Wednesday, December 26, 2018

2018 Christmas Letter and Card




Hello everyone! ‘tis the season!! The season for last minute letter writing, cookie baking and Christmas shopping J Or at least that’s the case in our household!! We are spending a quiet Christmas day at home this year. On Boxing Day we will be in Stony Plain to celebrate with our Smith/Stecyk family and on the 27th we are heading to Grande Prairie to visit Cal’s side of the family. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone!

I had a bit of trouble starting this letter this year. We lost my Grandpa Art in September and I feel like it’s hard to celebrate all the good in 2018 with the loss of such an important man in our lives. We were glad to be in SK with our immediate and extended family during this time. We miss him dearly but are glad he is no longer suffering. We will hold close all our wonderful memories, especially at this time of year as I remember the 20+ years I spent with him at Christmas time.

A little update on the kiddo’s in 2018 … Blake is 11 and in grade 6, hard to believe he’ll be off to junior high next year! We’re enjoying this last year of having all 3 kids in the same school. He played lacrosse this spring and brought home a silver medal from provincials in Calgary! He’s still obsessed with hockey and this year is working really hard on his slap shot. He’s decided to play spring hockey this spring and Cal will be coaching. Blake’s missing his favorite coach behind the bench this winter season. He tried a new sport this year when he joined the school volleyball team and enjoyed himself! I’ve also heard rumblings of playing school basketball, so we’ll see how he’ll fit all this in. He’s not still for long, unless he’s playing FortNite!!

Emerson is 9 and in grade 4! She is Ukrainian dancing again this year and playing ringette. She has chosen to split the goalie position in ringette this year and is doing very well. We may have a goalie on our hands, although league rules do not allow a player to play goalie 100% of the time until U12A. I am an assistant coach on her ringette team. Emerson was in guitar lessons until the end of June and is still practicing most weeks. She joined the school choir this year and is slightly annoyed her sister was old enough to also join!! Em is the best little helper I have, always willing to help with chores, cooking, walking the dog, etc.

Reese is 8 and in grade 3! She loves school and loves to read but her favorite subject is Math. Reese joined Brownies this fall and is having such a great time with her bestie! She had her first overnight Brownie camp and it was also her first time away from home for 2 nights (other than Grandma and Grandpa’s house)! I was a bit worried but she did great and had a blast. She’s looking forward to another Brownie camp in the spring. Reese is also playing ringette this winter and I am co-coaching her team. She is having a great season and is glad to finally be in U10 and playing regular league games. Like her sister, she enjoys playing goalie! Reese was in piano lessons until the end of June and would like to start lessons again. She still enjoys music and art and is quite the little artist J

We enjoyed our annual summer vacation road trip this year, visiting two new towns (Revelstoke and Golden) and our old favorite, Wright’s Beach in Penticton. We camped near Cal’s brother and family while in Penticton and had a great time. The weather was HOT!! We had a nice visit with Cal’s Aunt Sharon and Aunt Madeleine and were happy to also visit my great Aunt Gwen and great Uncle Frank! We embarked on the river float this year which scared the heck out of all of us when our tubes got caught up at a bridge. Lesson learned and the second float down the river was much less terrifying!! We absolutely loved Revelstoke and Golden. In Revelstoke we stayed at a campground on Upper Arrow Lake, it was gorgeous and the girls made new friends from Vernon, Germany and St. Lucia! Golden was also a surprise, we really enjoyed the Grizzly Bear refuge at Kicking Horse and the municipal campground was surprisingly nice and not a ‘parking lot’ as we anticipated.

In other news we added a new member to our family at the end of May when we adopted a puppy from a local rescue. We really missed having a dog in our lives and spent some time looking for what we hoped was the right fit! We wanted a larger breed, hoping to have a pal to hike, run and walk with us!! Quinn Jasper Cameron is her name but she was originally named Debbie by the rescue! We considered keeping Debbie (I had visions of yelling, “Debbie!! Get inside! or Debbie, it’s time for supper!!” lol!) but the family wasn’t quite on board and finally settled on Quinn, which suits her just fine J Jasper was also a front runner but some of us felt it was a more masculine name. One of our favorite places is Jasper and she has the coloring of Jasper the bear, so it was decided it would be her middle name! We love her so much and are working hard to train her. House and crate training were a breeze, she’s a very smart pup and she’s awesome with us but protective when strangers come to the house, which has proven challenging (tips are welcomed!). She loves the dog park, doggy daycare and lots and lots of exercise!! At almost 9 months she is 60 lbs and most closely resembles a border collie/lab cross but we’d love to do a doggy DNA test to see what breeds come back! She had so much fun with us on holidays this summer, loving the water and all the walks. We had fun with her at the doggy beach in Penticton, where she could swim with the kids! There’s nothing like the unconditional love of a dog J  

 Cal and I are still at our same jobs. I’ve upped my FTE a touch this year and have been picking up some casual hours. We’re living the rink life this winter and loving it, although Cal misses coaching hockey but is happy to be planning for the spring season!! Cal ran in the Sin7 Ultra race this summer with his November Project friends. When Quinn is a bit older, he hopes she will be his new running buddy!

Take care everyone, wishing you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year!

All our love,
The Cameron family

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