And now, the rest of the story

January 10, 2005

Seeing as we chronicled the first part of our December trip to Alberta I thougt I should share the rest of it. Hope I didn't forget some special thing we did with someone. I'm already forgetting what we did. We had such a good time and I don't want to forget it so here it is...

Monday Dec 20th Damien drove to the city to have lunch with a former co-worker and friend. While he was gone the kids and I went for lunch to my grandma and grandpa Toews' for comforting home-style cooking and more presents. We had great fun bundling all up and trudging down the alley through the falling snow the 1/2 block to their house. As soon as Damien got home we packed up and drove yet again (the fourth round trip in 3 days) to the city for supper with Becky & Zoltan. So great to be at their home again, this time with baby Ja-ira to entertain Brienne. Driving home was a bit nasty in the snow but Damien did great.

Tuesday we didn't drive anywhere - except down the road a bit to my aunt and uncle Langeruds for supper. We were treated to more Christmas presents and more comforting home-style cooking. Wednesday afternoon we headed to Devon to spend a few days at Melanie and Kelly's. Some highlights of our days there were watching a late night movie (Spiderman), a trip to WEM and Galaxyland thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. Melanie joined in on the fun as we climbed up stairs, went down slides, jumped in ball pits, climbed up tubes etc.. Eating great meals together and just spending time with family. Christmas eve day we busily prepared food and festivities and when most of the work was done we took the kids sledding, or I guess circling since they were riding those saucer things. When we got back to Mel's we had fun building a cool snowman and sidekick. Christmas eve we shared a wonderful holiday meal and Mel did a fantastic job of hosting. After supper we played guitars, sat & talked, leisurely opened presents, played with the kids and their new toys and just enjoyed spending time together.

Christmas Day we had a lovely brunch at Mel's in between everybody packing up to go to various Christmas Day celebrations. Our family of 5 drove across the city to my aunt and uncle's in Millwoods to celebrate with the extended Toews family. There was about 25 of us and we shared a bountiful Christmas dinner, played games, kid's had a treasure hunt, visited with family - so neat to see all my teenaged cousins, watched our 2004 DVD, ate some more, played more games and eventually drove back to Wetaskiwin van loaded down with gifts and sleeping children. Boxing Day was like Christmas Day all over again with my parents. A big treat for us was that the kids all slept in (9:00am), probably the first time ever. So after a leisurely breakfast with Santa Claus we opened more presents and pretty much lazed around till the early afternoon - very nice. Had a great visit that night with friends of my parents.

Monday we loaded up in the van with swimsuits and towels and went to Sherwood Park to the Millenium Place. What a fantastic recreation facility! The pool was great fun with the waves, waterworks, hot tub, steam room etc...Laurent's favorite activity was "surfing" in the waves at the shallow end. After swimming the next stop was the indoor playground which the kids further exhausted themselves playing on. They promptly fell asleep as we got in the van to go for Indian food for supper.

Tuesday and Wednesday we prepared to go home. Grandparents and other relatives made stops by the house to say good byes. Grandma and Grandpa Tougas came for supper and we had a great time all being together. Kids played go fish with Nana and Papa while Nana feverishly finished Laurent's scarf (until late Wednesday night before we departed). Brienne came down with a flu bug or food poisoning our last afternoon, which didn't bode well for the trip but turned out to be cleared up by the time we boarded the plane (but we had a bucket just in case).

Thursday, Dec 30th we flew out of the Edmonton airport back home to Maine, thoroughly loaded with presents and having soaked-in lots of love. Thank you everyone for making our trip so special and for taking such good care of us - the meals and hospitality were much appreciated.