Open Seas

Today was a day at open sea. Our boat is taking us all the way down to Bridgetown, Barbados and as you can tell from this handy little map I "borrowed" from the Celebrity website, it's a LONG way from San Juan!
Anyway, what do you do at a day at sea? Well, you explore. For all you folk who have never cruised before, these boats are huge. It seemed like we walked and walked and then all of a sudden after we thought we'd seen it all ... BAM ... we stumble into a casino or a new little lounge with live music. We found a spot in the shade and sat out on the deck by the swimming pool for a while, we pigged out on the buffet with their endless selections and we made friends with all the Filipino workers because Ryan's Philippine shirt was attracting them like moths to the only light in a room.

In the evening we got dressed up and made our way down for dinner. Each night we eat at 6pm with the same people and we have to at least dress smart casual if not formal. It's like date night every single night! It has been a looooong time since I have sat through a meal without hearing the word "mama" and drawing straws along with the kids to get to see who gets to sit beside daddy. Well guess what kiddo's!? I get to sit beside daddy all week long.

San Juan, Puerto Rico!!

For our 10th wedding anniversary Ryan and I are celebrating by cruising! We had a budget, (thank you Focus!) and I let a travel agent do all the work. I have never, not once in all our travels, let a travel agent plan a trip for us. I have always done all the researching, finding the cheapest prices for hotels, flights and activities and it was so amazing to one day have all these reservation confirmations in my email inbox. Seriously, who knew it could be so easy. This travel agent did a great job. She played around with flights and hotels to book us on a classy cruise line, hooked us up with a couple extra days in Puerto Rico and made sure we had some $$ left over for some fun excursions.

Well I am so excited to say that our vacation has finally arrived! We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 12:30am, slept and venture out this morning to see what adventures would find us. Oh, I forgot to mention that we were shorts, it was hot and when we left Calgary it was snowing, what a great feeling.

We spent our morning walking around Old San Juan looking in some different shops, walking along the sea wall and enjoying the cloud cover. We found a couple little plaza's that were filled with people feeding pigeons (seriously hundreds of nasty pigeons) and playing majong.

We had learned from our taxi driver earlier that all the trolleys in Old San Juan were free and they took you around to the old Forts and their Capital building. Since Ryan and I are big fans of anything free we knew we would have to check that out but decided to save it for after the cruise when we had a couple days to play around. Instead we walked along a different part of the old wall that used to surround the city and kept it safe from outsiders. We loved the colours in the streets, the humidity and warm wind that kept us cool and it made me miss the Philippines. I've never been a fan of winter.

Early in the afternoon we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags and embarked on the Celebrity Summit which will be taking us down to the Southern Caribbean for a week long, island hopping, food fest.

Warming Up The Bike In The Snow

Not even the cold weather and snow could stop Ryan from getting on the dirt bike and playing around today. It's always nice to see him excited like our kids at Christmas!

My Super Heroes

This afternoon we had a few hours to burn before Sydney's talent showcase at school so we headed to Walmart to play around. I know that if I was some evil villain I would be scared of this gang.

Maddy's First Dirt Bike Ride

Ryan was pretty excited to try out his new dirt bike for the first time and his biggest fan was right there with him. Last year Madison was just a little too small to ride on the Hayabusa and she was pretty bummed out about it. She had grown used to riding on the motorbikes with us in the Philippines so it was hard to explain to her why all of a sudden the rules had changed. This was a great opportunity for her to get on the dirt bike with dad and wear Sydney's pretty pink dirt bike helmet.

I know that the face in the picture might say otherwise but she was so excited. She had so much fun and was screaming in delight. At first I thought she might be screaming with terror until Ryan stopped and we asked her if she wanted to get off. There was no way she was getting off that bike, she wanted more. I guess it's official, all three of our kids are going to be bikers. The older two are going to be pretty disappointed when they learn that Madison got a ride and they didn't. Hopefully it will be warm enough soon for them to get out there little dirt bikes and they can all go around together like a little dirt biker gang.

A Trade

Last night Ryan traded his Hayabusa racing bike for this truck and dirt bike. He seems pretty pleased and it will be nice to have a truck to pull the trailer with. The kids really were hoping that Ryan could take them to school in the truck but no luck there. It's always so much more fun when your kids are just excited as you. Here is a picture of Ryan and the kids just hanging out in the truck before having to leave for school. I wish they were that happy about just sitting in the van, I'd have way happier children.

Sydney is 7!!!!

This weekend we got to celebrate Sydney. Her birthday is today but since its Sunday we had a mini party yesterday down in Lethbridge. We asked Sydney if she wanted a big party or if she wanted to go to the movie theatre as a family. She chose the movie theatre so the five of us went to The Croods and picked up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and took it to Grandma's. Cousins joined us for the blowing out of candles and she had a couple gifts to open up. It was a success.
This morning for Sydney's actual birthday we had a big brunch with strawberry crepes, bacon, and sausages. Auntie Kait, Uncle Matthew, Nana and Papa showed up for the feast and then she got to open even more presents.

Sydney is the type of girl that makes me want to be a better mother because I know she deserves the best. She is so affectionate and loves deeply. She can keep up with the boys, belch bigger and louder then the best of them but would never pass up the opportunity to put on some nail polish or make up. She is brave and likes a challenge. Sydney loves to learn and has a flare for the dramatics with her interpretive dancing, opera singing around the house, the English accent that pops out every now and again and her love for crafts. She is truly unique and I'm incredibly thankful she is a part of our family. It is my hope that she will always have these wonderful traits because I know that with them she will have a huge world open up to her with amazing opportunities and she will take them.

I love you my beautiful Sydney Jean.

The Bike Is Out

Today the temperatures reached double digits in the positives and even though there was still snow on the ground it couldn't stop Ryan from getting out the bike. It's still way too cold for me to hop on the back but Ryan really enjoyed himself.

Countdown Is On

It's one of those things that I can't grasp yet and everything took so long and then went so quickly it was like a roller coaster road but since everything is signed .... we're moving. In one month we take possession and I'll move for the last time in long time and I am SO SO SO excited!

The Price Is Right!

Today the Price is Right was in Calgary and we all got tickets in our stockings at Christmas! Lucky us. Going to the Price is Right is something on my bucket list and if I was ever called to come on down and be the next contestant on the Price is Right I might pee myself. The show was so much fun even though I didn't get picked. We laughed, we cheered and had an amazing time. Watching it live is so much more fun then watching it on TV!

My Baby is 4

It was a busy weekend with family visiting, the Calgary trade show and the most important; Madison's birthday.
Saturday we had a little treat because she had some cousins in town who would be leaving later that day and not able to make her birthday party. She was thrilled to blow out candles and unwrap presents to her audience.

Today is Madison's birthday. She wasn't officially 4 until 6:30ish pm but we didn't tell her that. We had much bigger issues to deal with. It was snowing ... hard. So hard in fact that they closed down the highway from Lethbridge to Calgary so none of my family could make it to the party. Thankfully Ryan's mom made it up the day before so Madison had someone at her party. We made due with what we had and waited for the boys to get done at the Calgary trade show before we cut the cake. Since the boys got stuck in the snow coming up the driveway and had to dig themselves out it made for a late night but Madison is worth it.

Happy birthday Madison. We love you. I could not imagine what our lives would be like without you in them. Your animated face, dramatic reactions and constant chatter keep me laughing all day long. I love how you pray for Sage every night that she is safe even though she's been gone for 5 months and how when we mentioned the coyotes ate her you just stared at me blankly and refused to retain that piece of information. You are determined, you don't forget and you're fiercely independent. You are one special little girl.

Double the Fun

Over the weekend I had two nieces born! Both healthy and both moms doing pretty good. First came baby Summer and then baby Claire. When Ryan had to go down to Lethbridge for the day I took advantage of the free ride and went down with him so I could meet these cute little girls! I had totally forgotten how small they come to us!

I was lucky enough to be asked to take a couple pictures of Claire while I was there. Let me tell you, even just being a couple days old she was moving around and showing off her strength. I think she's pretty dang cute.

Sled Hills in Banff

We thought that we would try something different for church today by attending in Banff and then finding a sledding hill to play on for the afternoon. This was my first time in Banff other then driving by on the highway. I figured that as a current Calgarian I should probably see what Banff was all about! We got there for church and when it was finished we stealthily changed our clothes in the van and went to explore.
This weekend happened to be the "Take It To The Street" ball hockey tournament and so it was quite the happening place. The street was adapted to hold multiple hockey games at one time and we just walked down the road watching all these different games. It was pretty cool.
They also had a bunch of other things set up and I have no idea if they were just for the weekend or if they are a more permanent sight since like I mentioned, it's my first time. We stood and watch a couple people try to pick their way up a huge ice wall. Those are quite the pokey shoes they wear!

After walking through the town a little bit we decided that it was time to find us a sledding hill. We went into the tourism building and got some advice on where to go so we headed out behind the Banff Fairmont Hotel. There we found a hill and at the bottom was a frozen over lake that had some people playing ice hockey with the beautiful hotel in the backdrop. It was really pretty and it didn't take long for the kids to get climbing up the hill for a taste of how fast we could go.
I was a little worried because I don't do so well in the cold but thankfully when we were in the sun it was the perfect temperature. Warm enough that we are toes weren't getting cold but cool enough that the continual hike up the hill wasn't making me sweaty. Can't ask for better.

After a few runs the kids started to get a little more brave, looking for spots that would allow them to go faster or provide them with a little air. They had a blast.

We had some dinner before driving back to Calgary. It was so great to have a change of scenery for the day and to check something off the list of must do's. Really, Banff isn't that far away. We'll have to go back.

West Ed Weekend

This weekend we headed up to Edmonton for a little time away before the kids headed back to school. We stayed close to West Edmonton Mall and had a great time exploring during the afternoon. We checked out the water show and did some rides at Galaxy Land before meeting a good friend for dinner. It was such a fun day and the kids were wiped by the time we got back to the hotel for bed.
The next morning we woke up, checked out and headed back to the mall for some fun times at the waterpark. So much fun. The two older kids loved the waterslides while Madison loved the hot tub. They all enjoyed getting beat up by the wave pool and we awed when we watched the bungee jumpers.
It was the perfect way for us to end our Christmas vacation!