This blog chronicles the travels and adventures of Leen, Jeralyne and Paul. Sometimes the journeys will be great and other times they will be small, but together we will experience whatever life sends our way.
Just back from our trip to Mexico, where we visited San Jose del Cabo again. We really like the area with its dry climate, and beaches. also its where Grandma and Grandpa vacation every year so we always have someone to hang out with.
This trip was mostly about going to the beach! But as our fun adventure, we also got to swim with a dolphin, which was pretty cool.
Dolphins are actually quite soft and kind of rubbery. We got to spend an hour with the dolphin , where we got kisses, danced with her, go for a ride and feed her.
We went to three beaches, the one close to the Condo, Chileno, and a new beach for us, Palmilla.
The beach near our condo had some huge waves this year. Which were fun to play in, but had a pretty powerful rip tide.
Snokling at Chileno Beach, with some help from Mommy.
Boogie Boarding at Palmilla. (I thought I would try and make a gif of Leen doing it.)
So instead of a "traditional" Christmas or New Year's Letter/Missive, we decided to do a top 10 list of our favourite events and/or activities from the last year.
We hope you have a wonderful year in 2016! One of our resolutions is to write more blog posts! Keep us on track everyone! Send us messages if we are lacking!
1 - Ontario
This past summer we travelled to Ontario to visit family and friends. We packed a lot in our three weeks there. We went to Montreal with our friends, we had two family reunions, and we went to a waterpark, among other activities. In Montreal, we visited the old city and checked out the biodome. The family reunions were fun; we saw people we have not seen in years. It was lovely to catch up with everyone. We had a great time!
2 - The Snarlin' Marlins
Leen continued to swim with the YMCA Marlins. In fact, he moved up to the competitive program! He has now been to three swim meets and is loving it! Paul and I have also become more involved with the club; I am a certified timer and stroke and turn judge now, and Paul has had some training running the computer timing system for the meet the Marlin's co-host with the Moose Jaw team. Leen is improving at every practice. We anticipate many hours spent on pool deck!
3 - Gym Rat
Last February I decided I was tired of having injuries. So, I made an appointment with the staff in the gym at my work. They kindly provided me with a program to help with my injuries. I haven't looked back since. I have officially become a "gym rat". I cannot believe how much my fitness and overall health has improved in the past year. I am strong and I can do things I never thought possible, like actually jogging for more than a couple of minutes, doing a crazy number of flights of stairs, or pulling myself up to standing from lying down on a rope! I cannot wait to see how I progress this year.
4 - Cubs
Leen moved up to Cubs this year. He is very proud. He has already earned a badge - surprise, surprise the swimming badge! Next he is going to try and earn the Language badge. The most exciting camp this year was the Star Wars Camp held at the Scout Camp at Good Spirit Lake. Some of the props were amazing! Paul also moved up with Leen as a cub leader. I am sure they will have many more adventures together!
5 - Camping
We didn't do as many trips this summer because of our big Ontario trip, but we did enjoy a few of the parks the province has to offer. Most notably, we travelled with some friends to Meadow Lake Provincial Park. This is where I used to go as a child all the time. In fact, we used to live in the park when my dad worked there. It was wonderful to share the park with my family and friends. We are planning to go back this summer again. Unfortunately, on this trip our tent went beyond the point of repair. However, on a happy note, we are looking at buying a small trailer! Whole new adventures will await us.
6 - Events Around Town
We attended a number of events around the city this year. We saw the spoken word poet Shane Koyczan perform. He was fantastic as he usually is. We also attended the symphony, saw the acapella group Home Free at the casino, Leen went to Agribition with his class, and went to see the Globe Theatre's Christmas production of The Snow Queen. We are looking forward to many exciting events this coming year.
7 - The Exhibition (Semi Solo)
This year Leen went with a friend to the Queen City Exhibition. Paul and I were both very happy we did not need to attend, since the event is really not "our thing". Leen had an amazing time riding the rides and attempting the games with his friend and did not get home until past 10 pm! I am sure he will be asking if he can go back this summer.
8 - Leen's 8th Birthday
We cannot believe it, but we celebrated Leen's 8th birthday this year! The theme was Super Mario. We had a photobooth station set up, we played find the star around the house, and of course, the kids played Super Mario! It was a little crazy but fun! Who knows what his 9th birthday will bring!
9 - Adventures with Grama and Grampa
Leen stayed with my parents for a couple of weeks this summer. He took swimming lessons and spent many hours at Rotary Park with the outdoor waterslide, the splash park and play structures. He went fishing with Grampa and Grampa's friend, but sadly, did not catch anything. Of course, Grama and Grampa spoiled him as usual! We missed him like crazy, but we are glad he had a great time.
10 - Family Christmas
This past Christmas we did not travel. My parents, my brother and sister in law, and my niece and her significant other came to us for a few days! It was great having everyone here, but it sure did make for a full house. As usual, we also had some friends come over and join us Christmas day. There was lots of food, conversation, games, and happiness. Gingerbread making was, of course, a huge hit and success for the 24th year! In fact, we are still eating gingerbread ;-)
Hope you enjoyed our top ten! We are already starting to plan our 2016 activities and adventures. So far, Leen has three swim meets before the end of January, we are planning to visit friends in Alberta in Februray, and at the end of March we are going to Mexico for a week! We will be looking for that new trailer in February as well and we will surely be camping more this summer! We are hoping to make it to the west coast! Paul has never been there.
As for far off plans, we are saving to go on an extended holiday in 2017 to England and Scotland. It has been a dream for many years and we are getting very excited that it is becoming a reality. We have started reading travel books and short listing the places we want to visit!
All our best to you in the coming new year! We hope your adventures are exciting too!
Hello Everyone.... To say we are a bit late in a doing some blog posts this year is an understatement.
It's been a busy year so far with us. Leen's swimming with the Marlins is going awesome, Scouting with Leen has been great and he has been doing really well at school.
Marlins
Leen has been swiming with the YMCA Marlins since September and lately has been doing great. At first he was his usual pokey self, but then in May he had a swimathon, where he had to do 30 laps of the pool. Something happened because not only was he the fastest to reach his goal, but since then he has been on a mission. His speed has improved, his technique is better and he seems to be enjoying it more. This past weekend he competed in his first swim meet. It was in Moose Jaw at a 50 m outdoor pool. The whole thing was a new experience from swimming in a 50 m outdoor pool, racing competitively, and being bumped up in heats to swim against much older swimmers. Leen handled it all like a pro and did wonderfully! Even when he had to swim backstroke in the rain! He has improved so much since September! We enjoy the Marlins swimming community as well and look forward to next year.
Leen with his coach Emma
Scouting
We have been super busy with Scouts. Leen is in his 3rd yr of beavers. Since Christmas we have had a sleepover, gone tobogganing, visited the Floral Conservatory, and attended Area Camp. We participated in the Jamboree on the Trail, which is a world wide event, where Scouts going hiking. Leen also because he is a 3 Rd yr beaver was invited to the Saskatchewan Cub Camp, where the theme was Star Wars. He also got to go canoeing for the first time, and stayed in a tent with his friends (I got to have my own tent).
Beaver Buggies!
Floral Conservatory
Wascappelle Area Camp
Star Wars Camp (with Scouter JP)
Canoeing at Star Wars Camp
School
Leen will be done grade two this coming Thursday. He did very well this year learning a great deal and improving his skills. However, he is very much looking forward to summer vacation (as we all are).
Travel
We are travelling to Ontario to visit family and friends for a few weeks this summer. Well, and of course, to have some adventures too! We plan to go to the huge water park just outside Ottawa again. Plus, we are going on an overnight trip to Montreal with some friends. We are very excited for Leen to see beautiful, historical, Montreal again and hear people speaking French! Leen will be hanging out with his cousins and even attending a soldier camp at the local fort in Prescott, Ontario. We also have some family reunions to attend. It will be fun to see everyone again.
We are going to be doing a little bit of camping for the rest of the summer. We are planning to go to Good Spirit Lake for an extended long weekend in August to celebrate our anniversary. We are also going with a big group of friends to Meadow Lake Provincial Park (Kimball Lake) again. We are eager to share how beautiful it is there!
Leen will also be participating in a Pokemon/Lego camp here in the city one week. Plus, he will be staying with Grandpa and Grandma for a couple of weeks in August. He will be taking swimming lessons and I am sure spending a great deal of time at Rotary Park on the waterslides and in the splash park.
So, a very packed, fun filled summer awaits us! I am sure it will be great to get back to our regular routine when the school year starts again.
Stay tuned for fall and winter adventures! You never know what life will bring!
So this post is a little late, but Happy New Year and welcome to 2015! For Christmas this year we travelled to Alberta and spent two weeks with J's parents. It was a very relaxing, do nothing kind of holiday. a lot of video gaming, card playing and eating happened!
While travelling to Whitecourt, stopped and saw this giant Ukrainian Easter Egg. Leen thought it was pretty cool!
While we were in Whitecourt, Leen got to go for a ride with Grandpa in the Groomer. Leen loves the Groomer.
We also saw "little" Alex, who is our nephew's son. Leen and Alex got along great!
And of course, we did our traditional giner bread house / cookie decorating. YUM!
Leen received a ton of Lego this year for Christmas (I think it was 5 sets all told). It took us almost two days to get them all built.
Jeralyne even got a set! It was the Ghost Busters car, which is from one of her favourite movies.
We went for some walks on some the trails near the house...
and Leen went for a snowmobile ride with Grandma and Grandpa.
Hoping you all had some great holidays! Stay tuned for another post coming soon!
We decided to give Leen a bit of a break from the formal swimming lessons he has been in for quite a few years. Instead we joined the Martin's swim club. It's a competitive swim club, that has a developmental program, the Mini Marlins. Leen loves it and his swimming has vastly improved!
He is some video of Leen with the help of his coach learning how to dive.
Leen learning to dive.: http://youtu.be/aAZUZ31WrKs
Leen has certainly grown a lot... in fact he has grown so much that we realized, he could reach the control on the Washer and Drier!!! Leen has a new chore (especially because he seems to think he can only wear his clothes once before they are dirty) that we are quite excited about, Leen however does not seem to be quite as excited about it as we are...
That's it for now... a very short blog post today!
