spring break

good old fashioned spring break in calgary

ivy!

last year for spring break, we spent 3 weeks in oahu.  best. trip. ever.

this year, spring break snuck up on us and we found ourselves feeling frantic like we missed the "spring-break-get-the-heck-out-of-the-cold-train".  we had no plans, no destination and everything last minute was wicked pricey.  what to do?  must  get  out  of  the  snow  and  cold.  .  .  .  .

we decided to head to british columbia to mom and dads cabin for a few days.  it would be a good break and different scene/better weather??!!???  pleasssse?????  nena and the kids decided to come too.  the more the merrier!  how has spring break been going?  good news, we have pretty much hung out in our pajamas all week.  went into town...  in pajamas.  bowling?  pajamas.  c.j. and the kids built a makeshift rocket out of a root beer bottle and a bunch of other stuff laying around.  let's go shoot it off!  sure!  in pajamas!  who wants pizza? pizza pajama party... in the restaurant.  yeah for spring break!  it's been relaxing and pajama-ish.  can't been that... {except for 3 weeks in oahu}


p.s.
nena's little ivy is having surgery on her eyes on friday.  they need to straighten them out {see above}. it's going to be like a whole new world to her when they are all fixed up.  will be praying for you little sister.  it will all work out.

p.p.s
so bummed.  didn't make the project selvage cut.  by the looks of it, i wasn't what they were looking for. rats.

vote for burtonsnorth!

ok folks...

burtonsnorth has designed a fabric!

and when i say "burtonsnorth" i mean jessica {with the fancy fabricy vision/art direction} and c.j. {with the mad computer skills}.  a perfect team.  this little project is a submission for a fabric design competition through spoonflower.com.  i hope i make the first cut of 75 {there are about 780 submissions currently}.  the contest closes tomorrow.  will let you know if i made the cut on the 31st.  and if i do, BELIEVE ME you will know.

i hope you like it, i hope you will support us with a vote.

p.s.  the fabrics name is "eli", inspired by our sweet, one and only son.

 

you can also go here and find us on spoonflower!

oh canada!

who's a citizen of 2 fancy countries now?  this guy.

 before the ceremony

after the ceremony, he wore his red shoes just for the occasion.

watching some t.v. together

the "all canadian" party.  we had some pretty hi-brow guests...
from left to right front row:
snow boarder, justin bieber, eli with red shirt on, david suzuki, a first nations lady, ida with maple leaf tattoo and balloon.
from left to right back row:
noah sans costume was leif ericson, the queen of england, johnny was prince charles, bret "the hitman" hart, celine dion, a figure skater, CJ the newest Canadian family member, a Canada flag - that was me, jeff was a mountie sans the costume.

it's almost been a week.   last friday c.j., ida and i went down to the harry hays building and participated in a Canadian Citizenship Ceremony.  yes, cj is now a Canadian and an American.  how cool is that?  pretty fancy if you ask me.  the ceremony was lovely.  75 people from all over the world were there with their families and loved ones to watch them become a Canadian.  everyone was excited and happy.  i had the most amazing intentions to document it, record it, photograph it, soak it all in.  enter ida.  unfortunately i spent most of my time scooping her off the floor and containing the howling as i ran out of the room.  she even kicked it up a notch when he was called up to get his citizenship certificate, he walked one way and i was running out the other way.  it was all very disappointing.  ohhhh well.  i guess we will always remember the day dad became a canadian...  wahhhh, wahhh, wahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

to celebrate cj's happy day, we had a big fat "canadian" party the next night at jeff and nenas.  it was fun. we dressed up  canadian {the grand prize goes to chuck.  canadian AND calgarian with the bret hart get-up}.  we ate poutine, Tim Horton doughnuts and danced.  good times.

fine art

ida came to me the other night dressed in ALOT of white, silky material...

turns out she likes to pose for portraits.  not unlike the girl with the pearl earring.

street legal

 montreal olympic stadium and tower.  world's tallest inclined tower at 574 feet.

view of montreal from the tower at the olympic stadium.

 can you see the outline of a house on the side of this building?

old montreal

view from our room


well, we are back from montreal.  our flight time going was 3.5 hours, flight time back was 5.  the last time i had a 5 hour flight i was heading to hawaii...  sounds good right about now, eh calgary???

my green card hoop-la is complete.  it was fairly easy.  we showed up at the consulate, was man-handled by the power trippin' "security guards", went up the elevator, took a number, paid $404.00, went to window 9, handed in forms, got fingerprinted, sat back down in the waiting room, called to window 11, handed more forms in, back to the waiting room, called to window 7, raised my right arm to the square and swore to tell the truth, explained where i met cj, why were were moving, what i did for a living, then was welcomed back to the united states by a small squirrelly white man sitting behind thick glass - my green card was to be sent in the mail.  they didn't care my FBI clearance wasn't with me or completed, didn't take a second look at the ream of paper that we used to copy the last 3 years income tax returns and financial reports and only took 2 out of the 3 required 2 x 2 photos.  wow, thanks for being thorough.  glad i was so prepared.

all in all, it was a real treat to visit montreal.  our hotel was fantastic, would stay there again in a heart beat.  the trip was like a little taste of europe, really close to home.  can't beat that!  thank you montreal!


we are pooped tonight.  laying here in bed, i am watching ida on the monitor we have in her bedroom. she has completely undressed herself, diaper and all, 3 times since i put her to bed.  scratch that, just looked over, naked, again.  make that 4 times.  what the heck is going on?!  i go in, re-dress her, explain she has to keep her clothes on, leave and in 5 minutes she is naked again.
dude.  have fun sleeping in the buff.  3 strikes, you're out.