Puzzle With Grandpa

St George Temple Nativity

Boxing Day Sunday 2010

Scott: 3.5 years Katie: 11 months

Christmas Day in St George

The Train Set - Santa Understands Luggage Restrictions



Opening Presents



You can't go play at the park on Christmas Day back home. What great scenery too. At one point David bonked Scott on the head with something, and they ensuing conversation illustrates their relationship quite well.
S: It was just an accident, right David?
D: [nods]
S: It's not anybody's fault, right David?
D: [nods]
S: So it's okay, right David?
D: [nods]

Christmas Eve Flight

Until this year, I had never gone somewhere warm for Christmas. Having done it, I think I will have to make it a regular occurence in the future. When my cousin got engaged to be married in San Diego on New Year's Eve, one of my aunts suggested that the whole family come out and make it an official reunion of sorts. Then my sister invited anyone who was interested to come to her place in St. George for Christmas. R and I only had to consider it for a few hours before we decided that we were definitely in.

The Flight


The trip started out a bit rough. We got up early on Christmas Eve to get to the airport, but apparently, everyone else had gotten there before us. And then we had a delay getting to customs because the parking lot was full, I forgot Scott's carseat in the car, and we thought we lost Katie's blanket (it was still in the car). Then the line for customs turned out to be enormous. They came through and asked for people who were on our flight and pulled us further up in the line, but not enough to get us to our gate on time, so we were a little freaked out. In the end, the flight was delayed a bit so we still made it on the plane.



I don't quite remember when my first plane trip was (grade 8 band trip to Ottawa, maybe?), but I know I was considerably older than Scott or Katie. Despite their tender age, they endured like champs. Aside from watching out the window during takeoff and landing, I think Scott watched TV the whole time and Katie smiled at people and melted their hearts. It seemed a bit funny when the flight attendant came by to see how we were doing and I had Katie crawling around on the floor beneath my legs and I was handing snacks down to her mouth as you would to dog beneath the dinner table. It's a pretty short flight to Vegas if you go direct, so that was the easy part.

As we flew over the mountains of southern Utah I pointed out the clouds below us and tried to explain to Scott that he was high enough to be above the clouds down below. He said, "You mean that snow down there?"

The Car Rental
Once on the ground, we had to get our vast heaps of luggage to the bus that would take us to the shuttle for the rental car building. That proved to be quite stressful, since we had more bags than we had hands and Scotty ended up pushing the stroller through a crosswalk (the stroller contained luggage, rather than babies -- don't worry).

Stressful situations continued at the car rental building, where alarms and evacuation announcements commenced as soon as I got up to the Advantage counter. I made a very slow escape from the building to try to hang onto my spot at the front of the line (successfully). After a few minutes we were able to go back and talk to the attendant about our so-called reservation.

We had booked a Chevy Impala (or equivalent) sedan one-way rental from Vegas to Los Angeles for a really good price from Advantage Car Rental, but when we got there, the Russian girl at the counter said that they didn't have one with a California plate. At first she tried giving me a smaller car for the same price, but I insisted that there was no way we could fit. Then she tried selling us up into an SUV for an extra $200, which she considered a big favour. In her fabulous accent she said that her and she boyfriend always get the SUV and that we would love the space and the ability to fold the seats down. I looked at my two children and wondered how comfortable they might be with the seats folded down on top of them. When I said that I really wasn't interested, she said that her manager would go look for something with an appropriate license plate.

We stood there in an awkward silence for at least 5 minutes until she finally announced that our patience had paid off -- she could give us a Toyota Camry with Tennessee plates for our original price. That's honestly what she said: "Your patience has paid off." I was incredulous that our reward for being patient/persistent is that they provided us with our original reservation, but I was just glad that we finally had a way out of there.

The shady-looking ponytail guy in the garage took a parting shot at us, remarking that there was no way were getting all our luggage into our car, and maybe we should have gotten an SUV. 5 minutes later we drove away, with everything stowed comfortably in our trunk. We had purchased soft-sided duffle bags for the trip for exactly this purpose -- because they can squish to fit the available space. Eat that, Advantage!

Christmas Eve in St George

The rest of our Christmas Eve was considerably less harrowing, including a perfectly peaceful drive from Las Vegas to St. George with no navigation problems, arriving at my sister's house in the mid-afternoon. Scott was thrilled to have so many cousins to play with and I took great satisfaction in relating our car rental story to anyone who would listen, reenacting it again for my parents upon their arrival.





My neices and nephews entertained us with a modernized version of the Christmas Carol, written and directed by eldest-daughter Emily. It was genuinely hilarious in parts, and I was glad to see that my sister's role as the in-house artistic director has been handed down to her next generation.





The Other Type of Christmas Carol


We rounded out the evening with some caroling, provided by my brother-in-law G, who had all the lyrics and guitar chords laid out in a powerpoint presentation on the TV. For some reason, Scott had a major meltdown during the carol singing, which we attributed to his early morning and lack of sleep. We don't think he has developed any hatred towards Christmas carols.



Stop-Gap Christmas Jammies


But before Scott could go to bed, he had to open the wrapping paper on his new pajamas. Unfortunately, his new pajamas were sitting in a shopping bag in our bedroom 2000 km away in another country. Fortunately, I found some Lightning McQueen pajamas at Walmart for only $5. Unfortunately, the pajamas were designed for someone with an enormous neck and the world's skinniest arms. It was a horrible fit, but it served the purpose on our trip.

Books I Have Read in 2010

Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Invisible Man - H G Wells
War of The Worlds - H G Wells
The Time Machine - H G Wells
Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming
The Island of Dr Moreau - H G Wells
The Great Crash 1929 - John Kenneth Galbraith
The Sleeper Awakes - H G Wells
The Portrait of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Aside from Dracula and the two James Bond books, every book was read on my phone, downloaded for free from the public domain -- thus the heavy weighting towards the turn of the century. I just couldn't get enough of the H G Wells books, obviously.

Bonding Over Angry Birds

For the month of December it has seemed like Scott wants nothing but to play Angry Birds on our phones. As much as he loves to play, he gets frustrated when he can't complete a level, and often asks for help. In fact, it seems like he prefers to just sit and watch while SOMEONE ELSE plays -- as long as they are 'beating levels.'



You can imagine how thrilled he was to sit at the feet of gamemaster uncle B, who beat level after level in a session at our place during his visit, just before we took off for Christmas vacation. It was a great bonding moment for them both.

The Nativity Pageant at Heritage Park

We tore Scott away from playing "angry birds" on R's new phone by telling him that we were going to see the stable with the animals and the wise men and the baby Jesus. Excited, he asked, "Are we going to Jesus' house?" Not quite.

His enthusiasm didn't waver throughout the experience, craning his neck to take it all in from his vantage point on grandpa's lap, and peppering us with comments and questions about the proceedings.

Katie, on the other hand, was completely mute, wrapped up in so many layers of snowsuits that her arms were sticking straight out and her eyes were nearly covered. She stared out silently at the lights and sounds, her only sign of life being the steady kicks into her aunt K's back in the row ahead of us. She also made the occasional grunt.

When the pageant ended and we were filing out, Scott scurried forward to get a closer look. He particularly wanted to meet one of the angels. I carried him over to see one, who happened to be R's cousin Shannon. Scott smiled at her shyly. As we left he said to me,

"I liked to see the angels. We don't see angels very much." It's very true.

Pre-Christmas Family Party

Since R's family couldn't all be together for Christmas Day (several of us were leaving town for the holidays), we had a bit of an pre-Christmas party to open a few presents and spend time together. It was great because it felt almost exactly like Christmas Day and we essentially got to have two Christmases this year.

Last Day in Nursery

Next stop, sunbeams!

For The Christmas Card

Katie likes to pull her baby blanket over her head, and reminded us a little bit of Mary in this particular instance. We grabbed a pillow case, a necktie and a towel to complete Scott's outfit and had ourselves a Christmas photo. Ultimately, this one made it onto the Christmas email.

Wide Open Sleeping

This is a common sight when we check on Scott in the evening before going to bed. Based on this, he'll probably need a wider bed before he needs a longer one.

Scott Takes it to the Hoop

Here's some footage from Scott's "Little Athletes" sports class that he took this fall. He got the chance to try basketball, soccer, badminton, hockey and a few others. Most important of all, he got the chance to get out in a large open space and run as fast as possible.

Basketball Day:


This first time, the class climbed up on the mats to score easily. The next time, they took the mats away and the class had to shoot it several feet up. I cannot attend, but R reports that Scott was not only good at shooting it in, he was not at all concerned about the prospect of missing -- equally important.

Soccer Day:


Scott and I love to play soccer in the basement with beach balls. Usually, I am the goalie and Scott has to kick it between the couch and the TV to score. I have been surprised how adept he is at finding the open side of the net, no matter where I take up position. I was also surprised when I laid down across the whole goal line that he simply raised it over me. He's pretty anxious to play in real games with a team sometime soon. He thinks that sounds like heaven.

Ten Years

Ten years ago today:

Two kids set off to start a life together.
They really had no idea about the world -- had very little experience -- and they didn't know where life might lead them.
But they loved each other madly and nothing else seemed to matter much.

Ten years later.
They have moved across the continent and back again. They have spent a lot of time together. They have produced plays and movies. They have broken world records. They have travelled across oceans and driven through deserts. They have bought and sold houses, cars, moving trucks, and even furniture -- although they still have the same hand-me-down couches they've always had. Ten years of evenings they have spent relaxing on those couches, enjoying each other's company.

More than six years it was just the two of them. After a few years, they felt the panic that the children might never come. They spent many hours consulting with doctors -- spent many more hours consulting with each other about how their expectations and plans might have to change. Then something happened. The two of them became three. And then the three became four. Oh how things changed.

Ten years later.
Now they are parents and they are so busy and so tired and so much different than they were ten years ago today. These children are their whole world. Their world seems smaller than it did before. Little hugs and kisses. Little snuggles. Little scrapes and tears. Little sniffles. A smaller world, but somehow they feel bigger than they did a decade ago.

Ten years ago today,
Two kids set off to start a life together. Now they know a little more about the world, and they've build themselves a little nest for four.
And they still love each other madly...

..and nothing else seems to matter much.
Happy 10th Anniversary!

Hawaii Anniversary Day Three: Beach Tour by Scooter

Scooter Rental
I was most excited about this particular day of our trip. We had originally planned on renting a convertible Mini Cooper to cruise the island a bit, but with the rental agency exhibiting no vital signs in the weeks leading up to our trip, I switched over to a scooter-strategy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that top-rated 'Hawaiian Style Rentals' was located just out the back door of our hotel, and I arranged to rent their 'Classic 2-Seater'.

Honolulu Tabernacle


Our maiden voyage was about 4 km up the hill for church. We only had an address and start time, so we were pleasantly suprised to pull up in front of the grand, historic (1920s) Honolulu Tabernacle, complete with a reflecting pool in the front, a tile mosaic on the wall and a beautiful courtyard. Of course, we couldn't leave before we took a large number of photos, enlisting the help of the other attendees/tourists. I just loved this place.

Diamond Head


After doffing ties and skirts in favour of shorts and t-shirts, we set off down the coast highway towards the Diamond Head crater. The view of the ocean just got better as we climbed upward, but I have to admit that the brown and dusty interior of the crater did not capture my attention for very long. We could have paid a fee to park our bike and hike up the side, but that sounded like a lot of thirsty work, so off we went down the highway again.



The Coast Highway


I kept both hands safely on the handlebars, so there are no action shots from the highway ride, but I can assure you that it was AMAZING. The craggy shoreline and perfectly-smooth pavement provided an endless of supply of corners that invited you to lean upon entry and rewarded you with a breathtaking view upon exit. Dusty-brown ridges on the left, vibrant-blue waves crashing on the right, and my wife holding me tight.

The Beach Where We Didn't Swim


When we got to the end of the south shore and headed north, we could see some nasty clouds threatening ahead, so we decided to pull off to the nearby beach, which was nestled into a cove complete with lighthouse high on the hill. As we began our descent down the long path from the parking lot to the beach, we heard the lifeguard come on the loudspeaker: "This is not a good beach for swimming. The waves are very large here. There are plenty of nice beaches down the road if you want to swim." The enormous waves teaming with boogie-boarders seemed to reinforce his warning, and although he couldn't have seen us coming down the path, we took his advice and headed back the way we came.

The Beach Where We Did Swim


That lifeguard wasn't wrong. There was a wonderful stretch of warm, sandy beach just down the road; however, the waves were still pretty intense (especially compared to the stuff at Waikiki). After getting tossed around for a few minutes, R retired to the relaxing safety of her beach towel for a nap, while I did some body-surfing and took some additional pounding.



The beach was near the well-known Halona blowhole, and I managed to get a half-decent shot of it in action.



Places We Stopped


Since we didn't have any particular schedule or destination in mind, we stopped whenever we saw something interesting, which included two bays popular for snorkeling and a side trip into a swank neighbourhood on a hill outside of Honululu.



It was gratifying to see people checking out the scooter when we parked it places. It was so much better than those ugly Honda scooters that we saw most of the time.



Another Fine Sunset


We originally planned to get back into town in time to ride up the hill by the university to see the sunset from a different vantage point; however, we were getting a bit tired of being in the saddle, so we just pulled into a spot down the road from the hotel and enjoyed it from a bench on the beach. The sun was playing to a full house, and it felt like we were at a drive-in movie.

Duke's For Dinner


Duke's Beach Restaurant and Canoe Club was on the a list of gluten-free-friendly restaurant that we found when researching our trip. It deserves a spot on EVERY list of restaurants because the beachfront location was stunning, the service was the best I've ever had, the seared Ahi was outstanding and the dessert (Hula Pie) was absolutely moutainous.



Popping Wheelies


We only had a few blocks to ride back to the hotel, and we paused to get a last photo of the scooter on the boulevard. A passing tourist offered to take the photo for us, and then pulled out his own fancy camera to snap a picture because he thought it was a fun shot. As we pulled I away I forfeited whatever cool point we had won because I dropped it down a gear with the throttle open and popped a wheelie. Fortunately, R was already holding tight, so the injuries were limited to my ego.


Welcome Home


We arrived in Calgary a few minutes before the blizzard. Hopefully, we don't have to wait another 10 years to go back.

Hawaii Anniversary Day Two: The PCC

Sunrise Over the Canal
Originally, the idea (R's idea) was to go somewhere warm and just relax on beaches, since we have typically taken our trips to places like Manhattan, Quebec City, London and Caen, where you mainly walk around looking at stuff and wearing yourself out (my idea). Well, old habits die hard, and dawn found us up, fed, and waking down to the canal to take sunrise photos.

The photos turned out really nice, and in the end I submitted one to the Alaska Airlines photo contest, in the off chance that they might award me a free pair of flight tickets. Even if it doesn't make it into the magazine, the photo is my new screen-saver at work.

PCC bus ride
Taking the bus to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie was our first venture beyond Waikiki in the daylight. The views were pretty spectacular as we crossed the center of the island. I have a fairly nice collection of blurry landscape shots out the window of a moving vehicle. I was a bit discerning in my choices, and added a few beauties to the collection.

Temple open house
When we picked Oahu over places like Bermuda, part of the reasoning was that we would like to visit the LDS temple in Laie. We were a bit sad when we learned that the temple was closed for renovations; however, we were thrilled to find out at the PCC that we arrived on the last day of the public open house. So first off, we headed out there for a tour and a healthy dose of photos. We held the camera for a young Polynesian couple that were engaged to be married once the temple reopened. The temple grounds were absolutely stunning. Heaven on earth.

Canoe pageant
We gained some notoriety during our visit to the PCC, and the Canoe Pageant is where it all began. The MC for the pageant asked the crowd lined along the canal to cheer when she called out the place they were visiting from. Cheers went up when she called out the states of California, Washington, Arizona and Utah. When she called out Canada, I let out a whoop that was louder than them all, and I could see the whole crowd looking around for the source (the elderly lady sitting next to me nearly fell off her chair).

Tahitian Village
Each of the ‘villages’ along the canal represents a different Polynesian group, and we visited several; however, at the Tahitian Village I was pulled out of the crowd to help demonstrate the hula dance. I was taken backstage with another guy and a girl and given a lava-lava to wear and a short briefing on what to do: “do the steps they just showed you.” “What do I do with my hands?” “Just do whatever comes naturally.” I volunteered the other guy to go out first, and he was clearly uneasy. My turn was next, and I was introduced as being from Canada (perhaps people wondered if I was ‘that guy’), and the music started. I did my best hula step and did some arm movements that I’d seen at the Tongan Village drum show, while a hula girl danced circles around me. Apparently, the crowd loved it, because they voted me the overwhelming winner by applause and I got a nice hat with a pink flower as a prize. A treasured video, for sure.

The Luau
Strangely enough, at the Luau we ended up sitting right next to the girl who had danced third in the Tahitian Village dance-off a few minutes earlier. We weren’t seated for long before the lady running the entertainment asked anyone celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary to come and dance at the front.



She went down the line with the microphone and asked each couple where they were visiting from and how many years they had been married. She guessed that we were newlyweds, and was shocked when we said it was our 10-year anniversary. Then a cheer went up from the crowd when we said we were from Canada (‘hey, it’s that guy again!’).



Walking around later than evening I had a few people compliment me on my hula performance, letting us know we officially achieved celebrity status. The food at the luau was good, but it was strangely gluten-laden. They had an allergen chart in the back, but it said that even the rice had wheat in it. What? Still the supervisor was really good about getting us a few alternate items for R.

Live Show ‘Ha: The Breath of Life’
I so thoroughly enjoyed the live show that I really don’t know what to say about it. The energy level for the performance was absolutely incredible all the way through. It even carried over to the intermission, where the servers were sprinting down the steep stairs in the aisles to bring trays laden with fruity ice-cream treats down to the crowd. The show had fire, fighting, dancing, romancing… and high-speed ice-cream. What else could you ask for?

The rain held off until we climbed back onto our charter buses with the same group of passengers we had arrived with. Those same couples that had been silent for the morning trip greeted us warmly. One lady said that she had applauded very loudly for me. It’s nice to be famous.