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.