Spanish Tapas

Our friend group has been holding a rotating "Gourmet Club" Dinner night, where each couple takes a turn to host a "theme night" and the other couples bring dishes related to the theme, pot-luck style...
Crystal and Marc hosted this month's dinner at their beautiful "new" house in Mount Royal, and chose a theme of Spanish Tapas... Enjoying the view off their beautiful deck

The girls chat (and nurse!) while the boys cook?--I could get used to this!

Crystal shows off their HUGE kitchen--perfect for dinner parties!

Our contribution was the traditional Spanish Omelette.

A great selection of dishes, including paella--yum!!

Flowers and Photos

We've been playing around with our new camera, and our only major subject matter this weekend was the flowers in our newly planted garden!...Here are a few of the shots that turned out okay...

Greyson explores OUTSIDE!!

Greyson has started exploring outside now that the weather is nice...He seems to love climbing trees, but as with most kitties, he's much better at climbing up the trees than climbing down...

May Long Weekend--"Shoulder Season" Part 3

Dave and I had another wonderful "Shoulder Season" weekend this year: great weather on Saturday gave us a chance to do some yardwork and work on our gardens (although now that it's cooled down at night again, we may have lost a few of those newly planted annuals!). The great weather continued on Sunday, for a hike up "Chinaman's Peak" to get a great clear view over Canmore. We met up with Shandra and Dave and headed to Tunnel Mountain in Banff to camp overnight. Monday was a cooler and rainy/snowy day, but perfect for "Slush Cup" at Sunshine village--the last ski of the season.
Looking forward to another great summer filled with fun visits and travel--we are off to Ontario again in the end of July for a 2 week visit with friends and family.


At the top of the mountain, enjoying the view...
Scrambling down the scree...

Dave and Shandra at Tunnel Mountain

Car Camping...

Last ski day of the season: above the clouds with Brian and Kris, Shandra and Dave

Slush Cup at Sunshine Village

Mike and Mel

Just wanted to send a "shout out" to the Wrigglesworths in Libya: Mike is a friend of Dave's from back in Guelph days, who moved to Calgary years before we did. When we first moved to Calgary almost 3 years ago (!!), Mike and Mel were our first connection to the city, and staying with them for our first few weeks led to a fast friendship as Mel showed me around the city and made me feel more at home in this strange new place!!

Sadly for us, but great news for them, the Wrigglesworths had an amazing opportunity to live and work abroad in Libya starting in the fall of 2006. Since that time, we have kept up with them through their blog, and have been able to live vicariously through their many adventures into travel, exploring cultures, and raising 2 children at "ex-Pats".

If you have not yet checked Mike and Mel's blog, you should definitely take a few moments to explore. Their recent adventures are in South Africa, and the pictures from their trip (as always!) are amazing. Mike and especially Mel have been an inspiration to me in the way they have managed to raise their children as true "children of the world". While I don't know that I would be able to handle the trials and tribulations of daily life as a woman and mother in a mostly Muslim part of the world, I have so much respect for the relaxed and laid-back way that Mel has been able to take this all in stride.

I hope that if/when we have children of our own, we can take a few pages out of Mike and Mel's book in terms of keeping up an active lifestyle that includes travel and exploring the world and other cultures. I'm sure it's not an easy task, but I appreciate that Mike and Mel have made this a priority, and are raising their kids to be flexible and well-seasoned travellers: Lucy probably has more countries stamped in her passport as a 3-year-old than most of us ever will!!

Congratulations guys on your many adventures: we look forward to every time you make it back to Canada to share a small piece of those adventures with us!

http://thewrigs.blogspot.com/

The SHarmans tie the knot in Mexico...

(I'm finally getting around to posting from last week's trip: our personal PC is currently being re-imaged, after shutting down when we added almost 1000 photos from the wedding week...I'll have to use thumbnails for now...)

Well, after flight changes, tour company bankruptcies, and world pandemic flu outbreaks, Dave and Shandra Harman have beat the odds and tied the knot!! :)

In all seriousness, despite a few minor hiccups, we all made it down to Cancun to help Dave and Shan celebrate an amazing week of fun, family and friendship. The resort was lovely, the company was incredible, and everyone got lots of sun and sand! The only downfall was that we had to come back, and now it feels like we never left! Here are some memories to tide you over until our working computer is working again...



The view from our window/balcony

My favourite spot--the beach!

Friday we did a boat/snorkelling trip with the whole crew from the wedding--a great way to finish our trip!

Oh yeah: and Dave did some deep sea fishing--where he was one of the few not to get seasick, and to actually catch a fish!!

Bathing beauty...

Shan and Dave's beautiful ceremony on the beach!

Congratulations Dave and Shandra, and thanks for an amazing week!

A fun week with friends

Here's a few photos from this past week... Flames game with Erin and Shannon (they won vs. LA Kings)

Mom's traditional "Rice Krispie Easter Nests"

Preparing our first "Roast Leg of Lamb" for Easter dinner--it was delicious!!

15 People over for Easter dinner on Good Friday--we set up a table downstairs

The boys and their "babies" (Chris with Ruby, Dave with Greyson (!) and Steve with Grace

Dave thinks this looks like "The Last Supper"...

Dinner: Jen, me, and Kelly--note that we opted for disposable plates for this one: not that environmentally friendly, but so much more convenient!!

Tannis and Marla talking shop/babies... ;)

The blushing (almost!) bride!

Lake Louise on Saturday--a great sunny day for spring skiing!!

Kelly, Erin, and I.

Happy Easter--Happy Spring!

Happy Easter!
While we have gotten away from the traditional and religious/Christian meaning behind Easter, I still like to think of this time of year as a time to celebrate with family and friends: celebrating life and rebirth, regrowth, renewal, celebrating spring and the change of seasons, and of course celebrating those we love. We hope you are celebrating Easter, and whatever this time of year means to you, with those you love...

Happy Spring!

Dave and Shandra's Wedding

We are getting excited for our next adventure/vacation: the Mayan Riviera with many of our friends for Dave and Shandra's wedding.
Check out their website for details, and be sure to click on the link for the resort: it looks pretty amazing!

www.daveandshandra.weddingwindow.com

New Windows

Dave has been extremely ambitious the last few weekends, and after recruiting some good friends to help install our new windows, he's been adding the finishing touches, caulking, painting trim, etc. I have to admit, I haven't been very helpful: home renos don't seem to be my thing! But we are definitely warmer and cosier with our new windows, and it doesn't look like spring is coming any time soon, so we will definitely benefit in the weeks to come!

Florida visit with Mom and Dad

I (Beth) spent a "mini-vacation" from Saturday until Wednesday in North Fort Myers, Florida with Mom and Dad. I was able to get a cheap flight, despite it being March Break, as I flew into Tampa and out of Orlando--making for a bit of driving for my tireless "chauffeurs".
We spent a relaxing week enjoying "retirement", as Mom and Dad showed me around the retirement community in the golf cart, and we enjoyed floating in the pool, sampling the local cuisine, and of course, a bit of shopping!
Aunt Judy joined us on Monday night, and it was great to spend time with her, as our family get-togethers can often be busy and don't allow for much "visiting". Likewise, it was great to see Linda and Ian Campbell and their daughter Laura's family, as well as to catch up with Tom and Julia Skinner at their nearby vacation rental. It seems like Fort Myers is the place to be for Ontario Retirees! Mom and Dad have had lots of chance to visit with friends in the few weeks they've been down there.
It was tough to come back to the cold and snow here and Calgary after such beautiful weather in Florida! And of course always tough to leave after a brief visit with Mom and Dad, but we already have our next visit scheduled for the summer!
We will try to enjoy the last few weeks of winter here, as spring comes late, and then we're off to Mexico in just under a month for Shandra and Dave's wedding!