Dear Friends and Family,
This year has been a whirlwind of activity and next year looks like it will be much the same—despite our planned efforts to slow things down!
2007 has flown by, with Amelia seeming to grow exponentially with every month. She is full of energy and leaps into new activities with enthusiasm. She had a tough decision in the fall between swimming, skating, ballet, soccer, or gymnastics – she eventually chose swimming after many long discussions and extolling the virtues and drawbacks of each. She is in preschool this year and is really enjoying a new environment with kids her age. She still goes to our wonderful family daycare three days each week and we are lucky enough to be able to flex our schedules to be home with her Mondays and Fridays in addition to the weekends. She is looking forward to kindergarten next year even if we aren’t!
One of the highlights of the year was traveling to Granada, Spain where Annie presented her (in progress) thesis research at an international conference. We spent 10 days exploring the city and trying to stay cool in the incredible Mediterranean sun. We also included a two day playground tour of London in our itinerary. Amelia learned a little Spanish and was confused when the London restaurant staff didn’t respond to her very confident “Buenos Dias”. Granada was a beautiful city with incredible architecture and an amazing cultural mix of Spanish, Arab, and Romany (gypsy) communities. We saw the Alhambra and took in a flamenco show in the back of a four table restaurant that was really beautiful.
Glen continues to be involved in the Fencing Club and they held a successful provincial-level tournament in February that included the support of one of Canada’s Olympic coaches. The competition was comparable in size to the annual one in Vancouver and may well be a rival tournament in the province in years to come. One highlight was seeing a Williams Lake fencer, whom Glen has been coaching, defeat the coach from Vernon, who is an accomplished competitor. Glen has also been madly writing music since March; he hopes to achieve some goals in that field as well one day.
Annie has been busy working two jobs and trying to squeeze in time for her thesis in the after hours. She finally finished a 20 month contract with one of the Tribal Councils at the end of October, where she was working on pre-treaty human resources and government structure design. She and Amelia spent a long weekend in Victoria to celebrate the end of a grueling year and a half. It was wonderful to spend the time together and see our dear friends there. With the second job out of the way, the thesis is back on the agenda with a goal to be finished this coming spring. You’re all invited to the party! Annie is now working at the City of Williams Lake as the Social Development Coordinator and is very much enjoying a reduced schedule while learning the ropes of municipal government. Hobbies, fun… ummm… my thesis. Not.
We are also very happy to have Annie’s parents, as well as her brother and his family, move back to Williams Lake. Amelia loves having her cousin close by and they have hours of fun romping about. It’s wonderful to have family close by and Amelia spends lots of time with her grandparents (including Glen’s mom, who lives in our downstairs suite) and auntie and uncle.
We wish everyone a warm and wonderful holiday season and a great start to the New Year.
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