Some fun for the kids

All is well here in Montreal, in fact we are so busy with soccer, basketball, snowboarding, school, and work that we have not had much time to post anything in forever.

We recently applied for the kids to go to a local private school, and they said they wanted to know what our kids were like in the application process.  All of the other parents brought in all of the academic awards and stuff, we decided to take a different route and created these.  Didn't really work, the kids only made the waiting list for now, but it was fun nonetheless.

Ella's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Ella was challenged to take the ALS ice bucket challenge yesterday.  She took a bucket full of super cold ice water this afternoon and has challenged her friend Elise.

I was also challenged yesterday but have decided to forego the ice bath and instead will be donating money to several charities.  It's not that ALS is not a worthy cause or people should not worry about it.  We have known so many people that have had to fight or learn to live with terrible, debilitating diseases.  We would rather donate to several causes and try to help people we personally know that are learning to cope in an unfair world.

ALSA - I will help support raising more money for this cause that has received tremendous awareness through their ice bucket challenge.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society - To honor Jamie Reynold's mother who has been fighting MS for many, many year.

To honor Ashton Whalen, the daughter of our good friends in Florida, the Whalens.  Ashton has been battling Leukemia for several years now, we will donate to the charity of Ashton's choosing.

The newest member of our family, Olaf

We have added another member to our Canadian family.  We couldn't resist a new puppy whom we named Olaf.  He is a white Miniature Schnauzer, that we got here in Quebec.  There is some controversy over the white versions of this breed.  The American and Canadian branches will not recognize it as an official version of the breed, though after genetic testing most other countries do now recognize it as an official color.

We were torn between naming him Olaf after the snowman in Frozen, or Blitz which was sort for Blizzard.  Ultimately, Sarah and the kids won and his name stuck as Olaf.  He's pretty much the greatest puppy ever.

Night Photography

On my last couple of business trips to San Francisco and Edmonton I was able to get out at night and take some photos of the city, the Golden Gate bridge, and the Milky Way Galaxy on a nice clear night.  Hope to get out and take some photos of Montreal here shortly to add to the collection.

The Golden Gate looking into San Francisco

The view of San Francisco from Twin Peaks

Just a random path near my hotel in San Francisco.  The long exposure brought out a pretty cool look.

The Milky Way in the middle of nowhere in Alberta, Canada

First time snowboarding!

We are beaten, bruised, tired, and I am pretty sure that I broke a rib.  But we can't wait to go again.

That was just 2 hours on the bunny hill, we still are pretty bad, definitely do not have the skills for the big hills yet.

I know this is a recurring theme for us, we go surfing once, want to go every weekend.  I wish we could go surfing every weekend.  Ella still has her surfboard and is hoping for some summer weekends to make a drive out to the coast in Maine for some surfing fun.

I also remember swearing off athletic pursuits after breaking my shoulder, just too old to be doing this stuff anymore.  To recap, I broke my toe and a rib (the same rib that I am pretty sure I broke again today) surfing.  Then a little footrace in New Orleans cost me a bit of bone in my shoulder on the operating table.  Enough was enough.

However, the beauty of the Olympics is their ability to inspire people.  Just like Ella was inspired to teach herself how to swim (successfully) after watching Michael Phelps in Athens, Max wanted to get into snowboarding after watching the competition in Sochi.  Max showing any interest in athletics was enough for me to make it happen.  Even if that meant I needed to participate to do it with him.  In fact, the whole family got in on the action to give it a try.  The kids had never been on skis or a snowboard in their lives.  Sarah skied once I think, and I have skied a few times.  Nothing to inspire confidence in our ability to do this, but if our family has a motto, it is to always try, so we were going to give it a try.

World Tour

Another old post, just never got around to posting this until now.  Almost a year ago now, I was able to travel all over the place to promote the launch of the last game that I finished, Gears of War: Judgment.  I had a lot of fun going to see cool places and meet with the press and fans to talk about the game.

It all started in February with a trip to the Super Bowl!  If you know how much I love football, then you know how much I enjoyed this one.  We were showing the game at an event during the Super Bowl, and some friends at Microsoft were able to secure tickets to the game which was really awesome.  The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers despite a stadium blackout due to a faulty power transformer or something.  I even came home with a broken shoulder that required some surgery.

Ella's 9th Birthday

Ella had a lovely 9th birthday this last year (really late in posting this), she was able to go to Chicago with Sarah and Grandma Linda.  She took her American Girl doll, Kaya, with her and they stayed at the Talbot with a special American Girl package.  Her doll had her own bed, she was able to order room service for both of them, and everything in the room was customized to them.  They spent a lot of time checking out the Chicago sites and shopping in the American Girl doll store.

Travel by train as a new experience.  Pontiac to Chicago

Early opinions of Canada

Well, we have only been in Canada for a week.  Here are the first things that I have noticed.

Food is expensive, way more than expected.  Almost $4 for a half gallon of milk.  We went to Dairy Queen, and a small Blizzard cost $6.  Back in the sweet days of an awesome exchange rate compared to the US dollar, it wasn't a big deal, but I am noticing it now.

Oreos suck here for some reason.  The filling is really thick, not soft, moist and delicious.  Disappointing,

Too much change, I am conflicted on this one.  It doesn't make any financial sense for a government to produce a dollar bill.  But these toonies and loonies are weighing me down.  Willing to take it though, as a bonus the penny is on its way out here, prices are rounded to the nearest .05.

Debit cards and credit cards are still separate, which is just plain weird.  Didn't we figure this out in the States like a decade ago.  Debit cards that work as Visas are way easier.  The Canadians do have the secure chip going for them though.

The people have been super friendly and helpful, still need to get a medical insurance card and test the system.

Bonjour from Montreal!

Bonjour!  In case you are not keeping track at home, we are off on another family adventure.  This time to beautiful Montreal, Quebec in Canada.  We get to take advantage of my recently acquired Canadian citizenship to follow a really good opportunity for Chris.  We are just now getting settled into the city and are living in some temp housing for the time being.  All we know so far is that everything is different in Quebec, even the construction barrels are a different color than in Ontario.  English and French are both the official languages in Canada, and throughout Ontario (at least) all of the road signs are in both languages.  As soon as you cross into Quebec, that all stops and everything is just in French.

Max's Creative Writing

As part of the school year ending, Max brought home some of his creative writing from 1st grade that we got a kick out of.  Not really sure where the whole cat thing came from, and that last one has quite the twist at the end.

Summer

Sunny days are best

Umm... what are we eating

Mmm.. I love hot dogs!

My summer vacation is for cookie cake and video games

Eh.. I am tired

Rrrr.. I don't want summer to end

The Best Pet

I think cats make the best pet in the world.  Because they are soft they are good to cuddle with.  Secondly, they chase mice out of your house.  Last, they don't have fleas.  That's why cats are epic pets.

Attack of the Devils!!

Me and my friends and family were digging.  Then the problem came.  We hit rock, that was bad.  Then we went over to my place.  Then we started to dig again, we got to the core of the earth then.  Ella let a rope down so we could get up then we got a rock and threw it at a wolf.  The wolf ran at us but it fell in the hole and died!!!  We went down in the hole.  I was scared that I was going to die like the wolf, but we noticed that there was devils and Ella died!  Dun, dun, dun!!!!

Ella's Best Soccer Season Yet

Ella put a wrap on the Spring soccer season with her team the Fusion.  This was her best season yet, scoring 5 goals, and really played hard each and every game.  Her league recognizes one player from each team to be awarded with the Hamilton Sportsmanship Award for playing with the values of integrity, fairness, and respect.

She was recognized during a Carolina Railhawks game by being able to go down on the field at halftime and be introduced to the crowd.

She is going to give some tougher leagues a go, and look to try out for some more competitive teams in the fall.

School Projects from the Kids

The kids have completed some school projects lately which were kind of fun.

"The Biopoem of Ella Wynn"
Ella
Brave, loving, heart warming, strong
Daughter of Chris Wynn, sister of one
Who loves stuffed animals, loves freedom, loves traveling
Who experiences love, sadness, and failing over and over
Who fears of darkness, the movie 2012, and being separated from my family
Who is accomplishing soccer, basketball, and reading
Who wants to go skydiving, go to Brazil, and live in Brazil
Born in Florida and living in Cary
Wynn

Max did a project for Mother's Day that was amusing, especially if you know Sarah.  The underlined words are what he filled in.

Happy Mother's Day
Mom, it's me I am really sorry that I've been really mean.  So this is time for me to say sorry.  You are the best mom ever!

1) What is your mom really good at?
Sleeping
2) What does your mom do to relax?
Sleep from 9:00am to 1:00pm
3) Where does your mom like to shop?
Kroger
4) How old is your mom?
40
5) What do you love most about your mom?
She snuggles with me
6) If you could buy your mom anything, what would it be?
Flowers
7) What does your mom do while you're at school?
Sleep

My mom is as pretty as a Queen
She is as sweet as candy
She is as smart as a velociraptor
But most of all, she is as special as my modified nerf gun

My mom is special
Oh those nerf wars
The fun at the beach
Hi mom
Ewww! What's this
Royal as can be

All About Mom
Let me tell you about my mom.
My mom is 40 years old.
She likes to take naps.
The best thing she cooks is mac and cheese.
Her favorite food is a lot
Her favorite thing to do to relax is sit down and watch tv
we like to read together.
She is really good at cooking.
As you can see my mom is special because she is as awesome as a nerf gun.

Christmas 2012

Christmas is most definitely the kids favorite holiday.  This year was our first Christmas in North Carolina (thought that it would be a little warmer than it was).  We also drove up to Michigan to see family and friends over the Christmas break, stopping to see Chris' brother, Eric in West Virginia on the way up.

Disney Vacation - 2012

We had another excellent December vacation to Disney World for Max's 7th birthday, keeping with the tradition of going each year on his birthday.  We'll see how much longer we can keep this up, the whole family wants to get back to Hawaii and go on another cruise, so at some point we might have to make some decisions.

We took it more our usual style this year and really relaxed.  We didn't try to do too much, so we were able to take each day at a nice easy pace.  We were still able to see everything that we wanted and had a lot of fun.

Max lost his first tooth on his birthday at the Magic Kingdom!

Sarah's Birthdaypalooza

2012 was the big year for Sarah, she turned the big 4-0, went over the hill, and is in the second half of her life.  40 years gone.

She really celebrated in style this year with 3 separate celebrations.  First up, she headed to the mountains in Tennessee with some friends to celebrate both her birthday and a friends.  The second stop on the tour was heading up to Michigan for the weekend to spend time with her family, including a sleepover at her cousins.

The final leg was a surprise weekend in Orlando.  I took her and the kids down to Orlando for the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, always one of her favorite events.  Also surprised her with a private birthday party and fireworks viewing at the Boardwalk Hotel at Disney.  It was a really nice dinner, some friends were able to come out and spend the evening with her and we had a great view of the fireworks at Epcot.

Halloween 2012

Halloween this year was the kids first here in North Carolina.  It was a simpler affair for us than usual.  Since we just moved to the area we decided to not do our annual party.  The kids also ran out of time and were not able to come to my work for trick or treating.  That left just good old fashioned regular trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Ella was a Geisha Girl while Max went as Snake Eyes from GI Joe.  It was nice to have good weather on Halloween, not too cold to wear their costumes.

Settling into North Carolina

Well, no posts in quite a while.  Moving to North Carolina and getting settled in has been quite the adventure.  Work, school, and other activities have kept us super busy.  Now that we are through the holidays, we wanted to start getting some updates posted.

This fall, the kids started their new school at Briarcliff Elementary, Ella started 3rd grade, and Max started 1st.  They are both doing really well in school, particurlarly reading.  Ella just tested in the 99th percentile on a standardized reading test and Max is reading level 12 books while some kids in his class are on level 1 and 2.

Whale Watching

My parents came out for a visit in Seattle here in July.  One of the coolest things at this time of year is to head north a bit to check out the local Orca whales.  Before when we did it, we were able to watch from shore, but this time we booked a whole cruise to see them.

Emma and the Creepy Hour - Ella's First Book

As part of Ella's 2nd grade writing curriculum, all of the students wrote a short story.  Ella really got into it and wrote quite the little piece, complete with illustrations and everything.  Click on Read More to see Ella's manuscript completely unedited.  I should turn it into a real book on one of those websites, but I need her to redo all of the illustrations for it.

Here is the description that she wrote for the back of the book to prime you up for it.

A creepy case is on the chase!

A girl named Emma has dog she lets her brother borrow the dog.  The brother does something bad.  Will they find the dog?

Max's First Baseball Season

Max wrapped up his first season of t-ball just a couple of weeks ago, playing for the Marlins.  He really enjoyed playing here, and we had a pretty good spring and were not rained out too often.  It was a bit cold for a few games, but playable.