January 2009

Most of this post is a duplicate of the One Year post. No telling what happened, why it did not post until now, but oh well.

Joseph coming home from Biathlon practice. There are two upcoming meets, and we will post results as they become available, unless the meets are cancelled due to cold weather (anything below -20 degrees C without wind chill).

Samuel coming home from a day on the hill. He and a couple of friends spent 11 hours on the ski hill here. Joseph asked Samuel about tricks, and he admitted to doing "a quarter-barrel-roll." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the technical terms of snow boarding, a 1/4 barrel roll is equivalent to a crash. Ask your young men about this: "technically I landed in the seated position." It is worth a chuckle or two.

On Saturday, January 31, we attended the local Robbie Burns Day celebration (wikipedia learning opportunity). There was Highland dancing, and Irish dancing (similar to River Dance, but in smaller groups). Jezzy did the Sailor Dance. She is considered by many to be the best dancer in town, and has competed in dance competitions all over the province.

The Stay-Puft marshmallow boy.

How teenagers react when being hugged by a precocious child. Holly was dancing in the festivities, and afterward she shared some of her enthusiasm with Joseph and Samuel.

Jezzy, Shauna, Jayden, and Holly. All the girls danced and Shauna, her husband and Sheila (not pictured) joined us for dinner, which included Irish stew, potatoes, turnips, rolls, mixed vegetables, and the center of attention for the evening - HAGIS! - piped in and toasted in proper fashion with bagpipes, drums and the traditional Gaelic blessing for a prosperous new year. We won't mention the warm pudding. Remember, this is a Scottish and Irish celebration, meaning that the after dinner coffee served matched the pudding, Irish.
The crew in the family photo spot.