It's quiet here

Everybody has gone and left it very quiet here. It was a great Christmas with all the kids around except Will. Tim and Courtney went to her folks for Christmas Day but they were here Christmas Eve and for a while Christmas morning and in and out at various times. Must resign myself to knowing that our times together with everyone will be more rare. We have to share with other families.

It was a full week. Geoff drove into the city to get Anne and Del on Monday. Geoff's cousins Heather and John and two grandkids stopped by for tea that afternoon on their way to see the last year of Von Hollens'  light display and it was great to have a visit with them. John will be moving to Nanaimo soon.

Grace, Dallyn and Sam arrived late on Tuesday night. 

There was a lot of wrapping and secretive things going on behind closed doors all day Christmas Eve. Tim and Courtney and the boys came over with appies and we had a jolly time after church. Then it was Christmas. Grace let me sleep until almost 8:30. Tim and crew opened some presents with us and stayed for breakfast before heading off to Clive. We got a new game from Will, Ticket to Ride, really fun even though it involves strategy. Regular old Christmas dinner and a walk to see the lights, more game and it was a wrap.

Grace and Dallyn left Saturday for Drayton to spend some time with Dallyn's mom. He has to go back to work today but Grace has the week off. She says she is going to spend a whole day in bed binge watching TV.

After church yesterday we loaded Sam, Anne and Del up, dropped Sam at the bus in Red Deer and drove the others to the airport in Calgary. The traffic on Hwy. 2 was horrendous. We found out later that an accident was slowing everything down. Geoff deked off to Hwy. 2A and bypassed the slowdown and we got to the airport in plenty of time. 

It was sure nice having the little booboos around, although Kane also has to be shared with his dad and Grady has not been feeling too well.

I really felt that I had a proper visit with everyone, it was so great to be together.

Have got to shovel out this living room. Or maybe I will binge watch. I have been watching Call the Midwife on Netflix on Grace's recommendation, Lisa, you might like it, it's about midwives in London's east end on the 1950s.

Merry Christmas

We are celebrating early this year.  Henry and  Ally have been here since saturday and they go home tomorrow.  Henry works Christmas and Boxing day, so they came here for a few day's.   It has been wonderful  to spend more than a few hours with them.  We have ben eating pretty non stop since saturday, but that is some of the joy of the holidays isn't it?  The cabbage rolls are warming, ham is in and I am going to start the potatoes soon.  I was spoiled this year which leads me to assume I was good.  I hope everyone has as great holiday as I am having.  I will call on Christmas, not too early!

Advent

I need better titles for my posts
Last Sunday of Advent and I'd say were pretty ready. Made perogies for Christmas Eve, and making some sugar cookies today because I love them.
Jim comes today and we are happy to have him.
Nick has improved tremendously, but will only eat fresh meat now.not much we can do as if he doesn't get that he just won't eat which is very bad for his liver. Good thing we love him a lot.
Also now that he is eating again, now both of them are waking me up in the am to feed them.
Met with my thesis people and they think I'm doing well. I have one more interview in the new year and then start analyzing and writing. They think I should be able to graduate in September!
Our union is doing a position statement for mental health and asked for people to help develop it. I got accepted which I am sure they will regret.
Our new PCC has been orienting and I really like her. This week we are going to different community agencies so she can get a feel for what is out there. Field Trip!!

Trivia: Richard heard that Jingle Bells is about sleigh drag racing.

The End of the Trip

I have been home for a week now, and thought I would update everyone on the last couple of weeks of being away.

I continued to enjoy being in San Diego, I really like the city.  One day I went downtown, and found an outdoor skating rink, it had a big Christmas tree, and a place to rent skates.  There were some people skating, although most of them looked like they were fairly new skaters.  I also went ack to the San Diego City museum to see the Dr. Seuss exhibit.  It was interesting, he moved from New York to La Jolla, and was very active in the arts in San Diego.  In addition to his kids books, he also had some interesting art for grown ups.  On American Thanksgiving I went out to the  beach  at Coronado.  There were quite a few families there also enjoying the beach.  My trip back to Canada was fine, and Grace and Dallyn picked up at the airport which was so nice, it feels like a real treat to have someone meet you at the airport.

On November 30, the S&B group got together for our Christmas outing, we went to the Arden Theater in St Albert and saw "A Christmas Story", not the one about Mary and Joseph, but about Ralphie and the BB gun, very funny.  After we had supper at a nearby Cajun Restaurant.

I was then off to Medicine Hat.  The shuttle was late leaving Calgary because of all the snow in Calgary, but the highways were clear, so that was good.  I managed to arrive in time for supper with Ramona, A&E, F&C, Rhonda and Hannah.  that was the only night I saw Rhonda as she left the next day to fly to Nova Scotia to join John, his father was not doing well, and he passed away the day Rhonda got there.  Uncle Fred and I did a tour around the Hat, and then went back to his place and continued visiting.  One night we all went to the Pantomime at the MH Musical Theatre, A&E were fascinated by it.  I also had an afternoon with Christine, lunch and shopping, which was a lot of fun.  The rest of the time was spend hanging out with Ramona and the girls.

I caught the shuttle back to the Calgary Airport and then caught the Red Arrow back to Edmonton.  T&G picked me up there and we went out for supper, Vietnamese, yumm.  On Sunday morning we met Allison at the Italian coffee shop, for some lunch and a visit.  Then over to G&K for a quick visit.  We went to see Stuart MacLean at the Jube, Sam and Nancy were going to join us, but only Sam could come Nancy had her wisdom teeth out and was not feeling very well yet.  We drove home after the concert, and got to Rocky around 8.  The road from Red Deer to Rocky was slow going because there was fog off and on, but Theresa got us home safely.

Last week was pretty quiet until Thursday night, the boys came for the weekend and they are very busy guys.  Tim and Court went to the Prairie Creek Inn for the weekend.  Last night was Tim's birthday supper, I find it hard to believe he is 30 now.

I am feeling kind of crappy today, sore throat, congestion, achy, so think it is a pajama day with a lot of naps thrown in.

Happy Birthday Tim

A new decade begins.

Back Home

We have made it home without too much trouble. Sad to be home, but everyone was pretty much ready to leave because of how sick everyone got. We had a group of 18 plus 3 kids, and only 4 of us managed to stay healthy the whole week, me being one of the lucky ones. Everyone else lost at least a day not being able to leave the room. At first we all thought it was the food, but I think it was more of a stomach flu being passed around. Most of us didn't find out until today that the one family who was with us had all had the flu two days before we left, so that might be the culprit. Either way, definitely put a damper on things. I felt guilty for feeling good every day, and it got to the point no one wanted to do too much. 

This was my first all inclusive and I thought it was pretty nice but everyone else said it can only go up for me. I liked the food for the most part, even if it got a little boring, but I was in the minority there. The other thing that wasn't ideal was the resort wasn't right on the beach, so we had a 5 or so minute walk down there. Not the worst thing in the world, but inconvenient, especially when people were thinking they may have to make a run for the bathroom. 

I think the highlight of the trip for me was Monday. The boys wanted to go fishing, which I had no interest in, so 5 of us girls decided to go to Cozumel for the day. It was a 45 minute ferry to the island, and we rented a car when we got there and took off to find some nice beaches. The first one we stopped at was pretty nice until it started to rain, so we headed further around the island, past all the fancy resorts. We ended up going back and having lunch while it downpoured around us, then paid $14 to go to an Eco beach, and it was well worth the money. We drove down a road for 10 or so minutes then came to a gorgeous beach. The sand was perfect, the water was crystal clear and so calm. We spent a good half hour in the water just watching the fish swim around our feet and looking around in awe. There were probably 10 other people there, including the people working at the little bar there. It was so amazing. Until it started to rain again, so we headed back to town, got lost trying to find the car rental place, and just squeaked onto the 5 pm ferry back to Playa Del Carmen. If it wasn't for the rain it would have been a perfect day. If I was to go there again though I would catch the 8am ferry and go straight to that Eco beach. So amazing. 

I'm glad I took tomorrow off work. Dallyn did not and is dreading his 12 hour day tomorrow. It will be nice to have time to do laundry and run errands. 

Advent is Here!

I've realized that sometimes I compose these really great blog posts in my head, but forget to actually post.  So I thought, even though I don't have a really great post pre-composed, that I would post today.  Things are going well.  I'm still really enjoying life in Tofino, and now that I've been here for over a year, I'm really getting to know people, and am doing better at participating at town events.

I was able to take a study week in November, which was awesome!  Apparently we're entitled to one a year- not something I had taken advantage of before.  But I wanted to go Halifax and visit Allie, and I had no holidays left, so I worked out a topic, put together a reading list, and talked to the Bishop (and Whitey the People's Warden.  Not in that order).

Halifax was great.  It's a super fun city, and of course it was great to spend a week with Allie.  We went to see a showing of Billy Bishop Goes To War, and to see Chris Hadfield speak, as well as touring around the province a little.  It's quite a different coast than the BC coast.

Before I left for Halifax was Remembrance Day.  We alternate each year - one year in Tofino and the next in Ucluelet.  This year was our turn in Tofino, which meant that as minster of the church and Padre at the Legion I had to organize the church service and be at the cenotaph.  The weather was amazing - clear and sunny, if a little cold - which was nice, since there is also a parade that seems like it could be miserable in the rain.

Now we're settled in to winter on the coast - there are big storms forcast for this week, and even going on right now.  Apparently we're supposed to get 200 milliliters of rain by tomorrow morning, and it's been super windy all day.  I went out to the beach and very shortly discovered the limits to my raingear - what works for walking to the post office doesn't necessary stand up to blowing rain and wind and high tides.

All the Tofino Christmas events have been happening, which is getting a little expensive.  This weekend was Jingle Into Christmas, when a bunch of the stores stay open late and have great sales.  The first place I went into I knew the owner, and he was there, so I ended up buying stuff.  The problem was he owned three stores and I kept seeing him!  It's all good stuff, and he's great about extra discounts.  Then it was the Catholic bazaar- they had a live auction which I got a little caught up in.  Then yesterday was the town Christmas Craft Fair, and I knew a bunch of the vendors...maybe I just need to find a non-monetary way of showing my appreciation for people.

It looks like Christmas will be quiet again this year. Jeff and Kirsten and some friends will come up after Christmas, for New Years, and Allie is coming to visit for a couple weeks in January, which will be nice!

Riu Tequila

Thought I'd drop a little post here from Mexico. We've been here since Wednesday and are having an awesome time. It's my first all inclusive resort and I just love it. There are 18 of us in the group, which seems like a good number. There are always some at the beach and some at the pool, and usually some playing volleyball, so nice to be able to bounce around from place to place and have someone to hang out with. The only downside is we booked in for the sit down dinner places twice, but they wouldn't seat a table of 18 until 9. So we went for a snack at the buffet around 6:30 and ate at 9, which kinda ruins the evening. 

A couple of our group have gotten sick, Dallyn included which sucks. So now everyone else is nervous about eating because we don't know what's causing it. Dallyn seems more full of life today though. We were planning on going to the market in town today but might not make it. 

It's sad to think our stay is half over. I feel like I could stay here forever. But when I come back I only work for a week and them I'm off for Christmas, so it's not so terrible.