Family Time

Well it’s time to write another post about what’s been going on lately. Yes, I know it’s been a while, and I apologize to those legions of you who check this blog daily for updates and leave feeling somewhat disappointed.

On that front, this seems like as good a time as any to thank all of you who do read this and who are interested in what we’re up to. Well done – I realize there are so many other things you could be doing with your time.

So. We’ve done a few things since I last wrote an update. In late May my Gran (Oma) celebrated her 97th birthday. We all went paintballing and bungee jumping. OK not really. Instead, my family (my parents, brother & sister-in-law and niece) came over from Vancouver and I met them there for a couple of days to have a nice little celebration. It’s pretty great to be able to just fly over to Germany and be there in an hour. It also gave me another opportunity to sample some German pretzels and sausages. Sorry beer-fans, it’s just not my thing I’m afraid.

So after Germany me and the rest of my family (sans Oma) made it back over to England and we had a weekend at CenterParcs, which is kind of like a holiday camp with self-catering villas set in the forest (a bit like fancy camping) and lots of activities – swimming, boating, cycling, etc. Emma, our one-year-old niece, celebrated the event by walking on her own for the first time. We all had a great time enjoying different activities and time together as a family.

Then we came back to Bristol and spent the rest of the week with our family here. It’s great to have my side of the family here to see where we live and to get a feel for our life here in Bristol.

Hockey

Of course one of the big things going on back in Vancouver at the moment is the Stanley Cup ice hockey playoffs, where the Vancouver Canucks have (for only the third time in their history) made it to the finals. The last time they were in the finals was 1994, coinciding with the first time I came to England to live. Back then I could only follow the team’s fortunes on the burgeoning Internet, with boxscore updates the next day via email. Now, I am able to watch all of the games live on TV- starting at 1am UK time. Yes, I have been staying up from 1am to 4am every other morning for the past two weeks.

It’s an odd experience being here when the city is going Canuck crazy over there. You can do lots to feel a part of it, but because you aren’t surrounded in it and because no one here knows or cares, it nevertheless feels like it’s something on the periphery. Game 7 is tomorrow night; now that my parents are here I believe my Mom shall be joining in the 1am viewing of this final game.

Summer Plans

And finally, we’ve made some plans for a special holiday this summer. In essence, we will be going the long way from England back to Vancouver, by flying from London to Miami and then traveling from Miami to Port Coquitlam by train (via New York, Chicago, San Diego, and other places). I’ve created a page which will chronicle our trip, and we’ll be posting regular updates while we’re away.