Aiden got another lovely Canada winter experience - ice storm after lots of snow... the only problem was that he got so taken with the properties of the ice casing on the snow banks he kinda forgot to help with the rest of the driveway shoveling :D But it is rather fascinating, so Mom enjoyed watching his discovery process as she continued clearing the driveway. He even managed to create a sword and shield.
Valentine's date happened for once! We laugh a lot about how uncannily events seem to conspire against us celebrating Valentine's and our anniversary, but this year we were able to make it happen at our new favorite place - Chocolat Favori. If you ever get a chance, try it out! Don't worry - we shared this monster of an ice cream.
Mom hasn't had a good run of keeping ahold of her crochet hooks this year. The first one fell between the seat and console of a car while in Edmonton over New Years, never to be seen again no matter how carefully or often we looked. The second disappeared in the same manner in a different car. The third remained on a train - the very first leg of our journey to Thailand, grr!- when we got off. And finding this aptly named one in Bangkok took way too much hard work (a 5 hour adventure that held probably at least 5 km of walking). But perhaps, with Mom's name literally on it, she'll be keeping this one long term - it certainly is most a most precious prize!
We did manage to get in a canal skate. The ice condition was horrible - so bad that there was an official recommendation to walk instead of skate! The first time the canal opened, we had put it off, thinking Mom's knee needed longer to heal before attempting a long skate - and it was a really full week for us. Then it was closed for too warm weather and we'd thought we'd missed it entirely for the year. But it opened on our last weekend before Mom and Dad went to Thailand. So we determinedly went to skate on Sunday before our afternoon church. Aiden had a rough time adjusting expectations and ability to the conditions, but eating Beavertails and trying again helped a lot so he skated much better on the way back. The girls managed to skate the whole 2 km stretch that was open, despite a skate boot coming loose from the blade and the horrible ice conditions!Unfortunately, the very next day, Aiden woke up sick... and by the end of the day Dad was coming down with it also. Jasmin started on Tuesday... all not good since Wednesday Mom and Dad were to leave for Thailand for 2 weeks... So it was a rather scrambly, chaotic few days. But, everything got done and we only left 2 things behind we intended to take (toothpaste and a Wi-Fi adapter). Mom started feeling sick as they left, but with a rest day in Bangkok (after hunting down the crochet hook), she's ok. And news from home sounds like the kids are all in recovery also... but it's tough to be away when everyone's sick!