Ella's Eight!!

OK, so she was actually turned eight eight months and five days ago, but it (not unlike April 15, 2008) was a day that none of us would ever forget:


love you Ella

As always we could never possibly thank our family for their generosity and for making our lives extraordinary, mahalo.

a day in the big city ...

Getting geared up for the holidays we had an incredible opportunity to see the Lion King.  It was a made possible through generosity, generosity for which we are incredibly grateful - thank you.

some images are here.

Thank you for leading us into the season of by example.

Tenth Annual Pumpkin Cutting Party ...

This year was our 10th annual pumpkin cutting party and they continue to be a great highlight to one of our favorite times of the year.  Is it possible they are getting more and more fun?

We flew in a special judge from SanDiego and the custom shirts she brought as prizes had everyone doing their absolute best work work:

Here is Karli's first ever video for this blog:



some throwbacks:

nine eight seven six five four (undocumented somehow?)Three Two One inaugural - otro 

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to the DECADE!

its absolutely mind blowing to imagine that Ollie has been with us ten years ... of course its even harder to imagine a life without my favorite dude.

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*its important to recognize how many amazing people in Mexico, Marin, and Hawaii that should be expressedly thanked and represented in this film ... unfortunately they aren't - but we are in your debt and you have our heartfelt gratitude - you make our life so wonderful, thank you.

Happy 2016 ....

We rang in 2016 in style this year enjoying some of the best snow that Tahoe has seen in years - certainly since our arrival in California.  It was amazing how quickly the kids progressed, getting to stack up seven consecutive days will do that.  As usual we are spoiled and so very thankful for the generosity shown to us, it helps us enjoy incredible times.

Fun in the snow and lots of improvement:

IS it the REASON for the SEASON?

Ok, so that may be a little un-PC but it has seemed that the last few years I have needed the December Break to get caught up on, to go through, and to finally wrestle some of our summer images into something worth sharing*

First Up:  Killarney

This was a big, massive, humongous year in our family - it was the year that we sent both of our kids to summer camp for the first time!!  Yup.  Two weeks of fun for them at my Alma Mater - Camp Wanakita, and two weeks for Karli and I to enjoy and reconnect with each other - while missing them greatly every single day.

We spent the first week, here in California - enjoyed hikes, fancy dinners, hot tubs, and general futzing around the house.  Que Rico.

The second week was monumental.  Karli had done a three day canoe trip (with no sun) in Algonquin a few years previous, but the seven dayer I had lined up in Killarney would be unlike anything she'd done before.  Thankfully, she loved it.

 But did the kiddos like summer camp?

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Then there was the maiden voyage of our newest family member:  Cassidy.  Cassidy was a family father's day gift and is an absolute dream come true for both Karli and myself.  It's a screen free zone and is filled with laughter, adventure, and good times.  The first trip was a journey up to visit Liz, Ian, Anna, Benjamin, & Elsie in Squamish - a raging success but we all wish we could have done the same journey over three or four weeks instead of the ten days we had.  We'll work on that one.  :-)

*although I am not sure either of these are "worth sharing" these videos are increasingly becoming our family's memory (right or wrong), so I really need to try and keep up ...

'tis the season ...

This year I had to have surgery the day before our 9th Pumpkin Cutting Party.  This meant that I was only there for a brief hello before heading back to my recovery bed.  Thankfully Karli, Ollie, and Ella kept the tradition alive and we cut pumpkins like we love to do:

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Of course the cutting of pumpkins is really just preparation for one of our favorite nights of the year!  We had dinner with friends and then trick or treated until our bags were overflowing!!

a huge thank you to Hans and Leia and their brood for hosting us again.

In a mad rush before leaving SF for a two week sprint through Killarney and Ontario - i promised my daughter that her video would be up before she was done summer camp, so with ten days to spare:

arrrgh blocked due to music ....

Prince seems to protect his stuff which is fine (although I had given him credit) ... oh well, take two.  The White Stripes Edit ....

It makes some of the cuts a little rougher than I would like but ... i likely wasn't going to get the Oscar nod anyway.

So I used my recent flight home from New Orleans to get some footage from Ollie's ninth birthday together.  We celebrated in style on the big day by heading down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to hang out with Landon, Craig, & Gretchen - always an amazing time.

We then had some amigos over for a sleepover which was highlighted with Air Hockey Tournaments, Star Wars viewing ... and of course MineCraft.  We had a breakfast piñata before sending everyone on their way.  It was a ton of fun!

Here's what I got:

And we can't forget the annual trip down memory lane:

• eight
• seven
• six
• five
• four 
• three 
• two 
• one
• and the beginning

Happy YanksGiving ... Squamish Style

Just learned the term:  YanksGiving, and I have to admit I really like it.  We used the holiday this year to travel up to British Columbia.  There Ian has a new job, Ian, Liz, Anna, & Benjamin also have a new home .... oh yeah and they've multiplied - we got to meet Elsie, it was absolutely love at first site.  As usual I haven't had any time to edit these, but here are some photos from the trip:


Thank you Liz, Ian, Anna, Benjamin, and Elsie for letting us invade your space and showing us an amazingly wonderful time and place.

This was our 8th annual pumpkin cutting party ... and it was a blast!  There was a time when I had the time to edit these images down into something a little more polished .... this is not that time.  Enjoy:



Thanks for those of you who made it, and if you couldn't - we hope to get you on the next trip around the sun.

Interestingly factoid (to me anyway):   this was the 6th different location for this fiesta - Anacaona, Marina Vallarta, el Centro, Skylark, Piper Park, and now the cabin. The spot was a hit and we hope to be back there again!

halloween throwbacks:  

• 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 (undocumented somehow?), First Mexican Fiesta, Ella's First Pumpkin (2008), Ollie's First Pumpkin (carving) (2007), 2006 - otro (O-town's first 'ween)

so there is nothing quite like going a full six months without posting anything and then posting twice or actually kind of three times in a week ... but as we head to Canada for our annual tour I knew if i didn't get the birthday videos done - there would be no birthday videos.  Ollie and Ella spend many a weekend morning watching their old videos and I just don't want to give that up ... not yet.

So it was Karli's that was the big one this year (if you missed it go here), but the rest of us celebrated another year around the sun as well:

Ollie turned eight, he continues to be a voracious reader who loves Lego, swimming, biking, and Pokemon.  We took some of his amigos to see the Lego Movie when it opened.  Of course, we aren't really the type to shy away from a reason to celebrate - and the family hit the bowling alley on the sixteenth and our man's celebration(s) lasted throughout our trip to Mexico.

Ella somehow is already six.  Having her birthday over SpringBreak meant a family trip to SixFlags which has entered a new chapter with our kids able to ride the BigTime rides.  She like many other Kinder students can sing every word to Frozen and did so as she hosted her very own sleepover!

Ok, I'd start out apologizing for being so far behind, but even that is getting old.

I am hoping to get some birthday videos edited down in these first days of summer.  The second (but first edited) was a big one for Karli, one that took us to Mexico to reconnect with amigos from here, there, and everywhere.

To say it was special would be an understatement.  With great thanks to wonderful friends and especially hosts at Davanna Yoga, at Litibu, and culminating in an incredible night at Real del Mar (catered by arguably the best street tacos in Vallarta).  It was a night that was incredibly fun, and a wonderful way to celebrate the most amazing person ever.

all this fun was had over reading week in February of 2014, we all love & miss Mexico very much and are very thankful for the wonderful time we had in such an amazing place.

Happy Birthday Karli

All Karli wanted for Christmas was some of our summer pictures cleaned up and shared ... shows pretty clearly how on top of keeping up to date I have been.

Oh well, I am hoping 2014 will be a year with a little less stress and that I have the time to reflect and share stuff a little more regularly.

Well here it is, Summer 2013 - just in time for 2014.

A great deal of the summer was spent exploring my new zip code,kitesurfing, camping, hiking, and just enjoying the space.  People have been very welcoming to us here in California and we continue to have more to be thankful for then we are deserved.  If you're the kind of person who gets a little twitchy when the wind hits twelve knots - you can watch this video (which I had nothing to do with) of a summer and the choice spots in, on, and around the Bay.

As for the kids, I'm workin on them:

the kids enjoying America's Cup race @ Crissy Field

Ollie's First Windsurf Lesson @ Sherman

Take me out to the ball game...

Going to a Giants game is an amazing experience from Marin ... especially your first time.  Ella and Ollie took the boat into the game, watched the middle school choir sing the anthem, then enjoyed all there was to enjoy while the hometown team beat up on the visitors - an amazing time.  Can't wait for the next one!

i guess i can't easily pop in a slideshow here anymore?? so for that click:

https://plus.google.com/photos/117821601113140945919/albums/5880664469029948033?authkey=CPL8kPrykr-LlwE

We continue to enjoy and choose our own adventure in la vida americana...

Life continues to zip by without relent, times are very good - and very busy as well.

We've recently celebrated Ella's fifth with a trip to Cabo, a visit from Granny and Boppy, and more laughs then could be fairly ours, but don't take my word for it:

A glance over the shoulder:

Ella's Fourth
Ella's Third
Ella's Second
Ella's First (stills - video)
Picketts 4.0 Official Release

So, in the event we haven't updated you ... we live in California these days, and have enjoyed some truly amazing times, Northern California is filled with countless wonders - natural, human, and manmade - for us to explore.  We're enjoying our new playground.
It sure has done a good job at keeping us busy - as evidenced by the complete lack of information I have shared here.  Last Saturday we did sit in bed and watch videos of Ollie's previous birthdays; to celebrate our ... gulp ... seven year old - and celebrate we did.

We celebrated with his amigos at the bowling alley, then with Aba & Karl over Mexican food, before heading south to celebrate with Craig, Gretchen, & Landon around Santa Cruz and its boardwalk before wandering through the incredible beauty that surrounds the infamous highway one, enjoy:

Thanks to everyone who came to one of the celebrations, and to those that celebrated with us from afar, and of course to Craig, Gretchen & Landon for such a fun time in Santa Cruz - we continue to be very blessed with amazing friends the world over.

the annual trip down memory lane...

• sixth
• fifth
• fourth
• third
• second
• first
• the beginning

the pile of footage in the "to do" pile - is incredibly large ... and growing - but know we are having fun and we hope you are too.  Here's the dynamic duo exploring the bunkers around the Marin headlands just north of the GoldenGate:

2.9.2013

And now for the extended Halloween video - which still isn't great ... but life's a little busy!

halloween throwbacks:  last year,  First Mexican Fiesta, Ella's First
Pumpkin (2008),   Ollie's First Pumpkin (carving) (2007),   2006,- otro

Ok so this is very close to a re-post but I really wasn't happy with the video from last week and never did actually share it out, so I added some more images of Halloween fun and am posting it here.  First though these shots are from a fun little lesson that Karli and i led with Ollie's class in California learning about Dia de los Muertos from his class in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a fun day and getting the class together was a great experience on both ends that we hope to continue a couple more times this year.  Here are some shots:



We have really been enjoying the change of seasons for the first time in a very long time and being treated to a successful pennant run by los gigantes was an absolute blast.

So the world has turned and shaken our family pretty well since my last post.  As the dust settles (a little) we find ourselves living in California and continuing to enjoy life, smiling through all the new experiences and challenges that come our way.  There continues to be much that we are thankful for and we acknowledge that we are truly blessed.

How's that for an undersell?

Regardless, one of the wonderful things that we bring with us is our family traditions, we continue to get outside together whenever we can and are loving the new adventures that the Californian countryside afford us.  Another tradition we have brought is our annual pumpkin cutting party, which has been an event that started many moons ago in Brantford, and one we've enjoyed hosting since Oliver entered our lives.

(i removed the video as its just the first 90 seconds of the one here)

Now in its 7th year and third country the day was a great success.  There are lots of new faces in this video; we miss our friends from the DR and Mexico, while we are looking forward to many more good times with the new friends we are meeting here.

throwback:

last year  

First Mexican Fiesta

Ella's First Pumpkin (2008) 

Ollie's First Pumpkin (carving) (2007) 

2006, otro

So spring has sprung here in Vallarta, the mercury begins its ascent and the wind picks up.  Of course it also means that another year has flown by with Ella, we are so lucky she lets us hang out with her.  We were graced with a visit from Granny and Boppy and of course did it up right, enjoy:

Ella's Third
Ella's Second
Ella's First (stills - video)
Picketts 4.0 Official Release

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note:
Karli and i have a lot of guilt over the animal show at the waterpark we don't believe in this kind of treatment of animals, to be clear we went for the slides not the show and it is hard to say no to a four year old.  They are amazing and beautiful creatures - to say the show wasn't enjoyable would be a lie, they are incredible creatures.  We have taken the chance since to talk to the kids about the animals, their treatment, and debate around these types of shows.  If you're an adult watch the Cove (warning the images will haunt you forever), and consider the facts of dolphin captivity (story) when you make this call.  Everyone needs to make their own decisions (this postscript is about our guilt not about judging anyone); for us we can't do the dolphin experience ... although so much of us want the opportunity to interact more closely with these amazing creatures.