends Brodie and Fiona (and Fiona's little sis Teagan) came over as well and we had a fun afternoon party in the backyard. The kids had loads of fun playing in the bouncy castle, the sandbox and running through the sprinkler. They were fairly self sufficient so the parents even got to socialize a bit and watch the World Cup finals on the TV that Dennis had brought out onto the deck!
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Mamie came back for a visit in mid April and brought with her some amazing weather! Mamie hit the slopes for the first time in 15 years to ski with Dennis and Ruby. They had an amazing spring skiing day with lots of sunshine and had a blast! The weather stayed nice for most of Mamie's visit so we tried to spend as much time outside as possible. We had a number of meals on the deck and did a bunch of raking in the yard. Other highlights included a trip to Surveyor's Lake (it was 27 degrees!) where Ruby and Daddy braved the cold water, a few nice hikes with some of our local friends and lots of fun at the pool. Thank you so much AGAIN for filling our freezer with more yummy meals Mamie :)
Shortly after Mamie left, the whole gang headed to Kelowna to visit the Klantzers. As most of you know, they're moving to New Zealand this Summer (cool for them, sad for the rest of us) so we wanted to go and have a visit. Ruby was SO excited to see her cousins and I think they were equally excited to see Ruby, Lucy and Charlie. Safe to say they all had a great time. Madi and Emma were incredibly patient and kind and sweet to Ruby…thanks guys! Also a big thank you to Kait, Madi and Emma who joined forces to babysit our entire brood while Dennis and I went out to dinner with Dana and Rob and a few of their friends. Not sure they’ll EVER want to do that again but we do appreciate it! We hung out at one of the local beaches one day and had a visit with Den’s cousin Karen and her hubby Ed. It was a great visit, lots of time hanging out and chatting…something we won’t get to do as much once they’re living across the world We’re super excited for you guys on your big adventure and of course wish you the best!!
The late Winter and early spring has been pretty eventful. Papa Butch came for a visit in early March. It was really fun to see him and we packed a lot into a few days. Ruby, Daddy and Papa Butch went skiing for a day and Ruby was so excited to show Papa Butch how well she can ski. We went on a couple of nice hikes in the sun and we hit the pool with the whole family one afternoon. Shortly after Papa Butch's visit, our friends Craig and Pippa and their twin girls Avery and Addison came for a visit. It was Pippa's birthday so Ruby was THRILLED to celebrate and have cake. She even got to help blow out the candles! Avery and Addison are almost 1 1/2 so Ruby really enjoyed playing with the older "babies". We had our Easter dinner on Good Friday and our friends Amy and Ronan and their girls Fiona and Teagan joined us. The girls had a blast in the playroom and we had a delicious potluck Easter meal.
Daddy and Ruby have been trying to take advantage of the last few weeks of the ski season so they've been out a lot. Ruby is now skiing completely on her own (no more harness) and her confidence has exploded. She can ski many of the blue runs on the hill and goes up most of the lifts to the very top of the mountain! Mommy and Ruby had a special day skiing together in early April and Mommy was blown away at how strong a skier Ruby is. At one point Ruby was skiing down the hill, looking sideways and singing "If You're Happy and You Know It"!! If only Mommy felt as confident skiing and singing at the same time...
The company kept on rolling after the Klantzers headed home. Grandma Sandy stayed until mid-January and we had a couple of other visitors from the coast. Mike and Carla and their daugher Daniella came for a night at the end of December. Daniella had a blast in the snow, getting pulled around in the sled and doing a bit of tobogganing too.
Our friends Tracy and Gord came for a visit in early January with their daughters Bailey and Madison. Ruby and Bailey are good buds from living on the coast so they got along famously and had a hoot together. We celebrated Grandma Sandy's birthday before she went home so Bailey and Ruby had a great time making homemade cards as well as a cake.
The Olympic Torch came through Fernie so Dennis and Ruby got up really early to go see it in person. Ruby's really gotten into the Olympic spirit. We made some Go Canada Go signs in our house, made some "Canada" cookies and Ruby's trying to wear as much red as she can!!
At the end of January, we made the loooooong trip to the coast with the whole family (minus Java who was being dogsat back in Fernie). We stopped in Kelowna in both directions to give the Klantzers a little baby fix (and give us a break!). Our friends Tracy and Gord kindly (or crazily??) offered to host ALL OF US at their house in Steveston (thanks again guys). We had an amazing set up at their house and the babies repaid us by being....brutally BAD. Bad babies. We'll leave it at that. Ruby got to see her old posse of friends as did Dennis and Nicole. It was great getting caught up with lots of our friends!
Back in Fernie we've enjoyed ourselves with Ruby/Dad going skiing with Ronan & Fiona, some great outdoor hikes locally, a kid-friendly Olympic celebration for the Gold medal hockey game, new adventures with Fernie friends Sheri/Jordan/Brodie and Griz Days festivities.
