Dragon Club!

Several weeks ago Dylan formed a boys club who meet at our house every Friday after school.
The group is named Dragon Club and each boy has his own nickname such as Dark Dragon, Red Eye, Yellow Fang and Blue Scale. Together, the individuals come together to make the whole dragon (oooooohhhhh the metaphor!)

The club has a theme for each week such as conducting science experiments (like making slime), making sushi, playing board games (their favourite is Twister).

Recently the boys put on a Christmas variety show for their parents.

Christmas in Toronto

Despite having to work night shift throughout the Christmas holiday, I had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. My mother-in-law cooked and served dinner and my father-in-law did the cleaning. Aunt Greta came over for dinner and we had a lovely time. Dylan surprised all of us, but especially Grandma, with an incredibly heartfelt poem which he had written for her. It turns out he is living up to his namesake, Dylan Thomas (he's a poet and he don't even know it).

Thanks to my new-found family from my father's side, we were simply swimming in presents. Dylan has never had it so good!

Christmas in the Emergency Department

Hospitals stay open 24/7 and this year it was my turn to work Christmas in the Emergency Department. Our staff made the best of it as we had a potluck dinner on site and many of us wore our Christmas "gear".

Several weeks prior to Christmas, our docs threw us an elaborate party. The dinner was spectacular and the DJ rocked.

I won chocolates for all the members of my table by being the only one who could sing all the words to "Frosty the Snowman".

Christmas in Antigua

My parents-in-law own a timeshare which they trade for a destination in the Caribbean every Christmas. We are very fortunate to be invited to join them and Andrew's brother's family for a sunny vacation as a precurser to Christmas. Presents are exchanged and a full year of history is recounted.


This year we had a new addition to the family with our 9-month old nephew Kai Thomas. Kai is a very happy and engaging baby. Arleen and Greg make wonderful parents and will ensure many adventures for their child in the upcoming years.















Antigua is a lovely island and is one of the most scenic Caribbean destinations that we have been to thus far. The varying topography is picturesque and the people are very friendly. The is land is peppered with abandoned windmills used previously to grind sugarcare.
















Each morning we would receive a short rain shower or "liquid sunshine" as the resort personnel call it. A rainbow would appear with one end in the ocean and the other in hills. I had Dylan convinced that the rainbow pointed the way to a sunken Spanish ship carrying gold medallions and to buried pirate treasure on the island.














We had the opportunity to spend the day on a
catamaran. Dylan had a great time being tossed around while sailing on the Atlantic ocean. We saw all of Antigua by sea....










.....and on another excursion by jeep we saw all of Antigua by land.











Overall, we thought of Antigua as a romantic spot and would recommend it as a vacation destination (minus snorkling opportunities).

Its Beginning To Feel Alot Like Christmas!

This is Dylan's letter to Santa Clause: "Dear Santa,
This is Dylan from 104 Winners Circle. How are you? For Christmas I would like either a Transformer called Starscream or another Transformer called Mendsor which comes with a mini-con called Heavy Load. I hope you have a merry Christmas. Best Wishes, Dylan."

By the way, for those of you who may have been thinking about buying the transformer, Santa has it covered.

This weekend was spent preparing for the Christmas season. Lights were hung indoors and outdoors. The tree was put up and decorated. A Christmas photo was taken but probably won't be sent because after many retakes we just couldn't get it right (but we had fun trying).

We had a celebration dinner and feasted on steamed Alaskan crab legs (please note: Dylan did not eat the nature but he sure had a good time cracking it apart for us).

Dance!

I love to watch Dylan dance. He has such intuitive rhythm. Unfortunately he does not want to continue pursuing ballet lessons due to peer pressure. This is a shame because, although he is no Baryshnokov, he certainly is an original.

Baby Nathan Arrives!!!

Anita and Brent were pleased to announce the birth of their son yesterday, Nathan Alexander Archibald. He weighs 7lbs 16oz and measures 58 cm. Anita and baby are home and doing great! Here is a picture of the proud parents!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

Dylan's teeth are dropping like flies. He has lost four teeth already. And, God bless his innocence, he still believes in the tooth fairy. He was very intrigued to fine a loonie under his pillow after he lost his first tooth. It came in a special "tooth fairy box" with a small note from his fairy named "Silver". Dylan remarked that he was more interested in gaining new knowledge about the tooth fairy rather than receiving money. So, with his next tooth, a correpondance began between him and Silver. Notes were exchanged and he learned all sorts of information (such as why his tooth box has a bar code and a "made in China" mark). Everything was explained to his satisfaction. I think he was challenged on this beliefs in class the next day (he came home wanting further explanations) but after some discussion he was more than happy to hang on to his dream about tooth fairies (and his childhood innocence) a little longer.

Remembrance Day Weekend

It was a fairly quiet weekend. Every Friday after school Dylan has several boys over at our house for a "boy's club" (more on that at a later date). As part of this week's activities, the boys made SLIME in our kitchen.

After the b0ys left, our evening guests arrived (JACK and BRENDA). We had such a good time playing with the leftover SLIME. This stuff is so neat. It is made with two parts cornstarch and one part water with food colouring.

It is easy to clean which is a good thing as our kitchen was a disaster after boy's club.

After dinner we all retired to the outdoor deck and spent a very frosty night sitting in front of the firepit. Furtrapper hats and blankets were all pulled out of storage as winter has arrived.

Saturday was Rembrance Day and we watched a small procession in The Beach. This year there were only a handful of WWII veterans (originally from The Beach) walking behind the bagpipers and drummers and parade officials. As I watched these men walk by I was reminded of mom telling me about the excitement of Liberation Day and seeing all the Canadian soldiers come through their town in tanks and uniform, distributing chocolate and food. She said that the Canadian soldiers were seen as the handsomest men in the world.

After the parade we went for Dim Sum in Chinatown.

In church the next morning, Dylan and the other children were given the opportunity to help with all the service responsibilities. Dylan helped to collect the offering (all monies were present and accounted for).

Sunday evening was spent having dinner with my brother and his family. But I have saved that for another story (blog).........

LA FAMIGLIA

As many of you may know, I have recently discovered my father's side of the family. After my mother passed away I began to feel very isolated. I suddenly felt like a true "only child". I'd look at my beautiful boy and worry about the lack aunties, uncles, and cousins in his "only child" life. So, with great nervousness, I made contact for the first time with my birth father; and I am so glad that I did. The response has been tremendously positive. I have discovered a brother and a sister as well as a father. I have five nieces/nephews and Dylan now has cousins!

I must admit that I felt an instant kinship with my sister Sandra. She has a wicked sense of humour and can articulate her thoughts and feelings in a manner that makes me envious. As a child she jumped grades and went through the gifted school program. Later, she entered into math sciences at university (unfortunately I did not inherit any of the math genes but there is hope for Dylan yet). In the immortal words of Anne of Green Gables, I recognize Sandra to be a "kindred spirit" and I have enjoyed getting to know her. Ironically she and I married very similar men....both are from Ottawa, both are WASP, both are mechanically inclined whether it is bicycle or motorbicycle engineering, both are computer geeks and have the same taste in dark European beers. Sandra has two children. Her daughter is a year older than Dylan and they get along great. Her son is 12 years old, also in the gifted program and is a such a great conversationalist.

My brother and his family came over for dinner this past weekend. He also is a very thoughtful and intelligent guy. I made the comment that it is reassuring to know that my missing gene pool is of such sound stock. His wife and children are so lovely. We had a good time teaching the children how to make sushi for our appetizers.

In September, the whole family gathered at a taurant for my 8-year old niece's birthday. I must admit, looking down the very long table with all the people eating together, it felt nice to be part of such a large gathering. This is a picture of Sandra and her husband Donald as well as Dylan and Sarah.

My father just turned 70 years old this October. My hope is that my relationship with my father, sister and brother will continue for many years to come.

Reading

Tonight Dylan and I were laying on the bed reading our respective books. I am so grateful that he has developed a vorvacious appetite for reading. I remember what pleasure and comfort I have had over the years from my books and I am glad to bestow this gift upon him.

My greatest memory of Dylan, which I will take to my deathbed, is of our late night storytelling in the dark. This was probably a bad habit which I encouraged, but every night when he was a toddler he would wake up around 2:00pm. Together he and I would snuggle alone on the couch in the darkness and I would tell him stories. By the light of the outdoor streetlamp I could watch his eyes widen in wonder as I recalled the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur and Superman etc...When he was older I would tell about Oma and Grandma the brave during the war and what it must have been like living with bombs exploding around you. I truly looked forward to these nighttime adventures and I know Dylan did too. Now, when he tells me stories I hear the such intonation and expression in his speech and you can see that he is visualizing the characters, plot, scenery as he orates his story.

Great readers are the result of great coaches. So thank you to all of you who took the time to make a difference in his life.

I have pulled out some photos of my boy picture gazing and reading through the ages as a reminder to myself of these happy times.

Krista and Brock in Toronto

Toronto suffered a severe blow when socialites extraordinaire, Krista and Brock moved to Vancouver for her new job. However, they were back in town this weekend and we made the most of it with an evening out in trendy Bloor Village. After an evening of pleas made for them to return to Toronto....could they be swayed???

This is a picture of "Mary Antoinette" at the guillotine.

Anita's Baby Shower

My lovely cousin Anita is expecting a baby this December!! A surprise baby shower was held at her mom's house (Auntie Greta). Anita was truly surprised by the event. She many many items such as clothing, diaper genie etc.... She and husband Brent are very exited about their soon-to-be blessed event.

This is a photo of Edwin's girlfriend Sharon beside Auntie Greta and Anita. Sharon baked the special cake.