Fun Visits with Family

Over the past two weekends, we've been lucky to have been able to spend lots of time with family. Over the long weekend (Family Day), Kathy and Sarah took the train up from Toronto and stayed with us for a few days. It was great having them here - and Alex loved having Sarah around to play with.

Aside from some fun watching the Olympics, we also got out to our first time at Winterlude (Ottawa's Winter Festival) for a bit of fun on ice slides, and checking out snow sculptures and having some treats. We didn't stay too long as the day was cold and snowy and overcast, but it was great to get out to our first official "Ottawa" outing. The next day, we went to the Museum of Civilization and the Children's Museum and had a great time checking out some of the fun exhibits and learning a bit about different aspects of Canadian history and culture, as well as different cultures from around the world.

Here's a few pictures from Sarah and Kathy's visit and our time at Winterlude and the Museum of Civilization.

Relaxing and playing DS by the fire


Ready for some Winterlude Fun!


Sampling the maple sugar on snow (he wasn't keen on it)


Chris and Alex coming down the big ice slide


Checking out a snowmobile



Alex and Sarah on a bus from India (I think)


Alex checking out how some people live in other parts of the world.


Building a wall in a house with Sarah


Riding a camel near the pyramids



This past week, Chris was in Kingston visiting veterinary clinics in the Brockville, Kingston and Napanee areas, so Alex and I went up by train to join him on his last night there. Alex and I took the train from the Via station near our place and enjoyed a nice relaxing trip to Kingston. Chris and Alex then spent the night in the hotel hanging out and having fun and I went to stay at my parents' place for the night and had a nice relaxing visit with my parents. Chris then dropped off Alex early the next morning on his way out to visit more vets on the Friday and Alex and I had fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

We made cookies, did some Lego and had a nice time until Chris came home later that day after he was finished work. On the Saturday, Chris and I went to see Avatar in 3D - what a great film! We'd been dying to see it, but just didn't have the time lately, nor did we have someone in Ottawa to watch Alex so we jumped at the opportunity to go see a grown-up film with just the two of us.

Grandpa took Alex out for lunch and then they ran a few errands together before meeting us at the movie theatre after our movie. We then took Alex with us and bought him his first set of ice skates as well as a helmet and face guard, and then we stopped in downtown Kingston to have Alex try out the skates for a bit.

That night, we had another great dinner with my parents and a fun evening. We got packed up the next morning to head back to Ottawa but stopped at the same small downtown rink again for Alex to skate a bit more so Grandma and Grandpa could see how well he was doing.

It still seems odd to be able to go visit them in under two hours - but it's great to be so close.

Here's a couple of pics from our visit to Kingston showing Alex trying out his new skates.

Organ Donation and You

In late October, I happened to read an amazing, and uplifting and heart wrenching story on the Toronto Star's website about a woman named Natalia Ritchie. Natalia has CF and was waiting on a lung transplant and the story profiled her blog and her desire to keep a record for her new baby daughter (born through a surrogate only a few months earlier). The story was incredible and I looked up Natalia's blog and was overwhelmed with her incredible story and the strength with which she was approaching the wait for a lung transplant, while dealing with CF and being in a hospital.

I found myself following her story - and was incredibly moved by her words and pictures and the brutal honesty she brought to her blog about the pain and anguish of living with CF, and also the joys and victories she experienced with her life, her family and her friends.

Most everyone who knows me would not know that I once lost someone very dear to me, and that organ donation has always been very personal to me. I've always known I would be an organ donor if something were ever to happen to me, and I've made sure to tell Chris about my desires, and to make sure that I have filled out my consent when renewing licenses, etc.

When I lost my friend, it was an awful time - it was a shock to lose someone so important to me who I thought I would have in my life forever - with no warning, no time to prepare. Saying goodbye to him in the hospital was beyond painful, but I respected his family's decision to donate his organs to people who could live because of their generous and loving decision.

So reading Natalia's blog and following her story struck a chord with me. As her blog chronicled her failing health, my heart went out to her and her family. As she slipped away day by day while waiting that "call", it helped me keep my own problems and stressors in perspective. We were in the middle of our move and trying to find a new home, and I was feeling so sick and scared at times, and I was truly fearful we'd have to sell our home and would not have a place to live right away (we'd sold ours before we found a place in Ottawa and the closing was very quick). As scary as that was, I couldn't help but feel that my problems were nothing compared to the battle Natalia was waging...

Time did seem to be running out for her when the call... THE CALL... finally came and she went through a double lung transplant. Reading her story and following along with her recovery has been an amazing experience, and because of her blog, I've spoken to many others about the importance of thinking through organ donation and ensuring your loved ones know what your desires are if anything tragic were ever to happen.

Recently, Natalia posted a link to another amazing blog - the story of a young girl (Eva Markvoort) who also has CF who had received a double lung transplant only two years ago and recently found out that her body was rejecting the lungs. She then had to wait for a second transplant - but it seems as if time is running out for Eva. To say that her blog is amazing and heartbreaking is an incredible understatement. Eva's story and pictures and words are so difficult to read, but they are also so important and so precious.

I urge you to check out their blogs - be prepared for tears, but if it helps to spread the message of the importance of organ donation, then I'm happy I made this post.

Natalia's blog can be found at:
http://www.natandmarty.blogspot.com/

Eva's blog can be found at:
http://65redroses.livejournal.com/

Fun in a closet

When you are buying a new home, you have a list of things that are "must-have's" as well as some things that are "nice-to-have's". We tried to evaluate the homes we were looking at for the key things on our list.

Some of the most important things to us (aside from budget and good neighbourhood) were the following:
- Three bedrooms, with some type of space for Chris to work in when he's working from home.
- A space for a tv/family room, as well as another space that would have no tv where we could read quietly, etc.
- A big backyard for Alex and Strider.
- A bigger bedroom for Alex as his old room was pretty tiny.

Our new place offered that, plus a lot of our "nice-to-have's" such as hardwood floors, more light, an open feeling, a fireplace, room to grow and a better layout for our needs.

Alex's bedroom is one thing I love about the new place - it's bright, much bigger and will be a great place for him to play and have sleepovers, etc.

So imagine my surprise when, last night, my son chose to sleep in our closet instead
of in his great nice new room. Yes... the closet!

I was working in my office and he was very busy playing in our room and then he came to tell me excitedly he had a surprise to show me. He'd made himself a little fort in our walk-in closet in the master bedroom. He had a blanket laid out, a pillow, some toys and books, his DS and a few other little-boy essentials. He then looked at me with those five-year-old kid eyes and asked if he could sleep in his new fort. Of course I said he could - he'd worked so hard on it.





As I lay in bed last night, listening to him breathing softly while he slept soundly on the floor of our closet, I couldn't help but wonder about kids and the things they find fun. If he's having fun camping out in our closet, I'm totally fine with that.

Does that mean I can now turn his big bedroom into a gorgeous scrapbook/craft room?

Woah - What a Whirlwind!!!

Okay - where do I start?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our lives got turned upside down (in a good way) right after our cruise. Chris was offered a new job while we were away, and that was at the very end of October. So our November and December were filled with the insanity of selling our home, buying a new place, packing, cleaning, purging, etc. All this while also trying to get ready for Christmas and New Year's, and then the move.

Needless to say, this blog was not at the top of my priority list, so I haven't really posted much in a while. I'll try get things caught up a bit with some photos from the last couple of months, etc. It will be a bit of a mixed bag, but hopefully you'll all like the new pictures.

After one of our frantic trips to Ottawa to try to find a house, we rushed back to Toronto to see Star Wars in Concert. I'd bought tickets as a surprise for Chris and we decided to take Alex too. It was a HUGE show at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Here's the info on the show:

Star Wars: In Concert, a unique multi-media event featuring music from all six of John Williams' epic Star Wars scores, begins its worldwide arena tour on October 1, 2009 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Narrated live by Anthony Daniels (the actor who portrayed C-3PO in all six films), the production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, high-definition LED super-screen -- one of the largest ever put on tour. The live music and film elements are synchronized in order to create a full multi-media, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan myself - I like the movies (I haven't seen them all though), but I'm not a total nutcase for them. Chris really loves the movies though, as well as the music, and it was actually a really fun show. It was great to hear the music being played by a full orchestra and see highlights from the film. Alex actually loved it as well - I wasn't sure if he'd like it or not, but he was totally enthralled with it.

Before the show, we'd walked around to see the different exhibits that were part of the show. They had costumes on display and interesting exhibits. They also had the expected t-shirts and other souvenirs - all incredibly overpriced.

While walking around we saw a guy with a double light saber. For anyone into Star Wars and the toys, etc., you'd know that these items hadn't been manufactured in years so when Alex saw it, he went nuts. Alex had asked for one for Christmas - and of course you couldn't buy them - so when I saw this, I went over and discretely asked them where they'd got it from. Turns out the guy was a bit of a collector and he ended up offering to sell it to us for $40 (so he could then buy one of the outrageously overpriced t-shirts). Alex was thrilled (and so was Chris, if truth be told).

Here's a few pictures from the show.






We then turned our focus to getting ready for the holidays and the upcoming move. One of the highlights for us was attending the annual Christmas Party run by the Korean Canadian Children's Association. This amazing association runs fun events and parties for families with children adopted from Korea. It's a great way for all of us to learn a bit about Korean culture and to meet some amazing people from the Korean community and see other families and kids.

Alex at the Christmas Party


Alex and Mom singing Christmas Carols



Alex has been playing a lot more lately with friends of his from the neighbourhood. He's been much more social and outgoing and had lots of fun having friends over to play and also going over to their place to play (giving Mom and Dad a wonderful chance to get packing done, or do some work, or watch a grown-up show, etc.).

Here's a few pictures of Alex with some of his friends in the weeks leading up to the move:

Alex and two of his friends out for dinner at Mandarin


Enjoying a fun meal at Mandarin


Alex and his buddy with their teacher - last day of school, which was also Polar Express Day (so they could all wear PJs)


Alex and his buddy goofing around



Before we knew it, Christmas was upon us. We had our nieces, Sarah and Amanda, come over for a sleepover a few days before Christmas and it was incredible to get to hang out with them and have some laughs. Chris' sister, Karen, then came up the next day to join us for a nice Christmas lunch and we got to exhange presents, etc. We were so sorry that Lew wasn't able to make it, but it was a work day for him, and with the craziness of the holidays and the move, we couldn't reschedule the day. Thankfully we got to see them for another visit over the holidays and Alex got to say goodbye again to his Aunt Karen and Uncle Lew.

We then went to spent two days in Toronto with my side of the family and we had a lovely Christmas there. Alex had so much fun with his cousins and we got to enjoy some great meals and some fun times. Alex wrote a nice letter to Santa all by himself (I helped him spell the words), and we left out some cookies, milk and carrots. It was sad to think this might be the last Christmas with us all together - not sure how easy it will be to see family from London and Toronto when we're now so far away, but we'll worry about that when the time comes.

Here's some pictures from the holidays. I wish I'd taken more, but I was so busy just talking and having fun that I never seemed to take any pictures at all over the holidays.

Alex working hard on his letter to Santa


Having fun on Christmas Eve


Sarah and Alex have everything prepared for Santa


Alex's letter to Santa

Here's what the letter says:
Dear Santa. Enjoy the cookies and carrots when you come at night. Love Alex.

Alex's reaction when he sees that Santa left some presents


Alex and Sarah check out the tree


Jennifer and the incredible cakes she made for our Christmas dinner


Right after Christmas, we went home and enjoyed a couple of days before we began packing again in earnest. We'd found out on December 30 that there was a potential problem with the purchase of our new home - nothing to do with us, just some complications that the vendors needed to resolve before they could sell their home to us. To say that we were stressed is an understatement. Things didn't get resolved until the very last minute, but thankfully we did manage to move into the house as scheduled and it all got resolved. We were so lucky to have worked with some amazing people who helped make this move a reality:

- The world's most amazing real estate agent here in Ottawa who took us around to see sooooooooooo many homes and managed to find us a place we could truly call home.
- An incredible woman from our bank who's been there for us many times over the years and kept me calm and focused on the bottom line when we kept having to revise our budgets for this move.
- Our lawyer and the amazing legal clerks who kept us current on everything that was going on behind the scenes and showed so much compassion and empathy for our position.
- An incredible team of movers who were a joy to work with, despite the incredibly frigid temperatures in Ottawa the day we moved into the new place.

Here's a few pictures from the last week since we moved into the new place.

Alex having a picnic in front of the gas fireplace in the empty and freezing house during the move


Alex's first trip to school on a school bus - and yes, I followed it all the way to his school *laughs*


Alex waiting for the bus on his second day taking the bus

Merry Christmas

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
~Dr. Seuss

Wishing you all the timeless treasures of Christmas, the warmth of home, the joy of togetherness, and the love of family.

Moving News

Wow - what a frantic and stressful five weeks it has been in our lives. While we were away, Chris was offered a new job with a new company. The opportunity was a good one, so we decided to accept the offer, even though it meant we'd have to move. We'd originally thought we could move to Kingston, but once Chris got more info on the breakdown of his new territory, it made more sense for us to move to Ottawa.

For selling our home, we worked with the realtor who we'd bought this house from about 8 years ago. We then spent two frantic weeks purging, packing, tidying, cleaning and having new carpets installed, etc. Kathy came out from Toronto to help a few times, and Jenny hired someone to help us pack (I got sick during this time and was almost zero help). We managed to get the place ready for our two-week deadline and thankfully the house sold within about 8 days.

We then turned our focus to Ottawa as our closing date was set as January 8, so we didn't have a lot of time to find a new place. To say it was stressful and exhausting would be an understatement, but in the end, we ended up buying a house we're very happy about. The Ottawa market is a lot pricier than Cambridge, so we had to make a few concessions re. our wish list, but overall we got quite a few of the things on our wish list. We could not have done it without our amazing real estate agent, Trudy. She was truly incredible and kept us moving forward when I was feeling utterly defeated by the whole process.

We're now focused on getting things organized for the move (utilities, cable, phone, movers, etc.) and getting ready for the holidays (I have done NO shopping yet!), and Chris is heading to Ottawa and Kingston to visit some of his key accounts.

Here's a few pictures of the new place. We'll post some more once we're settled in after January 8.

What a Great Cruise

Well we're back from our cruise! We had an amazing time on the Eurodam and got a chance to have some fun, relax, meet some wonderful people and see some cool stuff. Mostly it was just nice to get away and have some fun together. It's been a rough year for both Chris and I, so the vacation was something we'd really been looking forward to.

I've got tons of pics - so I'll try to group them so I can explain what's in the photos.

The first batch shows Alex at the airport in Buffalo with his own carry on, as well as some pictures of us going onboard and checking out our stateroom and balcony. We got on the ship, had a nice lunch in the dining room and then got to our stateroom and we were surprised to find a teddy bear for Alex from his grandma and grandpa, as well as some beautiful flowers from our family for our anniversary. We'd also signed up for the Vow Renewal Ceremony, and part of that package was another small bouquet of flowers so we just loved having the fresh flowers in our room. Alex loved his little couch (that turned into a bed at night), and we got busy unpacking as our luggage was delivered.











This next batch of photos are from our first full day on the ship. We have Alex enjoying some cold water in our cabana near the pool, as well as some pictures from the first formal night on the ship. Each seven-day cruise has two formal nights, so we all got dressed up a bit and had a lovely dinner. Our dining room steward was wonderful and would often make little origami animals for Alex. The food on the cruise was quite good, with lots of variety. I found it really easy to eat pretty healthy meals - especially as the salads and fruits were so yummy and plentiful.











The next set of photos are from our first port of call - Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos. The island itself was still recovering from a hurricane last year, and we'd booked a snorkeling excursion, so we didn't see much other than the cruise terminal and a lovely beach called Gibbs Cay, where we got to get up close (a little too close at times) with some very friendly stingrays. They ranged in size from small ones that were about 12" across, to quite big ones that were over 3 feet across. They'd come right up and swim against your legs - and even suck on your toes. You could feed them fish from your hands, but I didn't have the guts to do that - but Chris did it. Alex found it a bit overwhelming and stayed on Chris' shoulders most of the time.

We then went snorkeling and I got to go out reasonably far and see some neat fish and coral, as well as a really HUGE stringray that was mostly buried under the sand. it was probably about 5 feet across and it was kind of spooky to see it sitting there partially hidden as if it was lying in wait for you.

Alex loved the snorkeling (we'd been practicing in the bathtub and pool) and he did get to see some fish, but he didn't swim too far from the beach.









The next set of photos are from a relaxing day we had onboard the ship. We were actually docked in San Juan, but it was sooooooooooooo hot, with no breeze and we just felt like hanging out on the ship instead of going onto shore as there were no excursions we could do with a five-year-old, and we weren't interested in shopping or bar hopping. We hung out by the pool, relaxed in the cabana and Alex had fun eating lunch in the cabana. He also enjoyed "cooling down daddy" with the fans we'd been given (doesn't Chris look ever so pleased?)









The next day we were in St Thomas and we went ashore to see the sights a bit and do some souvenir shopping. There were tons of large iguanas near the port, and I was able to get one to pose nicely for a photo. This grouping of photos also has some of the other "animals" we encountered in our stateroom, including an elephant and monkey.

I also included some pictures of Alex after he'd gone to the "Pirate Party" in the Kid's Club. We weren't sure how he'd enjoy the kids' activities, but he really had fun and wanted to go most nights to the different theme parties they had. It gave Chris and I a bit of time a few evenings to go to the casino, or relax a bit, which was really nice.







The next set of photos were from the second formal night. We had dinner most nights in the dining room and were lucky to have been seated with three truly lovely women. They were seasoned cruisers and it was fascinating to hear the tales of their adventures. We had a lot of fun with them, and we hope to keep in touch. As this was the official "Farewell Dinner" (our next day was the last day of the cruise, but was not a formal night for dinner), they did some special things, including serving Baked Alaska and having the staff do a fun parade through the dining room while most people spun their napkins in the air... Alex thought this was tons of fun.

We didn't get to stay for dessert that night as it was also the night when we were doing our Vow Renewal Ceremony with the Captain. Chris and I, along with two other couples, met up in a lovely part of the Crow's Nest for a very lovely ceremony presided over by the Captain. As the next day was our official 10th anniversary, it was truly special to be able to renew our vows in such a memorable way.










The next batch of photos are from the same night, but are a few of the pictures I took of the 'dessert extravaganza' that they put on at around 10:30 p.m. Alex stayed up late that night and got to enjoy some yummy treats in his PJs.






This last set of pictures are from our last full day on the cruise. We were lucky that our itinerary included a stop at Half Moon Cay, which is a private island owned by Holland America. The beach was incredible, and the water was warm and crystal clear. The sand was so soft, with no rocks or plans or anything along the entire beach. I'm not normally a big beach person, but I had so much fun there just floating in the water and relaxing in the cabana we had for the day. This cabana was our own little private space, with loungers, and a fan and even an A/C unit, as well as our own shower, and floating mats for taking into the water.

Alex had a great time playing on the sand and swimming with me and Chris. Even though I'm normally extra, extra careful about protecting myself against the sun because I actually have a mild allergy to the sun, I managed to get a sunburn on my back and shoulders - my first sunburn ever, I think... not fun at all, but still worth it for the lovely day we had on the beach.








This last photo was from our trip home and was taken while we were waiting at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Alex decided to make his own little fort under the bench seats in the terminal and he hung out there playing and relaxing before we boarded our flight home.