Christmas 2011

Christmas at our house is a wonderful time. The girls are so joyful! There is so much food!


And then there is skiing.

Licensed Driver

Sarah passed her written test for her driver's license today. She has to wait until she is 16 to get her full license, but she can start practicing now!

O Christmas Tree

We spent a lovely family evening decorating the tree. Each of us chose an ornament to hang first - Sarah a skiing Snow Baby and Alison Santa and Rudolf (whose nose no longer lights up after years of joyful play). I am loving all the stories the ornaments tell.

Sarah is 14 now

The most exciting thing in the world when you are turning 14 and you are Sarah is a new texting phone. She sent over 100 texts on her first day. She really, really needed that new phone.

Nothing was more exciting when you are Sarah's parents and you saw the look on her face when she opened her new phone. Such joy.

Happiest of birthdays, Sarah!

Christmas Concert

This year's Christmas concert featured both bands that Sarah is playing in this term - regular Grade 9 band as well as Jazz band. What is fun for Sarah is that she sits right up front in both bands which means we get to see - the music stand in front of her. What was not fun for Sarah was that the song that featured her solo performance on the saxophone was cut earlier that day.


The other not fun thing is that the lights were very bright and I did not get any good pictures.

I am really hoping that she will play some of that Christmas music at home for the family.

Happy Eleventh Birthday, Alison

It is a very exciting thing to turn 11. You can no longer show your age on your hands and a sushi chef will sing to you while waving around a very large knife.

And then there are presents and cards which are so very exciting!

Happy Halloween

Presenting the latest piece in the Edcath Art Gallery...

"Self-Portrait," by Alison Taylor

Training trip

I just dropped the big girl at the airport for a two week training trip in Colorado. I hope she works hard and has tons of fun. I miss her already!

School Dance

Alison attended her final school dance at Banff Trail Elementary. We had to get there early so she could work a shift at the glow necklace/ candy bag station and then she and her friends danced up a storm. Mom was there to supervise because there are boys who ask girls to go with them to these events. Fortunately, all boys maintained appropriate space.

Gymnastics

As part of dryland training, the girls have been training at The Flip Factory. They have been jumping on trampolines, swinging from bars and climbing ropes. It looks like tons of fun!

Lake Louise Hike

Rustle and his girls hiked to the top of the world today. Actually, Rustle apparently did it a few times over as he would up ahead, then back to the girls, then ahead and back again. It was a brisk fall day, but no snow. Guess that start date in three weeks might need to be reconsidered.

This is me (Sarah) in Grade 9, Baby

We have been at school for over a week now (since Sept. 1) and so far Sarah still doesn't have a blue and red adidas bag or a humongous binder but she is in Grade 9. In Alberta, she is the oldest grade in Junior High, so no problems being a minor niner.

Alison is in grade 6 now (no song lyrics for joke fodder when you are in grade 6), so this means she is Boss at her school too and gets the back seats of the bus.

Rustle still hasn't learned any new tricks.

{If you don't get the reference, you can watch the Barenaked Ladies perform "Grade 9" here}

Jam-packed Summer Fun, Part 2

Now for the Lake of the Wood shots:

Bob on the laser.

Alison the Wakeboarder.


Alison the Kayaker.
Everyone loves tubing.
Nothing beats the hot tub after wakeboarding.


I think they had fun.

Jam-packed Summer Fun, Part 1

I can not believe that summer is over and school starts for Rustle's girls tomorrow. We were so busy having fun that we didn't even notice the time slip away.

So, a very picture-heavy post to help describe where the time has gone... I present: Part One - Cape Breton Adventures.

We had a magical visit:


We ate a lot:

We didn't eat the fish that Alison caught, even though she named it Dinner

but it didn't make us that grumpy. We also made some sweet stuff:


And we spent a lot of time exploring.



We took a road trip around the Cabot Trail:




and went whale watching in Pleasant Bay: (Alison was extremely excited)

The whales came pretty close to our zodiac:

And there is always time to read Calvin and Hobbes:

Spot the Puppy

The exciting part about taking Rustle for a walk through the dog park at this time of year is that the grass is extremely tall. It gets very exciting when you are riding your bike and he rushes towards you, but you don't see him until he is RIGHT THERE. It can sometimes be a challenge to find him when he is off frolicking in the grass. Let me show you:

Here he is, just entering his playground.

He has been swallowed up by the grasses. I try to keep my eye on his swishy, bushy tail. It wags non-stop when we are at the park.

Good thing he comes running when I call!

Pixie!

I have mentioned before that Alison has a cute little pixie face. Now she has the haircut to go with it!

It was a bit too long.

Alison planned this for over a month.

First snips - so excited!

Almost there - but it is taking a long time. Still excited, though!

She loves it!