Catching Up

It’s been almost a year since I last posted anything related to anything, which I hadn’t quite realized. Maybe it’s because I updated a couple of sections of the blog pages to include more picture related documentation of our adventures. Maybe it’s because I haven’t felt there was much to write about or maybe I find writing about all the good stuff harder then writing about the challenging stuff.

As I reflect on my lack of writing I come up with a number of reasons. Some of which are the newness of relationships and understandings of what should be public and what challenges should remain within the pages of my journal. Others are enjoying more aspects of life again, going out, doing new things and being able to enjoy time in other locations with family and friends.

The last year has been wonderful, not without challenges, but I don’t think that life can be without some challenges. We have settled into routines as a family, celebrated another set of holidays in a way that warms my heart, and started getting back into special activities that had been put aside during COVID lockdowns.

This past year we were able to do a lot more camping. Something that I missed and am grateful to be able to do in a trailer now rather then in a tent. Not that I minded the tent, it was just a lot more work then having a trailer. We didn’t get to many lakes, but did get away from the city frequently, which also included being away from technology mostly. Camping, in my opinion, shouldn’t include technology (unless it’s raining and even then there are other things that can be done as a family). 

Our family continued with supporting RC Airplane flying for Cory and the kids created a new RC Crawler game (Crawler Tag) to play with the RC Crawlers, which was surprisingly fun around a campsite or in the yard. Teaches speed control and fine movements to catch each other without rolling over all the time. Basically you bump each other to trade who is “It”. 

As part of this I picked up my camera again and then picked up a new camera as the older one wasn’t fast enough to capture planes in the right way. I hadn’t realized how much I missed taking photographs and capturing events. It never was anything other then a hobby, but I had set it aside to be more present in the things we were doing as a family while we struggled through the harder times for our family.

Summer Flying. This is a combination of many times out at the flying field. Some of which included camping and others were day trips. I was learning how and where to stand on the field to get the best shots and found that it really depended on what I was trying to do. Still learning how best to capture video of small objects 2-300 feet above my head.

The end of summer for us was a bit traumatic as the youngest child had a mountain biking accident that resulted in surgery to his left arm. Severe broken bone, which healed exceptionally fast. He was out of the cast in about 4 weeks and back to being a normal rambunctious child by 6 weeks. Only signs that something happened is the wicked scar he now has just above the elbow.

Both children have grown a lot this past year, both physically and emotionally. The oldest child is now taller then I am (which isn’t hard considering I’m short), but it’s different looking up at your 13 year old. He continues to be a very open and considerate teen, who enjoys physical activities (most of the time). He has started to go to the gym to exercise and train before school a few days a week. Yes, this requires some 5am wake ups, which he does on his own.

The youngest has gone back to BJJ which surprised me a bit a he really wasn’t interested in it a few years ago. I’ve noticed a difference in his sense of being very quickly after we committed to that and have had him going. He is even starting to remember things he had learned previously, which is great. His class is ages 9-14 so he is at the bottom of that age group, but there are lots of kids his age so he isn’t over powered all the time.

Both kids I have finally been able to get into swimming lessons. While I can teach them some things about swimming it’s been a very long time since I taught that and when I did it was to very little people and their parents. Both kids have no issues with the water and have picked up a good amount of skill without instruction, but with instruction will have just that much more confidence in the water as they get older.

The weather hasn’t been really cooperative for skating this winter so we really haven’t been out much. It’s either been too freakishly cold, or melty. We almost had a brown Christmas this year, which hasn’t happened in a very long time. The really cold weather hit in early January dropping us from above 0 Celsius to -39 Celsius some days for about a week and a half. We are currently seeing a warm up back to above 0 temperatures.

The warmer weather hasn’t always been good though as my fall sensitivities have lasted far longer then usual. It’s been rough when all you do is sneeze and have runny eyes all the time. It doesn’t help in passing colds either and we have had a few small ones. Thank goodness none have been any of the strains of COVID that have come through the city and my office.

Over the year we have also continued the never ending renovation (well Cory did most of it). Repainting the house in a different color scheme and finally putting up the backsplash in the kitchen makes the house seem so much closer to finished. Just have some additional finishing work (trim) to do and then that part is about as done as renovations get.

It certainly wouldn’t have been even that far without Cory doing the work.

I’ll try to do better this year in posting about our activities. Hope you are all doing well.