Smoking

Smoking, a set on Flickr.

Yesterday things finally quieted down for a bit and I spent some time playing with my camera and taking some photos that I think are pretty cool. I burned a bit of incense and took pictures of the smoke. Cool...

AYZ

Season's Greetings from Canmore

Here in Canmore we've been subject to unseasonably warm weather. In fact we're starting to get a little p.o.'ed about it - what we need more than sunshine and plus three is snow and then a bit more snow. We need more snow so we can dare to take out our christmas presents - new skis for Adrian & Charlotte. We've taken them out only once - and boy oh boy are they rocket-ship fast! But we won't risk them again until a bit more snow comes to for-sure bury the nasty little stones on the trails that could scratch the bases of the skis. Still, our old "rock" skis are getting a good work out - today I skied 30km along the Cascade Fire road.

We spent the holidays visiting with friends. Christmas dinner was cooked by Charlotte's brother. Then Boxing day was a big highlight with Chandra & Kali and AJ & Darren and MJ & tbn coming out to Canmore for brunch. Really enjoyed that - especially getting to play with Michael. I think the highlight of the day was Michael making his first good joke - probably impossible to explain the joke, but it was very clever as he managed to mimic a "ha ha" sound that the rest of us were all goofing around with. It was quite unexpected to hear him chime in.

Mum - glad to hear the coffee machine got put to use. I think it is a perfect addition to the cottage (only internet could possibly be more useful ;-).

What is your mailing address going to be? We have some photo prints to send you.

Pete & Lisa - where are the surfing photos ;-)

Love, Adrian & Charlotte

Yay Grandma!

You seem to have figured the blog out! That's awesome!
I would love to be in London for New Years!!  Wish I was there.  Nothing new with me at the moment, just working for New Years but I'm going to drive past my house either Sunday or Monday to check on the progress so I'll post a picture up for you to see :)
Chandra - Mike is too funny in that pj pic.  What a great photo op!  Your dogs look much less menacing in their costumes than Sunny did in hers ha ha. Silly girl.
We miss you Grandma!  Write soon!

Christmas

This might be it!!!!
Thank you so much for wonderful pics and news Chandra and Kali.
now I've got to find out how to send pics too!  Michael Joseph looks fantastic as ever and how well he's progressing. I'm so glad that you all had such a good time.
All is quiet and sad for Nick and family went back yesterday and we go to London on New Year's DayWe were at Natalie and Xavier's on Christmas Eve - we took a large sea bream straight from the boat and lobster and all sorts of French fare. We went for lots of walks by the sea and all the pubs and restos were serving mulled wine or hot chocolate.
The new coffee machine worked overtime as we had lots of visitors -
 Hope that you're having lovely time in Hawaii Krysten and Sydney. It's been warm here - 10 - 13 degrees but nothing like your super sunshine. - I'm using my Kobo a lot
I love and miss you all lots
Grandma

Happy Christmas!

It was a very busy few days, but Mikey's first Christmas was lots of fun! We went to AJ's parents on Christmas eve, and my mom's on Christmas day, then out to Canmore on Boxing Day. Now we are enjoying a little break. AJ is off for the week, so we are getting lots of family time. Last night Mikey slept from 10 pm until 5 am, without even a moan. He was super tired. Then he napped from 9:30 until 11:15 am. I think he finally caught up on his sleep!
Mike is eating 2 solid food meals a day now, with a little solid snack in the middle. Food is a hit! Except for plain Chicken, that was gross. No one liked the look or smell of that, no kidding he didn't want to eat it. But Chicken Noodle gets a smile, which makes us all feel better. His fav so far is carrots and bananas and rice cereal. Yesterday he started drinking water from a sippy cup at meal time. It took a few min to figure out how to suck the water out, but once he got it he was in heaven. He reaches for the cup when he is thirsty. What a big boy!
He even hated the matching PJs grandma Kuran bought us!
Lilac and Indy even got it the Christmas spirit...sort of... they dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Paws!
We can't wait to hear about all the adventures in Ventor this week. Glad that you had fun at the polar bear swim!

What are they doing this to me for???

Lots of love, Chandra, AJ and Michael Jo

Merry Christmas!

Hi Grandma,
I hope you had a great Christmas - in France?  Christmas here was good :)  We had dinner at mom's as usual we missed you though.  Ryan built his helicopter type thing you gave him.  He really loves it.  Michael made out like a bandit.  He really loves Christmas.
My belly - among other things -  is getting quite large!  Sunny is doing great.  Our house is starting to look like an actual building too! 
Miss you and hope you're having a great trip. 

News from K

Hi Grandma,

How is London? Is it raining? I am doing Invention Convention instead of Science Fair this year. I am very excited because it sounds like a lot of fun. I am working on my Christmas Carols on my flute and they sound good - if I do say so myself. Have you tried Skype or is it tech overload? I have a game at 5:30pm up in Bearspaw so it is going to be a bit of a scramble tonight after school. I hope you are having lots of fun in London.

Lots of love,

Krysten

News from Sydney

Hi Grandma,

Hope your flight over to London went well. Everything over here is fine - 12 days until our holiday! We can't wait. Dad is in the US right now. Mom, Krysten and I just finished reading Hugo Cabret and now mom is going to take us to the movie. It was a good book. I picked up next book from the same author to read for my next book report at school. We sold the chinchillas and Krysten and I are really sad but we know that it was the right thing to do. My dad was really allergic to the dust that they bath in and their fur so he always had a sneezy nose and his eyes were always red. We felt sorry for him. I think I will miss them lots but we took lots of photos and they went to a good home :(

Love you, Sydney

Comic Book Baby

Super Baby- He can blow bubbles at the speed of light!

Michael Reading about 5 naughty Llittle Monkeys

Just so everyone knows, Michael LOVES his books!!!

 Sorry to hear about your bad day grandma :(

We love you

xoxoxox

FROM GRANDMA

Hi Everyone - hope that life is good for you.
I'm having very exhausting, frustrating time trying to deal with everything - roof, chimney, car, legal stuff about deck etc
We went to a lawyer - fee $575 per hour - we need lots of stuff from neighbours, photos architect's drawing of present deck etc and it takes so much time and effort and we go in 4 days. Just talked to Marnie people opposite who still know the former owners who did the renos - with an architect  - so maybe you didn't need permit then. -
Sorry to get that off my chest.
Still no news from Dr  so no news - good news. Will make  cup of tea to restore my soul
Very much love to you all
Mum, Grandma, great grandma

Trying it out

There should be an mj pic here! http://flic.kr/p/aJ7d76

Mj pic

Merry Christmas!

I thought for Christmas this year I would give you the gift of updates :)  You can check this blog to find stories about things you might miss while you're away.  For example, I will post pictures and stories of Michael's first Christmas and the birth of my kid.  I will give everyone in the family access to this blog and they can update it too.  Then, when you feel homesick you have a site to visit that's just for you. 
Merry Christmas!