After a bit of a lukewarm start with her balance bike (translated as we were caught in a standoff in which she refused to wear her helmet, and we refused to let her ride it without one) Belle has suddenly taken to riding it everyday! (With her helmet!). We’re pretty excited about this milestone 
So back in April, we went to a wedding in Barbados. Our very good friends, Kris and Shanna, were the stars of the proceedings, and we had an incredible time with them and their families. We spent a total of 10 days on the island, and in between the good times spent at wedding related events, we spent a lot of time on the beach, in the pool, or exploring the island in our rental car, driving on the wrong side of the very narrow roads. We also squeezed in some stand-up paddle boarding and a few fantastic meals out.
We loved Barbados for its safety, beautiful beaches, ease of travel (everyone speaks English), delicious food (mahi mahi and flying fish – yum) and friendly locals, and we’ve already booked to go back with my family in February. Here are a huge pile of pictures!
I feel really fortunate that I have such an incredible man for a father. But even more special than that is that my kids have one of the kindest, most compassionate and most fun guys I know as dad PLUS get my dad as grand-papa, Gary as pop pop and two great-grandpas to spoil them with love and affection. I’m working on no sleep (just got home from work but trying to squeak this in before Pat and the dads wake up) so this likely isn’t as articulate as I’d like it to be, but bottom line is we are one lucky family with so many great dads in our lives and today I’d like to share some memories of those special men in our lives. Thank you for being you!
Aw! Aren’t we cute!? Running with kids.
I have to admit I quite like the smiles we get as jog along the river valley as a family. Maybe I also delude myself into thinking we help people dig a little deeper as they pass us with our ridiculously huge running stroller. But, I thought i should also paint a clearer pictures of what running with kids ACTUALLY looks like.
7:00am: Isabelle crawls into our bed wanting to start the day
7:10am: Pat can no longer stall (Elodie is now awake) and gets out of bed and makes coffee and breakfast. “I’ll be there in 5″ I say…
7:40am: Oops, Michelle didn’t set an alarm and 5 became 30 extra glorious minutes
8:30am: Pat and Michelle are fully caffeinated, kids have eaten, Isabelle finally went potty, two Elodie diaper changes, kids are dressed, hats are on, extra blankets, snacks, water and the ipad (in case we need heavy duty distraction) are loaded into the running stroller
8:35am: Have to stop, Elodie is already hungry again
8:37am: Rookie mistake, we have to stop again. Belle saw Elodie’s snack and wants one too
8:50am: We need two of us to hold the stroller down a really steep hill (same hill we need to go back up, oh dear God what were we thinking)
9:10am: Elodie is crying. I’m sure we put a banana in here somewhere – banana divided into two equal parts for both kids
9:15am: Banana is gone, Elodie is bored. Out comes the ipad
9:25am: That is a really big hill with a stroller… I mean really big. Is there an escalator?
9:35am: Home again. What a relaxing morning run…
We’re a little behind on blog posts so while we sort through all the travel pictures we thought we’d post about what we are up to right now: COOKING!
Those of you who’ve been able to visit over the past 2 years have likely noticed that Pat is developing mad skills in the kitchen! Ahi tuna steaks, grilled marlin, and portobello mushroom burgers are just some of the many yummy treats he’s been cooking for his ladies. But I’ve been feeling guilty that it’s all him doing the work in the kitchen, and by default I’m getting worse rather than better at cooking since I never do it. So we’ve decided that, a few nights a week, we’re going to try to make cooking a ‘family event’. We picked up Jamie Oliver’s “Meals in Minutes”, picked up the kitchen essentials on his list and decided to give it a go.
I wouldn’t exactly say the title is an accurate one (our meals are NOT produced in a few minutes…. ) but I do give Jamie credit for helping us muster up the courage to tackle a full menu with two kiddos running around. And much to our surprise Isabelle really wants to help. Tonight she put on her apron and even helped mommy set the table while Elodie contributed by taking her first steps – unfortunately we were busy cooking and missed the photo op (luckily I think there will be more to come).
So what are we making?
Menu #1: Broccoli orecchiette, zucchini & bocconcini salad, and prosciutto melon salad
Menu #2: Killer jerk chicken, rice & beans, refreshing chopped salad and chargrilled corn
The verdict? AMAZING! Two for two in terms of yummy recipes and so far the only casualties have been Pat’s knuckles as we adapt to our new super sharp (and really pretty) new knives.
For Easter we decided to get out of town and head into the mountains. We booked at the Jasper Park Lodge because we’d heard they put on fantastic family events, and they had a whole program of family-oriented Easter events advertised for the weekend. We were not disappointed. Whether it was the live band for dancing, the decorating of easter eggs and cookies, the bouncy castle, the easter egg hunt, the nightly milk and cookies story time, or any of the other many kids activities, we all had a blast. The pool was also a big hit (we went swimming every single day), and it didn’t hurt to be surrounded by the awesome beauty of the Rocky Mountains for all of it. We’re pretty sure we’ll be back to “the hotel by the lake,” as Isabelle has named it, another time.
So, we had kind of hoped that winter in Edmonton was done, then there was another 15cm dump, so we decided to make the best of it. Here are few pics from around the house, and snowshoeing at Victoria Golf Course.
Our last Maui post! One of the things that I found the most wonderfully crazy about Maui, was the incredible number of humpback whales just leaping and rolling all over the place. I had no idea that we’d see whales leaping out of the water almost every single day, just from our balcony and from the beach, and it was definitely a good idea to get closer.
Our first attempt though was a bust. We had decided to do a sunrise trip, so after Shirley graciously offered to babysit the girls (we didn’t think Isabelle would have the patience for a two hour trip), we got up very, very early in the morning, and headed off to the docks. After listening to our orientation, we trooped down to the catamaran, where we waited… and waited… and finally found out the boat wouldn’t start.
The next day, we repeated the getting up early part, the orientation part, and the walking to the catamaran part, but this time we actually left the port!
Almost immediately, we saw a mother and her calf rolling around in the bay. Soon they were slapping their tails and leaping out of the water. We watched them, totally in awe, for awhile, before moving on to see what else we could find… which happened to be another mother and calf, breaching and playing. Even the guides were pretty blown away. We saw a few more whales throughout the trip, and listened to all the whales in the bay on the hydrophone. All in all, an incredible voyage, and probably the best $25 I’ve ever spent.
Hawaii, you were amazing all over again, and we’ll definitely be back.
