just a quick note to let you see-our old house in Hamilton is back up for sale!!!!
the MLS number is:
H3017492

check it out - it's really stunning! Looks like he did everything he should have - including move the kitchen into the den. Not sure if he's going to make any money on it, but we're really glad we sold it to the right guy. That's EXACTLY what we wanted for that poor old place.

Lots to update, but no time today. I have pictures of John's graduation! It was bittersweet. We had explained who whole end of year thing to him, but when he asked why mrs engelman gave him all these presents (a memory book, with pictures from the year, and a story book) I made the mistake of reminding him that he was finished at pre-k, and will be starting in a new school in fall. I thought that was understood, but he spent a good chunk of the night sobbing, and has slept in our bed every night since. Mike thinks I was a big jerk for telling him, but I really thought he already understood!

All the kids have been sick - likely with swine flu. It matches all the symptoms, but they're almost over it - John is fine now. We got a note that it was confirmed in John's school, and he was the first to get it. We called public health, and they said just to treat it like a normal flu - lots of fluids, yadda yadda. Only bring them in if they have breathing problems - that's when they test to confirm. Dave had a bit of croup with it, but she told us we did the right thing - as soon as it started, I sat with him in the bathroom with the shower on hot until it settled down. They're all on the mend - it was pretty mild, whatever it was. Mike and I got a touch of it, too, but shook it off pretty easily.

I took John to register at his new school, in an effort to cheer him up. We chose french immersion after all. He likes the school, and I let him play on the playground for a while. There was another little boy out there, but he was heading into grade 1. I think it will all be fine. There's a city park program starting shortly in our area. We did it last year - they play games and make crafts. John really enjoyed it last time, and it'll give him a chance to play with kids his own age. A lot of the parents at John's school swapped numbers at the end of the year, but they all knew we moved to the south, which is too far to drive for a playdate. But I'm sure between the summer programs, school and beavers, he'll have a group of local kids to play with soon.

anyway, I have way too much work to do! I'll update for real soon. But anyone who saw or lived in our old house, look it up on mls.ca - you'll be shocked!

banff trip

Dad and Joan at Peyto Lake

Joan, overlooking Banff

Lunch in Chez Vanagon on the trip home

John, being John, while guarding food from the squirrels

Dad setting up camp and building the fire, and John, taking a picture of me, taking a picture of him.

Just can't get enough? Here's a link to the complete album. Warning - some are duds - it's all the pictures we took:

http://picasaweb.google.com/johnjoandave/BanffKeepers?authkey=Gv1sRgCPavvaX0uIDIFA&feat=directlink

So, there's our trip on pictures. We saw Peyto Lake, Mistaya Canyon, and then we went on a gondola ride. These are just the views from Mike and I. I haven't downloaded John's camera yet. I'm sure he's got some gems in there. And then there's the return trip - I was a little shakey after the gondola trip, and you have to hop out kind of fast, before it zooms up the mountain again, and I was carrying two kids out, all resulting in me forgetting my purse on the ride. So, we had to head back a couple days later to pick it up. We took Vicki and Billy that time, and went up again. We have pictures from that, too.

The kids seemed to really enjoy the trip. John had been asking to go camping for a while. He was pretending to do campouts in the living room, and was dressing up in what he thought a Scout might wear - complete with Thomas baseball cap and backpack filled with a water bottle, blankie pink, and spare batteries. (I don't think he'll ever leave home without batteries ever again. We took Vicki and Billy for a drive to the mountains a while back, and the batteries in their camera died while trying to take picture of deer. "I have batteries!" pipes in John. No-one paid him any mind, until he reached into his coat pocket, and out came a handfull of frech batteries. He was so proud to have saved the day! Turns out, he's always got little stashes of stuff with him all the time, including batteries - just in case, assorted pet rocks in case he's lonely, and little boxes of raisins, in case he gets hungry. We told him he'll be an excellent Scout, and he's adopted that into his persona. He kept saluting us during our camping trip, like he was some sort of soldier.)

It was a pretty fun trip. Very crowded with tourists - mostly from overseas. Lots of then stopped to talk and meet the kids. They loved the red hair. We had a couple from Holland in the campsite next to us. I know John has pictures of them. The man was named Jan, and didn't know too much english, but that didn't stop John, who led this poor guy all around, showing him every detail of our campsite and van.

Joan liked the hiking, but tired out quickly. She kept taking breaks, which meant laying spread eagle on the path, to the amusement of all the international tourists.

I think the only thing we'd change was the bedtime routine. We had brought glow sticks for the kids, to be like a nightlight so they wouldn't get scared, but they had never seen them before. So it was like "here's this awesome new toy, kids. Now go to sleep." Yeah. That worked out just great. The next hour were spent trying to shush sqeals of delight. John used his to make all the blankets glow. Joan used hers as a microphone, and sang into it with all her heart. In the end, they had to be confiscated.

We're thinking dinosoar provincial park next. Maybe it will be warmer at night than the mountains. I'd better get going. I've spent too much time on the computer, but I wanted to get those photos out. I'll post more soon.

videos from our camping trip...

Dave is the first to pop awake in Hotel Vanagon.

Group hug from Dad!

We took a one-night camping trip with the kids in Hotel Vanagon. We had lots of fun - we intended to take a hike, but the path was still covered in snow. So instead, we checked out Peyto Lake, a really neat canyon, and then took a gondola ride in Banff. It was a great mini-vacation. We're gong to try to get out as many of Mike's weekends as we can. With the kids both in school in September, we only have a couple months where we can do stuff together, without pulling kids from school, or booking off from work. We think next we'll head east - maybe Cyprus Hills or the Dinosoar provincial park. I'll post more pictures really soon, but for now, I have a couple videos. These are from a new camera, so hopefully, they're ok. My old one is being held together with tape, so Mike bought me a very snazzy new one. It didn't cost very much at all, but still blows away the old one.

One is of a very tame squirrel who invaded our campsite. He stole smores and cookies, and dodged our kids. The other is of Mike showing the kids how to start a fire. My favourite part is Joan trying to blow it out.

Anyway, enjoy. And enjoy John's crazy hair - it's finally getting cut tonight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eay75EJNsvQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHj4Mhu5bcM