An Anniversary of sorts

Last night, Tyler and I had an opportunity to attend his CHS work Christmas party. This is the 5th year in a row that we've attended, and we were surprised to find out last night that they've had them for 6 years now, so we've pretty much been there to see it all...and we have seen it all. We were commenting on the changes that had taken place over the 5 years. We now have almost 3 children whereas we started with just one (an obvious statement, I know. Most people start with just one). The funny part was seeing the difference in other people. Marriages, divorces, new boyfriends, new girlfriends, new identities...there's history there, and in a place we probably didn't think we'd witness much history in when we attended the first year. We had a great time last night at Gasoline Alley at Heritage Park. I chose to not bring a camera, so we have no evidence of our attendance, but there were a lot of pictures taken of us, by people I don't really know, so I'm not sure if I'll ever see them. We sat at what we thought was the best table, #25, until we realized that there were only 26 tables and the DJs were going to call people up to the buffet line by table number...in order. We got our meal just as they were announcing that the dance was going to begin in a few minutes. Fortunately, our table was right beside the dessert table, so when everyone else was in line for turkey dinner, we sneaked (or is it snuck? we debated that question a bit over our dinner) over and got some goodies. You only live once, right?
The best part of the evening was our tablemates. We had great conversation and A LOT of laughs. I told Tyler on the way home that this was the first year that time really flew at the party for me, and I was surprised to look at my watch and see that it was 11:30pm. At one point, we were saving seats for some friends that hadn't arrived yet. Another couple, who only bore a resemblance to our friends in the fact that they were male and female, came in and we waved them over, thinking it was our friends. When they got closer, everyone realized we didn't know they, and they awkwardly realized they didn't know any of us either. We did our best to pretend that we were actually waving at someone else behind them and they shuffled past. We ate our meal pretty quickly, as they service staff was trying to clear plates only moments after lonely table 25 had gotten their meal, and got ready for the dance. Ah, the dance. The music was a hodge-podge of awkward and cliche-filled songs that didn't do much for the crowd, except clear it out of the room pretty quickly. Maybe that's what they were hoping for. The number that really cleared the floor was, "Baby Got Back", but we still stuck it out, until the DJ played "The Rose" by Bette Midler to cap off his repertoire and then packed up his speakers. We decided to pack it up too, and head home. It was a pretty awesome night and very easy to attend a function when you have great babysitters at home. Thanks Sam and Matt. I know my kids loves playing swords all night. Today we're tired (who has a Christmas party on a Wednesday night?), but we had a great time. Also, a big thanks to the support staff and UofC department that has been very good to Tyler and our family over the past 5 years. It's been a pleasure to be associated with them.

Because we're still kids at heart

We made arrangements this week to have Grandma and Papa watch the kids overnight Friday night so Tyler and I could get away for our anniversary. The plan was to have them either go camping with the kids in our new motorhome, and stick around home and play with grandma and we were heading into the city for a nice dinner, some time together and a night in a comfy hotel. Well, the camping plans fell through and on Friday morning we decided it would be fun to take the kids to Calaway Park. Tyler and I decided to postpone the beginning of our anniversary weekend so we could join them. Because the Calgary kids were already back in school, the park was fairly quiet. It was cheaper to get in, and it was open for a shorter time, but still until 4pm, which was plenty for our kids. We had an awesome time. As we walked toward the gate, we heard fun music playing over the speakers which made us reminisce about Disneyland. There were a number of rides that the kids could ride on, so we focused on those. The kids went for a ride on the hot air balloons with Dad, because he's good at spinning. Our next stop was at the airplanes, which Max was vocally disappointed he wasn't big enough to ride. Lucy had a quick turn, while Dad and Max scoped out the next fun ride we would go on. Lucy, naturally, chose a pink plane.Next we went to the egg ride, where Max rode with Papa. Lucy and Grandma had to wait for the next ride, and because there was a short line, Max got on again with me. My first ride.The kids took a break from rides for a few minutes in order to play at a climbing gym. This one was made for kids a little older than them, so Dad went inside with them to facilitate the climbing.Max spotted a ride he was interested in, as they were all small go-karts, motorcycles and the like. He was actually to small (just barely), but the girl running the ride gave him the go-ahead. I was definitely grateful and made Max promise to hold on tight and not get up on his own, he had to wait for mom or dad. Lucy jumped on beside him just before the ride started and as they were going around and around, she asked him to hold her hand, but he refused because "he had to hang on". What a good listener.
We raced over to the train for the kids to have a ride around the track and they made sure to say 'choo-choo' and blow their horns every time they went past us.
The kids went on the cloud climber with Dad and Papa after they saw Mom, Dad and Papa go on a racing sky scraper of a ride. Bad idea for a mom who is also a mom to be. I was dizzy for a while after but was able to shake it off. I guess I'm not 18 anymore!They played in the kiddie climbing tugboat for 20 minutes and then we raced to two more rides before the park closed. The strawberries, which look cool but are very hard to get a good picture of, and finally the carousel. The kids love the Backyardigans episode "Ridin' the Range" so any horse they see they dub with names from that episode. Old Paint, Princess and Harvey. They had a pretty awesome time, and so did we. It was fun to post-pone our coupledom stuff in order to see our kids have fun at Calaway. We split ways in the parking lot and the kids headed off for more fun with Grandma and Papa, while we headed to our hotel. Ah romance!

What a Sight

On our trip down to Lethbridge for Brad and Angie's wedding, we took our slow jaunt through Nanton and came across one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This lady must have been 70+ years old, driving a trike motorbike with purple tube top (yes, I know, which you can imagine did not do much for her 'girlish' figure), helmet with purple flames, and short shorts. The clothing allowed us to see her multiple tattoos - shoulder and upper thigh. It looked like she had forgotten her dentures at home, as her mouth was a bit...how do you say? limp. And her glasses looked like plastic framed coke bottles. We took a picture from behind because we didn't want to be too obvious with our amusement. We kept joking that she must be quite the sight when she gets up to speed!

Tag!

So I'm participating because Erica called me out on her blog to see if I'm as practical as I seem. I'm not sure if she meant me when she said Heather, but I'm assuming (you know what happens when you assume...)

5 Placed I've Lived (since I haven't lived anywhere exotic, I will break this down into communities of Calgary that I have lived in!)

• Ranchlands (this has made up the majority of my life)
  
• Citadel
  
• Hidden Valley
  
• Cochrane
  
• And now, a little slice of heaven, just north of Cochrane
  

5 Snacks I love

• sour gummies (or chewies, as Max calls them)
  
• crackers
  
• strawberries
  
• cereal
  
• nachos
  

5 Jobs I've Had

• Janitor at Ranchlands Community Center
  
• DQ Swirl girl (they don't actually call it that, but I was pretty good at making that little swirl)
  
• Walmart cashier (very short lived! I worked there over thanksgiving, and decided I didn't want to try Christmas)
  
• Receptionist/Executive Assistant/Event Planner (varied places)
  
• Mom! (this is the best one, plus I get to be a jewelry designer on the side)
  

If I had a million dollars I would.....(I'm assuming this is where Erica thinks I will be practical)

• Pay off my mortgage so our rental income would be complete gain...and build my dream house
  
• Put money in my kids RESP's.
  
• Take my kids to Disneyland for their birthdays. What better time to go then with a 4 year old and 2 year old. That place is made for kids that age.
  
• Keep money in the bank so that Tyler could focus solely on achieving his PhD, and not worrying about paying bills.
  
• And one frivolous thing: I'd buy a Mini-Cooper because I think they're cute, but completely impractical when you have 2 car-seats and strollers, etc.
  

5 things I love

• Being organized (amen!)
  
• Max's little boy ways
  
• Lucy's laugh
  
• Tyler
  
• Family
  

5 people who should do this tag...

• whoever wants to...enjoy!

So, I don't think that was COMPLETELY practical...