2023 in review

 I don't post a lot, but I figured I should put in the effort to give a recap of 2023, if only for my own memory. This may be more of a photo dump than anything else, but even that will appease my guilt.

So yeah. What's new anyway? I guess Charlotte was pretty new at the start of 2023. Life was mighty different, with adjusting to having a tiny creature in the house again and with Carrie trying to recover from the whole birthing ordeal. That latter part took a long time; she was basic incontinent (the good kind, if there is such a thing) for many months. A failed surgery and then a successful surgery later, she was finally fully recovered just before we took off to BC for vacation in July.

But hey, we have this amazing kid to show for it all.

The girls love their little sister (how could they not) and have been very helpful to boot! I can even tell my eldest to get her poopy sister out of bed, and lo and behold... it just happens! Yes, we are just beginning to glean the benefits of growing-up kids. Lily even babysat the other night so we could go out for dinner with friends.

I started ripping apart our basement bathroom last winter. Everything worked, but it was sorely dated. Perhaps the real reason was to dissuade visitors from coming over, but that seems to have failed. Progress has been glacial, since I'm a don't-do-it-if-something-might-go-wrong kind of DIYer. (That's the worst kind of DIYer, it turns out.) Built my own low-profile ductwork and everything... which didn't help the glacial pace but was fulfilling; the goal was an extra few inches of headroom, which for me will result in no longer having the shower head at about neck height.

Eww

Custom ducts!

Levelling the wonky floor

We made our way down to Niagara to visit with family for Easter. Mom & Dad V reciprocated with a visit in May, despite not having a bathroom in their basement lodgings here.

Youngest (and therefore cutest) grandchild

Some necessary quail time at the farm

They took Lily's cousin along; those two get along wonderfully

I'd always wanted a door from the garage to the back yard, so we made that priority. I don't tend to have holes cut in exterior walls without my father goading me on.

Another way to avoid working on the bathroom was to start my new shed project. My old 10x10 shed was tiny and listing badly, so I designed 37 iterations of a new 10x16 shed. Eventually I had to build it too (not my favourite phase).

Lily and Nora both had swimming lessons in the summer. We put Lily in two successive levels; after years of having to do each swimming level several times, Lily passed two in a row just like that.

We also put both girls in gymnastics: Nora once and Lily in perpetuity... or so it seems; I think she's in her fourth 10-week course in a row. She's also just finished taking a drawing class and Nora a ballet class, both offered by the city. They also both took skating lessons later in the year. (It seems like a lot, but we're pretty adamant that the things we pick are offered close to home; other than skating, which was 13 minutes away, most things are about 5 minutes from home.)

We hit the local climbing gym a couple of times; always a fun experience.

The older two girls still get along wonderfully, for which we are very thankful. Lily's school just introduced a senior kindergarten, so now they both attend the same school (saving me some logistical headaches).

Ambassadors Christian School (senior kindergarten through grade 8)

First day of school

These girls love to dress up!

A house full of girls. What does one expect?

To fill our summer, besides some camping and our BC trip that I already blogged about, we did go back to Niagara again right after returning from BC to meet some cousins visiting from Holland. Guns, fireworks (at Niagara Falls), and eating ensued.

Then in mid-September we hauled the RV to the Eastern Townships in Quebec, about 4 hours east. We parked the trailer at a private campground, which made for a cheap convenient place to crash between jaunts.

Random pretty towns (in Quebec, but with Anglo names)

Our unexciting camping spot. Full hookups though.

Inside an old monastery

The monastery

Evening fires were nice, since it was chilly out.

Projects. There's always some little project to keep us occupied. Carrie reupholstered our ancient cheap kitchen chairs, successfully hiding 21 years of food stains.

She also spruced up an old junky cabinet I found on the curb. It's now her paint storage in the project room.

Disasters. We've had some weather events in the past few years, but this one wasn't too bad. An ice storm did a number on our big tree, which had already lost a bunch of branches the previous year.

Carrie's Subaru got hit by an old lady while parked. This was in January 2023. It took a while before we could bring it in, and then it took even longer to repair. We had a rental car for 5 weeks and didn't get the Subaru back until May. And then I had to chase after one final piece of trim they'd neglected to add, which finally got resolved in August.

This next one could have been a disaster. I installed a dash cam in the Suburban early in the year. A month later, I got some pretty sweet footage of some inconsiderate lout almost letting us t-bone him. I guess he thought it was a 4-way stop. In case you can't read it in the photo, I'm going 90, and I can still only guess at how I managed to not only miss him but stay on the road, after swerving and braking and having a heart attack (perhaps not in that order).

Well, that mostly sums it up. Lily had braces on for quite a while, and her teeth have improved significantly; she's just wearing retainers now.

Charlotte was way underweight at 6 months of age (considerably lighter than at 4 months), so we stocked up on 11% yogurt and tried to fatten her up. Can't say it worked that well.

Ugh... food again?

Just. So. Cute.

Always with the hair...

Candy cane extravaganza

Nora is reading like a fiend now. She can't spell very well, but she will read anything you put in front of her. 

We went back to Niagara once more for Christmas, making it a rare three-visit year! We should probably do that more often...

Charlotte getting in some cousin time

Summer trip 2023

We decided that this summer would be a good time to drive to BC, but through the US for a change. It sounded good in theory, but Carrie didn't have the energy to plan it all, plus accommodations were crazy expensive, so we shelved that plan.

Off to the airport then. In the old days we used to take a cab to the airport, but with 3 kids and a bunch of luggage, we longer fit into a standard taxicab. I'd bought a fancy CAA membership (with a road trip in mind), which gave me an airport parking discount, so we parked the Suburban at the airport for a decent price. Flew out to Kelowna with a layover or two. One of the flights was nice, with an empty seat beside me for Charlotte to have her own space to be annoying in; the other flight, no such luck... Carrie and I took turns having her on our laps.

Lots of space

Free seat for the wee one

In Vernon, the in-laws generously insured an extra vehicle so we had our own ride during our stay. We mostly stayed local, except for one side jaunt: Carrie and I ditched the older kids and drove to Vancouver to visit my sister Karin and one of her boys who was in the hospital there. It was good to connect; we stayed only two nights before heading back to the Okanagan.

Charlotte meets some relatives

Enjoyed a stroll with a view of downtown across False Creek

We had to keep an eye on some forest fires but they didn't end up affecting our travels.

Fire! Well, smoke!

Oh, a couple of nieces on Carrie's side hitched a ride back from Langley, and we stopped to check out Bridal Veil Falls near Hope.

Blondies

The long weekend brought the hordes from the Fraser Valley. Lots of time was spent at the beach or boating, as Okanaganonians (can I trademark that?) and people who aren't me are wont to do.

Foiling

The cousins had fun reconnecting.

Cousins!

Cousins!

Cousins watching cousins!

Cousins burying cousins!

Cousins tubing with cousins!

Yep, lots of cousin stuff. Lily also got to enjoy another birthday party with her cousins. As we're invariably in BC in mid-August, she'd have another later during the school year since she never gets to invite her school friends to birthday parties.

Our preenager turns 11

Her most wanted item: a leotard of our local gymnastics place 

Couldn't wait to try it on

When the hordes left, we went with the in-laws to nearby Mabel Lake and camped for a few days. A near disaster occurred there when one of the group deleted all the photos from his camera. He and I drove straight home and, with some perseverance, recovered them all. Whew!

The bug-free zone

Ever the artist

Marshmallow drama

Just chilling

Silly sisters

Birthday ice cream

The girls enjoyed swimming, tubing, and getting too much sun/sand.

This is definitely not Ontario sand

Sunnin' on the beach!

Sunnin' on the boat!

Too much sunnin', too little hat-wearing!

Tolerating an oversized life jacket

We made a visit to the local kangaroo zoo. It has more than just kangaroos.

"A bird on the head is worth..." meh, I forget how the adage goes

It was a relaxing couple of weeks, with mostly good weather.

But not always (hello, all-too-familiar smoky haze)

And lots of time to relax.

Taking a break from drawing

Tired

Babies are cute!

Lily, Nora and Charlotte have each had their turn in the kitchen sink.

And thus ended our vacation... almost. Some travel drama erupted at the end when WestJet decided to cancel the first flight of our three-leg journey home. Hours of calling and being on hold later, WestJet figured they did good by having Carrie and Lily on one replacement flight, and Nora, Charlotte and me on another... except Nora was going to be put between two random strangers in another row. Really, WestJet? Your systems aren't smart enough to know that this isn't actually permitted??

In the end, they got us on one flight together, and our trip was reduced to two flights with only one layover. I think we arrived home later than planned, but at least on the same day.

Not the roomiest play area

And then when we landed in Ottawa, the Suburban's battery was dead. Fortunately I pack a battery booster in the car, so two minutes later we were good to go. Those gadgets are so worth it!