Happy New Year

Welcome 2014, every year I promise to get better updating this blog! I start well, then get busy with life I think.
This winter has been extremely cold with temps often dropping to -20'C. Shaina and Hunter have missed many days of school, which means the end of their school year will now flow into their usual summer holidays.
The kids had a great Christmas, the next one may be on a lower scale as they got everything they wanted!
Dave just turned 50 on January 29. I organised for one of my chef friend of mine, Pat to come over to our house and prepare a six course menu with wine pairings for 10 of Dave's closest friends. We had a great night and the food and wine was fantastic. His birthday also coincided with his annual Lighting Incentive Trip. This time I got to tag along.
Turks and Caicos Islands, here we come! We had forgotten what 28'C feels like...ahhh so good. It is a quick 5 day trip, but we're ok with that.

Swimming...

Tomorrow is a big day, a one mile swim.

Swim Season almost over

This weekend is a double header swim meet weekend, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. Last weekend we swam in St.Charles only a ten minute drive from the house. This weekend is a 45 minute drive. Warm-ups start at 7am, so we were up bright and early. Dave flies off to Ireland and Scotland tonight and will be gone nearly 10 days. Then shortly after that we'll be heading off to Australia. Attached are some swim meet photos and general pics.

Finding a warm day this Sumner

It hasn't been the warmest of summers. But when a warm day comes along we make the most of it. Last weekend we spent the day on the lake sailing with our old neighbours Bob and Kristin, their kids Sydney and Olivia. The weather was perfect, just enough wind to set sail.
A few days later we headed to the Brookfield Zoo.

An exiting June

June has been a very busy and exiting month. Shaina's soccer team made it all the way to the finals and came third. Hunter's baseball team came first in his division and is playing today for the championship.
Swimming has been going well. We've had a few competitions and the kids have improved their times in all strokes.
The Chicago Blackhawks are doing well too and are in the final round of play offs. The series is tied 2-2 best of 7.

Some more photos

Some random pics... The baseball stadium photo is of all the local school bands playing together, including Shaina at a baseball game.

It's been crazy!

Yes, it's been a while. And to be honest I've been forgetting to update my blog!
Kids finished their school year this week. After summer Shaina will change schools and head into 6th grade at middle school. Hunter will still be in primary school and head into 4th grade.
Swimming has taken over our lives. The kids swim on 2 teams and swim 5 days a week! St.Charles Swim Team runs year round, the other is a summer team called Thornwood Thunder with over 200 swimmers and is run by me! We are still doing soccer, baseball and martial arts! I am no longer working Saturday nights unless they desperately need me. I need a break!
Attached are some photos of end of year concert, swimming and other happenings.
Heading to Australia in August for 3 weeks, hopefully I'll see as many people as I can.