Bertie's 2nd Birthday

It was a fun birthday. We had burgers, arctic char and salad. The kids had pizza and cupcakes and ice cream. We opened presents and played pin the tail on the donkey. The funniest thing was when Bertie tried to blow out his candle in his cupcake. He just stared at the candle, cross-eyed, for about 5 minutes. Kevin helped him try to blow.

Pictures from Mike and Irene's Visit

Missing are pictures from several games of Settlers of Catan.

Camping in May

Here are some pictures of the family camping in May.

April is the cruelest month

April has been a chilly month - the snow will not relent - but a fun one. Winnie had her real birthday party on the 11th at Pizza Hut and then her party on the 20th. We had 18 kids over at our house with a balloon room, pizza making, a cake, a tent, play dough and a car garage. There's also some pictures of Easter dinner and some visits with A & K. Enjoy!

Bertie Giggling

A silly video but Nikki likes it.

Pictures from the Dominican Republic

Some New Albums

It's been a while since we posted much, so here's three albums for your viewing pleasure: Mr. K's birthday, Bertie's 1st birthday and Bertie's first haircut. Enjoy!

Trip back to YK

Our trip back to Yellowknife went well. Starting in Thunder Bay, we stopped in Kenora, ON, then Oak Lake, MB, then Regina, SK, then North Battleford, SK, then Edmonton, AB, then Grimshaw, AB, then Yellowknife, NT. Some highlights were our leisurely stay in Regina and the lightning storm that rocked the Battleford on our first night. A lot of kilometres behind us and it's good to be home!

Camping in Algonquin

We spent the weekend camping in Algonquin Park. It was a bit buggy to be truly comfortable. I think an in-city camp experience would've been more pleasant. But the weather was nice, the beach was nice and the campground was beautiful. The kids really liked playing on the beach. Winnie unfortunately returned very bug-bitten but the rest of us were not so bad.

May Happenings

It's been a busy month here. I've been finishing up my research paper, entitled "Real-Time Enterprise Integration with IBM Message Broker". Nikki has been very active going to the Y and playing with the kids. She had her birthday and we went on a date to Genji, a sushi restaurant downtown. We also got Winnie's hair cut at Melonhead, a kid's hairdressing place. Me and Winnie went to a junior ballet, Snow White, at the Centrepointe Theatre. It was not easy to follow the plot but she enjoyed the dancing, and she even said "Oh no..." whenever something bad happened (Snow White got kicked out, or fell asleep from the apple). She clapped at the end of every dance. Not bad considering it was a 7:30 PM show. We also went camping at a small campsite in Gatineau. We're going to Algonquin Park next Friday, too. Today, we had a picnic with my classmates at Britannia Park. Here are some pictures.

More Pictures

And a video of Bertie sitting:

January Pictures

Bertie at the Doctor's

Life is moving quickly back in Ottawa. I have 5 classes and all are pretty busy. We are trying to go to the Y regularly, as well. Bertie went to the doctor's today for his shots. He weighs 18.4 pounds and is 4' long. Big boy!

From November Family Pictures

Santa Visit 2011

We went to the Carlingwood Mall today and got our pictures taken with Santa Claus. Winnie was so thrilled. The pictures turned out really well, too!

Some November Family Pics

Bertie's Baptism

We managed to get Bertie baptized in Ottawa. There was some doubt about whether or not we'd do it, considered we didn't have a parish and we don't have godparents here. With the help of the baptismal coordinator, Fr. Jim Lowe, we did manage to resolve all our difficulties and we baptized Bertie today. It was a wonderful ceremony. Donna and Gary managed to come for the weekend, as well.

Halloween 2011

Here are some pics from Halloween this year. We weren't too creative with costumes but we had a good time. Not too many people were out, but perhaps we were a bit early.

Visit with Indira, Pedro and Leah

Our friends from our prior life in Ottawa came over for breakfast this weekend. They have a baby just a little older than Bertram, Leah. We all had a good time.