We've moved.

Did you even notice? Our blog is now located at blog.yumnuska.net. We're mainstream now, baby.

Oregon Trip Pics

Yes, I know I haven't blogged in a while. No, I probably won't get better anytime soon. But Oregon pics are here.

Cypress Falls

It was really blustery today, so we went for a walk at Cypress Falls because I'd heard that it was beautiful and pretty sheltered. Correct on both counts; pictures start here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Soooo... yah. I've managed to neglect this blog for some time now. The good news is that it isn't due to working to much, instead I've just been lazy.

We're obviously back from Europe (old news). The trip was fantastic, and having had some time to digest the experience, I can say that I can't wait to return to some of the places we saw. Barcelona is now on my List of Top 10 Cities in the World. Rome, not so much. I've actually found myself wishing that we were back there, even if just for a few days. I think we only saw the "Readers Digest" version, and I'd love to spend more time there to see more.

Things have been pretty mellow around here since then. I'm signed up to take a sailing course in February, and Holly's taking a pottery course through January to March. Oliver's doing fantastically. He's into everything now, and has become quite the chatterbox.

Christmas was pleasant, although we didn't make it back to Edmonton. Instead, we went to Vancouver Island, and spent Christmas with Holly's dad, aunt, and uncle in Victoria. That was fun; Rob and I did most of the cooking, which suits both of us just fine. Oliver finally gets the concept of "opening presents", so he was into the gifts like a dirty shirt. Pictures start here.

Oliver's insisting that I draw him a happy face, so ttfn.

Fantastic Barcelona

We're 3/4 through our European vacation (updated pictures). We started out in Frankfurt for one night to see Holly's youngest sister, then on to Rome to meet her other sister (who's living in Barcelona). We've been their mom joined us en route in Toronto, so it's really been a family vacation.

Rome is lovely, but dirty and overrun with tourists. Still, the sights are incredible, and photos and postcards don't even begin to show the soul of the city if you haven't seen it first hand. We spent 9 days in Rome, and after a couple of days getting settled and over some minor jet lag, we hit the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Circo Massimus (where the Chariots used to run). The Colosseum and the Forum (along with Palatine Hill) were truly breathtaking. Circo Massimus is now just a flat field with litter and gravel, and was truly disappointing.

From Rome, we took a day trip to Florence. If Rome is overcrowded, Florence is bursting at the seams. Some people had told me that if we went to Florence, we would never want to leave; we couldn't get out of there fast enough, in fact. We did see Michaelangelo's David, which was awe inspiring, and made the trip somewhat worthwhile, but the rest of the city is such a dung-heap that we just wanted to leave afterwards, and were happy to do so.

Back in Rome, we spent a day at Vatican City. The sights there are, again, just incredible, and we got there early enough that the crowds weren't too bad, but they were getting unpleasant towards the end. We went to the top of St. Peter's cathedral to look out over Rome. After the elevator, we had to walk up 300+ stairs to reach the top. Oliver did around 250 by himself, and was so proud! The view from the top was awesome, but there were too many people for the tiny space so it wasn't worth staying up too long.

From Rome, we went to Barcelona, where we are now. We're staying in Holly's sister's flat, which is fantastic. We're just a short walk from the Metro, and the city is just beautiful (especially contrasted with Rome). We'd love to come back here to spend more time. We've been to the old city, to La Sangria Familia (unbelievable), and done some walking in some of the most pleasant areas. Today, the girls went shopping and Oliver and I went down to the waterfront to wander and look at the boats. That's a guaranteed good day in my books, and I wasn't disappointed. There were some tall ships in the harbor, and O just loved looking at them. We're back home now, O's having a nap, and I'm trying to come to terms with the whirlwind vacation this has been so far. We've only a couple more days before the long haul home, and I can't say I'm looking forward to leaving, flying, or returning to work next week.