A Fun Retreat

We just got back from the Jasper retreat an hour or so ago...it was such fun. We scrapped until 1:30 am on Saturday morning, but quit early (12:30 am) this morning, and kept going today until we had to close up shop a 3:00. It was a great retreat...the hostess plus 17 scrappers...lots of room to spread our stuff out and work. We took our own snackies, but the hotel kept us supplied with coffee, tea, juice, pop, water, cookies, squares, and fruit mid-morning and mid-afternooon, as well as buffet breakfast and lunch both days, and a special dinner on Saturday, all included in the modest cost of the retreat. We made new friends, took a mini-album class, went on a horse-drawn carriage ride around Jasper, won door prizes, and cropped till we dropped. It was a very productive weekend for me - usually a very slow scrapper. I completed six 12 x 12 layouts, a card, and a nine-page mini-album. I'll be posting pictures of some of the layout in subsequent entries. As fun as it was, it's good to be home and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

The pictures are self explanatory I think...Me and Mickey at the crop, Mickey and Me with our luggage (the bottom layer of cases isn't included in the picture), and the group in the horse carriage.

Happy Feet, Pretty Feet

Mickey and I are going to Jasper tomorrow for a scrapbooking retreat. As a preliminary treat, this afternoon we went to a spa and had lovely, soothing, relaxing, pedicure. So again, these are pictures I didn't take, but they're fun to have and show. We didn't realize that we had chosen the same polish color until we were actually having the polish applied...we do things like that a lot...our tastes are so similar. I like my feet, but the whole affect is ruined by the gross kankles I inherited from my grandmother.

I won't be posting a blog until at least Sunday, when we're returning from Jasper.

Horton Hears A Who, and Panda Hut Too!

Before Amy and Curtis left for Hawaii last weekend, Amy planned activities for her girls for most of the days they'd be away. Today was 'fun with Grammie' day and the babysitter kept Kenzie home from kindergarten so she'd be ready to go as soon as I got home from work around 1:30.

Luckily, Horton Hears A Who has just come to the theatres, so that's where we decided to go (the girls came over last night so we could plan this date). I loved the movie and so did Kenzie. Syd dozed during the middle part of it, but enjoyed the popcorn and pop when she was awake. After the movie I let them choose where we'd go for dinner. Kenzie chose Panda Hut (they both seemed awfully familiar with it and the menu selections!) so that's where we spent the next hour and a half. They love the play area (the restaurant used to be a Burger King and the new owners saw fit to leave the play area there for their customers) and what they didn't eat of their noodles and rice, we brought home for them to eat later, or for the babysitter, whichever comes first. It was a fun day and the babysitter had a peaceful afternoon with just Aidan to take care of.

The McCarthy's - 1983

Just looking through some of my old photos and came across this one. It's my family taken shortly after Lloyd and I moved back to Nova Scotia with the kids...I'm the one in the white t-shirt. My sister and her family came from Winnipeg and we had a family reunion at Mum and Dad's place for the first time in years. I would have been about 34, Wendy 35 and Ken 31. I have kids older than that now! That was a lovely summer. Wendy's 4 kids and my 6 (Emily wasn't born until 1986) had great fun getting to know one another and all the great-aunts and great-uncles (mum had 13 siblings and most of them lived in that area...dad had 4 not too far away). It's sad to think that there's just the three women left now. Ken was killed in a mining accident when he was 39 and Dad died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 70. We have more happy memories than sad though. I love looking at these old pictures and remembering the fun times. This is why we scrapbook!!

I've got to put this link in to Sara's blog - it's the funniest, sweetest, blog I've read in a long time. Maybe you'll like it too. http://fip.typepad.com/mommy_moments/

Surprize Visitors

Jenny and her two youngest boys came to town today while the three older boys were at school. It's always nice to see them. Micah is two - a very big two - and Jammers (James Anders) is 4 months old, although he should only be 3 months old - the little monkey was born a month early. Micah calls me Grandmummy - the only one of our grandchildren to change my name from Grammy...cute. Both boys are happy and healthy and we had fun visiting with them. Jenny is still putting the finishing touches in their new house in LaCombe and makes regular trips to IKEA for supplies.

I'll Drive - You Navigate

Some things you just can't wait for the snow to melt to enjoy. Cousins Max and Sydney go for a swing ride together at Easter when the snow is still fairly deep in the back yard. Max, because he's the 'man' and a few months older than Syd, is the driver while Sydney appears to be telling him how to do it and where to go. The picture is out of focus, but hey - they're driving!!

Brooklyn

This little sweetie hasn't been featured much in this blog, and she's just too cute to leave out. This is our son Rob's daughter - 4 year old Brooklyn. I took this picture last summer, the first time I saw her with her glasses on. I love her in them - she looks so cute in them. They help her so much that her parents have no trouble getting her to wear them and leave them on. She's sweet and shy but once she warms up to people, she's very much into the fun. She loves dressing up and has quite a tickle trunk of costumes to wear.

The second picture is a studio photo Sara took of her last summer.