Hawaii Sun!

Quinn and I (Katie) have been in Hawaii for the past week visiting Grammy & Papa Josh. My parents were here for a conference and they decided to stay an extra week with some friends that have a beautiful home on the water. We have been spoiled the past week: lots of sun, swimming, amazing scenery, delicious food, the BEST massage I have ever had and wonderful relaxed time with my mom & dad.

Quinn has been having the time of his life and has become quite attached to Grammy & Papa. Whenever they walk in the room he gets a HUGE smile and puts out his arms out to them. It makes my heart flutter every time.

Tomorrow we head home and are excited to get back to Jerry. We have missed him SO much.

Here are some pics from our great week!

Quinn's First Birthday - Pirate Style

Quinn's first birthday party was celebrated today at my (Jerry's) parent's house, with some friends of ours and their kids, 36 people altogether. It was a Pirate party and Quinn was dressed to the nines and enjoyed his pirate ship birthday cake.

The Rascal

Quinn is, at least in our eyes, undeniably a rascal baby. He cruises around our house looking for adventures in contraband and forbidden activity. He has played out all the usual toys and activities so he is naturally pushing the boundaries. We love his curiosity and are sometimes exasperated by his persistence in his adventures.

One of his favorite things is taking a bath, and he often crawls over to the tub and sometimes dives into the rubber ducky head first. This is what he looks like when he rights himself.


He also has been talking on the phone recently, both the real phone and a vintage toy phone. This morning when I mentioned the word "phone" in conversation with Katie, Quinn put his hand to his ear and started "talking", "Yeah Yeah Yeah." He appears to be oblivious to what we're doing or saying, but catches much more than we realize. I suppose we shouldn't expect anything less from the Mighty Quinn.

Quinn and the Rubber Ducky

Quinn loves bath-time and will often crawl over to the tub and pat his Rubber Ducky. Here is a video Katie took a couple days ago of the Mighty splashing around in one of his favorite places.

Canadian Police Chase

In America there are sometimes televised police chases. Media helicopters will follow and comment on the proceedings. The most famous chase ever of course was the OJ Simpson White Ford Bronco. The chases are often anti-climactic but people stay glued to the TV just in case something happens.

Below is a video of a police chase that happened in Canada recently. One of the reasons we are able to pay for a social health care system is that our police chases are generally shorter, given the conditions.

A Story for Grami and Papa Josh

Last night Quinn was cruising around our house on his usual obstacle course and he was telling stories. This story is for Grami and Papa Josh.

Moving to Edinburgh!

Today I received my assignment letter from the Rotary Foundation. I have been assigned to my first choice, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. I will be studying in the MSc Outdoor Education program within the Moray House School of Education. The MSc in Outdoor Education comprises the successful completion of the Postgraduate Diploma in Outdoor Education plus a Dissertation. It is internationally regarded as the leading Masters program in the field of Outdoor Education.

We are looking forward to our time in Edinburgh and thankful for the Ambassadorial Scholarship which will be of significant help in offsetting the cost of this program.

Now we just have to try to learn the local language!

First Steps

The Mighty Quinn took his first steps today. He was rightfully very proud of himself, and we were too. The video is at the bottom of the post. I've included a few pictures of us at the park recently. It has been a beautiful Fall here and we're enjoying the colours.

Interactive Soundtrack Challenge

This isn't so much a challenge as it is an opportunity.

Often when I (Jerry) go ski touring (ski mountaineering/backcountry skiing), we spend at least a few hours skiing uphill before skiing down. Skiing up is one of my favorite parts of ski touring because of the time spent chatting with old friends and getting to know new friends. One of the questions I ask of people that I don't know well is:

What song would you choose to be the soundtrack to your life?

If you could have music playing as you went about everyday life, what would you choose? That's pretty basic, but some people, myself included, find it difficult to choose only one song. So, my soundtrack is a medley and includes numerous songs, jingles, and themes. I like to encourage people to be as creative as they want, excluding no genre or musical era. Usually it takes people a little while to decide on their song(s). After they've decided on a song the next question is:

What would a music video to that soundtrack look like?

That opens up a whole new medium of creative expression.

So the challenge for you is to think of your soundtrack and a short description of your music video and post it on the comments. I like to hear the variety of songs people come up with, usually we end up laughing at the bizarre musical combination's and music video descriptions. So, turn it up to 11 and let us hear the music to your life.

A day at the Vancouver Aquarium

A couple days ago our family went to the Vancouver Aquarium and enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather in Stanley Park. Quinn loved the underwater animals and especially the Beluga whales. It was such a hit with Quinn that we're looking forward to going to the Zoo in the next few weeks.