Wow, looking back on my blogging, I see my last blog was in July just before heading back to Canada for the summer. Since that is long gone, I will “try” to provide a brief summary of my time back in Canada.
For those of you that are not aware, Carmen and the kids were in Alberta starting mid June, but due to my work schedule I couldn’t join them until mid August.
I arrived back to Edmonton on Aug 10th to my loving family waiting for me at the airport. The kids had been saving my birthday present, almost one month old, to give me at the airport. I think they were more excited to give me the present than actually to see me :). We drove directly to Oyen so that I could play in the 4 man scramble with Dad, Kevin and Craig Paetz. We didn’t play so well on the front nine but turned in a hot scorecard in the back which gave us the win in the "D" event. As a result we received a lot of razing for being in the "D" event but in the end we took home some nice cash. The morning after golf, Mom hosted a nice brunch and invited over Auntie Linda, Uncle Dale, Auntie Allison, Kim, Karma, Krista, all the kids and Donnie and Muriel Martin. We had a very nice visit, which included poor Donnie going ass over end on the deck. I think he's finally dropped the charges against Dad :)
That afternoon we drove to Radium to spend a week with Ted, Gladys, Jennifer and Sheldon, Autumn and the newly born twin boys, Connor and Harrison. We had a great place on the edge of the Radium Springs golf course and besides an early morning scare with little Connor going to the hospital, everyone had a great time. We kept the kids busy going on hikes (with ice cream afterwards!), swimming in the lake, swimming in the hot springs pool, practicing their bike riding, spending the afternoon in Panorama and playing with their cousin Autumn. Carmen and I spent one afternoon doing some Canmore shopping and I even had a chance to golf two rounds with Ted and Gladys at Copperpoint and Eagle Ranch. Spectacular courses!
After Radium we drove directly to Canmore where we met up with the Barrack and Vig clan and Bill, Holly and kids. After only one night in Canmore we got back on the road to Drayton Valley to attend Jennings and Krista’s wedding. As we always do with the Martin family, we had a fantastic time. It was great catching up with so many people that we hadn’t seen for quite some time. In typical Barrack form, Chandra and I were the last to bed, rolling into our respective beds around 7am....neither Carmen nor Kevin were too impressed :(
Back to Canmore we went to spend the rest of the week. We love our rustic cabins up in the mountains of Dead Mans Flat. The pool and play areas were a hit and daily occurrence for the kids. Thanks to Holly, the kids enjoyed some delicious smores over the camp fire. The adults took turns getting out playing a couple of rounds of golf at Kananaskis. Carmen and I also went into Canmore to bike the Canmore Banff trail. A nice smooth trail, unfortunately it’s right beside the highway so not real scenic. One of the coolest part of the week was when we all went rafting done the Kananaskis river. Poor Chandra and Berrik stayed behind, but everyone else participated. We all got decked out into sporty looking wetsuits and the older kids got to ride in the front of the rafts which guaranteed them a very wet ride. The last night during the week we had the Summachs, Skilnicks and Mary-lou Barrack come out from Calgary for supper and a visit....it was awesome for them to come to us during our crazy schedule. One evening I treated the family to a little shisha pipe. Shisha is a flavoured tobacco that is very typical for the locals in UAE to smoke after a nice meal. It made for a good laugh watching a bunch of non-smokers sucking on a pipe. I think we made quite the impression on our mountain neighbours.
After Canmore we only had a few days in Edmonton where we frantically went around to see as many of our friends in Edmonton and run our errands before leaving back to Abu Dhabi. We had a lovely dinner with John, Jess and little baby Ryan Gubbels and Jeff and Cheryl Uhlich. The next night we BBQ’d with the Hobals and Caskeys and Jason Jackal, while Mom and Dad drove up to take the kids to West Edmonton mall waterpark. All visits with friends and family were great but way too short.
I arrived back to Edmonton on Aug 10th to my loving family waiting for me at the airport. The kids had been saving my birthday present, almost one month old, to give me at the airport. I think they were more excited to give me the present than actually to see me :). We drove directly to Oyen so that I could play in the 4 man scramble with Dad, Kevin and Craig Paetz. We didn’t play so well on the front nine but turned in a hot scorecard in the back which gave us the win in the "D" event. As a result we received a lot of razing for being in the "D" event but in the end we took home some nice cash. The morning after golf, Mom hosted a nice brunch and invited over Auntie Linda, Uncle Dale, Auntie Allison, Kim, Karma, Krista, all the kids and Donnie and Muriel Martin. We had a very nice visit, which included poor Donnie going ass over end on the deck. I think he's finally dropped the charges against Dad :)
That afternoon we drove to Radium to spend a week with Ted, Gladys, Jennifer and Sheldon, Autumn and the newly born twin boys, Connor and Harrison. We had a great place on the edge of the Radium Springs golf course and besides an early morning scare with little Connor going to the hospital, everyone had a great time. We kept the kids busy going on hikes (with ice cream afterwards!), swimming in the lake, swimming in the hot springs pool, practicing their bike riding, spending the afternoon in Panorama and playing with their cousin Autumn. Carmen and I spent one afternoon doing some Canmore shopping and I even had a chance to golf two rounds with Ted and Gladys at Copperpoint and Eagle Ranch. Spectacular courses!
After Radium we drove directly to Canmore where we met up with the Barrack and Vig clan and Bill, Holly and kids. After only one night in Canmore we got back on the road to Drayton Valley to attend Jennings and Krista’s wedding. As we always do with the Martin family, we had a fantastic time. It was great catching up with so many people that we hadn’t seen for quite some time. In typical Barrack form, Chandra and I were the last to bed, rolling into our respective beds around 7am....neither Carmen nor Kevin were too impressed :(
Back to Canmore we went to spend the rest of the week. We love our rustic cabins up in the mountains of Dead Mans Flat. The pool and play areas were a hit and daily occurrence for the kids. Thanks to Holly, the kids enjoyed some delicious smores over the camp fire. The adults took turns getting out playing a couple of rounds of golf at Kananaskis. Carmen and I also went into Canmore to bike the Canmore Banff trail. A nice smooth trail, unfortunately it’s right beside the highway so not real scenic. One of the coolest part of the week was when we all went rafting done the Kananaskis river. Poor Chandra and Berrik stayed behind, but everyone else participated. We all got decked out into sporty looking wetsuits and the older kids got to ride in the front of the rafts which guaranteed them a very wet ride. The last night during the week we had the Summachs, Skilnicks and Mary-lou Barrack come out from Calgary for supper and a visit....it was awesome for them to come to us during our crazy schedule. One evening I treated the family to a little shisha pipe. Shisha is a flavoured tobacco that is very typical for the locals in UAE to smoke after a nice meal. It made for a good laugh watching a bunch of non-smokers sucking on a pipe. I think we made quite the impression on our mountain neighbours.
After Canmore we only had a few days in Edmonton where we frantically went around to see as many of our friends in Edmonton and run our errands before leaving back to Abu Dhabi. We had a lovely dinner with John, Jess and little baby Ryan Gubbels and Jeff and Cheryl Uhlich. The next night we BBQ’d with the Hobals and Caskeys and Jason Jackal, while Mom and Dad drove up to take the kids to West Edmonton mall waterpark. All visits with friends and family were great but way too short.
You’ll see by the pictures, that the kids had a couple of birthday parties during the trip. Since their birthday is when we’re back in Abu Dhabi, each family wanted to host a birthday party. To say the least, the kids loved having more than one party.
Tons of pictures were took of these adventures, which I’ve included only a few below. The three weeks for me flew by and it was sad having to leave.
A big shout out to Mom and Dad for lending us their minivan for the summer and for hosting the kids the one week. Thanks to Ted and Gladys for hosting Carmen and the kids for most of the summer, especially when Carmen was driving all across country.... and thanks to Bill for lending us his jeep for the last few days until we flew out. After a teary goodbye at the airport we were back on the plane to Abu Dhabi
A big shout out to Mom and Dad for lending us their minivan for the summer and for hosting the kids the one week. Thanks to Ted and Gladys for hosting Carmen and the kids for most of the summer, especially when Carmen was driving all across country.... and thanks to Bill for lending us his jeep for the last few days until we flew out. After a teary goodbye at the airport we were back on the plane to Abu Dhabi
I guess my idea of “brief” is a little out of touch!
