Dinner's Ready!

Kyle is thrilled to have a brand new barbeque!

Boxing Day

Bonnie and Andy arrived in Calgary on Boxing Day.

Everyone sits down for a big Boxing Day dinner!

It's a shame that I was so sick on our first Christmas as husband and wife... I look like this in all of our photos!  At least it's one we'll never forget. 

(And yes, I went right back to bed after dinner was over.)

 The girls had a blast playing in the huge gift bags Bonnie and Andy had brought their presents in!

 

 Even Evelyn thought it was fun!

Christmas Day

 After letting us sleep in until 6:30am, three excited girls woke us up and we congregated around the tree to open gifts.

It was Evelyn's first Christmas!

Anna shows me Lego she got in her stocking.

Evelyn did a pretty good job opening her gifts.

Kaeli was very excited about her new bracelet.

Kyle got a kitty mug in his stocking.

These eggs were a hit - All three girls loved playing with them.

My Mum made me a tea cozy for my polka dot tea pot!  Thanks, Mum!

The girls prepare to open the huuuge gift Santa left for them - A playhouse!

I unfortunately got hit with a pretty bad case of the stomach flu, and went straight back to bed after the gifts were open and stayed there until well after dinner.

Anna tries out the new car Santa brought for Evelyn.

Everyone sits down for a Turkey dinner (which I'm told was excellent!)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve in Calgary

I spent Christmas Eve Day with Steph and her girls while Ian and Kyle took advantage of the weather and went snowboarding in Banff.

 

 The girls spent a good part of the morning playing outside in the snow.

 Kaeli, you look like I just caught you doing something you shouldn't be doing!

 Anna tries to convince me that she doesn't need her mittens.

 

 Evelyn and I stayed inside where it was warm!

After coming in from the backyard, Anna helped Steph bake some blueberry muffins.

 

 Evelyn trying really hard to take the camera from me.

We are now BFF's.

 More baking in the afternoon - The girls help Steph make shortbread cookies to leave for Santa.

 

 Anna's cookies were green.

Kaeli decided to make pink ones, of course.

They played in their little kitchen, and Anna used my mittens as play oven mitts.

Evelyn has a couple of teeth starting to come through!

 

 After dinner, the girls put on their matching jammies and said their goodnights before heading to bed.

 

 Anna gives Kyle a goodnight tickle. 

"See you on Christmas!"

Calgary

 Kyle and I arrived in Calgary late on Thusday night after most of the Washbrooks had gone to bed.  We spent most of the day on Friday with them, and had a great time at Ian's office Christmas Party in the afternoon.

Post-party, Uncle Kyle had a great time goofing around with Kaeli and Anna!

Anna shows Kyle how to read this book, because he was "reading it wrong."

 

 

 

 

 

As you can guess, Uncle Kyle was pretty worn out by the end.

Flowers

I came home from work to discover a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Kyle had brought home!  What a guy!

 

Sailing Lessons - Day 2

On day 2 of our sailing lessons there were only three students on the boat - Kyle, myself and another guy named Adam who was there on his own.  The weather was much better than the previous day with better winds and clearer skies. 

 

A HeliJet helicopter coming into the harbour

Because of the good winds the three of us were able to do a lot more on the sailboat - Driving at the helm, tacking (moving sails from one side to the other to change direction with the wind) and emergency stopping when there isn't time to lower the head sail. 

 

 

Kyle tacking the head sail for a quick turn about

 

 

Our instructor, Katy, was fantastic - Amazingly knowledgeable, patient and very funny.  We were sort of sad now that our lessons are over, but so glad for the experience!