The adults head to Alaska

We had an opportunity to head to Seattle for a few days in March and decided to tack on a few days to see my parents in Alaska. If you don't follow their blog, here's the address: http://salishaire.blogspot.com/  They live on a boat now that they are retired and have spent the winter in Alaska. We flew into Sitka after collecting our mail and seeing a couple of people in WA (including my grandpa & surprising my grandma for her birthday)

 

We really enjoyed the bird rehabilitation centre.

 

Those are fake trees, this tiny, tiny owl mans the front desk!

 

This is the are of town next to their moorage.

 

Bookstore sign

 

Russian Orthodox church in middle of town.

 

Literally in the middle of town, traffic goes in one direction on either side.

 

We were able to check out the Bishop's house in a private tour.

 

St. Peter's by the Sea where my parents have been attending.

 

Erin at the totem park and historical information area at the other end of town.

 View over the marina

 Cultural centre

 The park had lots of trails with totems all along the way to see.

The otter that hung out by the boat.

 

Visitors for New Years' and winter 2018.

My grandma & parents came to visit for New Years.  The unfortunate part was that they were all pretty sick while they were here, but it was still awesome for the kids (and husband and I!) to hang out with grandparents and great grandparents in our natural, snowy environment.  Though, I do tease them that they should come some time that isn't below 0C sometime.

 

 

We checked out the fireworks at Niagara falls, with the grandma's parked at an overview nice and warm in the car, and the rest of us braving the frigid air...

 

 

 

 

On New Year's night we brought dad to check out the Family friendly celebration near us-with fireworks at 8:30 (bonus to living in a land with very short days in the winter!)

 

 

 

They left and the children continued to lose teeth. I actually commented one morning in the kids' bathroom, "Who left this molar here?"

Curling season and bonspiels kept us busy.  Erin's team got 3rd place in the women's bonspeil and these awesome sweaters as prizes.

 

I also defended my/our title at the I.Am. Canadian bonspeil

 

 

I made the hats with the help of my hat model.

 See, we won last year!  We swapped out our lead this year as Lori hadn't played much this year and Barb hadn't been in a multi-day bonspeil yet.

 

We won!

 

Paul's team got a coveted 8 ender (like a no hitter in baseball, but maybe harder-Scoring all 8 of their rocks in an end)  He got a certificate and pins for his achievement.

 

H's team beat V's in the little rock bonspeil and they gave amazing speeches as usual (if you want a short speech session do not give my children microphones)  unfortunately the microphone on my phone is a bust :(

 

 

 

 

We worked on Valentines day cards in the sweatshop craft room

C tried a semi-formal dance and decided it wasn't his scene.

 

V got an honours award for 1st semester.  H got a student of the month award.

 

 

She enjoyed her comic books from the comic book store reward program for grades

 

 

The little ones had a great skating year, V should be able to skate with the upper kids next year perfecting her skating instead of just basic lessons.  She won an award for dedication to the sport.

 

H was sad not to get a "special" award, just the "same cups as last year"

 

But he tried to be nice about it.

 

He perked up when they gave him a microphone and had he and the other 2 male figure skaters come up and be recognized.

Paul and I played in the St. Patty's Day bonspeil again...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas sign

Since I just got the craft room back I didn't make a ton of holiday things this year, but did make 2 of these signs, one for myself, one for the inlaws. I'd had the background signs for years but finally put them to use using my Cricut and vinyl.

2017 Book List

I made it over 52 books for the year!
1. Farm Fatale
2. Little Bee
3. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
4. The Residence (highly recommend this behind the scenes look at the White House)
5.  The Spare Room
6.  Penmarric (good for those who like classics)
7. The Light Between Oceans (I recommend this one!)
8. Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes (enjoyable)
9.  The Dinner, Herman Koch (ok, but I don't think it was worth all the hype)
10.  Have a New Husband by Friday
11. Lives of the Saints, Nino Ricci (good for those who like classics)
12.  The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Booth
13. Choose Your own Autobiography, Neil Patrick Harris
14. People I want to Punch in the Throat
15. The House we Grew up in, Lisa Jewell (I enjoyed this so much I've been devouring her other books)
16. All The Light We Cannot See (About WW Germany- very good)
17. Ordinary Grace
18. One Brother Shy, Terry Fallis (Canadian Author I very much enjoy-Dry sense of humor and sarcasm)
19. The Golden Compass (I found this hard to read)
20. Gone Girl (disturbing but worth the hype)
21.  Luckiest Girl Alive
22. The Phantom Tollbooth
23. Dream Lover, Berg
24. I take You
25.  13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
26. Tales of Beatrix Potter
27. Life After Life
28. Full House, Evanovich
29. Common Ground, Jan Karon
30. Broad Influence (very interesting about the influence of women in business and politics)
31. I just Want to be Perfect
32. In this Mountain, Jan Karon
33. A New Song, Jan Karon
34. China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan
35. After Alice, Gregory McGuire
36. The sisters Chase, Healy (good read)
37. The Ripple Effect (interesting about how sleep and eating well affect all the parts of our lives)
38.  The Third Wife, Lisa Jewell (enjoyed this)
39.  Before I Met You, Lisa Jewell (enjoyed)
40.  The Explosive Child (very insightful for those who have children with outbursts)
41.  Live & Let Growl
42.  The Girls in the Garden, Jewell (mystery I found myself thinking about lots)
43.  Mitford Bedside Companion
44.  Shepherds Abiding, Karon
45.  It Aint So Awful Falafel (YA book I enjoyed)
46.  How Not to Calm a Child on a Plane
47.  Reunion (I think worth the hype)
48.  A Light from Heaven, Karon
49.  The Last Time I Saw you
50. Wonder
51. Out of my Mind (fantastic-similar to Wonder)
52.  My Grandmother Told Me to Tell you She's Sorry (Backman, very interesting and winding)
53. Beartown, Fredrik Backman, Enjoyed this more than I expected to.
54.  I Found You (fantastic mystery, I did figure some of it out before the end, but left me hanging with many chapters, I actually had to stop myself from reading once I thought I figured it out or I'd be up all night)
55.   A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman (I really enjoyed this)
56.  A Christmas Carol, Dickens (had never read it in the original format before)
57. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer ( can read in one sitting-worth it)
58.  Britt-Marie was here, Fredrick Backman (alright, I enjoyed his other books, but this did have a certain charm to it.