The entire Christmas vacation went by without a drop of snow but somehow on the last day there was enough snow to go have some fun and try out some new snowboards that Ezra and Sierra got for Christmas.
Véro showing us how good she is on any board
We tried out different sleds and had a great time on a beautiful day. After awhile we noticed Ezra’s cheeks were turning white on top of red so we decided to go home. But not before I got to act as a snow monster chasing after the kids.
We were excited to get a phone call from Matante Chantal letting us know that Countryside Adventures was open for business. There is no snow in our front yard but they managed to make a great tubing hill.
It was really icy so the first time I went down I had to drag my hip to slow me down near the end. I thought I was going to go over the bank!
Ezra is pretty good at pulling the tube up the hill by himself but he did hop in a few times on the way up. Véro was saying she was quite sore after a day of snowboarding the day before AND doing this tubing!
Pro tip for next time we go: Era qualifies as a small child (under 6) so his admission is cheaper than a regular child over 6 years of age. No one caught that and we paid a bit ($4) more to enter tubing.
Yesterday Max and Uncle Mike came over for an afternoon of fun. We had run out of cinnamon rolls that Grandma had made and Sierra had written down a recipe so she suggested we make some more.
This was the first time I was doing it completely on my own and I am not the greatest in the kitchen. After double checking a few things with Grandma we went on this adventure together!
They came out great! Max is great in the kitchen and we were all taking turns doing the steps.
After one batch the kids were bored so Mike and I decided to do a second batch. He commented that the recipe was very simple and they would probably do it in the future at their own house. Sierra even scribed out a recipe for them.
The first concert of the year ended up being something that the kids could have fun at. Sharon and her daughter Randi singing Sharon Lois and Bram tunes at the Red Bird Live lounge? Cafe? I’m not sure what to call the venue but it’s a nice place with seats for 80 people.
It was a great hour of fun. Sharon is a master of her craft after forty years in the business. It’s really interesting to see how a simple song can get engrained in our heads even if we have never heard it before. Days later I still am hearing the kids sing “Fish and chips and vinegar, vinegar, vinegar!”
Sierra and Maman danced a bit and participated a lot. Ezra is an interesting fellow to watch at this age when he gets into situations where he has to focus. He does try to follow along but he doesn’t seem all that happy during the event. However afterwards he will tell you that he gives it two thumbs up and he talks about it a lot. Perhaps I’m misinterpreting his serious face and it’s more of a ‘I’m focusing on what is going on so please leave me alone.”
I got to hear Hey Dum Diddly Dum so my life is complete.
Clarice isn’t even in this this photo!
This Christmas season Ezra is fond of the Christmas stuffed animals that come out and they now reside in Ezra’s bed. He has really grown attached to Rudolf and Clarice.
At this point in Ezra’s life, he seems to be a happy child but when he’s not happy he’s REALLY NOT HAPPY. He will stomp away and say things like “What you are saying is NOT NICE!”. It’s hard to please him when he is upset.
One thing that does seem to help him immensely is when we take his stuffed toy Clarice and speak to him as if Clarice is talking to him. He generally calms down and listens to what she says and hugs her. I might decide to keep Clarice around for the rest of the year if she has this effect!
This past year was concert overload. I have read articles about how the live music industry was booming this year but I didn’t realize it until I started looking back at all my recordings this year of the concerts I’ve been to and then I saw that I have seen 61 individual bands play this year! Of course, one night have three bands so it’s not like I was out 61 times to see all these bands.
But it seems like a large number so I decided to take a look at whether or not this was the biggest year for concerts in my life.
According to setlist.fm, here is the breakdown of number of concerts I’ve seen:
Some caveats:
Observations:
At the end of this posting I’ve pasted a listing from Setlist.fm of all the concerts I’ve seen in the past year.
Here are some memories from the past year:
I hope 2024 is equally exciting in terms of concerts but I’m not sure if my body can take it!
*most photos are not mine*
I’ve said it for the past few years and I will say it again. CityFolk is my favourite festival in Ottawa. It’s a more relaxed vibe than Bluesfest, they have a good beer selection and if the weather is right, it’s a perfect end to the summer.
The weather this year was great for the most part. One night my feet got so cold I had to leave before Arkells took the stage but other than that, I was prepared and even sported a new jacket which prompted a compliment from someone while I was navigating the crowd at Hozier: “That’s a great outfit!”
Here’s some mini review in order of how I enjoyed these bands:
Gov’t Mule: I’ve been waiting years to see Gov’t Mule and they didn’t disappoint. They only had an hour to play but what I heard wanted me to hear more. I hope to see them more in the future.
Bush: They put on a great show! I’m a fan of their first album so I didn’t know what to expect but they played a lot of the first album and a bunch of newer tunes that I was a fan of as well. I gave up on this band after their second album but it sounds like I will have to dip my toes in their discography again. We went to this show for Vero’s birthday along with Andreane and the other Vero. We all had a great time although I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the Chung Chan uber-pogo that we had afterwards!
Kaleo: Andreane and Donovan came to Ottawa to see this group from Iceland. I listened to a few of their albums but I wasn’t blown away but if experience has told me anything, it’s that a good live act can change my opinion quickly. This blues rock band has what it takes and I was happy to have seen them.
David Kushner: Ever go into a show and not know what to expect but then your entire soul gets sucked in and you’re absorbed with what’s going on? That’s what I felt seeing David Kushner. I can see this person becoming a large act in the future.
Busty and The Bass: This “electro-soul and hip-hop” band (Wikipedia’s words, not mine) were a fabulous start to the festival. They had some great musicians up on stage and I was digging them.
Iggy Pop: I don’t know much Iggy Pop or Stooges music but that didn’t matter. Witnessing 76 year old Iggy Pop strutting around the stage was inspiring. He brought the energy for the entire show.
Headstones : I only caught the last three songs but even that blew me away. I’ve seen Headstones before and they know how to put on a great show.
Hozier: This was the largest crowd of the entire festival and it was on the closing Sunday night. I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know much of Hozier and I’m not sure if it was because I was surrounded by chatters for the first hour, or if I was just tired of going to a festival for five days but I wasn’t blown away by Hozier. He had a stage of incredible musicians and some songs that piqued my curiosity but nothing that blew me away. Hey, you can’t all be winners! I did enjoy the show more after I navigated away from the front and went back near the sound tent where there were less chatters.
Claire Coupland: I showed up a couple of songs into her set and what I heard was ok. I enjoyed a few of her tunes, a few less so, but isn’t that true of any singer?
Ruby Waters: While she seemed to have her share of fans (some of them even got engaged to be married during the show!), I really wasn’t a fan of her. I always scratch my head when lyrics are fairly x-rated and I think “Is that genuine? Do they really want to sing about this kind of stuff? Or are they just doing it to get a reaction?”. THAT BEING SAID, she has her fans and that’s great. I’m glad others are appreciating her.
My new hobby is recording audio of concerts which brings an interesting challenge (and excitement!) to the concerts I attend. I’m always scoping out better spots to tape (less chatters) and focussing on things like not drinking beer so I can avoid going to the washroom and interrupting a perfect capture. But at the same time I always have to remember to prioritize just having fun and fun I did have at CityFolk. I even managed to snag some older posters from the festival that were signed by Matt Mays and Corb Lund.
Two thumbs up to the organizers and volunteers of CityFolk festival. I hope to see you again next year.
I believe it about March 28th when I heard whispers in the house about ‘birthday party’. This didn’t make sense to me considering the next birthday party on the list was two months away! But there were Sierra and Maman, plotting up every little detail about Sierra’s birthday party.
There is some mystical qualities surrounding the number seven and seeing that Sierra was turning seven, it was going to be a big deal.
The first step in any great party is figuring out who you want to invite and what limits your parents have put on the number of kids they can handle. Sierra thought long and hard and with pen and paper in hand made a list that looked like a wedding guest list. ‘Must-have’, ‘Maybe’, ‘Only if a bunch of people have dropped off’. At the end of the week the list appeared like Ezra had raided the pen drawer and had went to town creating an interesting collage. Blue pen, crossed out with red. Arrows everywhere. But it was finalized and the next step were invitations.
Now, I’m usually involved quite heavily in these plans but this time around Maman and Sierra had everything planned out so I was watching from the sidelines as I saw Amazon box after Amazon box arrive in the mail. Unicorn invitations, unicorn gift bag treats, unicorn cookie cutters (were we serving cookies I wondered?). Sierra is still at the age where princess dresses and unicorns occupy her thoughts and I encourage she continue until the inevitable goth phase in a few years.
She prepared the invitations and licked the envelopes and brought them to school. The teacher inserted the invitations into the backpacks of the invited. This process was probably a little less insulting than the 1980s method of seeing invitations delivered. “Hey, here’s an invitation to my party, oh Ryan you’re not invited. Neener neener.” Every kid in the 1980s must have felt like Charlie Brown with the football at various points of their lives. But nowadays kids in class are probably oblivious to parties that are happening without them.
Slowly the responses came in and Sierra kept track of them. The excitement was building and this was now only a month away.
One morning it was decided that we MUST fill up the treat bags. Sierra carefully thought of each one and who would get what. To put it into context, Maman ordered a unicorn themed treat bag kit that came with things like different coloured unicorn erasers and bags and those snap bracelets. Sierra would pick one bag and say “This was is going to be for Mia.” and sat and thought about each item and colour she was choosing for that person. I thought it was quite considerate of her invited guests whereas nowadays if I invite folks over for a birthday party all I’m thinking about is how much of my food and drink will I be left with after the party!
The plan was to hold the party at the park. Vero managed to book the fieldhouse so we would have access to the washrooms which are usually locked up. We even got the keys to the gate so we could drive all the supplies instead of hauling them down the street.
It was a cool 35 degrees outside when we packed the car with all the decorations and the step ladder to hang up all the decorations.
I am extremely happy that we managed to have some shade for most of the day because it was killer outside. There was a baseball game going on at the same time at the park and you can see them roasting out there.
Vero wisely started with a butterfly hunt where she placed little butterflies around the park. I say wisely because the prizes at the end were frozen treats to cool everyone down from running around! It was so hot out that the popsicles were even losing their shape so luckily we had some freezies on hand for everyone.
Sierra losing her freezie down her dress. There was a minor meltdown (ha! Just caught that pun) as that happened but we managed to clean it up.
Next up was the pinata! I always assumed that they came pre-filled with candy. It wasn’t until Vero sent me to the Bulk Barn on a mission that I realized this was not the case. My colleague Matt enjoyed searching around for candies to put into the pinata with me.
I had forgotten that these new pinatas don’t involve a stick but they have little ribbons to pull on. Everyone lined up for a turn and Ezra was the lucky winner to pull out the ribbon that created the candy explosion!
I thought I had seen some chaotic situations before in my life but when I see a dozen kids fighting over candy I sometimes wonder if this is true brutality.
The kids had all this candy but nowhere to put it! Sierra (I think?) suggested giving out the treat bags now so everyone would have a bag to put the candy in. Great idea! So everyone was excited to see all the treats they were going to get for the day earlier than expected. But it turned out to be a great idea as everyone took some time to play with their new treats and have some candy. Anything to keep us cool in the heat!
After some fun time at the park we brought out the cupcakes. It was hilariously windy so the candle kept blowing out. Here is a photo of everyone covering the candle from the wind which worked out pretty good!
Enjoying some cupcakes
Someone REALLY enjoying their cupcake!
I was mentioning chaos earlier in this post but it was nothing compared to the insanity that erupted when it was gift opening time. My eyes will never witness something more intense then girls yelling “NO, OPEN MY GIFT FIRST!” “NO MINE!” “BACK OFF GET YOUR OWN SANDWICH!” Hair was pulled, teeth were lost, eyes were gouged. It was a gnarly scene.
But in the end, a lot of unicorn themed gifts were acquired and Sierra and everyone were quite happy. Except that one girl who realized she brought the same gift as someone else. Luckily we explained that having two of the same thing is great if they are great gifts! She seemed to cheer up after that.
And with that, the party was done. Two hours flew by and it was all because Vero and Sierra did some great planning for the party. Some great events were held to keep everyone entertained and we lucked out being in the shade because it was sweltering hot when I walked out into the playground area for a few minutes.
I was around her friends pushing them on the swings near the end of the party and Emilie decided to take a flying leap off the swing. In my head I’m thinking “Oh hey, that’s wild. I know Sierra can’t do that yet.”
Clearly she couldn’t either as she landed on her hand and started screaming. Visions of a broken arm floated through my head as I carried her back to her parents. Luckily it seemed to be ok after fifteen minutes, but what a scare!
I have to take a moment and thank all the parents who stuck around for the party. I never realized how much work it is to keep an eye on 10 kids running around for two hours! It’s one thing if it’s your own kids, it’s another if I’m on the hook for the safety of someone else’s kid! So it was much appreciated for the folks who stuck around.
SUPER SPECIAL THANKS to Vero for her party preparations. Sierra and everyone had a great time and that’s what counts.
I always giggle at this photo. It looks like Ezra is trying to attract some older ladies at the park and they aren’t too impressed.
When we got home Sierra got to see her last gift…a gymnastic set to practice her moves.
How could I forget that somehow a birthday party wasn’t enough? She insisted on having an actual cake later that night and Maman made a great cake for us all.
Ezra was the happiest boy ever after finding this piece of ice
Reading a book
April Fool’s Day is a big day around here. When I came upstairs I faked that I had broken my toe. “Ow ow ow, we need to go to the hospital!” The kids were very scared until they looked at my toe and found this!
The kids hung up poisson d’Avril’s around the house and thought it was hilarious each time we found one
Vero pulled a great prank on me this year. She aimed the shower head so it would spray in my face when I turned the shower on! It worked perfectly. She was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get a video of it but she showed up at the split second that I turned the water on!
Smore’s!
Last year I started reading reports that gas stoves weren’t exactly the best to have in your house. They even mentioned a rise of asthma in children because of them! With that, we decided to change our stove but when we pulled it from the wall we noticed there was not an outlet! Months went by and we finally called an electrician in to do the $1000 job. Now we are on the hunt for a new stove.
April 4th, first BBQ of the year! Picked up some steaks. We don’t eat much steak anymore so I was surprised to see that I was paying $60 for three steaks! I remember cooking this a bit longer than I should have and was a little disappointed in myself but everyone enjoyed it.
Showing Ezra the game Mixed Up Mother Goose
Board game morning
We don’t know if it’s because of the lack of front teeth but Sierra figured out how to whistle!
Horsing around
There may still be snow in the yard but the streets are ready for some bicycles
I laughed when I saw this photo. I remember the first family trip I took with Vero’s family down to the Dominican. I was still trying to get to know everyone and Vero and I were with her dad on a boat and he said something about hoping his dentures wouldn’t pop out or a fish might take them. I said “Well, imagine the smile on that fish!” He had a good laugh at that.
The scene: the breakfast table. Home of some of the most interesting conversations you will ever witness.
Ezra: “Je met des crottes des yeux dans mon bellybutton comme Sierra!”
Me: “What?”
Sierra: “Yeah! Mon bellybutton est une bonne place pour mes crottes des yeux. Je peux jouer avec! Mais pas les crottes secs, juste les autres.”
Me (internally): “And this is the generation that will save us all?”