A Zoo-rific Day

Sara and I took the kids to the Wilderness Park about 10 minutes from home today. What a beautiful park. We spent about 3 hours there feeding ducks and giraffes and seeing all sorts of animals from white alligators and penguins to camels and kinkabous.

Max and Charlie really liked feeding the ducks and swans.

Their favorite birds though were the penguins.

Sara and the kids went on a log water ride.

The huge tourtises were beautiful in their own way.

Charlie enjoyed feeding the giraffes - such long black toungs.

Charlie, Max and I went on the sky ride - a 15-minute ride on a ski-lift type aerial chair. It gave us a different perspective of the park.

The flamingos were beautiful, such a lovely color.

Elly fell asleep as we strolled along.

The ducks took food right out of my hand. Max tried it but was bitten on the finger by a goose.

Charlie, in front of some beautiful parrots.


The kids had a ride on the merry-go-round.

Not sure what's in the background there, but I like this picture.

The swans were beautiful but Max wasn't too impressed when one bit his finger.

We topped the day off with a starlight swim - the water temperature was warmer than the air temperature. We sure had fun for over an hour. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

A Quieter Day

We had a quieter day today but it started in a very pleasant fashion. Emily and Allan got up before the sun and went shopping for ingredients for breakfast for the family. Emily loves cooking so we let her treat us today. She made delicious french toast with syrup, whipped cream, strawberries and banana slices, as well as bacon and chocolate milk.

Emily worked hard in the kitchen preparing the breakfast.

Allan helped by setting the table and acting as Emily's assistant chef.

Elly loved the whipped cream and ended up with it all over her face, hands and Papa.

Then for a change of pace, in the evening Emily, Allan, Lloyd and I went to an NHL game - Phoenix vs Dallas. We're Edmonton Oilers fans of course but have adopted Phoenix Coyotes as our second favorite team since we'll be spending considerable time down here. Allan and I wore our Oilers jerseys to the hockey game even though they weren't playing. It was a fun time - it's nice to feel the energy of the game in person, even though the game itself wasn't too exciting. The Coyotes won 1-0 in a shootout.

Allan and Emily

A face-off in the Coyotes zone.

Lloyd and me at the game.

Lloyd and me outside the arena - it's a very impressive place - kind of like a carnival atmosphere - much nicer than the Edmonton facility.

Emily and Allan outside the arena.

Hiking and Swimming

I am so tired and sore tonight I can hardly drag myself upstairs to go to bed. But here I sit with my laptop trying to record the fun we had today.

This morning, while Emily and Allan relaxed from their busy day traveling yesterday, Lloyd and I and Sara and the kids went hiking up White Tank Mountain, not far from where we live. It was a beautiful place in an unfamiliar Arizona way. It was a two mile return trek, not much really but I'm so out of shape that my knees and legs fought me after the first mile. Luckily we stopped often to take pictures.

Charlie is an average sized five-year old but just look at how much
taller than her that saguarro cactus is.

This is part of the cactus forest.

This one is not as tall as the one in the first picture.
That's Charlie and Max standing there with me.

We were a bit nervous stepping off the trail to stand by the cactus because of signs like this that were posted all along the trail. You can bet we checked carefully before putting our feet down!

There are several areas there with these old, old pictographs carved into the rock.

Near the end of the trail, Elly got tired of being in her stroller and wanted Papa to carry her.

So he did while she quickly fell asleep. What a good guy.

Here she is early on in the hike, while she was still perky and full of vim and vigor.

Lloyd with Max and Charlie at the top of our hike. There was supposed to be a waterfall up there but it was just a small trickle. It was a good hike up to see it though.

Max, the professional model, on the rock. He just climbed up there, posed himself and told his mother to take his picture. Posing for pictures is second nature to Sara's kids.

The three of them climbing on the rocks.

Max, posing again, this time in front of another pictograph rocks.

Elly always thinks she should be able to do what the big kids do!

When we got home after having a lunch on the way, we decided the pool was warm enough to swim in, so we all went in, including Elly in her baby floater. It was impossible to keep her out of the water once she saw the big kids go in.

Me, with Charlie and Elly. The kids are fearless in the water as long as they have their life jackets and floaties.

Allan, me Charlie, Max and Emily. Max loves that giant sea turtle and would paddle his little legs as hard as he could to steer it towards me.

Elly's first try at jumping into the water. It was pretty cold on her little bare bum but she enjoyed it and was mad when Sara took her out to put a diaper on her.

Charlie and Emily having fun in the shallow end.

Lloyd and Max playing with the sea turtle.

Charlie and me on the 'secret' bench. Charlie loves that spot.

Picking Oranges

Our first full day in Arizona - we went to some estate sales in Sun City. That was a new experience for us. Since we were in Sun City already, we decided to go to Auntie Cath and Uncle Clyde's home and pick some oranges - another new experience for the kids and us. Since Cath and Clyde are snowbound in Grande Prairie, AB right now we didn't think they'd mind if we visited their orange trees. And they tasted delicious!

Max and me with our pickings

Charlie in the tree - a posed shot for Sara

Grammie in action

Elly likes them, peels and all

Max had a hard time getting the orange off the tree

Still trying to get into that fruit....

In a few hours Emily and Allan will be here too, and we'll have an evening barbeque to celebrate.

Rest and Relaxation

Finally, we got to Arizona today. Amazing to leave Edmonton in a snow storm and -26 degree temperature and arrive three hours later in sunny Arizona with a temperature of 66 - 70. Sara and the kids were there to meet us. The kids were so excited to see us, they really wore us out. But it was fun. We've got the pool heating up so we'll be swimming tomorrow. Yea!!

Charlie and Max playing with Papa

Family free-for-all on the king size bed. Charlie, Max and Elly were all over us. We were playing Family Trivia with them, quizzing them about our family.

We went to a buffet for supper - Elly's favorite part was going after the frosting on Max's cupcake after wiping it all off of hers.

We're looking forward to a few weeks of fun and relaxation. Sara and the kids leave for Edmonton on the 18th, Emily and Allan are arriving tomorrow for a week, my friend Mickey is coming on the 15th to 22nd, my sister and her husband are coming on the 22nd to 30th, so we'll have lots of company, lots of fun, lots of sun, lots of relaxation, and get our batteries recharged for normal life in February.

After a very difficult, emotionally draining week, Mackenzie Fisher's family and friends gathered in Grande Prairie today to remember and celebrate his life.


Mackenzie was a very special boy who brought joy to the lives of many people. The eulogy his Uncle Mark delivered was both touching and humorous and made me wish that I knew this son of my niece better while he was still among us. His sudden, untimely death on December 31 from a brain tumor was such a shock to all of us. He had been to doctors but none of them discovered the orange-sized tumor that caused his headaches, nausea, and balance problems. He simply collapsed on Dec. 30 and never regained consciousness.

A year prior to his death, Mackenzie, in a discussion with his mother, told her that if he was to die he wanted his organs donated to somebody else. The family decided to honor his wishes. In one of those cosmic coincidences, the day after the transplants were completed, our daughter discovered that the brother of one of her friends just received a kidney transplant in our city from a 12-year old boy who died of a brain tumor. It's so good to know that Mackenzie's death wasn't the end of him. As well as the organ donations, the strong faith of the family let us believe that Mackenzie's spirit lives on and we'll see him again in another place at another time.

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Tomorrow morning at 6:45 Lloyd and I leave for Surprise, Arizona where we'll relax until the end of the month. I'm taking my MacBook with me so hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures and continue blogging about our adventures in the sunny south. It's been bitterly cold (-30ish) all week up here so the thought of warm sunshine is a real treat.

End of the Year

I started this blog last January 1 in response to a challenge to post a picture a day. Over the year it has evolved into a journal of the happenings in my family. I have enjoyed doing it so much that I have decided to continue for another year.

Here are a few final images of the end of this year.


A snowy day in Lethbridge yesterday as we started for home.


When we visited Lloyd's sister Cheryl, one of her friends brought out this beautiful angel to show me.


Three more Oilers jerseys - Mike, me and Lloyd. Too bad our team isn't doing so well this year.


A late Christmas visit with Mike, Avril, Alex and Kenny. Always fun to visit with the family and little grandsons.


For our Christmas Eve dinner this year, Sara made these little deck-of-card-sized personalized boxes for all the adults in the family (16 of us). She put slips of paper in each of them and they were passed around so everyone could write something positive about the person whose name was on the box. They're lovely treasures for us all to keep.

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Sadly 2008 ended on a sad note for our family. Yesterday morning our niece, Tania's 12-year old son MacKenzie, collapsed from a ruptured brain tumor - a tumor they didn't even know he had. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced brain dead this afternoon. The family gathered at the pediatric ICU all day to give Tania our love and support and shed tears together. It was very sad. MacKenzie is the first child our large family has lost. He was loved by everyone and will be missed by all. He had expressed the wish some months ago that he would like to have his organs donated at his death so his family is honoring his wish. His death is providing the gift of life to several people who otherwise wouldn't be so blessed. What more could we wish for his legacy.