10 things on a Monday

These "update" posts and 10 things posts are about the only thing I can manage right now with the blog! Things are a bit crazy in our life these days, but I really want to document some of what we've been up to the past couple weeks! Here goes...

1. Deere Days were June 24! Chris and his crew worked hard to make this event awesome! They brought in tons of equipment for people to see, had activities for kids, the most amazing balloon artist, reptiles, a bluegrass band, bbq lunch and more! It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time. They combined it with Canada 150 which was a great idea and made it very festive!

2. After Deere Days we were supposed to go to a soccer appreciation party for the coaches in the community. We were all pretty tired after Deere days, but we knew we had to go to the party to say goodbye to our very good friend Sandra and her boys before they left for holidays. We walked up to the building and opened the door to find out it wasn't a soccer party, but instead a surprise going away party for us! It was amazing and I'm honestly still shocked a few weeks later. My friends Jamie, Laura and Sandra put on quite a party...complete with a photographer, catered meal, beer pong, and lots of dancing. It was such an awesome night that we will never forget. The people here have meant so much to us. It took me a few months when we moved to jump in, but I'm so glad I did. I now have lifelong friendships here in Edmonton.

3. School got out June 29! With school starting in Dubuque August 22, this will officially be the shortest summer ever for my kids! What a sad day to say goodbye to our GPN (George P. Nicholson) school friends that were really more like family! This school is amazing...so welcoming for parents, such great teachers and administrators, more field trips than you can imagine, extracurricular activities galore, etc. etc. I could go on and on. It was so nice having all of the kids in the same building this year! next year they will all be together again, but that will be it! We were blessed with some amazing teachers again this year. We will certainly miss this school so much!

4. One of the things on our list to do here in Edmonton was going to an Edmonton Eskimos game! Luckily, there was one game before we left so we went with our friends and had a wonderful time! I'm so glad we snuck this in. Other than the 1 hour train ride home, it was the best time! Even got to see some fireworks after the game!

5. We celebrated our 4th Canada Day here! We had a low key day just hanging out at home and then went to some neighbors for a BBQ that night. The kids have changed so much since we moved here. We will always celebrate July 1st!

6. Maxwell got his braces off on July 5th! He started this whole Ortho journey in September of 2014. He was so excited to get everything out and eat whatever he wanted. He looks so much older now. You can see the before and after photos below...his mouth changed so much. They pulled his bottom jaw forward and then expanded the top to make room for all of his teeth. Money well spent...

7. Our church goes to family camp every summer at Alberta Beach. The kids and I drove out there a couple days last week to spend some time with our friends! It was super fun for them and hopefully family camp is something we can do in the coming years.

8. The goodbyes have started and are so so hard! Last night we had our amazing babysitter Morgan and her fiance over for dinner. She's going away this week so we had to say goodbye last night. We are so thankful for her! Chris and I never would have gotten a date night without her! And we love her dog Pippin...she may be the dog that turns out family into small dog lovers!

9. Our friends Laura, Megan and Ty invited us out to Gull lake last Friday! It is a lake about an hour from here and we had the best time. Wish I would have known about it before last week. Great beach, shallow, warm lake, a park, and ice cream! We got a lot of sun and were exhausted but it was totally worth it.

10. Last, but not least...we bought a house in Dubuque! It was not an easy task, but we are thrilled with what we found. We have decided it's harder to move back to somewhere you've already lived. Now I'm picky whereas when I move to a new place, I just find a house and deal with everything else later! The kids will get to go to the same school they went to for kindergarten (Mya) and kindergarten/1st grade (Max) The house is in Asbury...out toward Sundown ski hill. We don't close until August 14th so we have awhile until we are settled, but we are glad we found a place to live!

What's up with us!

Time for a little update on everyone in the Hoden clan.

Chris: He is finishing up his job here in Edmonton and looking forward to his new job in Dubuque/Davenport. He is going to be working with the forestry division at both the Dubuque Works factory and Davenport Works. Each facility makes two pieces of equipment so he will be busy! He will be traveling to Davenport a couple of days a week (at least at first...may be only one day after he gets settled in). He is super busy with the transition and making sure everything is in order for his replacement here. He is coaching Max's soccer team right now too and enjoying it...even the crazy parents who complain about their kid's playing time! He is checking realtor.com about 25 times a day and dealing with lots of crazy relocation issues that keep coming up.

Beth:  I am trying to fit lots into my last month here in Edmonton...I won't be living by a lululemon, crate and barrel, anthropologie and pretty much every other awesome store... so I need to get my fill now!! Target should fill the void for a bit:) I'm having lots of coffee dates, park dates, wine dates and any other kind of date I can fit in! Chris and I are playing on a slo-pitch softball team on Sundays and we are loving it. I hope to start a team similar to this in Dubuque. I also just finished up a 10k running clinic. I don't enjoy running any more than I did before, but I feel good that I can run a 10k! I'm looking forward to lots of field trips and end of the year activities for the kids in the next two weeks. I'm also looking forward to not packing lunches every morning! We get out of school the 29th.  I am also checking realtor.com several times a day:)

Maxwell: He's a busy guy these days. Playing soccer twice a week. He has improved so much and is a vital member of their team. He scored in the last three games and we're hoping he can keep going! He went to a 2 night church camp last weekend. He loved it...full of fun and games with a little church mixed in. He also just finished up chess club at school and ended up 3rd place in the school!  He is consistently beating Chris. We are hoping to find someone in Dubuque who can challenge him! Chess is a wonderful lifelong game...one that teaches you to anticipate, plan and solve problems...all things he will need in the future. His braces and all of the metal in his mouth come out July 5th. He can hardly wait!

Mya: She is finishing up with gymnastics here. She had a wonderful year in level 3. Learned a ton of new skills and is super strong. (video here)She's playing soccer and doing well. Last game two random people came up to me and one called her a machine and the other a beast so that should tell you how she plays the game! (soccer video here) She's trying to fit in as much Aiva (her best friend here) time as possible. She will miss her so much and we hope we can keep in touch.

Ivy: Ivers is finishing up her Canada kindergarten year. She is now reading! It's so exciting...even the 3rd time around I find it fascinating. Hopefully her USA kindergarten teacher is okay with the fact that she is coming in knowing how to read and write. She's using big words like "excluded" and "appreciate" lately and I just shake my head every time and wonder where my baby went! All of her friends here are going into 1st grade so that has been a tough one to explain. She is also playing soccer and other than the one game where she somehow scored 3 goals..she is mostly just there for the social aspect:) I am really trying to enjoy my afternoons with her...my last time having her at home with me! It has been 4 years of just her and me for a portion of the day during the school year. She's totally ready to be at school all day, but I'm going to miss her!

Visitors

As our time here in Edmonton comes to a close (yes, I realize I haven't written anything about that. I will! Just not quite ready) I was thinking back to what made this such an awesome experience. The number of people who came here to visit us blew our expectations out of the water. I was thinking back and wanted to write it down because it was so amazing. This is mostly just for me to have all written in one place...sorry if it's a bit long to read through it!

April 2014: Chris was living here alone and his brother Jeff flew up to go skiing for a few days in the mountains for Chris's birthday. Little did we know...this would be an annual event for the next 3 years!! Jeff came back April 2015, 2016 and March 2017 to see us and go skiing. Pretty sure he won't know what to do next April!

June 2014: David drove with Chris and Chloe up to Edmonton. They got the house ready to go before the big truck came in with all of our stuff. The kids and I flew up here to live on June 6th and since Chris was already here, my mom came with me! Ivy was pretty little and I wasn't sure I could handle three kiddos on my own. It ended up working out great...we got a bump which meant she had enough delta money to come back 1 1/2 more times without paying! It also worked out great in that she helped me get this house in order and when she left a week later, it pretty much was! I remember being extremely homesick once she left.





September 2014:  My parents, my sister Tara and niece Quinn came in September 2014. Tara was en route back to Japan and was able to knock a few hours off the long flight if she left from here so she did! I'll always be so grateful that she came. I've said no to visiting friends/family other places because it seemed like it was too much work. Then I looked at what she did...traveled with a 3 month old by herself from Edmonton to Calgary to Tokyo to Okinawa. No excuses...just make it happen.


April 2015: My friend from Dubuque (currently Chicago) came with her two kiddos Maeli and Weston! I hadn't seen anybody from home since Christmas so I was super super happy to see her! This trip was not an easy one for her and I will always be grateful that she came. Her original date to come was March 12, but her mother in law unfortunately died on March 11 so she had to cancel the trip and rebook. She was told by teh airlines that if she presented the death certificate, she could get the cancellation fee waived. She sent in all the paperwork and never saw any money. So that trip cost them a pretty penny! We had a wonderful time...even had a night out by ourselves and I took my first uber:) My parents came at the end of the month and we took them to Banff for the weekend. It was still pretty cold there, but we had a nice time!




June 2015: We had lots of visitors this month! First up was my brother and his family! The kiddos were thrilled to see their cousins. We had a great mix of time in Edmonton and time in the mountains. We watched a lot of NBA finals action and spent lots of time out on our deck after the kids went to sleep. Second to come in June was Rachel. We headed to the mountains for a couple days by ourselves and although it was freeeeezing, we had a wonderful time! We took in a World Cup game as well which was awesome. At the end of this month my friend Marie and her son William (Max's first buddy in Dubuque) came to see us! We celebrated Canada Day, spent a day in Drumheller, 2 days in the mountains, drove the Ice Field Parkway and took in a World Cup game as well!






October 2015: My mom and dad came to take care of the kids while Chris attended his 15 year Luther reunion and I went to Portland to go on some wine tours with my college friends!


March 2016: The Arling family from Dubuque came and we went skiing and dog sledding in the mountains. Unbelievable experiences!


April 2016: My mom came for a visit...we did some Edmonton site seeing and also went to Olds, Alberta for a gymnastics competition for Mya. She won 4 golds and the all around gold so she was good luck!



July 2016: Chris's parents came to celebrate Canada Day with us! We toured the legislature, drove around Edmonton, watched fireworks, and spent lots of time on the driveway watching the kids play! We had wonderful weather that week.



August 2016: My dad drove us back to Edmonton from Decorah and then stayed a few days! He played with the kids while I put our life back in order after being away for 3 weeks!



October 2016: My sister in law Amanda nad her mom Linda came up for a few days and we headed straight to Banff! We had a great time and got to stay at the Banff Springs Hotel which was amazing. We hiked Sulpher mountain, they hiked in Lake Louise while I sipped wine at the Chateau Lake Louise hotel:)

  

November 2016: my parents came up and we celebrated US Thanksgiving with them! They also got to see Max and Mya in the church musical and Max play hockey. We hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving in November for awhile so it was nice! We also fit in the turkey trot while they were here:) For some reason I can't find any pictures from that trip!


March 2017: The Arlings from Dubuque had such a great time in 2016 that they decided to come back again!! We headed back to the mountains for more skiing, skating and all around winter fun. Later in the month, Chris's parents came for spring break. We went to Lake Louise skiing and had a wonderful time! David hadn't skied in a number of years so it was great to get him back on the skis...it was like riding a bike for him!

Anybody next?!?! We still have 7 or 8 weeks left! Plenty of time to get one more trip in to the mountains!:)

Running Club and Oiler Mania!

One of the things Max loves most about school is the running club. In the fall they do outdoor running club and have three races throughout the city. His class had a lot of success with this and they finished top 5 in the city for 4th grade boys. This winter they did an indoor running club. All of the events (except field events) were relays so they got to learn how to pass the baton also. The first race was the Running Room race. Apparently these used to be called the "Journal games" put on by the Edmonton journal and all of my friends who are originally from Edmonton remember running in them! Max was on the "B" squad and his team qualified for the quarterfinals! Our school also qualified the "A" team and the girls "A" team. It was super exciting to get 3 teams to the next round.

The quarterfinals were a few weeks later and Max's team did not qualify for the semis, but their boys "A" team won over the entire city! It was so exciting to be a part of that for Max. They all wore their running jerseys to school on Monday to celebrate.

The last race of the season was the Klondike Relays. It was super fun because Mya got to be involved too. They were short a couple kids so they asked some 3rd graders who had siblings involved if they wanted a chance to run. Mya only got to do one race, but she had a blast. It was the mixed shuttle relay. They practiced together the weekend before:)

 Max ran in 3 races and did the long jump. His buddies and him got first in the city in the 4X200 meter relay!! He also got 10th in the mixed medley and 4th in the shuttle relay. They combined everyone's score on the long jump and our school ended up 2nd in the long jump! Another super successful track meet!

To see the 4X200 click here. The first runner for our team is Robbie. He's in a white jersey and hands off to Max. Max's mixed shuttle relax is here. You'll see his teammate Alera (in white) first, she hands off to Max.

Also we have caught the Oilers bug around here. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and for a city who bleeds blue and orange, this is a huge huge deal. In the weeks leading up to the playoffs there were shirts for sale that read "pray for playoffs". Kids at Max's youth group were requesting prayer that they make the playoffs too! In fact, it has spiked a huge jump in the economy here with jersey sales, tickets, restaurant sales, etc. Pretty exciting to be a part of it. The kids' school has Oilers days on home games so everyone has to wear orange and blue. The kids and I are hooked...Chris is still a Minnesota Wild fan:)


 Below...Oilers colors for his braces! And side note...this is his last run with all of his appliances! Found out Tuesday everything will come out on July 5th. Phew!! 

Since these games are on so late at night, the kids have been going to bed before the end. This is a note Chris left for the kids after game 1. The kids went to bed when the Oilers were up 2-0 so he knew they would be so disappointed when they found out they lost in the morning! Thankfully, they ended up winning the series and game 1 didn't make a difference! 

Catching up! Max's birthday in Jasper

The kids had March 2nd and 3rd off so we took off to Jasper for the weekend! We stayed at one of my favorite places on Earth..the Jasper Park Lodge. It's actually really hard to leave once you get there...they know how to do winter! We haven't been there in the summer (they double an already expensive price) but we love it there in the winter. We drove through a snow storm, checked in, had some free appetizers (our room wasn't ready) and then headed to our room! They had birthday cupcakes for Max in the room waiting for us when we got there. We started a fire, kids went out to play in the snow and we ordered pizza! After the pizza we headed over to the outdoor pool and hot tub. No pictures this year of snow angels..it was snowing and I didn't want to wreck my phone. We had a great time!



The next morning we got up bright and early and made our way to Marmot Basin ski resort. Normally it takes 20 minutes or so to get there but it took over an hour this time. Apparently they got so much snow the plow got stuck! It was my first time skiing in this much powder. I loved it, but it was so hard on my legs! I was taking tons of breaks and felt like a wimp! Ivy had a tough morning, but rallied and ended up having a great day and ended up improving a ton on her speed and fearlessness.



Sunday we woke up to -24 degrees C (-10F) so we went into town for breakfast and then decided to brave the cold and go skating on the lake at the hotel. It didn't feel as cold as it was when we were out skating. The kids and Chris played a little hockey, we raced around the track, and had a great time. After skating, we packed up and drove home. It was such a great weekend!