Project Winter Survival

Today we were out with 150 other volunteers to help load cars, trucks and vans of over 175 front line agencies with 3,000 winter survival kits and sleeping bags for the homeless.  It was an inspiring and eye opening day for all of us, not to mention a ton of fun!!

Getting prepped & ready to go

The start of it all

Already felling like we are helping

Our first really big order for Salvation Army

Our greeting the charity & getting ready to tell the
rest of the volunteers how many to load up!

 http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/341700
More pictures of us working hard

Go Raptors!

We were fortunate enough to score some tickets to the Raptors game from my office again and man-o-man what a game.  It had us on the edge of our seats almost the entire game with Chicago Bulls narrowly ousting the Toronto Raptors in OT at the very end.

Pre-game fun

Can't escape video games even when not home

Curtis sporting a near vintage Raptors shirt

Could this be a future Raptor player?

Curtis & Mom's boss going wild to get on the jumbotron

wild and funny mini Raptor's mascot

Mini Raptors mascot had us in stiches

the boys pumped when Raptors tied the game &
put it into overtime

final score...so close yet so far

It was a very tough loss for the Raptors but they played very well and had us all cheering and on our feet hoping they could pull it off.  The boys even got on the jumbotron briefly.  What an exceptional night!!!

Spencer Turns 12!

It's so hard to believe my big guy is almost a teen.  We had a family birthday dinner between hockey games at Kelsey's on Saturday.

Gotta love lava cake dessert

perfect for sharing

and sharing

...me too please - YUM!!!

Spencer didn't know we were doing his card the next day
at Uncle Al & Aunt Becky's so we did a made-up one
Happy, Happy Happy :)

We were invited to the Oliphant Clan for Sunday Dinner.  The boys got to play with Keegen and we had another wonderful feast!!

and more cake - hooray for red velvet!!

We all sang pretty well before all the candles melted

it only took him 3 tries to get out the candles

Somebody is lovin the card with $$

more fun with the toys!

Show him how to do it Keegen!!

We hope you had a great b-day bud!  The calls from Saskatchewan & from your birthday buddy Gary, not to mention the well wishes on your Facebook page.  I think we had a pretty Happy, Happy, Happy lad on our hands :)

New Years 2013

We made the exhausting trip home from Hawaii and then dropped our summer clothes for our winter clothes, the 80+ degree temperatures and beaches for -10 degree Celsius weather and snowbanks, not to mention the 5 hour time change before we headed off to the camp to connect with our friends there for New Year celebrations.  What a complete 180 that was with some jet lag too, but we survived.

It was great to play some darts, have some delicious food and just reconnect with everyone again.

We stayed up for a few more days and played in the snow.  Soooo much fun!!

 We are so very blessed and wish everyone all the very best in 2013!

Aloha - Day 16 (Final Day)

Today is our last day so we are packing up and going out for a bite to eat, checking in early at the airport to see if we can get rid of our bags.  After that is done we cruise around a bit for one last glorious look at the Kona area and then back to the condo for a swim and a farewell bevy with Randy, Barbara & JR.

Enjoying our last lunch in Hawaii

with our travelling buddies

...right across from the marina

then we drove back to the condo after the airport

I stuck my feet in the ocean one last time

the kids all went for a swim

some clearly less happy to leave than others

Curtis finally catches a gecko!

I capture my last Hawaiian sunset

It was an amazing vacation and we were there with great friends and met some amazing new ones.  We all had a great time and didn't want to leave so that is a success as far as we are all concerned!  Now for the long trip home (the red eye flight - YUCK!)

Aloha - Day 15 (Surfing)

Today Curtis got to live out a dream and surfing for the first time.  We had a local recommended to us by the name of Ossian (pronounced ocean - could there be a better connection?!)  The surf was good for learning on so we headed to the beach to meet up with him and his son Scottie for a private lesson.  Curtis took to it like a fish to water and had a blast!

Curtis getting a little pre-coaching from Scottie

Curtis making his way out to the surf

Curtis & Scottie going over the first wave on the way out

Curtis getting ready to catch his first wave

He's up!!

Hey guys, look at me surf for the first time!

and he's down!!

Sitting down on the job already?!

Ready for another



There were a few ups...

...and downs

Uh oh, is this girl gonna take him out?

NO!  He manages to stay up!

What a pro!

Now it's time to have some fun.

Checking out the scenery :)

Whatch this one - a 360

He does it!

Does this face not just say it all?!

Barbara & Randy came by to cheer him on too

The waves & surfers outside our condo when we get back

Curtis is very jealous

Getting close to our next to last sunset :(

We had another amazing day in town and with our friends.  It is very hard to believe we only have one more day.