2011 Adventures

Christmas 2011 (NEW - Added Feb 16, 2012) Well our first Christmas in our new house has come and gone…it was mostly spectacular with a little bit of sickness thrown in for good measure! Grandma Sandy arrived mid-December for her usual month-long Christmas stay. Before Sandy could get her bags unpacked she was doing play-doh, stickers, painting, colouring, cutting, reading, building blocks, dressing up…such a good Grandma!! The Holiday Train came through Fernie again this year and despite losing Lucy for a few horrifying minutes (in the dark, in a crowd of a couple of hundred), it was amazing. Ruby was absolutely mesmerized by the train and when Santa emerged onto the stage…I have NEVER seen such genuine and unbridled excitement. Kids are awesome. We had a pretty social Christmas, having lots of friends over and visiting outbound as well. We went with a group of families to go night skiing one night with the kids (the bunny hill had lights…a novelty here, especially for the kids) and had a fun tailgate party at the bottom of the hill. After managing to avoid a nasty stomach bug that had been plaguing virtually every family we know in town leading up to Christmas, all three of our girls got it…drum roll please…on Christmas Eve. Somehow after barfing at 20 min intervals pretty much all night, they all got up on Christmas morning in good spirits!! Unfortunately it didn’t stop there as Nicole got in on Boxing Day, followed by Dennis and then Sandy. Merry Christmas!!!
Fall 2011 (NEW - Added Feb 16, 2012) Fall was a pretty exciting and busy time for us this year. Ruby started kindergarten in September…hard to believe! Mamie came for a visit and we went on a little road trip down to the US to a fun theme park called Silverwood with our friends Isabel and Trevor and their kids. Back in Fernie, we had fun taking Ruby to and from school and the little girls had lots of fun showing Mamie their biking skills on both the trails and the bike park (they’re nuts!). A good chunk of the fall revolved around moving into our new house. Yes, ANOTHER move. This time into a house that we’ve bought and hope to be in for a while. Our location is fantastic; we’re walking distance to almost everything – Ruby’s school, grocery store and other shops, park, library, etc. Dennis has been hard at work with his new business and Nicole continues to adjust to her new career as a stay-at-home mom!!
Late Summer Fun 2011 (Last Update Sept 28, 2011) Grandma Sandy stayed for almost a month and as always we had a super fun visit with her. We went to the Baynes Lake Market, Sandy Shores beach, played lots at the park, blew bubbles and bounced on the trampoline, read books, and laughed a lot…nothing but FUN! The back half of the summer continued to be busy and full of adventure. We spent a tonne of time hanging out at various spots along Coal Creek and the Elk River, we did a lot of bike riding, and a bit of hiking. Ruby took part in the TransRockies Kids Bike Rally and at the beginning of September she competed in her first ever triathlon! Go Ruby!! In late August, Ruby and Nicole went on a special trip together to Vancouver to visit friends for a few days. We spent the majority of time in Steveston and stayed with our always gracious hosts Tracy and Gord.
Mid Summer Fun 2011 (Last Update Sept 28, 2011) We had no shortage of company this summer…exactly how we like it!! Fred and Roxsane rolled through on their annual summer biking trip for a few days. We did a hike with them at Island Lake Lodge and had an early birthday celebration for Ruby. There is such a mutual love between them and our girls and we love that they continue to be such an important part of our lives (even if we aren’t neighbours anymore!). The coastal train kept on rolling as the Scallion clan arrived next. Once again, the backyard was a big hit with the swings and the trampoline. We hit Sandy Shores beach and spent a lot of time at the bike park! Just when we thought things couldn’t get much more exciting, Grandma Sandy arrived just in time to celebrate Ruby’s 5^th birthday!!
Krawbaker Visit (Last Update Sept 28, 2011) Our summer started off right with a visit from good friends Paul and Suzanne and their boys Matthew and Jacob. They live in Toronto so they were all about having the full Rocky Mountain experience! Their friends from Edmonton joined them for their first few days here so we all went as a group to Waterton National Park…such a beautiful spot! All of the kids (7 in all) got along incredibly well and our big backyard and trampoline saw lots of action! We borrowed enough bikes for everyone so we spent lots of time exploring Fernie by bike. We hung out by the creek and the river, went on a couple of great hikes, did a super fun float down the Elk River, and Dennis and Paul took the big kids to Lussier Hot Springs one day. We had lots of fun meals, played some highly competitive cards at night and laughed A LOT. Hope we can make it an annual event Krawbakers!!
Early Summer 2011 (Last Update July 31, 2011) Ruby graduated from preschool in June so we hosted a party for all of her classmates and their families in our backyard. What a fun day. We had about 60 people in the backyard and all the kids played super well together allowing the parents to have a bit of social time!! Our friend Lisa came for a visit one weekend so we took the Timber chair part way up the ski hill to do a little hike at the top. Our long winter was still evident as there was still a fair amount of snow at the top! Amazing views!! Both Dennis and Nicole upgraded to full suspension mountain bikes and have been having some fun getting back into mountain biking. We don’t get to ride together much but we’ve been taking turns going for rides with friends. Dennis has been to the driving range a few times and out to play a bit of tennis with the local tennis club and Nicole is having lots of fun playing outdoor soccer. We took part in the local Canada Day festivities and the whole family had a blast. Ruby even won a bouncy castle “for a day!” which put a smile on Ruby’s face for about a week!
Trip to Ontario - May 2011 (Last Update July 31, 2011) We spent the last two weeks of May in Ontario and Quebec visiting lots of family and friends. Despite the babies not sleeping particularly well for the duration of the trip, all three kids did remarkably well travelling around and meeting tonnes of new people. Ruby was especially excited as she had never seen Grandma Sandy or Mamie’s houses!! A very big thank you again to everyone who hosted us, fed us and travelled to visit with us. It was so great to see everyone and we can’t wait to return the favour when you come visit us in Fernie!!
Late Winter/Early Spring 2011 (Last Update July 31, 2011) Well, this was certainly the never ending winter! We made the best of it by trying to have lots of fun in the snow skiing, snowshoeing and tobogganing but we’re happy to finally see it all melt! Our spring has been a bit consumed by yet another move (yes, it’s ridiculous!). Mamie drew the short straw this time and graciously came out to help us with this move. Our new rental has a huge yard which will be lots of fun for the girls this summer (and a challenge as it’s not fenced and the little girls like to wander!). The owners have kindly loaned us their trampoline and it’s been an instant hit with all the girls. We’re also super close to Coal Creek which makes Java happy :)
Early Winter - January/February 2011 (Last Update February 14, 2011) Grandma Sandy was here until mid-January so we were able to celebrate her birthday on Jan 12. Ruby was much more excited to celebrate Grandma’s 66th birthday than Grandma was … especially since there was cake involved!! We’ve tried to keep up with some skiing on our own by booking a babysitter every Sunday for the rest of the ski season. We take Ruby to her ski lessons and get a couple of hours of skiing in on our own. It’s been super fun! We’ve also been spending lots of time at the pool as a family. Ruby has continued with her lessons and Lucy and Charlie just love the water. They spend way more time in the pool at this age compared to Ruby so their degree of comfort in the water is quite impressive.