As our time in Canada marches inexorably toward its end point, one of the greatest challenges that we’re facing is not knowing what the end point is. It is a great uncertainty that plays with one’s mind.
The process that has been outlined thus far (took some poking, prodding and not-so-subtle kicking to get it moving) essentially boils down to finding yourself a job back in Australia (with the company) and going for it. Once you have that secured, you then need to work around turning that into a date for return.
The company will of course be supporting us in all this and looking for opportunities as well, particularly in areas that lie outside our own sphere of contacts and influence.
It would be easier to feel good about the process if it was a tried and true and we’d had good feedback, but at this stage, its very much a mystery and the first people to be going through it are all doing so at the same time. So far, it doesn’t really seem like there’s hundreds of people jumping up and down to take us all back. I mean, when you think about it, when we all left they had to fill the jobs that we were in. Now, they either have to invent jobs, wait for people to leave or win new work to generate new positions and we’ve all been over here growing in skills and experience and aren’t necessarily looking to go back in the same capacity that we left in.
What that leaves us with is uncertainty. Lots and lots of uncertainty. There’s no fixed date or location, so when do we enrol kids in school? And when we do, which school do we enrol them in? Do we rely on getting something int he state that we want to go to or do we just go with a wing and a prayer. When do we start packing the house?
There’s much to think of, even more to organize and quite frankly its doing my head in and isn’t helped by working a turnaround just now and facing another between now and our mystery exit date!
May 31, 2010
May 4, 2010
Hairlairious or Hairifying?
Caroline had told me that she was taking all the kids to have hair cuts today and so I was looking forward to seeing them all neat and tidy again when I arrived home from work. All of them except Michael that is because if the last couple of efforts were anything to go by, he was only going to lose an inch or so.
Before I left work, Caroline called to check when I’d been home and dropped into conversation the fact that Michael wasn’t happy with his and so not to be too harsh on him or make any sort of comment that was likely to offend him.
It brought back the time that I had a hair cut that I loved, but that everyone around me thought was something along the lines of ridiculous. My brother’s not so politically correct comment was “that’s fucked,” whilst Dad, being the understanding and creative individual that he is, took one look and said, “wear a hat.”
Well, as if I was going to cave in the face of such opposition! And being conscious of that, I haven’t pushed Michael too hard and wasn’t going to on this occasion either. I was kind of hoping that peer pressure might win him over, but clearly he doesn’t exactly worry about the opinion of his peers! That could be a good thing.
Anyway, I came home from work and was greeted by an ecstatic Thomas, complete with very short hair. Sam was equally happy with his short hair, but there was no sign of Michael or Emily. Turns out that Emily was enjoying some ‘personal time’ as a result of her reaction to the take away Chinese that had been brought home for dinner.
As for Michael, well I was of course most interested to see what had happened to his head. That was rather difficult though because I was soon informed that he had gone into hiding and hadn’t been sighted in the 2 hours since he’d come home from the hair dresser.
Apparently he’d sat and endured the massacre and as soon as it was finished, stormed from the chair directly to the car without even a comment. Needless to say that I was expecting something pretty bad, but decided that I’d have dinner before I bothered facing him. Eventually he was tracked down, but before I could see him, he slipped into his room and stood holding it, refusing entry. I tried to peek through the crack in the door, but that wasn’t going to do much. Michael was in no mind to let me in, going so far as to say that I was the one that he especially didn’t want to see it. I decided to give him time, but Caroline, having dealt with the 2 hour absence decided it was time to confront him. I left her to it.
I finally managed to sneak in to our room when he was talking to Caroline, still far from loving life. I only saw the back at first. It was shorter, maybe an inch above his neck line, may be a little messy. I lay down on the bed, not making any sudden moves or even commenting, waiting to be invited. When he finally did decide that I could have a look and let me see, it wasn’t really that bad at all.
Except for the fact that he hated it and that for a delicate young teenager’s soul that meant the world was ending.
Caroline, being the super-Mum that she is, proposed a solution: One of the Aussies that we’ve met here in Fort Mac happens to be a hair dresser. After a bit of a look on line to see if there was something that Michael might be able to live with after his hair had been ‘butchered’ and an emergency call was put into Mel.
A short time later, Michael was sitting on a chair in the living room, scissors being re-applied to his hair. A short time later again, he was done, there was a smile on his face and the world, whilst not perfect, had certainly tilted back toward a what a 13 year old might consider balanced.
Before I left work, Caroline called to check when I’d been home and dropped into conversation the fact that Michael wasn’t happy with his and so not to be too harsh on him or make any sort of comment that was likely to offend him.
It brought back the time that I had a hair cut that I loved, but that everyone around me thought was something along the lines of ridiculous. My brother’s not so politically correct comment was “that’s fucked,” whilst Dad, being the understanding and creative individual that he is, took one look and said, “wear a hat.”
Well, as if I was going to cave in the face of such opposition! And being conscious of that, I haven’t pushed Michael too hard and wasn’t going to on this occasion either. I was kind of hoping that peer pressure might win him over, but clearly he doesn’t exactly worry about the opinion of his peers! That could be a good thing.
Anyway, I came home from work and was greeted by an ecstatic Thomas, complete with very short hair. Sam was equally happy with his short hair, but there was no sign of Michael or Emily. Turns out that Emily was enjoying some ‘personal time’ as a result of her reaction to the take away Chinese that had been brought home for dinner.
As for Michael, well I was of course most interested to see what had happened to his head. That was rather difficult though because I was soon informed that he had gone into hiding and hadn’t been sighted in the 2 hours since he’d come home from the hair dresser.
Apparently he’d sat and endured the massacre and as soon as it was finished, stormed from the chair directly to the car without even a comment. Needless to say that I was expecting something pretty bad, but decided that I’d have dinner before I bothered facing him. Eventually he was tracked down, but before I could see him, he slipped into his room and stood holding it, refusing entry. I tried to peek through the crack in the door, but that wasn’t going to do much. Michael was in no mind to let me in, going so far as to say that I was the one that he especially didn’t want to see it. I decided to give him time, but Caroline, having dealt with the 2 hour absence decided it was time to confront him. I left her to it.
I finally managed to sneak in to our room when he was talking to Caroline, still far from loving life. I only saw the back at first. It was shorter, maybe an inch above his neck line, may be a little messy. I lay down on the bed, not making any sudden moves or even commenting, waiting to be invited. When he finally did decide that I could have a look and let me see, it wasn’t really that bad at all.
Except for the fact that he hated it and that for a delicate young teenager’s soul that meant the world was ending.
Caroline, being the super-Mum that she is, proposed a solution: One of the Aussies that we’ve met here in Fort Mac happens to be a hair dresser. After a bit of a look on line to see if there was something that Michael might be able to live with after his hair had been ‘butchered’ and an emergency call was put into Mel.
A short time later, Michael was sitting on a chair in the living room, scissors being re-applied to his hair. A short time later again, he was done, there was a smile on his face and the world, whilst not perfect, had certainly tilted back toward a what a 13 year old might consider balanced.
Apr 29, 2010
seven and thirteen
It’s probably a sign of how busy we’ve been and where my head is at that I am lumping two significant events together even though they occurred over a month apart.
On the 21st of March, our little pink thing became a little less little, though certainly no less pink when she turned seven years old.
Bubbly and happy, she continues to exude confidence almost everywhere she goes whilst occasionally slipping into squealy, scared little girl mode, more often than not just for an excuse to get Daddy’s attention I am sure. She was very excited for her birthday, as is more than appropriate for someone turning a massive seven years old. She was especially happy about the party that we held for her with a host (or perhaps more accurately a gaggle) of kids from school. two boys were ‘fortunate’ enough to make the invite list, the first of whom was greatly relieved to be invited into the basement with Emily’s brothers as the girls went crazy around her.
Two moments stand out in my mind from the day, the part where she was opening her presents, seated on the couch, the entire party population crowded around her like petitioners about a court princess.
The second moment occurred when it was time for the pinata. We’ve been through any number of pinata’s over the time that our kids have had birthdays, home made, store bought, but regardless of the origins, they’ve all gone down the same way ... gradually bludgeoned to death by small beings wielding a long blunt object with varying degrees of proficiency.
But for some reason this one was supposed to be different. Not that I had a clue. I did the usual thing, hung it up, lined up the kids and gave them the blunt object. Emily protested loudly but I insisted that this was exactly how it worked and away we went. Each time Emily came up, she took the stick with a dark look and an overly angry and enthusiastic swing. When the candy finally fell, she stormed off with tears in her eyes.
Apparently this was a ‘special’ pinata and everyone was supposed to hold one of the streamers and pull it and that would make the candy fall ... except for the fact that I don’t remember seeing anything about that anywhere on it. She cheered up again soon enough.
One of the big differences that we’re seeing this year is the fact that Emily is learning to write and that she’s more than happy to share her new-found knowledge and skills with us. Its not unusual to find a little note outside the door or scattered about the floor letting us know that the little pink thing does indeed love her Mum and Dad. Of course, with the skills, one doesn’t necessarily develop the filter that social norms might otherwise give us and so we’ve also been known to find amongst the literary marvels the occasional note that says something as blunt as “I hate you”. Of course, that only happens when she doesn’t get her own way!
So at seven, the opinions are stated firmly and loudly, the smiles plentiful, hugs large and genuine, and the mood swings gradually coming along to show us those potentially horrifying glimpses of the future with a teenager!
Which of course leads us to the other momentus occasion that was as recent as yesterday. Michael turned 13, and so we do, in fact have a teenager in the house.
The biggest thing for us with Michael turning 13 this year was as simple as finding something to give him. With departure from Canada on the horizon (even if further than we’d like) it rules out a lot of electronic options as we are better off waiting until we’re back in the land of 240v (even if its more expensive) and we don’t really want to clutter up the house with crap any more than we’ve already managed to. In the end, he decided the he’d really like some roller blades so that along with a few books to read seems to have done the trick.
Michael continues to succeed at school, though I think somewhat reminiscent of another family member, might struggle with some of the more mundane aspects of the schooling. With the age gap to most of the people in his class, he’s struggled to click with a lot of his peers and seems to view them mostly as more trouble than they’re worth. He’s continued to enjoy to read, devouring my bookshelf at a rate that simply blows my mind. Nothing like buying him a book so that he’ll have something to read for the last couple of days of a holiday and seeing him finish it before we even get to the part where we’re traveling home again. Of course, it’s hard to complain when your teenager gets excited about a book shop.
We’re definitely seeing the emotions run hot and cold as Michael embarks on this next stage of life’s journey and I can hardly wait until the communication drops off to grunts and groans! He continues to enjoy his soccer, having been one of the key players in his indoor team.
Summer will be interesting when having just turned 13 he will have to play in a combined U14/16 team. Some of the older kids that I saw playing after the U14 games during the winter were taller than I am. At least the better U16 players will be playing in the men’s league where I’ll have to try and out run (not likely) or out push (highly likely) them. I’m also hoping that he gets a decent coach as I believe that he’d benefit from being coached by someone other than his father (maybe he’d listen a little more and offer a few less opinions).
Regardless of how it turns out, he’s a kid that its easy to be proud of and I hope that he keeps going down the right track ... even if he does need a bloody hair cut.
On the 21st of March, our little pink thing became a little less little, though certainly no less pink when she turned seven years old.
Bubbly and happy, she continues to exude confidence almost everywhere she goes whilst occasionally slipping into squealy, scared little girl mode, more often than not just for an excuse to get Daddy’s attention I am sure. She was very excited for her birthday, as is more than appropriate for someone turning a massive seven years old. She was especially happy about the party that we held for her with a host (or perhaps more accurately a gaggle) of kids from school. two boys were ‘fortunate’ enough to make the invite list, the first of whom was greatly relieved to be invited into the basement with Emily’s brothers as the girls went crazy around her.
Two moments stand out in my mind from the day, the part where she was opening her presents, seated on the couch, the entire party population crowded around her like petitioners about a court princess.
The second moment occurred when it was time for the pinata. We’ve been through any number of pinata’s over the time that our kids have had birthdays, home made, store bought, but regardless of the origins, they’ve all gone down the same way ... gradually bludgeoned to death by small beings wielding a long blunt object with varying degrees of proficiency.
But for some reason this one was supposed to be different. Not that I had a clue. I did the usual thing, hung it up, lined up the kids and gave them the blunt object. Emily protested loudly but I insisted that this was exactly how it worked and away we went. Each time Emily came up, she took the stick with a dark look and an overly angry and enthusiastic swing. When the candy finally fell, she stormed off with tears in her eyes.
Apparently this was a ‘special’ pinata and everyone was supposed to hold one of the streamers and pull it and that would make the candy fall ... except for the fact that I don’t remember seeing anything about that anywhere on it. She cheered up again soon enough.
One of the big differences that we’re seeing this year is the fact that Emily is learning to write and that she’s more than happy to share her new-found knowledge and skills with us. Its not unusual to find a little note outside the door or scattered about the floor letting us know that the little pink thing does indeed love her Mum and Dad. Of course, with the skills, one doesn’t necessarily develop the filter that social norms might otherwise give us and so we’ve also been known to find amongst the literary marvels the occasional note that says something as blunt as “I hate you”. Of course, that only happens when she doesn’t get her own way!
So at seven, the opinions are stated firmly and loudly, the smiles plentiful, hugs large and genuine, and the mood swings gradually coming along to show us those potentially horrifying glimpses of the future with a teenager!
Which of course leads us to the other momentus occasion that was as recent as yesterday. Michael turned 13, and so we do, in fact have a teenager in the house.
The biggest thing for us with Michael turning 13 this year was as simple as finding something to give him. With departure from Canada on the horizon (even if further than we’d like) it rules out a lot of electronic options as we are better off waiting until we’re back in the land of 240v (even if its more expensive) and we don’t really want to clutter up the house with crap any more than we’ve already managed to. In the end, he decided the he’d really like some roller blades so that along with a few books to read seems to have done the trick.
Michael continues to succeed at school, though I think somewhat reminiscent of another family member, might struggle with some of the more mundane aspects of the schooling. With the age gap to most of the people in his class, he’s struggled to click with a lot of his peers and seems to view them mostly as more trouble than they’re worth. He’s continued to enjoy to read, devouring my bookshelf at a rate that simply blows my mind. Nothing like buying him a book so that he’ll have something to read for the last couple of days of a holiday and seeing him finish it before we even get to the part where we’re traveling home again. Of course, it’s hard to complain when your teenager gets excited about a book shop.
We’re definitely seeing the emotions run hot and cold as Michael embarks on this next stage of life’s journey and I can hardly wait until the communication drops off to grunts and groans! He continues to enjoy his soccer, having been one of the key players in his indoor team.
Summer will be interesting when having just turned 13 he will have to play in a combined U14/16 team. Some of the older kids that I saw playing after the U14 games during the winter were taller than I am. At least the better U16 players will be playing in the men’s league where I’ll have to try and out run (not likely) or out push (highly likely) them. I’m also hoping that he gets a decent coach as I believe that he’d benefit from being coached by someone other than his father (maybe he’d listen a little more and offer a few less opinions).
Regardless of how it turns out, he’s a kid that its easy to be proud of and I hope that he keeps going down the right track ... even if he does need a bloody hair cut.
Apr 21, 2010
The Great American Road Trip Pt. 1
In retrospect, referring to our holiday as our Great Griswaldian Adventure in the weeks and months leading up to it may have been a less than inspired choice, if for no other reason than feeling like it’s poking fate in the eye and waiting for a reaction.
Caroline and I were up until after midnight the day before the trip, making sure that we would have everything that we would need and that it had been compressed into suitably small shapes so as to allow us to board a plane.
The day of depature, Michael and Sam had their indoor soccer finals and the original plan had been to go straight from the soccer to the airport where we’d abandon the car for a couple of weeks. When I looked at the luggage that needed to go in the car it was readily apparent that one car stuffed to overflowing simply wasn’t a good answer, not to mention the fact that the last minute panic meant that we weren’t all ready to go at the same time.
So two cars it was to soccer, with Michael and Sam both coming away with Gold medals after their respective games. Following that, it was a dash to the house, loading everything into the car to the point of imminent explosion and off to the airport. I dropped Caroline, the kids and the luggage off at the door and was about to go park the car when Caroline asked me where my hand luggage was.
Oh crap.
The instant she asked me, it flashed through my mind. In order to pack the luggage in the car I’d moved my car out of the garage. When I’d packed everything else, I put my hand luggage down on the ground. Because the garage was full of mud from the snow, I put it on one of the few clean spots. To get Caroline’s car out I had to move mine back in, which meant that my luggage was now right in front of my car. In fact, it was basically underneath the front. We all piled in the car and left, sans my hand luggage.
My instant reaction was to flee home to get it, but we were close enough to boarding that I didn’t think I’d have time. I gave it up and went to park the car.
Urgent calls to the one person that had access to our house went unanswered.
When I came back from parking the car, Caroline told me there’d been a slight delay and that I may have time. I fled the airport, mind whirling, eyes on my watch and doing the arithmetic. If I sped the whole way home and back again, I might make it just in time IF they took 10 minutes to board and I could get in at the last second. A bad run of lights, getting booked for speeding, or simply having to park a little too far away would potentially mean missing the flight.
I stopped, turned around and returned to the terminal, where Emily unfurled herself from her mother’s arms to give me a big hug. She’d been terrified that Daddy might not make it on the plane.
Normally missing my hand luggage wouldn’t mean a lot. No book to read, no iPod for the journey, possibly even missing a snack I’d packed. On this occasion however, I’d happened to pack the bag with all the charges for our cameras as well as the video camera in my backpack instead of the luggage.
As we flew to LA, we considered our options. We’d get some photos, but would probably exhaust batteries fairly quickly and we’d have no video. Our first point of call out of LA was intended to be the Grand Canyon. Surely that wouldn’t put too great a strain on the cameras! Yeah, right.
Option 1 was try and find a retailer that would sell us new battery chargers for the cameras. Likely to be expensive.
Option 2 was to have Nancy go to our house, retrieve the bag and courier it to us. If we went down that path, it would also be expensive and involve a change of plans so that we could be in a location where we could receive mail.
We settled on option 2, forked out the requisite arm and leg and changed our plans to head straight to Vegas from LA rather than the Grand Canyon.
And with that happy little start, our vacation was underway!
Caroline and I were up until after midnight the day before the trip, making sure that we would have everything that we would need and that it had been compressed into suitably small shapes so as to allow us to board a plane.
The day of depature, Michael and Sam had their indoor soccer finals and the original plan had been to go straight from the soccer to the airport where we’d abandon the car for a couple of weeks. When I looked at the luggage that needed to go in the car it was readily apparent that one car stuffed to overflowing simply wasn’t a good answer, not to mention the fact that the last minute panic meant that we weren’t all ready to go at the same time.
So two cars it was to soccer, with Michael and Sam both coming away with Gold medals after their respective games. Following that, it was a dash to the house, loading everything into the car to the point of imminent explosion and off to the airport. I dropped Caroline, the kids and the luggage off at the door and was about to go park the car when Caroline asked me where my hand luggage was.
Oh crap.
The instant she asked me, it flashed through my mind. In order to pack the luggage in the car I’d moved my car out of the garage. When I’d packed everything else, I put my hand luggage down on the ground. Because the garage was full of mud from the snow, I put it on one of the few clean spots. To get Caroline’s car out I had to move mine back in, which meant that my luggage was now right in front of my car. In fact, it was basically underneath the front. We all piled in the car and left, sans my hand luggage.
My instant reaction was to flee home to get it, but we were close enough to boarding that I didn’t think I’d have time. I gave it up and went to park the car.
Urgent calls to the one person that had access to our house went unanswered.
When I came back from parking the car, Caroline told me there’d been a slight delay and that I may have time. I fled the airport, mind whirling, eyes on my watch and doing the arithmetic. If I sped the whole way home and back again, I might make it just in time IF they took 10 minutes to board and I could get in at the last second. A bad run of lights, getting booked for speeding, or simply having to park a little too far away would potentially mean missing the flight.
I stopped, turned around and returned to the terminal, where Emily unfurled herself from her mother’s arms to give me a big hug. She’d been terrified that Daddy might not make it on the plane.
Normally missing my hand luggage wouldn’t mean a lot. No book to read, no iPod for the journey, possibly even missing a snack I’d packed. On this occasion however, I’d happened to pack the bag with all the charges for our cameras as well as the video camera in my backpack instead of the luggage.
As we flew to LA, we considered our options. We’d get some photos, but would probably exhaust batteries fairly quickly and we’d have no video. Our first point of call out of LA was intended to be the Grand Canyon. Surely that wouldn’t put too great a strain on the cameras! Yeah, right.
Option 1 was try and find a retailer that would sell us new battery chargers for the cameras. Likely to be expensive.
Option 2 was to have Nancy go to our house, retrieve the bag and courier it to us. If we went down that path, it would also be expensive and involve a change of plans so that we could be in a location where we could receive mail.
We settled on option 2, forked out the requisite arm and leg and changed our plans to head straight to Vegas from LA rather than the Grand Canyon.
And with that happy little start, our vacation was underway!
Jasper Juniors
This year, rather than spend our winters freezing our butts off at, and shuttling back and forth between ice rinks, we managed to keep the kids out of any ice sports and pursue other options.
The boys all played indoor soccer and Emily and Thomas joined the Nancy Greene Ski Program. Emily would have loved to have played indoor soccer but unfortunately her games would have been on Saturday which simply wasn't conducive to the lifestyle that we wanted this year. At least when the kids are skiing we get to indulge as well.
One of the things that the Nancy Greene program enables the kids to do is participate in ski races, something which Caroline and I were certainly excited about, regardless of whether Emily and Thomas thought it would be particularly special or not.
With our other commitments and fun (like holidaying in the Caribbean) we didn’t actually get to as many of these events as we’d have liked, but we did make the one that we considered most important - the Jasper Junior Olympics.
It was held the week after we arrived back from our cruise, so we went from the sand to the snow in a very short space of time. Caroline and the kids went on the bus on the Thursday, whilst I worked through Friday. Then I caught the plane to Edmonton and drove out in a little Hyundai to meet them in Jasper.
It almost uneventful except for the bit where I was driving along at the permitted 110kms/hour and looked up to see the back end of what I think was an Elk wandering off the road to my right. I hit the skids, veered into the left lane and set the heart racing to about a billion beats a minute. I slowed down and considered just how bloody lucky i was that there hadn’t been anyone in the lane along side me, not to mention that it hadn’t been the front end of the animal that I’d seen! Otherwise it would have been a very very messy experience.
Eventually I controlled the heart and made it the rest of the way and by the time that I’d managed to make it to the Rockies proper, I was in a suitable frame of mind to admire the absolutely stunning view as the bright, silvery light of a very full moon cast its ethereal glow across the snow-capped mountains. It was truly wonderful and I would have given a lot to have had a camera handy (not to mention some decent photography skills) so that I could have captured it to share.
The following day we were up bright and early to pack ourselves onto the team bus so that we could head up to the mountain to do some skiing (oh and um, watch the kids too). The kids were split into age groups and genders for racing and the older kids skied on a tougher course. That meant that Emily would be skiing down a green run near the base of the mountain whilst Thomas would ski at the top on a black run! Caroline was kind enough to do our volunteer duty so that I could fit in some extra skiing (something about having missed most of the Christmas ski adventure).
It was going to be a delicate task once the kids were ready to ski as all we had to go by was the number of their bib as to when they would be coming down the mountain. Michael and Sam and I did some exploration to make sure that we’d be able to get from one to the other in time the waited near Emily’s run for her first race.
It was very cute to see the little kids skiing their hearts out as they weaved in and out of the gates to get the fastest time that they could. On the first day they would each have two timed races to see who could produce the quickest time.
Emily fared very well in her event, coming in 11th in her age group, which was just one place short of getting a ribbon! After her first run we raced to the bottom, caught the lift back to the top and skied across to Thomas’ course. We had to repeat it for the second run in the afternoon.
Thomas skied well on his first run, but unfortunately on his second, lost his edges about 5 gates from the finish. He got up quickly and kept skiing, but hadn’t realized that he’d missed a gate in the process and sadly ended with a DNF (did not finish). That meant that he didn’t get an official time for his runs, but from his first run he was around the middle of the pack. When you see the speed some of the kids that have been skiing (and racing) for many years achieve, middle of the pack is bloody good.
On the second day, the racing was a team event, with the various ski teams competing against each other. This meant that each skier would participate in two tandem slalom races, weaving through the gates side by side against their competitor (based on their time from the previous day). Apparently there’s then some mathematical wizardry around which teams win how many of their races to determine the overall winner.
Again Emily was the first down the mountain and she managed to get over the line first, smiling as she came over the line. I had a little more concern for as although he had put a brave face on the disappointment of the Saturday, I knew that he really wanted to be able to say that he had won something.
In his first race he managed to well and truly beat his opponent over the line. Then we raced off to see Emily again. In the first race they came down one side of the course and then in the second race came down the other, I assume to even out any slight imbalances in the positioning of the various gates. Emily went close, but was just beaten over the line before we scuttled off to the top of the mountain for the last time.
Thomas skied his best and again managed to get himself over the line, coming out with a double victory and happily, a good story to tell about his efforts at the Jasper Junior Olympics.
From there it was just a casual bus ride back to the Mac. All 10 hours or so of it!
The boys all played indoor soccer and Emily and Thomas joined the Nancy Greene Ski Program. Emily would have loved to have played indoor soccer but unfortunately her games would have been on Saturday which simply wasn't conducive to the lifestyle that we wanted this year. At least when the kids are skiing we get to indulge as well.
One of the things that the Nancy Greene program enables the kids to do is participate in ski races, something which Caroline and I were certainly excited about, regardless of whether Emily and Thomas thought it would be particularly special or not.
With our other commitments and fun (like holidaying in the Caribbean) we didn’t actually get to as many of these events as we’d have liked, but we did make the one that we considered most important - the Jasper Junior Olympics.
It was held the week after we arrived back from our cruise, so we went from the sand to the snow in a very short space of time. Caroline and the kids went on the bus on the Thursday, whilst I worked through Friday. Then I caught the plane to Edmonton and drove out in a little Hyundai to meet them in Jasper.
It almost uneventful except for the bit where I was driving along at the permitted 110kms/hour and looked up to see the back end of what I think was an Elk wandering off the road to my right. I hit the skids, veered into the left lane and set the heart racing to about a billion beats a minute. I slowed down and considered just how bloody lucky i was that there hadn’t been anyone in the lane along side me, not to mention that it hadn’t been the front end of the animal that I’d seen! Otherwise it would have been a very very messy experience.
Eventually I controlled the heart and made it the rest of the way and by the time that I’d managed to make it to the Rockies proper, I was in a suitable frame of mind to admire the absolutely stunning view as the bright, silvery light of a very full moon cast its ethereal glow across the snow-capped mountains. It was truly wonderful and I would have given a lot to have had a camera handy (not to mention some decent photography skills) so that I could have captured it to share.
The following day we were up bright and early to pack ourselves onto the team bus so that we could head up to the mountain to do some skiing (oh and um, watch the kids too). The kids were split into age groups and genders for racing and the older kids skied on a tougher course. That meant that Emily would be skiing down a green run near the base of the mountain whilst Thomas would ski at the top on a black run! Caroline was kind enough to do our volunteer duty so that I could fit in some extra skiing (something about having missed most of the Christmas ski adventure).
It was going to be a delicate task once the kids were ready to ski as all we had to go by was the number of their bib as to when they would be coming down the mountain. Michael and Sam and I did some exploration to make sure that we’d be able to get from one to the other in time the waited near Emily’s run for her first race.
It was very cute to see the little kids skiing their hearts out as they weaved in and out of the gates to get the fastest time that they could. On the first day they would each have two timed races to see who could produce the quickest time.
Emily fared very well in her event, coming in 11th in her age group, which was just one place short of getting a ribbon! After her first run we raced to the bottom, caught the lift back to the top and skied across to Thomas’ course. We had to repeat it for the second run in the afternoon.
Thomas skied well on his first run, but unfortunately on his second, lost his edges about 5 gates from the finish. He got up quickly and kept skiing, but hadn’t realized that he’d missed a gate in the process and sadly ended with a DNF (did not finish). That meant that he didn’t get an official time for his runs, but from his first run he was around the middle of the pack. When you see the speed some of the kids that have been skiing (and racing) for many years achieve, middle of the pack is bloody good.
On the second day, the racing was a team event, with the various ski teams competing against each other. This meant that each skier would participate in two tandem slalom races, weaving through the gates side by side against their competitor (based on their time from the previous day). Apparently there’s then some mathematical wizardry around which teams win how many of their races to determine the overall winner.
Again Emily was the first down the mountain and she managed to get over the line first, smiling as she came over the line. I had a little more concern for as although he had put a brave face on the disappointment of the Saturday, I knew that he really wanted to be able to say that he had won something.
In his first race he managed to well and truly beat his opponent over the line. Then we raced off to see Emily again. In the first race they came down one side of the course and then in the second race came down the other, I assume to even out any slight imbalances in the positioning of the various gates. Emily went close, but was just beaten over the line before we scuttled off to the top of the mountain for the last time.
Thomas skied his best and again managed to get himself over the line, coming out with a double victory and happily, a good story to tell about his efforts at the Jasper Junior Olympics.
From there it was just a casual bus ride back to the Mac. All 10 hours or so of it!
Mar 14, 2010
Daylight Saving
It seems that every couple of years with the change for daylight savings, we get caught out. One of the things about living in Fort McMurray is that I don’t tend to pay much attention to the local media. Let’s face it, it’s pretty much restricted to local radio and for as much as they try hard, I can’t say that I am a fan and so more often than not, you’ll find me listening to a podcast rather than the radio. What it meant this year was that it snuck up on us. Someone said something late Friday to me, but that went in one ear and out the other.
So this morning I woke up, looked at the clock and realized we weren’t going to make 9am mass. I did make the effort though to get up and make sure that the kids were fed in time for the 11am mass instead. Having cooked pancakes, I logged onto the computer for a bit and then, when I though it was about 20 to, called out to Caroline to make sure she would be as ready as the rest of us. On the hour, as she emerged from the lofty heights of the second story, I politely told her that we would be rather late. At which point she asked why, given that it was only 10am. I re-checked my watch and slapped myself for being a goose.
Half an hour later, as I sat down to write here, something clicked in my head and I remembered that brief and vague conversation that I’d had on Friday that had mentioned daylight savings. I checked the internet and sure enough, it wasn’t 10:30 anymore, it was 11:30. We’d missed the mass anyway. Goose squared!
And a brief note: When the sun rises at 4am and it’s still daylight at 11pm at night in high summer, what is the point of daylight savings? It’s not really like you’re running out of the stuff!?
So this morning I woke up, looked at the clock and realized we weren’t going to make 9am mass. I did make the effort though to get up and make sure that the kids were fed in time for the 11am mass instead. Having cooked pancakes, I logged onto the computer for a bit and then, when I though it was about 20 to, called out to Caroline to make sure she would be as ready as the rest of us. On the hour, as she emerged from the lofty heights of the second story, I politely told her that we would be rather late. At which point she asked why, given that it was only 10am. I re-checked my watch and slapped myself for being a goose.
Half an hour later, as I sat down to write here, something clicked in my head and I remembered that brief and vague conversation that I’d had on Friday that had mentioned daylight savings. I checked the internet and sure enough, it wasn’t 10:30 anymore, it was 11:30. We’d missed the mass anyway. Goose squared!
And a brief note: When the sun rises at 4am and it’s still daylight at 11pm at night in high summer, what is the point of daylight savings? It’s not really like you’re running out of the stuff!?
Holiday Pt 3
Yes, it’s taken me a while to finish this off. Work has been somewhat frantic since our return, but I finally pulled my finger out and found some time to finish this off!
After all of the excitement of the shuttle launch, it was almost hard to believe that we were only at the very beginning of our holiday.
The four days that followed were consumed by Disney as we roamed the parks of Walt Disney World. We whipped fairly quickly through the Magic Kingdom as much of it was very similar (if not the same) as Disneyland in California. We had planned to go back to have a look at the bits that we skipped, but by the time that we’d been through Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios we decided that we’d take the time to get back to Fort Lauderdale ahead of the cruise.
Disney was a heap of fun, especially for the kids, but I can’t say that it quite inspires the same words that the shuttle launch did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, just that having already been to several theme parks, it wasn’t quite the unique opportunity that the launch was.
We also did some outlet shopping, but any rumour that a couple of shop owners may have managed to pay cash for luxury apartments in the Caribbean following our may be slightly exaggerated.
The truly joyous part of our endeavours in the outlet shops would have to have been the point where the clerk told me that he would have to ring for authorisation on my card. I stood there as they rang the bank, confident that there was plenty of money in the account, even substantially confident that I was in fact, me. After a brief discussion, the clerk handed over the phone so that I could speak to the bank and ensure them that yes, it was me, I was in America and I really did want to proceed with the transaction.
All was good. Then, about 30 seconds after we finished the transaction, my cell phone rang. It was the bank. Was I trying to spend $5,000 at Universal Studios Florida? Given that I hadn’t in fact been anywhere near the place at all and certainly hadn’t managed to break the laws of physics as we know them (at least whilst I was awake) I assured the nice man on the phone that I wasn’t in two places at once and indeed wasn’t trying to spend that money. My card had been compromised. Shit. I took the time to cut it up in the store and then listened as I was told that my new card would be mailed out to me in 7-10 business days. In Canada. That was going to be extremely useful seeing that in 7-10 days I would be in the middle of the Caribbean. Fortunately, it was only my card number that was compromised and there was no need to cancel Caroline’s. I t just meant that any time I wanted to spend any money, I would have tobeg ask her nicely. Huzzah!
After the fun of the launch, the shopping and the theme parks, we drove back to Fort Lauderdale where we had a one night stop over before we were due to get on the ship for our cruise. We went for a drive to the Everglades so that we could see a different sort of landscape and quite possibly a ‘gator or two.
We were almost to the turnoff to our destination when I glanced at the fuel gauge and realized that there was a reasonable chance that we simply weren’t going to make it to where we needed to go and that we were quickly approaching a point where we also wouldn’t be able to make it back to our point of origin either. The road was an arrow straight highway cutting across the everglades and in my naivety, I expected there to be interchanges somewhere with gas stations. Apparently not. We cut our losses and turnaround around, heading back to the first point that we saw a gas station and filling the van whilst grabbing some lunch. We were very excited to see a bakery, right up until the point where we went inside and didn’t really recongnise anything. Caroline and I had the Mexican equivalent of a pie but the kids were pretty much out of luck, with not one of them liking what we’d bought them.
Anyway, refueled and slightly less hungry, we stopped at a ‘quaint’ little tourist place where we could go for an airboat ride which was kind of fun, but of course it’s not until you’ve paid your money and are halfway through the ride that they tell you that the weather’s too cold and so you’re not likely to see any ‘gators. Given that they’re cold blooded and that it was in fact cool and windy, we’d expected this and wanted the airboat ride anyway, but I bet there were a few people there who wouldn’t have bothered handing cash over if they’d known. Of course, on the up side, they did have a little collection of animals that were being rehabilitated and so we saw some captive ‘gators and even managed to hold a baby one, which Emily was very very excited about.
After that, we headed out to the original place that we’d been going to go to so that Caroline could try some ‘gator nuggets. Once we’d turned off the highway and made our way toward the reservation upon which the next tourist place was built, we managed to see some ‘gators. The sun had come out and so in the reeds next to the canals, there were a number of them sunning themselves to spread some warmth through their bodies. They didn’t do anything other than lie there (which is apparently a significant part of their lifestyle) but it was great to get to see them outside of a pen.
After that, it was back to the hotel for some dinner and our final land-lubber’s sleep before the cruise.
The following afternoon it was indeed time at last to get ourselves off the land and onto the ship. Full of beans and excitement, we went through the embarkation process, grabbed some champagne and clambered aboard the Celebrity Solstice.
I have to say that our first impressions were good. The ship was beautifully decked out and for me in particular, a far far cry from the conditions in which I used to live whilst working off-shore.
Having made it through life-boat drills and found our cabins, we explored the ship, being sure to make it in quick time to the kids programs to try and off-load the extras, but unfortunately they weren’t that keen and really wanted to stay with us. That was fine for the start and we were sure that we’d off-load them the following day.
What can be said about the cruise? It wouldn’t be fair on anyone to go into a blow-by- blow account, so I am not about to do that. Let’s just say that it was quite simply a bloody fantastic holiday.
The food was great and there was always something to do if you were prepared to go look for it (and you didn’t have to look hard). From going to the gym and watching the ocean drift past as you ran, to swimming in the pool, or simply holding up one side of a bar, it was just wonderfully relaxing.
Our first stop was in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we took a great bus tour around the island before browsing through some of the shops. We were interested to realise that San Juan is a commonwealth of the United States and it had an interesting history that one could barely begin to appreciate in the time that we had there.
The second stop was St Maarten, where we pursued the shopping a little harder as it was truly duty and tax free. We dipped ourselves in the ocean (hard not to when the water is so gloriously warm and the sun is streaming down on you from above) and having more time in St Maarten than we’d had in San Juan, went back to the ship for lunch and to drop off the two older boys who weren’t quite as interested in seeing anymore of the island than they already had.
Caroline, Thomas, Emily and I returned to the Island and jumped into a taxi so that we could find another beach and see a little more. Caroline thoroughly enjoyed the taxi ride, mainly because she had the chance to speak Dutch to the driver. Whilst Caroline looked into hiring flippers and snorkels for the four of us, I noticed that happy hour and the adjacent bar was nearly over (it only ran from 11am to 4pm!) and so took my chance to pick up a beer (can’t say no when it’s a whole dollar, even if it is American). We then attempted to get out to the reef that was just off-shore, but it proved too difficult for Emily and so she and I went in and played in the shallows whilst Thomas and Caroline eyed off the fish. It was sadly a little choppy, but they did get to spend some time out there.
The third stop was Tortola, of the British Virgin Isles and again, we took a tour of the place, though because there was six of us, we ended up in a taxi rather than one of the tour buses. Whilst it might have been air-conditioned and we didn’t have to wait for other people, our driver sadly lacked the personality and joi de vivre that you would expect from an actual tour operator. At least we got to see the place. We went swimming at Cane Garden Bay, a gorgeous little spot even with all the tourists (hard to avoid when you land a ship with 3200 people on it) and again simply enjoyed the fact that we were dressing lightly, swimming in the ocean and bathing in the sun!
The final stop for the cruise (prior to disembarkation of course) was Haiti. The cruise line made much of the fact that they were stopping there so soon after the earthquake that had devastated the island. In essence, they said that they had liaised with the government prior to doing so and the fact that they brought supplies, as well as tourists who would actually spend money and support the local population meant that continuing to visit was the right thing to do. For me it meant the chance to try out the Dragon’s Breath Zip line, the world’s longest zip line.
Unfortunately it meant lots of waiting for the rest of the family and Caroline had to juggle getting Emily’s hair braided and trying to see when I’d actually come down the line. The weather closed in on our way up the hill and by the time I was off, it was raining, but it was still a very cool thing to have managed to do.
Before that we’d taken a snorkeling tour out to the reef and as we arrived there, I was not quite so thrilled to have them tell us how there wouldn’t be many fish due to the fact that the locals had been living off fish for hundreds of years (or more). There’s nothing quite like paying your money and then finding out that there isn’t going to be a lot to look at. We still saw some cool things, but it wasn’t teeming with life the way the reef in Jamaica had been the year before.
As our last stop on the tour, Labadee was a bit of a disappointment. The stopping point is owned by the cruiseline and as such, didn’t have the flavour of the other stops where you actually managed to get into the local town (even if that was a tourist haven) and take off in any direction you wanted. Basically it seemed a bit sterile. It was still better than working though!
After all of the excitement of the shuttle launch, it was almost hard to believe that we were only at the very beginning of our holiday.
The four days that followed were consumed by Disney as we roamed the parks of Walt Disney World. We whipped fairly quickly through the Magic Kingdom as much of it was very similar (if not the same) as Disneyland in California. We had planned to go back to have a look at the bits that we skipped, but by the time that we’d been through Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios we decided that we’d take the time to get back to Fort Lauderdale ahead of the cruise.
Disney was a heap of fun, especially for the kids, but I can’t say that it quite inspires the same words that the shuttle launch did. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, just that having already been to several theme parks, it wasn’t quite the unique opportunity that the launch was.
We also did some outlet shopping, but any rumour that a couple of shop owners may have managed to pay cash for luxury apartments in the Caribbean following our may be slightly exaggerated.
The truly joyous part of our endeavours in the outlet shops would have to have been the point where the clerk told me that he would have to ring for authorisation on my card. I stood there as they rang the bank, confident that there was plenty of money in the account, even substantially confident that I was in fact, me. After a brief discussion, the clerk handed over the phone so that I could speak to the bank and ensure them that yes, it was me, I was in America and I really did want to proceed with the transaction.
All was good. Then, about 30 seconds after we finished the transaction, my cell phone rang. It was the bank. Was I trying to spend $5,000 at Universal Studios Florida? Given that I hadn’t in fact been anywhere near the place at all and certainly hadn’t managed to break the laws of physics as we know them (at least whilst I was awake) I assured the nice man on the phone that I wasn’t in two places at once and indeed wasn’t trying to spend that money. My card had been compromised. Shit. I took the time to cut it up in the store and then listened as I was told that my new card would be mailed out to me in 7-10 business days. In Canada. That was going to be extremely useful seeing that in 7-10 days I would be in the middle of the Caribbean. Fortunately, it was only my card number that was compromised and there was no need to cancel Caroline’s. I t just meant that any time I wanted to spend any money, I would have to
After the fun of the launch, the shopping and the theme parks, we drove back to Fort Lauderdale where we had a one night stop over before we were due to get on the ship for our cruise. We went for a drive to the Everglades so that we could see a different sort of landscape and quite possibly a ‘gator or two.
We were almost to the turnoff to our destination when I glanced at the fuel gauge and realized that there was a reasonable chance that we simply weren’t going to make it to where we needed to go and that we were quickly approaching a point where we also wouldn’t be able to make it back to our point of origin either. The road was an arrow straight highway cutting across the everglades and in my naivety, I expected there to be interchanges somewhere with gas stations. Apparently not. We cut our losses and turnaround around, heading back to the first point that we saw a gas station and filling the van whilst grabbing some lunch. We were very excited to see a bakery, right up until the point where we went inside and didn’t really recongnise anything. Caroline and I had the Mexican equivalent of a pie but the kids were pretty much out of luck, with not one of them liking what we’d bought them.
Anyway, refueled and slightly less hungry, we stopped at a ‘quaint’ little tourist place where we could go for an airboat ride which was kind of fun, but of course it’s not until you’ve paid your money and are halfway through the ride that they tell you that the weather’s too cold and so you’re not likely to see any ‘gators. Given that they’re cold blooded and that it was in fact cool and windy, we’d expected this and wanted the airboat ride anyway, but I bet there were a few people there who wouldn’t have bothered handing cash over if they’d known. Of course, on the up side, they did have a little collection of animals that were being rehabilitated and so we saw some captive ‘gators and even managed to hold a baby one, which Emily was very very excited about.
After that, we headed out to the original place that we’d been going to go to so that Caroline could try some ‘gator nuggets. Once we’d turned off the highway and made our way toward the reservation upon which the next tourist place was built, we managed to see some ‘gators. The sun had come out and so in the reeds next to the canals, there were a number of them sunning themselves to spread some warmth through their bodies. They didn’t do anything other than lie there (which is apparently a significant part of their lifestyle) but it was great to get to see them outside of a pen.
After that, it was back to the hotel for some dinner and our final land-lubber’s sleep before the cruise.
The following afternoon it was indeed time at last to get ourselves off the land and onto the ship. Full of beans and excitement, we went through the embarkation process, grabbed some champagne and clambered aboard the Celebrity Solstice.
I have to say that our first impressions were good. The ship was beautifully decked out and for me in particular, a far far cry from the conditions in which I used to live whilst working off-shore.
Having made it through life-boat drills and found our cabins, we explored the ship, being sure to make it in quick time to the kids programs to try and off-load the extras, but unfortunately they weren’t that keen and really wanted to stay with us. That was fine for the start and we were sure that we’d off-load them the following day.
What can be said about the cruise? It wouldn’t be fair on anyone to go into a blow-by- blow account, so I am not about to do that. Let’s just say that it was quite simply a bloody fantastic holiday.
The food was great and there was always something to do if you were prepared to go look for it (and you didn’t have to look hard). From going to the gym and watching the ocean drift past as you ran, to swimming in the pool, or simply holding up one side of a bar, it was just wonderfully relaxing.
Our first stop was in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we took a great bus tour around the island before browsing through some of the shops. We were interested to realise that San Juan is a commonwealth of the United States and it had an interesting history that one could barely begin to appreciate in the time that we had there.
The second stop was St Maarten, where we pursued the shopping a little harder as it was truly duty and tax free. We dipped ourselves in the ocean (hard not to when the water is so gloriously warm and the sun is streaming down on you from above) and having more time in St Maarten than we’d had in San Juan, went back to the ship for lunch and to drop off the two older boys who weren’t quite as interested in seeing anymore of the island than they already had.
Caroline, Thomas, Emily and I returned to the Island and jumped into a taxi so that we could find another beach and see a little more. Caroline thoroughly enjoyed the taxi ride, mainly because she had the chance to speak Dutch to the driver. Whilst Caroline looked into hiring flippers and snorkels for the four of us, I noticed that happy hour and the adjacent bar was nearly over (it only ran from 11am to 4pm!) and so took my chance to pick up a beer (can’t say no when it’s a whole dollar, even if it is American). We then attempted to get out to the reef that was just off-shore, but it proved too difficult for Emily and so she and I went in and played in the shallows whilst Thomas and Caroline eyed off the fish. It was sadly a little choppy, but they did get to spend some time out there.
The third stop was Tortola, of the British Virgin Isles and again, we took a tour of the place, though because there was six of us, we ended up in a taxi rather than one of the tour buses. Whilst it might have been air-conditioned and we didn’t have to wait for other people, our driver sadly lacked the personality and joi de vivre that you would expect from an actual tour operator. At least we got to see the place. We went swimming at Cane Garden Bay, a gorgeous little spot even with all the tourists (hard to avoid when you land a ship with 3200 people on it) and again simply enjoyed the fact that we were dressing lightly, swimming in the ocean and bathing in the sun!
The final stop for the cruise (prior to disembarkation of course) was Haiti. The cruise line made much of the fact that they were stopping there so soon after the earthquake that had devastated the island. In essence, they said that they had liaised with the government prior to doing so and the fact that they brought supplies, as well as tourists who would actually spend money and support the local population meant that continuing to visit was the right thing to do. For me it meant the chance to try out the Dragon’s Breath Zip line, the world’s longest zip line.
Unfortunately it meant lots of waiting for the rest of the family and Caroline had to juggle getting Emily’s hair braided and trying to see when I’d actually come down the line. The weather closed in on our way up the hill and by the time I was off, it was raining, but it was still a very cool thing to have managed to do.
Before that we’d taken a snorkeling tour out to the reef and as we arrived there, I was not quite so thrilled to have them tell us how there wouldn’t be many fish due to the fact that the locals had been living off fish for hundreds of years (or more). There’s nothing quite like paying your money and then finding out that there isn’t going to be a lot to look at. We still saw some cool things, but it wasn’t teeming with life the way the reef in Jamaica had been the year before.
As our last stop on the tour, Labadee was a bit of a disappointment. The stopping point is owned by the cruiseline and as such, didn’t have the flavour of the other stops where you actually managed to get into the local town (even if that was a tourist haven) and take off in any direction you wanted. Basically it seemed a bit sterile. It was still better than working though!
Feb 10, 2010
Holiday Pt 2 – The Launch
Having barely survived the sleep deprivation and all that lead up to the scrubbing of the first shuttle launch, we stoically decided that we would indeed back it up with yet another night of sleepless insanity and return to the Kennedy Space Centre for the re-scheduled launch of STS-130.
We slept for most of the morning and went Outlet shopping for the afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the bus stop to get picked up for a return to the KSC. Being the second day and with only 24 hours notice that the event was on seemed to significantly change the number of people that were able to attend. It was also Sunday night rather than Saturday which may have deterred a few locals who had to work.
Whatever it was, it made things better for us as we were through the gate quickly, spent more time in the Space Centre and didn’t have to line up for 2kms to get back on the buses when the time came to move over to the causeway. For some reason we still spent a bucket of time in the bus waiting (I think they held them all until the shuttle had been fueled) and because the bus driver we had on the second day was complete crap compared to the first day, despite the reduced numbers, we ended up on exactly the same piece of real estate. This time however, we were much better prepared for the cold, double panted and extra-womble like layered to repel the chill wind. We'd even stopped to buy a couple of beanies!
And there we waited, counting the hours, then the minutes until the launch was due, again watching the clouds overhead, hoping against hope that we would be more fortunate.
The reduced numbers gave us some time to move around a little and the wind wasn’t quite as fierce, so the cold was slightly more bearable. Thomas and I wandered down to the launch clock that you see if you ever watch one of these things on the web and the T-20 hold came and went.
There were whispers of 60% chance of launch, dropping to 40% at some point, climbing again … all designed surely to keep us nervous with anticipation. The T-9 hold came (a 30 minute hold in itself) and we continued to count the minutes, watching them creep by, waiting whilst the kids slept. Then a cheer went up, we had moved past the T-9 hold, things were happening, it looked like it would be a go (but we held our breath because our tour operator from the day before had told us of a time when a launch had been scrubbed with 2 minutes on the clock). The real no turning back point is at 30 seconds.
We woke the kids up, shaking and talking and shaking until we knew they were awake enough not to succumb to sleepy bo-bos at the critical moment and then waited just a little bit longer.
Then we heard it, “Go for Launch!” 10 seconds … the free hydrogen burnoff … 9 seconds … 8 … 7 … 6.6 seconds … Main Engines Start … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …0! Ignition! Hold down release and launch!
The first thing that we could see (being some 5 miles or so from the launch pad) was a burst of fire down near the base of the pad. Then the night sky is lit up until it is the colour of a beautiful orange summer sunset, almost as bright as day light.
The tail of flame shoots skyward propelling the shuttle into the heavens. You can’t see it for the intensity of the light, but you know it’s there with its crew strapped in and flying. 20 seconds or so after the launch, as the shuttle shoots upward, the wall of sound catches up, the deep base rumble washing over you, literally rippling the water, stirring up the ‘gators and giving you yet another sense of the power and wonder that is unfolding before your eyes.
As the shuttle climbs, the intensity of the light fades and the shuttle tilts over and rolls ready for separation of the boosters.
There’s cheers from the crowd as it is announced that separation has been achieved, memories of Challenger vivid amongst the launch community, everyone hoping that they never see anything of its like again.
It continues to fade until the night sky has resumed its dominance over the intruder which disappears toward the darker sky of space, its light now white, like an overly bright star before it winks out, only 3 and a half minutes from that moment when ignition began.
The words really don’t do it justice, nor do the pictures. It truly was a once in a lifetime, awe-inspiring spectacle that I count myself incredibly fortunate to have witnessed it.
We slept for most of the morning and went Outlet shopping for the afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the bus stop to get picked up for a return to the KSC. Being the second day and with only 24 hours notice that the event was on seemed to significantly change the number of people that were able to attend. It was also Sunday night rather than Saturday which may have deterred a few locals who had to work.
Whatever it was, it made things better for us as we were through the gate quickly, spent more time in the Space Centre and didn’t have to line up for 2kms to get back on the buses when the time came to move over to the causeway. For some reason we still spent a bucket of time in the bus waiting (I think they held them all until the shuttle had been fueled) and because the bus driver we had on the second day was complete crap compared to the first day, despite the reduced numbers, we ended up on exactly the same piece of real estate. This time however, we were much better prepared for the cold, double panted and extra-womble like layered to repel the chill wind. We'd even stopped to buy a couple of beanies!
And there we waited, counting the hours, then the minutes until the launch was due, again watching the clouds overhead, hoping against hope that we would be more fortunate.
The reduced numbers gave us some time to move around a little and the wind wasn’t quite as fierce, so the cold was slightly more bearable. Thomas and I wandered down to the launch clock that you see if you ever watch one of these things on the web and the T-20 hold came and went.
There were whispers of 60% chance of launch, dropping to 40% at some point, climbing again … all designed surely to keep us nervous with anticipation. The T-9 hold came (a 30 minute hold in itself) and we continued to count the minutes, watching them creep by, waiting whilst the kids slept. Then a cheer went up, we had moved past the T-9 hold, things were happening, it looked like it would be a go (but we held our breath because our tour operator from the day before had told us of a time when a launch had been scrubbed with 2 minutes on the clock). The real no turning back point is at 30 seconds.
We woke the kids up, shaking and talking and shaking until we knew they were awake enough not to succumb to sleepy bo-bos at the critical moment and then waited just a little bit longer.
Then we heard it, “Go for Launch!” 10 seconds … the free hydrogen burnoff … 9 seconds … 8 … 7 … 6.6 seconds … Main Engines Start … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …0! Ignition! Hold down release and launch!
The first thing that we could see (being some 5 miles or so from the launch pad) was a burst of fire down near the base of the pad. Then the night sky is lit up until it is the colour of a beautiful orange summer sunset, almost as bright as day light.
The tail of flame shoots skyward propelling the shuttle into the heavens. You can’t see it for the intensity of the light, but you know it’s there with its crew strapped in and flying. 20 seconds or so after the launch, as the shuttle shoots upward, the wall of sound catches up, the deep base rumble washing over you, literally rippling the water, stirring up the ‘gators and giving you yet another sense of the power and wonder that is unfolding before your eyes.
As the shuttle climbs, the intensity of the light fades and the shuttle tilts over and rolls ready for separation of the boosters.
There’s cheers from the crowd as it is announced that separation has been achieved, memories of Challenger vivid amongst the launch community, everyone hoping that they never see anything of its like again.
It continues to fade until the night sky has resumed its dominance over the intruder which disappears toward the darker sky of space, its light now white, like an overly bright star before it winks out, only 3 and a half minutes from that moment when ignition began.
The words really don’t do it justice, nor do the pictures. It truly was a once in a lifetime, awe-inspiring spectacle that I count myself incredibly fortunate to have witnessed it.
Feb 9, 2010
Holiday Pt 1 - Emily the Unsleeping and Thunderbirds aren't Go.
In addition to being the day before we set off on our Search for the Sun, Friday the 5th was Caroline’s birthday. Knowing that our departure was scheduled for the not so kid friendly time of 12:40am on the 6ht, 6th, the plan was to go out for birthday dinner and then put the kids to bed for a quick nap before heading to the airport.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Keg with Bob and Nancy and the girls and then went home with the kids’ excitement levels being tweaked up a notch with the reducing time until our scheduled departure. We cleaned house, booked a taxi and tried to get four children to go to sleep. Emily simply wouldn’t. Thomas was trooper and the first one to the land of sleepy bo-bos and even Michael and Sam went to sleep. But Emily was a right little bugger and only fell asleep about an hour before we intended to leave for the airport.
At the scheduled time we peered out the front window waiting for the taxi, but 10 minutes after it was due to arrive, there was no sign of it. Caroline called the taxi company and they said that they’d send another one as quickly as they could.
I started waking the kids up, which was an effort and a half. Talk about out to the world. You seriously have to wonder about the effectiveness of a smoke alarm with kids when you’re in their room all but yelling over the alarm that’s going off and still not being very successful. Sam has taken to sleeping with one quilt under him and another over the top and as I woke him up, he started pulling the top one back over the top of him. I dragged it off him, only to have him sleepily start to drag the ‘under-quit’ up over him instead. I had to drag that off him as well and it wasn’t really until I started to bodily pull him from the actual bed that I started to get any sort of responsiveness that one could relate to being awake.
A short time later, with still no sign of any taxis I started to stuff our luggage into our car. The taxi showed up as I was working on bag #3 and so we quickly transferred it, stress levels rising as we attempted to get everything we’d packed, plus the 6 of us into the minivan cab. We made it without anyone losing any limbs and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight.
Of course the next issue was the fact that there’s an in-flight entertainment system, kids that have had just enough sleep to boost them and desperately tired parents (and kids, even if they won’t admit to it). The first flight was about 4 hours in duration and despite threats, bribes and every other trick in my arsenal, Emily simply would not sleep. Knowing that at the end of the flight we’d only have 3 or so hours in the Toronto airport before another 3 or so hour flight down to Miami and that at the end of that flight, I had a 4 hour drive to look forward to, I wasn’t really coping very well.
Emily spent almost the entire flight awake, of course only really nodding off at the end so that I had to practically carry her sleep-walking style, up the aerobridge and into the terminal.
By the time that we’d collected our luggage prior to customs, Emily was of course falling asleep every 3 steps and any time we paused, she’d simply drop where she stood and attempt to sleep.
For the second flight, she sat next to Caroline and I managed to get enough sleep to survive the drive to Orlando without incident. Finally we were at our hotel.
Now if only that were the end of the bone wearying itinerary, it would have been ok. As we’d left Miami for Orlando, we’d stopped to do some shopping, picking up some blankets, chairs and food because a mere hour or so after we arrived in Orlando, we were due to be picked up and taken to the Kennedy Space Centre.
Yes, there was a shuttle launch scheduled and we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We made it to the space centre and arrived to the strains of our guide Milton telling us that not only was this the last ever scheduled night launch for the shuttle, but that he’d never seen so many people ever show up for a launch. It was packed. As a consequence, by the time we managed to get in the gate and take a quick turn at the launch simulator, it was basically time to line up to get back on the bus to go to the causeway where we’d be watching from. After carrying the chairs and blankets around all night, it was good to get some respite, when we finally made it onto the bus, about an hour after we had originally been scheduled to. We’d started the evening with something like an 80% chance of launch, but by the time that we were on the bus, it was down to about 60%.
Out at the causeway, we managed to snag our own piece of real estate, one row back from the rope and with a view of the little speck of illumination that was the shuttle on the launch pad.
(Click on the pic to Enlarge)
We snuggled up as warm as we could manage, the wind working hard to chill us to the bone (because we came to Florida for the sun of course) and us with an eye to the sky as the early morning started quite clear, but gradually clouded over.
Clouds would drift in and drift out, but the chance of launch was being continually cut. When it was down to 30%, I still had a confident feeling that things would work out for us. The clock continued to count down, we continued to freeze. We made it all the way down to the T-9 minute hold without any mechanical incident to halt proceedings and sat with our fingers crossed.
We took a few pictures, feeling somewhat camera-inadequate as we stood amongst thousands upon thousands of enthusiasts with camera equipment worth the price of a small third world nation and between the distance, lack of a tripod and the limitations of our camera, did the best that we could:
(Click on the pic to Enlarge)
And then came the words we’d feared. The launch had been scrubbed. The cloud cover was too low and quite simply, the shuttle wasn’t going to fly. So at 4:30am after travelling since 12:40am the previous day, we packed our weary kids and bodies back into the bus, faced with the question … if it was only delayed 24 hours, would we stuff our hands back in our pockets and drag ourselves out there again?
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Keg with Bob and Nancy and the girls and then went home with the kids’ excitement levels being tweaked up a notch with the reducing time until our scheduled departure. We cleaned house, booked a taxi and tried to get four children to go to sleep. Emily simply wouldn’t. Thomas was trooper and the first one to the land of sleepy bo-bos and even Michael and Sam went to sleep. But Emily was a right little bugger and only fell asleep about an hour before we intended to leave for the airport.
At the scheduled time we peered out the front window waiting for the taxi, but 10 minutes after it was due to arrive, there was no sign of it. Caroline called the taxi company and they said that they’d send another one as quickly as they could.
I started waking the kids up, which was an effort and a half. Talk about out to the world. You seriously have to wonder about the effectiveness of a smoke alarm with kids when you’re in their room all but yelling over the alarm that’s going off and still not being very successful. Sam has taken to sleeping with one quilt under him and another over the top and as I woke him up, he started pulling the top one back over the top of him. I dragged it off him, only to have him sleepily start to drag the ‘under-quit’ up over him instead. I had to drag that off him as well and it wasn’t really until I started to bodily pull him from the actual bed that I started to get any sort of responsiveness that one could relate to being awake.
A short time later, with still no sign of any taxis I started to stuff our luggage into our car. The taxi showed up as I was working on bag #3 and so we quickly transferred it, stress levels rising as we attempted to get everything we’d packed, plus the 6 of us into the minivan cab. We made it without anyone losing any limbs and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight.
Of course the next issue was the fact that there’s an in-flight entertainment system, kids that have had just enough sleep to boost them and desperately tired parents (and kids, even if they won’t admit to it). The first flight was about 4 hours in duration and despite threats, bribes and every other trick in my arsenal, Emily simply would not sleep. Knowing that at the end of the flight we’d only have 3 or so hours in the Toronto airport before another 3 or so hour flight down to Miami and that at the end of that flight, I had a 4 hour drive to look forward to, I wasn’t really coping very well.
Emily spent almost the entire flight awake, of course only really nodding off at the end so that I had to practically carry her sleep-walking style, up the aerobridge and into the terminal.
By the time that we’d collected our luggage prior to customs, Emily was of course falling asleep every 3 steps and any time we paused, she’d simply drop where she stood and attempt to sleep.
For the second flight, she sat next to Caroline and I managed to get enough sleep to survive the drive to Orlando without incident. Finally we were at our hotel.
Now if only that were the end of the bone wearying itinerary, it would have been ok. As we’d left Miami for Orlando, we’d stopped to do some shopping, picking up some blankets, chairs and food because a mere hour or so after we arrived in Orlando, we were due to be picked up and taken to the Kennedy Space Centre.
Yes, there was a shuttle launch scheduled and we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We made it to the space centre and arrived to the strains of our guide Milton telling us that not only was this the last ever scheduled night launch for the shuttle, but that he’d never seen so many people ever show up for a launch. It was packed. As a consequence, by the time we managed to get in the gate and take a quick turn at the launch simulator, it was basically time to line up to get back on the bus to go to the causeway where we’d be watching from. After carrying the chairs and blankets around all night, it was good to get some respite, when we finally made it onto the bus, about an hour after we had originally been scheduled to. We’d started the evening with something like an 80% chance of launch, but by the time that we were on the bus, it was down to about 60%.
Out at the causeway, we managed to snag our own piece of real estate, one row back from the rope and with a view of the little speck of illumination that was the shuttle on the launch pad.
(Click on the pic to Enlarge)
We snuggled up as warm as we could manage, the wind working hard to chill us to the bone (because we came to Florida for the sun of course) and us with an eye to the sky as the early morning started quite clear, but gradually clouded over.
Clouds would drift in and drift out, but the chance of launch was being continually cut. When it was down to 30%, I still had a confident feeling that things would work out for us. The clock continued to count down, we continued to freeze. We made it all the way down to the T-9 minute hold without any mechanical incident to halt proceedings and sat with our fingers crossed.
We took a few pictures, feeling somewhat camera-inadequate as we stood amongst thousands upon thousands of enthusiasts with camera equipment worth the price of a small third world nation and between the distance, lack of a tripod and the limitations of our camera, did the best that we could:
(Click on the pic to Enlarge)
And then came the words we’d feared. The launch had been scrubbed. The cloud cover was too low and quite simply, the shuttle wasn’t going to fly. So at 4:30am after travelling since 12:40am the previous day, we packed our weary kids and bodies back into the bus, faced with the question … if it was only delayed 24 hours, would we stuff our hands back in our pockets and drag ourselves out there again?
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