Parties and Parades

Finally!!  It was birthday party time!  It had simply been too awkward to host birthday parties right away for the boys, so in mid-November, we set up a small party for both boys at Skyzone - an indoor trampoline park.  They were each allowed to invite 4 friends, so there were 10 boys altogether.  What a riot! 

 Jumping around for an hour, trying to do some slam dunks and playing dodge ball was really great fun!  Then pizza and giant cookies for a treat. 

We got our first snow fall here in Winnipeg a week ago and the boys have enjoyed some snowball fights in the backyard (not at school of course!) and climbing on the snow pile in the parking lot.  We have actually managed to find a HILL in Winnipeg and we can even walk to it!  So the kids have been tobogganing twice so far.  (Next time I'll have to remember to take the camera!)

Saturday was the Winnipeg Santa Claus Parade.  We were greeted by the Snowbirds airplanes criss-crossing the parade route overhead to open the parade.  Then there were all of the CFL cheerleaders with their little pom-poms and big winter coats to celebrate the Grey Cup Weekend. 

 The parade started at sunset (4:30pm) so the lights were visible.  We had a lovely potluck meal in the afternoon at CFOT with some of our session-mates and sent the daddies outside early to get good seats on the median of Portage Rd.  We did have to sit "criss-cross applesauce" though since there were many patrollers with "No feet on the street" signs walking back and forth in front of us every 2 minutes.

 Tribute to the Winnipeg jets. 

 The Salvation Army Toy Mountain float that the Community Venture staff put together at Weetamah Corps  this week.  At my field placement the staff and members were busy for the past few weeks making the toy soldier costumes for the marchers in the photo above. 

 Just in case we forgot .... Winnipeg was hosting the Grey Cup and there was theme to the parade - other than Santa! 

 Favourite characters this year included Olaf and the Minions!

Finally Santa Claus arrived!  Way up high in his sleigh.  Fireworks closed off the parade and by that time our toes, fingers and ears were quite cold!  The boys received lots of candy canes to keep them busy munching as we crawled through the traffic back to Waverley. 

Day-to-Day ... and a Birthday!

 

These are a couple of photos from around the College for Officer Training, to give you an idea of where we spend our days!  I won't give you a whole tour of the building, so you have an incentive to come and visit me!

 Above is the bistro / cafe self-serve area and the photo below is the chapel, where we meet 3x per week.

 One of our classrooms with a bunch of the first year - Joyful Intercessors getting ready for a presentation in our Spiritual Formation class.
Yes, there's a baby at CFOT this year and no, this is not her mom.  By the time we leave this place in 2 years, she'll be running around everywhere! 

 We took the boys to a FREE movie screening of Despicable Me 2 ... at 9:00am.  It was a fundraiser for Free the Children and popcorn, skittles and pop for breakfast was a good Saturday morning treat! 

We were back at the Assiniboine Zoo for a Community Life Social event put on by the College.  It was a lovely fall day.

 The teenagers of Waverley! 

 Some of the younger lads too! 

After lunch on our In-Sunday, we had dessert and lots of CANDY! in the basement at CFOT

 Even the cadet band was on-duty!

Rocking and Rolling at the local skatepark ...

The boys are thrilled to have a neighbour and honorary uncle Chad just down the hall who LOVES to play Monopoly.  This also makes me very happy, because if  the 4 boys are playing, I can escape .... 

 to a Women's retreat at Booth College with Women of Faith!

And all of a sudden there was a 10 year old in the house!  

 Thank you for the cards and pressies!  Jackson had a good day, but missed all of his extended family, this is our first time celebrating without one set of grandparents or the other!

So we thought we'd use the gift card from our Niagara Orchard Community Church family to check out the Human Rights Museum. 

 There was a great interactive kids exhibit called XOXO on emotions. 

 The kids were able to write a secret message on paper and crush it into a love token to share with someone. 

 There was an interactive digital dance floor ...

 and lighted alabaster walkways that criss-cross all throughout the building!

 Such amazing architecture!  It's like a journey from earth to heaven climbing through the clouds.  A whole lot of symbolism, but it is spectacular. 

 The view from the top would only be better if the scenery were a bit more like Banff or something.  But you can see the rivers and the cool bridge and the downtown buildings and the train tracks and the market ....

 Pizza Hut dinner was requested by the birthday boy (and they even brought us a cinnamon roll treatzza pizza)

 followed by OREO ice cream at home!  The boys don't like birthday cake anymore (weird, I know).

And that's what's up around here!