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
