Look Omar, no burns!

After arriving the Salmon Arm on Saturday afternoon, we left the kids with Martha ("Marth" as Sam started calling her) and Westlee and caught a movie (Up the Yangtze) with Ian, Lynne and Lindsay and her folks. It was good, but still showed signs of being a documentary. Lynne slept through the first part to be able to last through the 2nd movie that night. The Shuswap International Film Festival is quite an affair. I don't think there was a free seat in the house!

We appreciated the night out, but Max was up quite early so I was up and at 'em at an unseemly hour. Being on Mountain time didn't help either. We eventually got on our way and drove down to Kelowna to visit with Lindsay and Omar. Darcy and Lindsay took a break from the kids, so Omar and I took Sam and Max to the park. I had a self imposed project of taking a bunch of photos with my lensbaby so I put it to use in the park. By the end of the visit Sam (and me too!) was going headfirst on his back down the slide. Wouldn't be that great an idea on some slides, but this one was pretty slow, and I was going down ahead of him. Sam also managed to climb up the Corkscrew Climber and Loop Ladder Climber (I had to look up the names) shown here. I like the selective focus on Sam in these photos:



The rings. I had a few swings on these guys:

In what was the relatively safe environment of Lindsay and Omar's house, Sam got to run around and tear the place up. With the fireplace out of commission, L & O got the full initiation treatment. Sam went to the bathroom about 8 times, peed on the floor (didn't quite get on the toilet), passed on a nap, and displayed the full collections of checkers, chess and backgammon pieces around the living room. Max pooped on the floor, puked on the floor and ottoman and pulled 4 bottles of wine out of the rack so he could use the rack as a fun toy! Hopefully Lindsay and Omar had fun too. I'm sure they find some game pieces in the various nooks and crannies for a while.

Playing with Grandma

Max getting some help walking: Molly shaking her shaker. She is getting to be a more familiar site around the house these days. We'll miss them when Eric and Claire go back to Edmonton:
Sam helping Grandma make French Toast:
Max, playing with Grandma's bracelets - a very familiar site in our family:
1 more monkey jumping on the bed! Max was holding onto the side jumping up and down while he laughed. He does that a lot these days...

Total Eclipse of the Moon...

At around 7:57 Calgary time we had a nice view of the moon as it was eclipsed. I setup the tripod and snapped off a few shots after putting the kids to bed. Darcy and Claire went out to a movie tonight, so I'm on kid duty - which so far hasn't turned out to be easy. Max is crying and Sam has been up twice to go to the toilet.

Bath time for Sam and Max

Some photos of the boys from tonight. Here is Max playing intently with a link:

Max before getting into the bath:

Sam and Max playing in the tub:

Max playing with the cup:

Sam, giving Max a little too much water for washing his hair:

Family Day gathering

We had quite a crew at our house yesterday for brunch. Claire, Molly, Ali, Matt, Rogan, Lily, Dawn, Ryan, Daniel, Andrew and Trevor and Maureen. Add our family into the mix and you have 7 kids under 4 (Andrew just turned 3!), 7 parents and 2 grandparents. We had to take the boys out for a walk at one point just to calm things down a bit.

Rogan enjoying the meat portion of breakfast:

Grandma and Grandpa with Max just before they flew home:

Molly eating:

Ryan, Brad and Andrew eating breakfast. Those Rosses are a happy crew!

Day trip to Banff

We had a nice day today with his grandparents from Victoria. We drove up to Banff to the Whyte Museum and the Hot Springs for a swim. Maureen and I were interested in the photography exhibit, as part of Exposure Calgary Banff. We were both a little disappointed by the breadth of the exhibit. I did enjoy the photos from Craig Richards, though. I watched with Max while Sam swam with Grandma and Grandpa Calkins.



Here is a shot of Max in his new sweater from Grandma Wickett.

Malti: 6 Months Old, 350 lbs

Malti the elephant that is... We took Sam and Max to the zoo today to see the new baby elephant. I was skeptical at first about a zoo in the winter, but it was great. Sam loved the elephant, as well as the many other animals (Ibix, Tiger, Macaque, Gorilla, Crocodile, Warthog, Giraffe, Hippo, etc.).
Max and Grandpa:
Sam and Grandma:
And of course, one of the big cats... They were walking right up to the fence so Sam got a really good look!
We met Andrew and Ryan as well, part way through (not to mention bumped into Tracy and Scott Hyndman with their kids).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Card from William (who I saw sleeping last night in Victoria) to Sammy...

You should see the other guy..

Both boys woke up sick this morning. Sammy threw up three times, and Max at least twice since 6am. It was a bit rough, but both are in good spirits condsidering...

Black eye

Last night at Dawn and Ryan's, Sam's eye had a collision with Andrew's head. I was chasing them down the hall, and eventually Andrew zigged when Sam zagged. As Sam was crying, Andrew asked him "Sam - do you want to punch me?"

Here is a photo from this morning:

Max in dress shirt

It always makes Darcy happy when I put Max or Sam in a new outfit when I get them dressed. Today I spotted this new green dress shirt and put it on Max. Max was all smiles this morning, and both he and Sam were playing together well.

Runner up in photo contest

WestJet has an in flight magazine called UP! Magazine. I was featured this month as a runner up in the their annual photo contest.

http://www.up-magazine.com/magazine/exclusives/Top_Pics.shtml

You have to click through the pictures to see mine.

Snowshoeing 101

Well, I finally went out on my first showshoe adventure! I've been asking for showshoes for a Christmas or Birthday present for years, and it finally paid off. My parents got me showshoes for Christmas, flotation tails for my Birthday, and my sister and brother-in-law a case for the works. We had a convenient opportunity this week to try them out, as we were in Panorama with friends. Ryan loves to ski, and partake in any manner of ourdoor winter activity. It was not a hard sell to pull him from the slopes and strap his skins onto his telemarking skis.


We got dropped off at the Golf Course and walked back along a pretty groomed trail. Almost back at the cabin, we veered off onto the (mostly) frozen creek that runs by the village. It was untrod, and a lot deeper so we got a pretty good workout, despite the distance being small.

Close to the cabin, we climbed up off the creek and arrived directly behind our cabin. A few steps more and we were arrested by the tell-tale rat-tat-tat of a woodpecker. He let us get pretty close, and few picture, before he (she?) moved on. The backpack Claire and Eric got me for my camera worked out excellently as well. I was able to (and more importantly - did) carry my camera AND telephoto lens. As a result, I was able to get this picture:

Ski Photos are in!

I love this picture - it is like Andrew and Sam are talking about the awesome run they just had.
Sam, crusing on his skis:
Successfully steering himself through the tunnel:
Dawn and her family have been great at helping Sam out on the slopes. I tried to take him yesterday and he ended up breaking down and wanting to be carried. In the end the made it down himself, but he seemed to be a lot more stressed when I was around.
Ryan and Andrew. Andrew had his 3rd birthday two days ago and is doing great out on the mountain!

Vacation at Panorama

Things are going well up at Panorama - except for a general lack of sleep. Having the four of us in a single room always leads to one child waking the other up.

Ryan, Dawn and Duncan took Sam skiing for his first time yesterday. I stopped by at the end to see how it was going and was shocked to see Sam skiing down the hill by himself. We're just talking about the bunny hill, here, but still! Dawn was letting him go at the top of the small slope, and he would steer himself down and through a tunnel they had setup. I'd post some super-cute pictures but I can't find my card reader cable yet, and thus can't get the photos off the camera. Trust me - they are very adorable. He had to carry his skis himself, as well, once things were done.

Today we are putting him in a lesson - more to give the adults a short break than anything. I've been working in the internet cafe here, but tomorrow plan to go skiing with Sam on the green runs. Thursday I may take a snowshoe tour, or just head out myself. Looking forward to it!

Max crawls!

Click below to see a short clip...

Happy Birthday to me...

Had the gang over last night for two brithdays - mine and Andrew's. The gang included Claire and Eric this time as they are living in Calgary for a few months.

Me and Max, who slept from 7 last night to 6:40 this morning. Either he didn't wake up for a bottle, or we didn't wake up to give it to him :)
Playing doctor:
Sam almost needed the doctor after a train came through the air and connected with his head. Sam didn't rat anyone out, and the other two boys present aren't saying anything. The investigation continues.