Darling, it's all for you...

For the past few months Fergus has held onto the desire to one day be the backup goaltender for his favourite team, the Phoenix Coyotes. He’d be the guy on the bench with the hat on.

The other night he came to me with another idea (perhaps his job when the NHL is not in season): “Dad, when I grow up I’m going to be just like you except I’m going to work at a store and be the guy who helps people find the right aisles.” In addition, he informed me that - as a family member - I would have the privilege of going into the back of the store with him to check out all the boxes and stuff.

Fergus is really working hard on grasping this whole “working for a living” concept. He seems fascinated with why people have to go to work and that you can choose what you do in life. During our conversation the other night he wanted to know all about every job I had ever had and then asked me if I had ever been fired. He seemed a bit surprised and upset to hear me say that I had not, so he moved on to asking me if I had ever screwed up.

Of course I told him I had done so, many times, and proceeded to inform him about the summer I worked for the forest service fire protection office. I was up in a helicopter picking sample cones off trees (for some reason!) when we spotted some smoke coming from the base of a group of trees. I was asked to mark the tree with a roll of paper so that the suppression crew could more easily locate the site later on. So I chucked the roll out the window. As we flew away the pilot looked back at the tree and then informed me that we should swing around and do it again… and “this time let the roll unfurl!”

Fergus and I laughed and laughed (of course, for his purposes, I embellished things a little by saying it was toilet paper as opposed to cash register tape).

For now, Ferg is readying for his future in the Ice Capades...

Strawberries

Effie loves the strawberries… however, she is forever incapable of simply washing and then eating them like the rest of us. Instead, she puts each berry through a complicated ritual involving de-stemming, dicing and some strange macerating process while utilizing (possible hyperbole alert!) 1 sieve, 17 bowls, 3 knifes, 4 cutting boards and 8 drying towels. This leaves everything in the kitchen stained and me grumpy. I love her enthusiasm but, you know, self expression can be so darn messy!?! Then, the other night, she surprised everyone with a batch of meticulously prepared chocolate dipped smothered strawberries! In an instant she was once again our hero (though she did offer that the callebaut Belgian white chocolate she was forced to use was not quite up to snuff).

Bizaroo Game

And just like the NHL, this sport appears to allow fighting! Best quote: "Pause game, goalie has to bend stick":

Three Ski Vacation Videos

Trip up to Apex & sledding


First ski day


Second ski day

Downloading Effie's camera

From the backseat on the ride home from the Okanagan:









Effie's Spinach:

Do you like my hat?

Unbelievable! The family that has at least ten practice egg hunts each year actually forgot/ did not have time for a hunt on Easter this year. Anyway, some recent pics...

The cousins all looked at the camera at the same time :: Mini's 10th birthday...


A fine party hat:


Aunties:


Back home, an outdoor art project spontaneously broke out with neighbor Felix and his dog Lucy (woops, got some jimmy-crack-butt in that photo):


Scoob and Eff built a fire:

Same old Goose

Ferg was relatively keen to get his hair chopped off and is very pleased with the job his Auntie Jamesie did. He loves his new do and the rest of his family is happy for him of course but very sad as well. The funniest thing is that every minute or so he wipes his phantom hair out of his right eye. My vote to maintain this "Flock of Seagulls" look, however, got nixed:


Ferg watching "Cloudy Meatballs" live from Santa Clara, CA via iChat:


Cousin Cullan with Effie:

(untitled)

Up in the valley

We left the wintry weather behind for the city yesterday but not before some more play in the snow. The kids spent nearly every daylight hour outdoors taking advantage of the first snow they've seen all season. They were more than ready for continued skiing but, like with skating, they managed to discover this new phenomenon right at the end of the season...


The cousins playing Headbandz (20 questions):


I think this means she's "sizzlin":


Ferg and Phi both enjoy some serious quantities of screen time:


Effie hanging with Mini's rat Jenny despite the fact that we continually reminded her that she does not like rats:


Late night stories with Grannie:

Moving on up

Here's Ferg with boots on at nine a.m. - ugh! It did take him a couple more hours however to get in the right "frame of mind" for skiing today so Effie and I got an early start on things.


Interesting subculture, this whole skiing business. Our "wet coast" ski fashion, for one thing, was a little behind the times. Even this guy looked cooler than us:


Ferg's first run of the day - a bunnyhill practice session:


Gini and Effie on our first ever chair lift:


At the top of Apex: we were promised "Spring skiing"... brrrrrr (apparently last week it was t-shirt weather in Penticton):



Goose quickly getting the hang of things:


The snowplow, ie: the slowing down maneuver, was the last thing Fergus learned. Here he is not slowing down - man that boy's got a thirst for adventure:


The sun came out for our last run of the day:


Ferg and Eff lovin' it:


Done for the season:

Skiing

Ski vacation and Mayer family do not really go together but here we are at Apex skiing of all things. Our Easter vacation to Grannie and Grandad's got sidetracked due to illness so we're up on the Mountain for a few days with Gini's family. The kids are totally into it - Effie has always wanted to try skiing and after a few times down the hill she seemed to get the hang of things. Fergus, of course, adopts the hell-bent-for-election style and goes straight down until he crashes. He can't wait to get on a snowboard but I think we've convinced him that skiing is probably the best way for him to go for now.

Even though Ferg and I agreed to have an awful time at Apex given that our main vacation plans changed at the last minute, I guess we're having an okay time of it - we've kept our rentals for tomorrow!

Gearing up:


Ferg's first run:


I believe they referred to this as a "black diamond" run!?! Either that or bunny something or other?



Here we are:

Where the heckfire are we?