It's nice to be able give the kids the opportunity to have a little outdoor snow fun locally when the white stuff hits, and since our friends have a hill on their property and it's just down the main road from us, I made sure they got out there during our recent powdery snow day. Our yard is a little too flat to be exciting in the snow, unless you can build snowmen. (Note: the scene in this photo is taken from roughly the same spot as the summer scene in my blog header.)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Fraser River at sunrise
Took a little detour this morning on the way to work in hopes of catching a beautiful scene. And I did. But was dismayed at the junk strewn about and burned on the ground. How some people treat their home!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Merry Ukrainian Christmas (or, our year-end letter is really late this year)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Jan 6, 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
It’s officially too late on in early to write a Christmas letter, but not too late to reflect on the year past and post it for all your dear ones to see! (And as a historical document for my own reflection in years to come!) And hey, it’s still Ukrainian Christmas. So indulge me, if you care to.
When we ended the Russell-Rose family chronicle last year we were poised to move into our newly redone beautiful house. And we did so on January 11, after kicking off the year with a family ski holiday at Sun Peaks with some friend families.
We quickly became accustomed to having lots of room for everyone – indeed, excess space – as well as a functional kitchen, a luxurious bath, one room for each kid for them to decorate and make their own, and a master bedroom where we couldn’t touch the wall from our bed. We enjoyed lots of light, beautiful views, and the fun task of choosing just where to put things. It was hard to believe it was us who were living in this dream home, except when we saw the mortgage payments being withdrawn from our bank account.
We kicked off a season of housewarming parties with a wild one with the grown-ups in our East Chilliwack circle where we danced like crazy teenagers and put the first dents in our wood floor by dropping bottles and glasses. All through February and March we were showing off our house to various friends and family.
Then, while hosting six of the Williams Lake Russells as our first family-stay visitors, we endured a week of heavy rain and our happy-house bubble burst. The deluge leaked into our basement, saturating most of it over the course of a day of non-stop downpour. The Williams Lakers quickly baled as the water crept over their stuff and their children. The next day, Daryl moved most of our stuff upstairs and we began a four-month stint of living again like the cozy family we’d always been.
Luckily, we were covered by insurance, but we didn’t want to proceed with fixing until the threat of the Fraser River flooding, which was very real and quite nerve-wracking in Chilliwack, passed.
We endured quite a lesson in patience as the predicted date for the peak of the Fraser kept changing. The whole community got quite stressed out waiting for something that may or may not happen, and the official contingency plans leaked to me by friends indicated that all levels of government were taking the threat quite seriously too.
The river was due to peak the weekend of June 8-10, right when we were going to Whistler for a Russell reunion to mark my parents’ 50th anniversary. Fortunately, we all learned late in the week approaching this weekend that the peak was going to be below flood danger levels so we were able to go on the trip with a little less anxiety. It was a great trip, with almost all the children and grandchildren together (minus the Australia Russells and Kellie-Ann) for a weekend of visiting, eating, family photo-taking, and lazing about. There were 24 of us there. Thanks Mum and Dad, for being married 50 years and setting a great example, and for the trip!
Our basement wasn’t completely redone until mid-August, so when Daryl’s sister Barb sent her kids Evan and Maya out from Winnipeg for a BC experience we were still all sleeping on one floor. I kept consoling myself with the fact that the new “one floor” was much bigger than the old “whole house”. Our kids were very good about the whole four-month ordeal, not whining or complaining at all, but the girls were very happy when they got their rooms back again. And I wasn’t really upset either. The whole ordeal was a drag, but my family was healthy and happy and together so I couldn’t complain too much.
I went into major tour guide mode with Evan and Maya, making sure they had a total BC experience (except we didn’t get to the ocean this time unless you count Rocky Point in Port Moody). We did Grouse Mountain, waterslides, Hicks Lake, hiking on Little Mountain, backyard marshmallow roasts, a Rose family party at our house, and just general lazing about, after picking them up at cousin Bonny’s in Kelowna.
We also hosted Yumi, a teenaged girl from Japan, in August. She was from a very urban background so we made sure she visited our friends with chickens, cows, sheep, and puppies. We spent a lot of time working on basic communication. (You like? Yes, I like!)
For our family summer holiday we spent a few days relaxing on Quadra Island, even going on a family kayak expedition one day, Miles included. Then we had the awesome (not a term I use lightly) experience of whale watching off Telegraph Cove for one morning.
Our spring and fall were spent in the typically busy family fashion, working and getting kids to activities. I added a new twist to the spring soccer mix by joining a women’s seven-a-side team put together by my friend Cheryl Hagen. We ranged in age from 32 to 49, were all mums, and only three of us had ever played soccer before. I hadn’t played for 21 years and most of our opponents were about that age! Needless to say, we didn’t win any games, but we had a hoot, really bonded as a team, managed to score a few goals, and won the team spirit award at the end of the season. It was tons of fun. But oh, my aching knee, back, thigh, etc!
I also continued to pursue my photography hobby this year, shooting lots of scenics from the beautiful world around me and portraits of family and friends and cats!
Molly completed a very successful first year of French immersion, graduating from Grade 6 as the top academic student in her class. She also went to the provincials with Destination Imagination and played Mr. Grimwig in the school’s production of Oliver. Throw in soccer, basketball, and volleyball, and she was a busy and very well rounded girl. I was most impressed with her diligence about schoolwork and her maturity. She’s now in her first year of middle school, and adjusting well to the changes that brings. I'm continually amazed how one can go from being a tiny newborn to an adult-sized, logically thinking being in just 12 years!
Emma was also named top student in her class along with a boy student, which surprised us because they don’t usually give such an award in Grade 3. She also did well with DI, placing second at the provincials, and played spring and fall soccer, improving very much along the way. She now gets a lot of homework in Grade 4, which stresses her out, but she is a very conscientious student and is doing fine.
Maybe it’s just because I’ve been home for two weeks and seeing him a lot, but I really notice a lot of growth and maturing in Miles. He seems much more like a real boy (if that makes any sense) and less like a half-formed little kid. Our favourite milestone for him this year is that he finally goes to sleep in his own bed after you read a story and say goodnight and snuggle, instead of insisting that we lie there with him until he nods off.
He’s at preschool and music class, took swimming lessons this year, is just learning to ski, and continues to enjoy life. He’s quite curious about reading and the alphabet, a whiz at 100-piece jigsaw puzzles, and well immersed in the world of computers, knowing all about (he thinks) websites, and passwords, and "dot.com!"
He talks quite well, but still has some funny ways of turning a word – “abloon” for balloon, “pooter” for computer, “rosstraunt” for restaurant, etc. He continues to have a strong affection (perhaps no longer an obsession) for running his hands through my hair (a holdover from his hospital days) and has named it Hairy and insists on giving it a hug and saying goodbye to it separate from me!
He has an elaborate grammar system based on "to be" and "did", saying things like "thems did be there too, Mum" or "I did be tired" or "her did be better than me." It's very cute and clever but I guess we'd better fix it before we hand him to Mrs. Marochi and kindergarten in the fall.
He also developed a competitive side this year and loved to gleefully shout "I winning" even if he wasn't. And there was a memorable evening of his holding a dirty sock up to our friend Mike and telling him to "mell it, mell it!"
These days he and his friend Daniel have an elaborate imaginary land called Stuffy World for their stuffed animals, in which all the stuffies take on a new name and become a super-powered alter ego. So the boy has an imagination!
Daryl, of course, continues to refuse to let us say much about him. We can report that he is still a wonderful father and mate, and business is good. He still loves snowboarding, and continues to hit the gym for fitness and stress release.
In typical male fashion, he professes to not like cats, but when Moby the cat brought Neko the stray kitten onto the deck at one night, Daryl let her into the house and she’s been with us since!
We rounded the year off with another milestone Russell event: the first grandchild wedding. Bryden and Trista married 50 years after his Russell grandparents and 25 years after his parents. I was the wedding photographer (with the professional help of my friend Rick) and enjoyed the challenge of chronicling the whole evening, although it was hard work. It was great to be together with so many family members for the big event.
We’ve all enjoyed our Christmas break of visiting, hosting, and relaxing, and got to Manning three times for skiing and boarding.
As we approach one year of living in our new house this week I feel lucky all around!
Love to all,
Anne, Daryl, Molly, Emma, Miles
(and George, Sophie, Moby, Neko!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
