February Part 1 - The "New" Stadium

The Month of February has come and gone, and along with it the wonderful distraction of the Olympics. I must admit I am a big fan of the Olympics and truly believe we should share a Coke and not a gun. This was an opportunity to educate ourselves about all aspects of the games: the bad budgeting, the world opinion, the stories of triumph, the pride felt in Canadians and to me, most importantly, the impression of innocence at this time in our lives. What did our kids get out of Olympics?

For our family this wonderful sense of “Canada” couldn’t have come at a better time. This gigantic "look shiny" gave much needed distraction from the many obstacles we face, and what better way to refocus than by cheering for athletes, and the concept of being healthy with the spirit of competition.

For the Olympics we dressed up the house, the car and ourselves, Brianna and her friend Chloe even created a “New” Stadium to help Canada win more gold medals! Their little construction and production was perfect timing as Canada started to win more golds and went on to break the record for the amount of golds won by a nation.

Throughout this event, our family rose to sing the Canadian national anthem (repeatedly) and I found my eyes filling with tears of joy, as my heart filled with pride and my mind with profound thoughts. We hope that you enjoyed this once in a lifetime opportunity and we would like to share with you the our Canadian spirit, the New Stadium and the unseen Gold Medal in Kitty Cat Hockey.

January 2010

January is finished and February is at hand, we had an amazing start to the year, Brianna tried to skate and loved it (Thank you Kathy, Ted and Family for the Skates). She now wants to go skiing which we plan to take up next year.

The beginning of the month started out cold and snowy but like the rest of BC it became warm and wet, with snow melting, mud growing and clouds, you know, just hanging out, blocking the sun.

Brianna is continuing with her dance lessons and this year the class will be performing on stage with costumes and a specific routine she has to memorize and practice. I will post the dates when we find out.

The torch relay came to our town of Nelson and in the spirit of the community we had one rockin party. The entire town was turned into a festival. We started the day with pancakes and torch making; the Nelson Star took our picture and posted it in their commemorative keeper. We ate hot maple syrup cooled in snow, dared the mighty ice slide – was pretty cool – listened to great local talent and cheered on the blue team in the corporate race.

January also brought us Anya who is a welcome addition to our family, she is originally from England and a fresh Canadian; she came out to visit for a week and was also able to join us in the Nelson Torch Relay Celebration. Nelson got the full package when it came to this event; a real Production Juggernaut arrived to town, set up, performed and was gone quicker than the free samples of Coca Cola. It was extremely fun and as you can see both the RBC and Coke had booths taking your picture with a torch.

The month was filled with extremes; the kind of extremes that make you think about what is most important in life, to me – “We look forward to the future knowing that anything is possible, we reflect on the past to learn how to grow and we live in the present.” - CH

Brianna's First Skate

This last weekend Brianna was invited to a skating party and she was determined to be able to skate as quickly as possible. We had a pair of double bladed strap on skates in the basement and the weather presented us with the perfect 8ft by 3ft strip of ice in the backyard garden. Ever since this miniature ice rink was created, Brianna dreamed of skating on it and with a skating party on the horizon, she wanted to get on the ice with her skates.

The event started with her running onto the ice once her skates were on, and before long – well approximately 15minutes later, she was skating on her own. Below you can see a video of her first time on the ice. (bonus points if you can name the song!)

It didn’t stop there, she was so excited about skating in the backyard on the double blades that she wanted to try skating on single blades, so Dad and Brianna headed down to the local Boomtown Emporium (used sporting goods store) and scored a pair of CCM skates (thanks Aunty Kathy!).

Then came the big skate party on Sunday, Brianna was so excited, I believe she forgot that she didn’t know how to skate on single blades, this did not stop her. In true adventurist fashion she took to the ice like a duck takes to water, we started to skate at 3:30 and she didn’t get off the ice until the Zamboni shooed us away at 5pm.

At one point while she was using the “helper bar” a friend came skating by (she was very good) and encouraged her to join her. Well, Brianna pushed the “helper bar” away and took off (very slowly) with her friend.

Brianna now loves skating and has been invited to another skating party on Saturday.

Sadly Dad has mediocre skills and the Gretzky gene doesn’t exist on his side of the family, Mom however is an avid skater and was also a part of a women’s hockey team. So, I guess, she gets her sense of No Fear from her Dad and the ability to actually skate well from her Mom. Either way she enjoys being on the ice and getting the exercise that a little girl needs to grow and her Mom and Dad are very proud of her.

Brianna January to December 2009

A wise friend told me during Serene’s pregnancy to pay attention to each day as they go by faster than you could ever imagine. Well the philosophy applies to everyday of our lives, but if you are fortunate enough to have children, then you will notice that every second of every day holds a wonder of growth and discovery. This year we decided to create a slide show movie of Brianna from January to December 2009, one year in her life…and an endless amount of adventures.

Welcome 2010 we wish everyone the best for the New Year and look forward to sharing many exciting adventures!

Christmas Day is here!

Christmas day arrived and was greeted with the grandest enthusiasm from Brianna. She awoke to ask if Santa had arrived…and yes he had…with the Biggest Pegasus Stuffy you could imagine! She danced the morning away with her new friend “Daisy”. Later she opened and enjoyed the rest of the presents. After all of the fanfare finally faded, we set up the new Carousal under the tree and made a tunnel of presents as per Brianna’s Christmas wish.

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, gifts and love this Christmas Season. We wish you all the best for the New Year.

Merry Christmas Eve from the Stewart Holland's!

Christmas Eve and we are well into the spirit. Baker Street got their annual delivery of sugar cookies, Serene as Santa, Brianna as Rudolph, and Chris as crazy snowman. Plenty of sugar and good wishes were distributed, with smiles abounding. We really are grateful to be living in such a beautiful community, filled with beautiful people.

Next is dinner with good friends, and then fingers crossed that Santa will come (or that Serene will stay awake through the tremendous amount of unpacking and setting up prezzies!).

Loads of love to all and sundry, and to all a good night!
Serene & Chris & Brianna

Happy Holidays Everyone!

We are two days away from Christmas and Brianna is very excited about it. Grandma created a beautiful quilted advent calendar and every year will fill it with chocolate gold coins, so Brianna has a sweet reminder of when Santa arrives.

The local community paper editor took this picture of Brianna and Chloe on Santa’s lap, people have commented about what she is saying. Well, her Dad had a new job this year, not taking care of the reindeer in the forest (wink, wink) but was promoted to Santa escort, and when Santa knew Brianna’s name without asking…He must be real. This wonderful interaction with Santa was then followed up by an email from him. Check out what he said to Brianna, also you can get him to talk to your kids, just follow this link - Santa’s Portable North Pole console

This has been a wonderful season and our family has enjoyed every moment of it. We hope during this time of year that you are finding love with the special people around you.

We wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

The BASH Family