A Year in Review

I'm not big on New Years Resolutions. I can never keep them and how depressing is that when you look back over the past year and see everything that you didn't accomplish?!  Instead, I wrote up a review of things we did throughout the past year. It's interesting to look back and see what you accomplished/survived/enjoyed during the previous 365 days.

January

• This was a very quiet, calm and relaxing month...a good way to start out 2009.
• We flew back home to Kelowna (from celebrating Christmas in Ontario with our families) around the 5th of January. And once we returned, there was the business of unpacking suitcases, multitudes of laundry, taking down all the Christmas decorations and the tree in our house, etc.
• Max headed back to kindergarten with Mrs. Meier every afternoon and loved it.
• Keith was busy with work, flying back and forth to Vancouver, as well as Ontario.
• Max started a new session of skating lessons at the CNC.

February

• Max started skiing lessons. Every Sunday afternoon we would drive up to Big White. While he had his skiing lessons, Keith and I would enjoy a nice lunch date together.
• We painted the basement rec room. Finally getting rid of the horrid misty mint green colour that coated the walls.
• Celebrated and enjoyed valentines festivities.
• A bunch of Keith's friends (from way-back-in-the-day!) who were out on a skiing vacation came over for dinner one evening.
• Max and I tagged along with Keith and drove over to Vancouver for a few days to visit our friends. This is where the unfortunate "never use your teeth as a tool" episode occured. By simply trying to open a water bottle lid, I ended up breaking a tooth (that had a root canal done on it years ago) which started a whole chain of dental events leading up to a dental implant. And which, one year later is still not completed. That's a whole 'nother story.
• My little brother Jesse got engaged to Emmalene.

March

• Max started swimming lessons at Parkinson Rec Centre.
• Continued with skating lessons at the CNC.
• The three of us went to the Abbotsford Outdoor Show with the Chipchase family and RJ and his wife. We all stayed for the weekend at the Ramada Inn.
• Spring Break. For 2 whole weeks. YES!
• Family vacation in Southern California. Started the vacation in Vancouver for a few days, flew to Vegas and from there drove to SoCal where we spent a week at Legoland, the beach, Scripps Aquarium, Balboa Park, and Disneyland before driving back to Vegas to catch our flight into Vancouver. Fab-u-lous time. We love California.
• Our friends, the Maloney's stopped in for a one night stay when they moved from BC to Alberta.
• Keith bought a new toy...his quad.

 April

• April 1st, the Kelowna office hears loud rumblings of a possible office closure.
• My boys did lots of quadding.
• My friend Janice arrived for a fun filled 5 day visit.
• We celebrated Easter with Gerry. Keith and Gerry had an adventure filled EasterQuad ride which ended very late with them helping a family who's vehicle was stuck in the snow way back in the sticks.
• Max and Ella were on a rollerblading kick.
• Soccer begins. Yeah! Official soccer for the Maxter!
• I signed up for some photography courses at Okanagan College.

May

• Our friend Grace was in town on business and visited with us for a day or two.
• Soccer, swimming, skating, playdates, quad rides and kindergarten...our days were full.
• Mothers Day Concert and Tea at school...so darling!
• Many times after I would drop Max off at school, Keith and I would meet up for a quick lunch date at a Starbucks close to his office.
• Gerry visited us on the long weekend. Keith and him were seriously into their adventurous quadding.
• Keith and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.
• The rumours of an office shutdown and pending move had not quieted down. For two months we were not at liberty to say anything, but the writing was on the wall. On the long weekend in May, we cleaned out our garage and guest bedroom and moved alot of items into a rented storage unit across town.
• Max and I tagged along with Keith to Vancouver and spent a few days visiting our friends.
• We headed out on our first camping weekend at Bear Creek with our neighbours. Had an AWESOME time. :-)

June

• June 1st the NAC Kelowna Office closes. Keith was now officially working out of an office in our home.
• I had surgery with Dr. Bell to get my dental implant. The procedure itself went fine. It took me quite a while to recuperate. It was a blessing in disguise that Keith was working at home because I was out of commission for a while and he took really good care of me and was able to get Max chauffeured around when I couldn't.
• We participated in the neighbourhood garage sale. Planned before we knew we were moving. Which worked out really well considering the recent chain of events. Had an extremely successful garage sale and sold almost everything. Max had a lemonade stand and made a killing. There is just something about a kid selling lemonade that adults can't seem to resist...especially on a hot morning.
• Max lost his very first tooth.
• Max continued to have soccer twice a week.
• Went camping at North Okanagan Campground. That same weekend we tacked on a new tradition in our house - Kids Day.
• Listed our house in real estate. :-(
• Went to Vancouver for "NAC Family Day" at the Seymour Capilano Filtration plant. We had a tour of the plant they have been working hard at building and followed up with a catered lunch. Spent the rest of the weekend down in Washington at a dirt track race with a bunch of NAC families, stayed at the Tulilip Resort, went shopping at the outlets and took in a Seattle Mariners baseball game with Greg & Terri and Gerry. Happy Fathers Day Keith!
• Lots of fun end-of-the-year parties and activities at school.
• Two new little nephews joined our family within a week of each other...Evan was born to Shawn & Charlotte and Wyatt was born to Chad & Kaitlin.
• Kindergarten was officially over and school out for the Maxter.
• Met up for a nice dinner at the Cactus Club Cafe with our friend Anita when she was in town.
• Received an offer on our house and signed the papers to sell it. At the very same time, we were making an offer on a house in Ontario and signing the papers to buy it.

My intent was only to post one photo per month for this year in review. But for June I'm going to post a few more. To say that this was a bit of a intense month is a major understatement.

The beautiful flowers my mom sent to brighten my day after I had my surgery...

The garage sale...

Max's lemonade stand at the garage sale..

The infamous Friday evening. We had just sat down for a nice little dinner. The phone began rang. We found out there was an offer going in on the Ontario house that Keith had just been through that morning. This is the house that had been on the market for 3+ months without a single offer up to this point. So we had to make a fast decision to put an offer in as well. And within minutes we had another phone call saying that an offer was coming in on our Kelowna house. All within minutes. This was the end of a nice little dinner. All weekend long!

July

• Summer camping vacation on Vancouver Island - first part of the week was spent in Sidney and the second part of the week was spent in Tofino.
• Made a quick little trip to Ontario to go through the house and get an inspection and finish signing papers.
• Went cherry picking for the first time. Yummo!
• Had lots of playdates with little friends, involving as much water as possible.
• Weather was HOT HOT HOT!
• Huge forest fires burned on the westside of Kelowna.
• Gerry visited us one weekend and we all went to Vernon to the Canadian Nascar race. Fun times!
• Max took Tennis lessons at the Parkinson Rec Centre.
• We were a one vehicle family as my little trailblazer got sent off for it's trainride across the country.
• Spent a fabulous Saturday with the Chipchase Family on their boat on Lake Okanagan.
• Had Max's (early) 6th birthday party with all his little friends at the Energyplex.
• The movers came to pack up the house, the truck got loaded and on July 29th we handed over the keys, and said goodbye to our friends and neighbours.
• We drove to Vancouver. Where it was extremely blazing hot and humid. My word was it ever! Visited our friends there....including Jack, Juli, The Hamid family (visited them in their new house!), Our old neighbour Kelly and her girls, Larry & Sabrina, Gerry (he was moving this weekend too, to Alberta) and visited the new baby beluga at the Aquarium.
• We flew to Ontario.
• My camera broke somehow during the flight which signalled the end of the rebel xt era.

 August

• Flew to Ontario and got possession of our house.
• Cleaned. Met with the painter to discuss painting. Made decisions about carpets being replaced. Waited for the moving truck to arrive.
• Keith headed out to work at the Morriston office right away.
• We lived at my parents while we waited for the moving truck to arrive.
• Moving truck arrived at the end of the first week of August. Within a few hours, everything was off the truck and boxes filled the house. Didn't unpack though as we decided to wait until after the painters were finished painting.
• August 15 the three of us flew out to Vancouver to pick up Keith's truck. We spent a few days visiting our favourite spots and friends - Greg & Terri, Ailish and her girls, we went to our old church The Bridge on Sunday morning, drove up to Whistler for a day where we went on the Peak to Peak ride, visited Bob & Patti and their kids, etc. I didn't have a camera during this time so I'm racking my brains to try and remember what exactly we all did.
• From Vancouver, we drove over to Kelowna and picked up our tent trailer. Camped for a few nights. Got together with our friends there for one last hurrah, bought a camera at the Future Shop and hit the open road.
• Spent the next 10 days driving across Canada. Stopped and spent the weekend in Brooks, Alberta where we visited our friends, Gerry, The Maloneys and the Niebergs. It was a long drive. While it was interesting to see...(or not) I can't say that I will ever have the burning desire to repeat that trip. Flying is soooooooooo much the smarter option.
• Arrived in Ontario to a freshly painted house.
• Got Max registered at his new school for Grade 1.

September

• Max started grade one at his new school.
• Goodbye Baby Boy Gap. We are now officially shopping in the Gap Boy section for Max.
• Old carpet is ripped out and new carpet put in.
• Finally able to start unpacking the boxes and move into the house.
• We celebrated Max's 6th birthday. Went out for dinner at Montana's and then invited Max's aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents for cake & icecream afterwards.
• Checked out the big New Hambug Fall Fair for the first time and watched Max's aunties in the 4-H competition.
• We celebrated Keith's 36th birthday.
• Max started hockey.

October

• My brother Jesse & Emmalene got married on October 3rd.
• We made a quick trip up north to Keith's parents on Thanksgiving weekend to attend an ordinationservice that my brother was involved in.
• I started volunteering with Strong Start at school.
• I started helping with hot lunch on Monday's at school.
• Keith went moose hunting for part of the week up north with my dad.
• My dad came down with pneumonia while they were hunting.

 November

• My youngest sister Vanessa got baptized.
• Keith went to Vancouver on a business trip. On his return flight home he cames down with the H1N1 Flu.
• Keith was out of commission for a good 6 days while he recuperated from the H1N1. We kept him quarantined in the basement so that Max and I wouldn't catch it.
• My sister LeeAnne went to India for 3 weeks for her job. Heather and I took over her church cleaning duties while she was gone.
• Attended my cousin George & Amy's wedding.
• Jantzi Family Christmas Dinner up at Camp Norland.

December

• The three of us took a little trip out to North Vancouver. Keith and I attended the western NAC Christmas Party on the Friday evening. Had a wonderful time visiting all of our friends. Even managed to get to Stanley Park to see the Christmas lights and take a ride on the Christmas train. Fabulous!
• Snow. And wind. Big adjustments for all three of us to get used to again.
• Keith and I attended the eastern NAC Christmas Party at the Delta in Mississauga. Unfortunately we got caught in traffic and it took us over 3 hours to get there. Needless to say, it was a short night. The ride home was much better, less than an hour to get to my parents to pick up Max.
• Went to Max's Christmas concert at school.
• The start of Heather's frequent lunch visits at 12:00 noon now that she is working so close. Love it!
• Hosted the Gerber cousins Christmas tea at my house. First time in many years that we've all been able to make it.
• Got together with a bunch of friends (Jane, Donna, Carrie & Diane) and their kiddos for a fun playdate and lunch. It had been a few years since we'd all gotten together.
• Keith is FINALLY able to get his Ontario drivers licence, plates, and insurance for the truck on Dec 24th. (BC Insurance expired on Dec 25) The ridiculous amount of time/effort/hassles to get this done are not worth remembering/documenting.
• Celebrated Christmas
• Celebrated my 36th birthday
• Saw the Olympic Torch pass through New Hamburg