October 5, 2009
Mali’s new smile
On Saturday Mali lost another tooth. Here was her letter to the Tooth Fairy:
Dear Tooth Fairy,
What do you do with the teeth? Do you make something with the teeth? Thank you for the money. Bye Tooth Fairy whoever you are.
PS. How do you carry heavy stuff?
Love, Mali
Letter from the Tooth Fairy:
Dear Mali,
Thank you so much for the clean teeth! They are so nice and shiny. Keep up the good job brushing. I collect the teeth from boys and girls to make my giant tooth castle. When it is done it is going to be awesome. I’m very little but I can carry heavy stuff because I have magic fairy dust that my Mom and Dad give me. Here is some money so you can buy a little treat!
Love, Tooth Fairy
PS. Your Dad is cute.
hmmmm….the PS makes me wonder if the Tooth Fairy actually wrote this note!
September 28, 2009
Albert Einstein – Does Evil Exist?
more about "Albert Einstein – Does Evil Exist?", posted with vodpod
September 9, 2009
New York City – Girls Trip
As most of you know I just got back from a weekend trip from the Big Apple. I went with my dearest friends Kim and Jaime. Here is a rundown of the most amazing, perfect New York trip….
Thursday, September 3rd – Jaime and I headed out in the morning while our husbands ran Daddy Daycare. We got to Edmonton at around 9:30 am and took a shuttle to WEM. We spent the entire day there walking around, and shopping a little. By 5 pm we returned to the airport and ate and then waited and waited and waited…
Friday, Spetember 4th – Our flight left at 1:30 am. Yes – The redeye! Never again! We flew to Montreal and arrived at 7 am (with the time change) and were off to New York shortly after. We arrived in NYC at around 10 am and met up with Kim at the airport. Her flight landed only minutes after ours. It was so exciting to finally be there and awesome to see Kim. Kim had set up a car service for us so we got our bags and headed to Time Square where we stayed at the Westin Hotel. The hotel was really nice. Thankfully we were able to check-in right away, shower and then hit the streets of New York. This was truly DAY ONE of our awesome trip. Lunch at Bryant Park and checked out the set up for the upcoming Fashion Week. Checked out the New York City Public Library which was floor to ceiling marble and where Carrie Bradshaw and Big were suppose to get married. We walked in Time Square, went to the Rockefeller Center and surrounding area and shopped (of course!). We found the American Girl Store and I of course had to go in and get some stuff for the girls. Three floors of every little girls dream. Dolls, clothes, playhouses, hospital, tea room, hair salon….insanity. I wish the girls could have seen that. I was thankful for Kim and Jaime who tagged along but it seemed like they too were having fun checking everything out. Although Kim wasn’t impressed the with “Asian Doll” that didn’t look very Asian. Macy’s was having a shoe sale so we of course had to check it out. Jaime and I found a pair each and Kim struck gold with 3 or 4 pairs. For dinner we went to Serendipity 3. For those of you who don’t know this is were the movie Serendipity was filmed. We had a 45 minute wait so we headed to Dylan’s Candy Bar to shop for our loved ones we left behind. 
The food at Serendipity was good. The portions were huge. Jaime and Kim enjoyed some Frrrozen Hot chocolate. After a long day of travel, shopping, sightseeing and eating we went back to the hotel.
Saturday, September 5th – Kleinfelds! We woke up pretty early to get all fancy and make sure we made it on time. We took a cab there. The building was beautiful! Inside and out. We were so giddy and star struck. It was awesome. Keasha was running late in true Keasha style. We didn’t mind. We were having a great time and hadn’t even left the lobby yet. We got into our appointment with Keasha and she was hilarious! She sent us to the back to root through the dresses. We hadn’t even gone through one row and she was yelling at Kim to get in the dressing room to try on some dresses. Keasha was a blast. She let us in on some TLC, Say Yes to the dress drama. But we’d have to kill you if we told you so it’s best to spare your lives. Kleinfelds was the purpose of our whole trip. We were scheduled to be filmed and have Kim featured on Say Yes to the Dress but because of scheduling headaches we got moved to B-roll which we think meant that they would come do a little thing with us and not the whole interviews etc. But in the end there was drama going on downstairs with a dress fitting with a bride they had already filmed so we saw the cameras upstairs for a whole 5 minutes. We might be in the background?? Who knows? But we weren’t all that upset about it. Had the cameras been there I’m not sure we would have had the laughs that we did. After the appointment we went for some lunch and toasted to an awesome morning. Then headed to Soho (South of Houston) for some…..shopping, yes. We searched for DKNY but did not find it and our feet hurt and it had been such a long day that we decided to head over to Lombardi’s Pizza which was everything we heard it was going to be. The pizza was well worth the 45 minute wait. After dinner we headed over to Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt. A super cute dessert shop with yummy flavors. A cab ride back to our hotel and already our trip was half over.
Sunday, September 6 – Our main goal for our last day in NYC was to get tickets to Wicked (the Broadway play). The box office opened at noon and we got there just before. There were 2 huge line-ups and after hanging around for about 10 minutes we realized our chances looked grim. So we left a little defeated but as we were walking we spotted Mamma Mia and decided to check it out and see if there were any available tickets there. Lucky us, there were. We had an hour or so to spare so we walked to Anthropology to return a belt, JCrew for a sweater for Kim and then ended up in a Brazilian festival/market. The streets were closed for the vendors and a huge stage for music. Loads of people. We got back to the Winter Garden Theater for 2 pm. The show (Mamma Mia) was amazing. It had us laughing, singing and bopping in our seats. Such a good time. The plan after the show was to head over the Central Park and then Century 21. Because it looked like it might rain we just headed over to Century 21. We spent almost an hour browsing. Other than some really nice high end things I didn’t really find all that much that I liked. Kim found a few things for Phil and I got Benj and the girls one thing each. Jaime and Kim were craving some pasta so we headed over to Little Itay and wouldn’t you know it…another street festival. Our dinner was fabulous but again the portions were so massive. Jaime ended the night with a cannoli and that was that. Our last night in NYC had arrived and we were back at the hotel by 11 pm.
Monday, September 7th – Up and ready for our morning flight. We were all on the same flight to Toronto. We said our sad goodbyes to Kim and onto the next leg to Edmonton. We were pretty sure we would not make our last leg to Yellowknife as the planes were full and we were flying on passes but by some miracle Jaime and I both made it home.
And there’s my weekend summary. Check out our flickr for some NYC shots.
August 19, 2009
Vacay
Trip recap:
Saturday – The 4 of us flew to Edmonton with Cindy to do some shopping and hang out. Quick trips to Toyota, WEM, Olive Garden, and of course Chuck-E-Cheese.
Sunday – South Common, then dropped Cindy off at the airport on the way out of town. Got into Airdrie at around 7, grabbed some Wendy’s (the only fast food we ate the entire week – goal acheived!) and exchanged the crappy PT Cruiser rental for a Toyota Camry. Much better. Settled into Kim and Denny’s empty house.
Monday – Hit up the Calgary Zoo. The Girls had a blast. Highlights were flamingos, the baby spider monkey, and the baby Gorilla hanging on it’s mom’s leg. On the way back to Airdrie, we had to stop at the mall for a quick haircut for Ev and a Run-DMC cd for Mali and Taya. Evening visit with Kim, Denny, Cory, Jer and Carly.
Tuesday – Drove to Drumheller (Dino Town) to visit the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum. Had a blast.
Wednesday -
Benji: Up at 5 and had the boat in the water at around 6:30 with Quinn and Kim for a full day float down the Bow River. Slowest day of fishing I’ve ever experienced. Only a couple of hits and none landed (for me). Kim and Quinn caught a couple (all while I was navigating the boat – I’m pretty much a guide). Were supposed to be home by 3pm but rolled in at about 6.
Ev and girls: Went to the Science Center (Mali said it was boring and not as good as Edmonton or Regina’s) then to Chinook for Build-a-Bear. The girls were pretty pumped about that.
Thursday – Drive to Banff. Walked around town and hit up the candy store and chocolate store. Lost Taya’s sweater. Checked out Banff Springs Hotel. Drive to the Chateau Lake Louise and check in. Valet guys wear ‘Yodelayheehoo’ costumes. Very girly. Restaurants not open for dinner in the hotel yet so we drive down to this other lodge place down the mountain, but it seriously smells like poo so back to the Chateau for a late dinner and swimming.
Friday – Sightseeing in Lake Louise, then off to Sulfur Hot Springs for a 2 hour soak. Mali ran into one of her school friends which was pretty cool. Late lunch in Banff then back to Airdrie to visit with Dad and Joan.
Saturday – Looked at some show homes with Kim (no we’re not moving to Airdrie). Uncle Wayner and Auntie Darlene’s 40th anniversary party. Had sweet visit with family and friends.
Sunday – Mission to find some chrome Grover 102 tuners failed. Had a birthday lunch for Cory then goodbyes and a drive back to Edmonton airport. We were certain we wouldn’t get on as the flight was full and we’re standby passengers, but due to a mistake by Edmonton staff, we all got on and made it home.
Had a great time and still have a week off to sleep in and work on the girl’s playhouse outside. More on that later.
August 7, 2009
365 Days
About a week ago I was chatting with Mali about doing something special for Grandma on Thursday because it will have been 1 year since Grandma went to Heaven. She thought a lot about this for a couple of days and had many suggestions…not a whole lot that were possible. One day I heard her run up to Benji in the room and tell him she had a great idea and wanted to send Grandma a message on a balloon so she could get it in Heaven. We thought this was an amazing idea. On Wednesday Benji brought the balloons to Coop so they could have them ready and blown up by Thursday (yesterday). On Thursday afternoon the girls drew a picture and wrote a message for Grandma while Benji had taken a day trip out to Pontoon in the Arctic Loon accompanied by Oscar.
Taya’s message:
I love you Grandma and I think you love me. But you’re in the sky. I love you for all. Grandma – You are the best Grandma in the whole world. Love, Taya
Mali’s message:
Dear Grandma, How are you doing? I wish that you could send me a letter down the sky. I like that you came at my house. I really wish that I could send you a flower and I wish that you could come to my house. And I wish I could go see you and your dog, Barkley. And I wish my whole family and friends could come to Heaven and see you. I think you’re having fun there. I love you and miss you. Love, Mali
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 we gathered together as a family here in Yellowknife to reflect, remember, honor, and celebrate Mom/Grandma. We headed to the Ashby’s for a bbq, soccer, football and a fire in the backyard. After dinner we all wrote messages on the balloons. The girls attached their message. And on the count to 3 they were released. For me I loved seeing everyone’s face watching the balloons float away. Different expressions. Reflections. Sadness. And joy. The face I loved the most in that moment was Mali’s. She was watching her idea come to life. And it must have turned out exactly as she pictured it because she had a smile on her face the entire time. On our way home she said; “I just know that Grandma got her balloons. There were so many. I bet the Angels had to help her catch them all”. Her faith and assurance makes me believe that Mom did get those balloons and was thrilled.
July 16, 2009
Updates for Kate McRae
The latest update is devastating. How much more can this family go through???
July 8, 2009
Kim and Phil
A really good friend of mine, Kim, is up in Yellowknife this week visiting with her fiance Phil. As an engagement gift I offered to take some photos for them. How fun it was. And I was reminded at how much I love to take photos. They both were a little nervous at the beginning but quickly became naturals. It’s been almost 3 years since the last time I saw Kim. I sure have missed her a lot and will be sad when she leaves. Thankfully we will reconnect this September and then again next summer for the wedding. So it wont be so bad this time. Phil is awesome. Such a perfect match for Kim. A very sweet guy. I am so thrilled for them.
