Mike and Susans visit 2017

Mike and Susan have come for visits between Christmas and New Years in the past and I was thrilled when they were willing to come again this year!  They are very nice company, sensitive to the fact that our family is pretty low key at the moment and have been taking random naps at weird hours of the day, have been watching a ton of movies, and just overall slothing around our house!!

 

We know from experience that Mike is a pro at making guacamole ... so he was on guacamole prep while Susan and I made the best black bean and chicken enchiladas.

Setting up for putting the wraps together!

Isaac showing Susan his current drawing creations ....

Pretty intense game of Quirkle ... Isaac won ;-)

1:48am .... It's a typical wake time around here.  I am not sure if it was this night, but Isaac was up watching shows and Chris was on the computer around this time ... (the nights are blending together), but early morning waking is pretty common around these parts lately ....

These 2 heading out on some errands in town .... both do not do well sitting around and reading and cooking like Susan and I .... we happily sent them on their way.

We all did various walks around when they were visiting ... here is Mike trying not to fall on the ice...

And here is a discovery that Susan and I made on our River walk ... I never noticed this one before and loved it ...lol

Walking and talking with this woman is so good for my soul ... she listens and is thoughtful with responses or stories that are similar that have lessons that can be learned from them ....

We decided to do a big Turkey dinner!!  And we used the instantpot!!! Here I am lowering our poor bird into certain pressurized death!

Turned out well!  The Turkey was moist and only took 45 minutes in the instantpot .... fresh cranberry sauce in the crockpot ... it was a great dinner after a really relaxing day.

He made a mention that his favorite pie was banana cream ... so voila!!  I made him one.

There were no staff around prior to the New Years party ... like NO staff ... so Susan and I went in and prepped the café to be ready for everyones arrival....

And then home to purge my bedroom ... I love that we do beneficial things that are not glamorous but super helpful in life .... it was a very sweet visit.

Spa time with Kim and celebrating Grandpa Burdge turning 95!

This is Kim.  I loved her the minute I met her at summer camp in the summer of grade 7. Luck would have it that we would both be the new girls at a private girls school in the fall of grade 8 and become fast friends with 3 other girls ... we made a fierce group of five.

She has moved back to the island with her beautiful baby Aiden, and husband Craig, whom I have yet to meet, but I have seen pictures and video, so I will believe he exists......Kims birthday is Christmas, so we had decided back in November to celebrate eachothers birthdays by going to the spa when our family returned from Thailand.

The time of everything worked out well that day because Chris dropped me off with Kim while he and the boys went to a coffee shop.  They picked me up after a few hours and we headed over to Grandpa Toms 95th birthday celebration.  He was not feeling well, so he came for the cutting of the cake, and some pictures, but he was taken to a doctor afterwards.  I hope that he is feeling better.  Here are some of the pictures we took of this sweet man.

5 years ago at his 90th birthday!!!

Same pose, at his 95th birthday!!!

Our family with Tom .....

And as a super small world, Kim and brought Aiden to see his dad for lunch at the Legislative Dining Hall on the 15th of December.  She included this sweet picture in her Christmas letter and even after receiving Kims Christmas card, I didn't even notice that it was Tom!! What a small world hey?  I am so glad that Tom met Aiden ... He is the sweetest little boy, and he had just turned 1!!!

Christmas Day 2017

We got home to a white Christmas!!!

Christmas mornings, this fella is always the first one up (at least these last few years since the teen prefers sleep and enjoys the anticipation of a stocking being there to open when he wakes up)....but not this kid ... bright and early...and on mom and dads bed!

Deodorant for the teen ... (he glared, laughed and then left it on the bed when they were done)....

My sweet boy spent almost an hour wrapping my gift on Christmas eve .... he wrapped the drill and then cut the drill out...placed my necklace in it, and then re-taped it ... I really did think I was getting a drill until chris says 'don't touch it'...then I knew....

A book on coding for this boy in his onesie....

Guess which parent purchased these for the boys?

Ok honey, I am sorry to throw you under the bus here, but this picture was just so telling of how you were feeling at this point ... super sore neck partnered with exhausting jet lag .....

His mama trying to fix his neck with her little machine ....

These two and their onesies .... aren't they fun?  I was bummed that I didn't get the memo because I took OFF my onesie to come to the Burdges .... I would have preferred to keep it on!  We all would have come in our onesies (minus Chris...he doesn't do onesies)



He was able to get through dinner but fell asleep shortly after .....




Marg bought Isaac a really expensive harmonica ... a chromatic one that can play all the notes in songs ... none of us had any idea how much it would cost, but this woman spoils her family and bought him a very expensive one.  Here he is playing a song for her on a quiet moment on the couch ... it was very sweet.


Aisha and Faten taking it all in .....

Jenny either explaining a game or taking a turn at the game ... I was in a fog by this point in the evening ....

We are not big souvenir purchasers, but we bought a Christmas ornament for Marg and Gordon and the same one for our tree.  Handmade by a woman in Bangkok .... They are a very special couple ... every year, without question and almost with an expectation, they drive our whole family to the airport at the beginning of all our December adventures, and they are always there at the gate when we get home again ..... we are a very lucky family to have these 2 in our corner.

After a power nap on the couch, this kid was raring to go and entertained the room with charades (was it charades?  some fun game .....)

Chris barely made it home.  He started to crash around 9, and his neck was so sore.   The kids both fell asleep by the time we left the driveway...Just for fun, Chris and I went through the DQ drive thru for ice-cream because we were the only ones awake (1/2 price almost lol) ..... Once home, I put tea in my new favorite mug from Jenny ... and crawled into bed.  Chris slept from 10 - 2am and was up for the rest of the night .... jet lag ... it's been a killer ... but how nice to be home.

Day 23- Bangkok and travelling home!!

He looks well rested, but its a lie....lol.  Breakfast at a hotel down the road because the 'included breakfast' at the asylum was pretty much open bowls of yogurt, white bread, and a chaffing dish with dirty looking hot water with fried eggs floating in it ...(retch) .... It was funny, Elliot and I went to check out breakfast before Chris came down from the room.  He was walking down the stairs as I was walking out of the dining room shaking my head like "don't even bother going in there, I have saved you"...... so we went to this hotel restaurant.  I asked for an omelette with everything in it, but theses 3 boys would have scrambled eggs with nothing in it .... but very well scrambled because thai people seem to not mind slimy eggs .... anyway ... food came: plain omelette, veggie stocked scrambled eggs .... On our final day in Thailand, I was suddenly very much looking forward to being understood.

This boy somehow managed to lose ALL his tshirts over the course of the month even though we only stayed at roughly 3 places!  Here he is quite proud of his last remaining shirt with ALL the stains and memories!

After breakfast, we ventured to Lumpini Park ... it was listed as the top thing to do while in Bangkok ... so, we took a picture of a building that looked like it was built in minecraft....and we went searching for the large lizards that were said to reside in this park.


We found swan paddleboats!!


And Isaac with his eagle eye, spotted a Lumpini Park Lizard!!

Time to pack up our backpacks and hit the road!!  We decided that since we had the time, we would get to the airport by train and not by taxi, for the adventure of it all!!

This part is Chris's worst part ... narrow streets and lots of smells ... me?  I loved this part!!

This is how my kids ride the rail!  I continue to think that this just strengthens their immune system .... I don't really see other people (other than adults) riding the train, so I am unaware if other peoples children plop down onto the floor for the ride .... I am sure its quite common (lol)

Waiting for our ride ..... it is a great system ... pretty easy to understand ... reminded me a little of New York...

Again, my children blend in with society...please note the entire row is on their phones ....

It is how he rolls .... for a kid who loaths long plane rides, he did pretty great on the longest journey he has even taken ...

Homeward bound!!



The food from Canada on this airline was impressive ... same airline but leaving Asia ?  SO BAD!!!  We pretty much didn't eat anything other than sprite, watermelon and a couple white buns over the span of 17 hours ....

This was the picture was I was waiting to take ... that airplane didn't look very far from Shanghai for ages!! Finally!! Close to Canada!! HOME!!!

Home!!!  Off the plane!!  We were curious if Dave Jones had remembered our conversation about him picking us up at the airport since he lives so close....

He forgot .... so we hoped in a taxi and $65 and 45 minutes later, we were on a ferry!  The times worked out so smoothly ... we were almost home!!!  Yes, they were all still in shorts because we all moved so quickly once we got off the flight ... we flew through customs and immigration and headed straight outside....

2 minute wait to board the ferry ... flip flops and shorts still .... while everyone is in parkas ... it was pretty funny ....

We ate White Spot on the ferry ... burgers and fries with our eyes pretty much closed .... savouring every bite of this familiar western food .... we were starving and we were speaking English to everyone around us, and everyone understood us, and we realized with such glee that we PULLED IT OFF!! And we were safe and home and with our memory banks FULL of amazing sights, we would soon be in the arms of family .... and all was well and we were all feeling pretty giddy as we arrived onto island soil.

Mittens greeted us, all 50 extra pounds of her....lol  ... I guess she was sad that we were gone all month and had nothing to do but eat ... but we were home now.