Category: Events

I keep forgetting that Annie is seven. In my mind, when I talk to people, sign her up for programs, she is still six. Seven sounds so old. So grown up.

Not that I don’t have reminders. “I’m 7 Mom…you don’t have to remind me to brush my teeth or brush my hair!” If only.

Annie’s birthday party was excellent. We decided to squeeze the last out of our Vancouver Aquarium membership and had the birthday there. Easy peasy for the parents and the kids had a blast. My favourite part was the back-of-house tour where the public is usually not allowed to go. We saw aquariums full of dozens of kinds of jelly fish, which is the current exhibit. Then the kids were allowed to hold and touch different sea creatures.

Annie’s favourite part was feeding the fish in the main tank, a privilege only for the birthday girl.

This was definitely a great party.

 

Her actual birthday a couple of days later started out with breakfast in bed (Dad made the heart-shaped pancake), opening presents and then heading off to school with brownies to share with the class.

We had dinner with Rebecca, who gave Annie a yellow child-size ukelele. (Rebecca is focused on music right now and she plays several instruments well. She also writes scores for her orchestra…I’m so impressed!) Annie has asked to take ukelele lessons, which we’ll try to work into the busy schedule. With her constantly singing and making up songs, I think ukelele/guitar would be a good fit.

It was a fabulous birthday all around. Now I just have to get used to the fact that I have a funny, curious, beautiful 7-year-old…with more than a little bit of sass.

IMG 0578 from Across The Water on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

It was a gorgeous first day of the new year. Bright and crisp, with an all-too-rare sun shining strongly. We all spent some time outdoors walking, running and playing.

Near to home I snapped this shot:

January 1 and the magnolia trees are already trying to bloom. What sweetness.

There was also a great deal of lazing about, which always adds to a good day at this house.

I can’t believe how quickly the holidays have gone, with Mom/Nana and Grandpa Drew being here, Christmas and activities with my brother and his family, and a few good ski days. I guess that is always the way.

Tomorrow is the start of my four-month stint of very full workweeks. I’m actually quite excited about it. I look forward to getting to know the small company of new people, as well as learning from a woman entrepreneur who has run a successful web development company for 12 years. Impressive.

The new year also brought good news about my Dad, who has been in the hospital in Phoenix since before Christmas. He seems to be on the mend and we hope he is back home soon.

An excellent start to what I feel will be a great year ahead.

 

I wanted to write a post today, mainly because I value number geekery. (Plus my ‘woo woo’ side is getting increasingly stronger as I age….I did the master shift mediation earlier today and thought it was great.)

I had a few ideas of what I might write about. It is a long time between posts since returning to Canada, so there are a ton of stories, photos and videos to choose from.

But then I had one of those lovely days today when I just feel so great. When I was on mat leave with Annie I used to call it post-partem euphoria. A deep, fabulous feeling of joy and well being. I’ve been having lots of those days the last few months, or at least vast strings of days where I experience this feeling for at least for a portion of the day.

Just about the last thing anyone wants to hear when they are going through a rough time is, ‘the bad times make you appreciate the good times.’ (Seriously…who wants to be told that when they are down??) And yet, once you are through the worst of it, it is simply true. I’m so grateful for so many things in my life these days, and I know that this gratitude is highly driven by having come out of such a tough stage.

Things are starting to click into place for all of us. Annie’s school is fabulous, Markus and I both enjoy our jobs, and it is wonderful having Rebecca meld into the family again. The girls and dad spent a couple of evenings baking Christmas cookies, with one of the nights Markus and I going out while Rebecca hung out with Annie, and the other night Rebecca and I went to the final Twilight film together. Despite the monster commute, Markus is often home for dinner and it just feels like we have this beautiful little family.

Of course there is no nirvana here; Markus and Annie can attest that my cranky side hasn’t, unfortunately, magically disappeared. We also have some major things to still figure out, first and foremost where we are going to end up living. But we aren’t going to make any changes on that front for at least a year, and I’m quite sure we’ll have a better sense of what we want then. And in the meantime our neighbourhood, Kitsilano, it ideal for me. It is a community of down-to-earth, kind-hearted folk, plus I’m able to walk everywhere from Annie’s school, to any store I need, to the local library, to the ocean. That is about all I need for the time being.

So I’ll leave the stories and photos and videos for another day and, on this unusual date, just record how grateful I am at this time in life. It is more than enough.

 

Annie had a fabulous first Halloween back in Canada. This is actually the first one she can remember, as they don’t really celebrate it in Austria. Or at least not the same way. They have Fasching (Carnival) of course, but the concept of going door-to-door and people giving you fistfuls of candy is something special to North America.

“I really love this candy!” said Annie. What a shocker.

The season started with the Lord Tennyson Halloween Howl. It is the 26th year that the school turned itself into a giant Halloween festival, complete with haunted house, games rooms, graveyard, incredible decorations, prizes and on and on.

Two floors of the school and all the main classrooms house jello eating contests, palm reading, storytelling, and pretty much everything you can imagine that is Halloween related.

Annie was Pippi Longstocking this year. I actually made her costumer (seriously never thought I’d say that in my life), including buying fabric ends for the patches and figuring out the hair. Here is the result:

I love the horse! (We didn’t have a monkey).

Over 800 people attended the Howl and it take about 200 volunteers from the school to set up and tear down. Annie’s new school rocks, let me tell you. We invited the cousins and all four of them had a great time.

Yesterday we all (Markus, Rebecca, Annie and I) went up to North Van to join the cousins.

(I can’t remember the name of Rebecca’s character. Shhh, don’t tell. I have pictures of Markus as well, who Rebecca dresses up like a zombie, but they are on the iPhone so I’ll have to upload them later. )

We started off in Edgemont Village, then had dinner, and then TWO HOURS of trick-or-treating in the pouring, pouring rain. But hey, it is only once a year.

This was very much a night to remember.

* Shout out to Lori, Matheson and Shawna. They gave us the Pippi Longstocking book, which we are enjoying immensely, and also one pair of the stockings that made it into the costume. Thanks!

 

The Laternenfest at Annie’s kindergarten is always pretty much the same. So it is fun to compare the years: 2008, 2009 (which is just a brief mention and has no pictures, as Annie was having a total meltdown the entire time), and 2010. I can’t believe what a wee girl Annie was we we came to Innsbruck. Wow, what an adventure.

As I say, not much changes year to year. The kids gather around 4:00, close to sundown.

Annie favours the tight-lipped grin these days for photos…as you can see:

Then the teachers do their best to corral the children into a line with their assigned partner.

The kids sing their song (the same one Markus used to sing as a boy) and they all meet in the park pavilion. After a short speech, the children sing together in German and then in their other language (English, Italian or French). A brass band plays some pretty music and then we all have Lebkuchen and punch.

It always chokes me up a bit, maybe especially this year as it will likely  be Annie’s last Laternenfest. Nice memories to have of our time in Austria.