On this Sunday afternoon, Danaya, Mikaela and myself played a game of Seafarers of9 Catan.  Despite starting out in a boxed-in position, Danaya rallied for the win, absolutely crushing us.  She won with 13 victory points to Mikaela’s 7 points and my (gulp) 5 points.  I forgot to take a picture of the board, but given my score that is just as well.

After we finished, Davison and Brock took over the map; playing their own version, which sort of ended up being something like ‘Fishing Armies of Catan’.  The used pieces from all of the Catan sets, plus a couple of our own additions (our hand carved mountain for the robber to hang out at as the desert seemed rather unpleasant, and some extra stone robber pieces).  I’m not sure who won, but the game was deserted to eat supper and watch a movie (Flushed Away).

picture of Catan game
Little Boys of Catan

While walking around downtown Calgary yesterday, I encountered an outdoor set of escalators (which is sort of weird given the climate), but it was the sign on the escalators that really caught my attention:

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Escalator sign

I didn’t know which one was the down escalator and which was the up one, so I kept right on walking. I mean, what if while going up the down escalator I ran onto someone. That would really be awkward…

Oh, and just to clarify, the acting like stairs bit referred to the escalators not working.

Sunday was my work’s family Christmas party, held at a local bowling alley.  Here are some pictures from same event, with apologies for how clear some of them are not, being sort of low light conditions and being taken on my cellphone.

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Mikaela's turn at 5 pin bowling

I’ve heard that the US is seriously deficient in 5 pin bowling.  We all had fun with it, especially since the gutter guards were up, eliminating the possibility of gutter balls.

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Blurry scoreboard

My apologies on the blurry scoreboard shot, but what it shows is Mikaela winning (scoring a strike in the last frame to surge ahead), Davison coming in second (although he was in the lead for most of the game).

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Brock the mighty bowler

We did some ten pin bowling as well.  Brock had a lane to himself, but had problems getting any amount of speed on those big bowling balls.  At one point, there was seven balls sitting in the gutter, having not quite made it all the way.

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Brock winding down

The food was great and we all enjoyed some yummy gluten free pizza (and took home enough leftovers thereof for supper leftovers).

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Legohead Huber

There were also presents for the kids, handed out by a Santa Claus who had trouble pronouncing names.

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Brock and his haul

And after four busy hours (bowling, pop, pizza, presents) we headed home to unwind. And yes, those of you who looked closely, that top picture of Mikaela bowling is actually 10 pin.

On Saturday, November 24th, Brock celebrated his 4th birthday. It was a bit of a crazy day, as Danaya and Daelynn had two major babysitting jobs (one morning-afternoon) and the other in the evening (getting home at 7:45 pm). Layne and Rett headed out the door at 6:30 to go to an event (home at midnight or later). Dad barbecued in the dark, which seems to be starting shortly after 5:00 pm these days, and Brock got a pretty good haul of presents.

Picture of Layne and Brock smiling
Smiley guys

 

Picture of Layne and Brock

 

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Lori enjoys Brock’s birthday party

 

So not much word from Layne, so I thought that I would post something to let him know what he is missing here in Calgary.

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So – Layne, you are missing the cold, lots of snow, slippery streets, um, did I mention the snow…

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Layne has been having trouble finding a useable internet connection. But he called us last night (that would be Monday, Nov 5th) just before 9:00 pm, at which time it was just before 9:00 am in India. So, I’ll pass on the gist of the conversation. Layne and Stan arrived in Madurai on Sunday morning. One of the things that they did was go to the market (my guess is to buy some Indian style clothes for Layne). Layne related that it was very crowded and very high-pressure. I’m guessing that looking like a white tourist makes you a bit of a mark for merchants.

We only were able to talk for a couple of minutes, and then he had to run. Layne indicated that they were on their way to visit a village.

And that’s all I know – but thought that I would pass it on… Oh, the photo above is a stock photo of the Madurai market. I’m sure Layne will have plenty to post in time.

Photo credit: Squicker / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

So, here is the next post in the lawn tractors and boys series of pictures.  This photo session was hosted (without any consent) by Rona, a Canadian home and garden improvement store.

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Davison on a green tractor
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Brock on a white tractor

The last week and a bit have been mostly overcast and snowy here on the Calgary area.  I’m not complaining or anything and would gladly have that rather than hurricane Sandy.

So, to remember when the days were more sunny, here are a couple of pictures of little boys driving lawn tractors at the local Lowes store.

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Davison goes green
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Brock and Davison sidewalk farming

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, so I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. This set of pictures is from Mikaela’s birthday party with our family, which was held on her actual birthday, October 17th, when she turned 11.

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Mikaela opens Rett’s gift
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Heidi gets a hug from Mikaela
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Mikaela and the candles, no boyfriends if I recall

In other news, Layne flew down to Oregon last Wednesday, and this coming Saturday is off to the bustling country of India for 2 weeks. He is travelling on behalf of Unreached Villages (www.unreachedvillages.org) with Stan Avery. We’re hoping to have some posts here about his trip.

Mikaela had a bunch of friends over today for her birthday party. I was at work for most of the time, but arrived home in time for the pinata breaking. I didn’t take a picture of the homemade pinata (in the shape of a giant cupcake). But as a consolation, here’s a picture of Mikaela wearing the top of the pinata..

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Mikaela, the party girl