The Christmas Home Tour

Here's six minute clip of our home.

American Thanksgiving

The Plosz' had us over for a nice Thanksgiving dinner and some games. Does anyone know what a fartlek is?

Flash Slideshow

Martha loves her present

That's what friends are for

Allan hangs a new light fixture in our bathroom. One of the benefits of a small group. This light fixture features a 25 watt bulb which adds as much light to the room as a birthday candle. I've long ago lost trying to figure out women.

Milestones

The kids reached a few milestones over the past month. Sam passed his 6 six conservatory exam which he practiced for all summer. He also got his driver's license this month.

Martha passed her swimming lessons.



The furry of fall activities has begun. Sam is involved in volleyball and piano lessons, Shea is in the school musical, taking voice and viola lessons and Martha is in another swimming class, taking piano lessons and just joined basketball.

Looks like a busy fall.

My flickr map

Flickr recently added geotagging to their service. Everyone can now add location information to their photos.


See mine.

My grapes

No, not those kind. Picked these on Saturday.

The vacation winds down

As the vacation winds down, we're now in Billings, Montana to spend the weekend. Our time in Cody, Wyoming was very fun as we went whitewater rafting and some went to the rodeo. Today the drive through the Beartooth highway certainly was an amazing drive. The kids were quite thrilled to throw a snowball in August and enjoy more breathtaking views.

After a couple of days of shopping, we'll be ready to head home. Shea may have an extended stay with Lebere's as they plan to spend the week in Red Lodge, Montana.

You may be wondering about the jumping photos. I'm implementing this tip and so far it think it's working.

Mountain Fun

Wednesday was a fantastic day. We spent much of the morning on Lone Peak Mountain, hiking and simply enjoying a wonderful view from nearly 10,000 feet. We left Big Sky and headed for Cody, Wyoming. Along the way we spent time in Yellowstone enjoying some of the most spectacular views of God's creation. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone lake, bison everywhere and the incredible drive between Yellowstone and Cody.

Here's a video clip of our morning on Lone Peak. It's just video from my digital camera so quality is lacking. The DVD of the entire trip will be available later....for those interested and you know who you are!




As usual, all photos are housed on flickr.

Fun in Yellowstone

Holiday fun continued today as we spent it in Yellowstone. Monday we had a nice morning but rain put an end to most of our plans. Today's nice weather allowed us to get in a full day. Highlights over the past couple of days include:

• Sam and Tegan earning $50 for stripping down to their underwear and swimming to the Ousell Falls in near freezing water
• Having the hotel guy tell us the coffee shop isn't open at 3pm.
• Old Faithful
• Swimming and riding the currents in the Firehole River
  
• Martha and Emmy in the bear cage

More pictures on flickr.

Montana Fun...the beginning

Our holiday is starting off very well. Highlights include:

• A stop in Miles City
  
• Paula breaking stuff in a store
• Me dominating in a go-kart race
• Some sweet deals in the mail
• Sam ordering an expensive meal he couldn't finish
• Emmy's crush on the waiter at the Olive Garden
  
• Penny freaking out as she thought she lost Emmy
• Tegan searching for wireless hotspots
• A mountain walk

Martha is also blogging her version
Pictures on Flickr

Penny gives Meredith the Pink bike

Penny gives Meredith the Pink bike
Originally uploaded by shareski.

One last parting gift and Kurt and Meredith prepare to head for T.O. on Wednesday. Like my editing on the photo?

They're married

The happy couple wed on Friday and things went splendidly. You can either look at the individual photos or view the slideshow.

I will have more added as I get them....keep checking.

The Rehearsal Supper

Here's 4 minutes of unedited footage from the rehearsal supper and a few seconds from the rehearsal...today's the big day!

A Day at the Beach

We enjoyed a nice day at Buchanan's cabin and Kedleston beach.
Enjoy.

Kurt's tool bath

Kurt's tool bath
Originally uploaded by shareski.

I've never been to one of these "tool baths". Kurt received a great deal of wisdom from a variety of perspectives. He also officially owns more tools than me.

Also, I was the laughing stock as most brought their gifts in the bag from the store they were purchased. Paula placed mine in a fancy gift bag with tissue. Not good for a tool bath.

Pre-martial stress

Times Herald
Originally uploaded by shareski.

Think Meredith is stressed about her upcoming nuptials? Not likely.

Canada Day 2006

Canada Day 2006
Originally uploaded by shareski.

Great Day. You can see more details at Paula's website.

Cairn for Paula's grandmother

Yesterday in Moose Jaw a cairn was unveiled commerating the the 1954 air disaster where Paula's grandmother was killed.

Here's the local newspaper article.


Here's a virtual museum tour.

Meredith's Shower

Meredith succesfully passed her first duty as bride.


See all the photos here.

This is cool!

Martha types
Originally uploaded by shareski.

Finding an old typewriter gives Martha a few hours of amusement.

I'm done

Today I convocated from the U of S with my Masters. Altogether I've been taking post secondary education for 10 years. That's enough.

A gift for mom

Here's a video I did for church for our Mother's Day service.

This will save me a lot of money this summer

Skyper!
Originally uploaded by Kurt and Meredith.

Here's how Meredith and Kurt stay in touch. Free and better than voice only.

Meredith's recordings

Meredith spent a great deal of time over the past months recording a couple of songs she wrote. She is applying for a music grant through factor.ca. She's not counting on getting the grant but had a great experience in the recording studio, both recording and singing backup for a few other CD's.

Have a listen.

Hooked on You

Just Like Me

She'll soon be launching her new website meredithjordan.ca...as soon as her "webmaster" has some time.

Home from TO

We had a great time in Toronto. My workshop went well and now life is back to normal. All the photos are here:

Here's a short video I created to illustrate some fancy editing when you don't have good footage. The first part is the edited or recreated version, the second part is what was actually shot. You'll see what I mean.

Toronto Fun

We're having a great time in Toronto. Eating, shopping, golfing and visiting. I've been able to take in a couple of sporting events as well. Monday we got $200 tickets to see the Raptors. We only stayed for the first half and then Don and Reni took us out for supper. Tuesday I took Kurt and Meredith to the ball game while Paula and Reni did more shopping. Paula comes home tomorrow, I'll be home Sunday. All the photos are here.

Off in different directions

It has been a wild few weeks at the Shareski household. After returning from Florida, I'm sitting in the airport in Winnipeg awaiting my connecting flight to Toronto. Paula is already in the air on another flight and I'll meet her there in a few hours. Why are we flying separately? Well contrary to Paula's belief that couples should always fly separately in case of a crash (kids would still have one parent), it's because I doing a workshop next weekend at Don's church and she originally didn't want to leave the kids. As it turned out Shea and Martha went with her Mom and Dad to Cold Lake to visit Paula's sister Chantal. So she decided to come but we couldn't get on the same flight.

Sam and Rudy are at home. Sam will likely occupy his time play his new Xbox. Rudy will pester him for some activity. Hopefully Rudy will win sometimes.

Looking forward to seeing Meredith, playing some golf, visiting with Don and Reni and teaching.

Martha is Podcasting

Martha asked about recording audio for her blog so that means set up a podcast.
She's looking for comments so listen to her 4 minute recording and leave a comment. She'll be thrilled.

Check it out.

Great weekend in Florida

It's been a great few days here in sunny Florida. Weather has been quite hot. I don't mean to rub it in because I know the weather in Moose Jaw has been lousy...them's the breaks.

Getting ready to go to the conference. The city has free wireless so we've been coming down in the evenings to stay on top of emails and stuff.

Martha's Blog

Martha has decided to enter the world of weblogging to showcase her stories.



Check it out.

Steve Bell Concert

Our small group went into Regina Saturday to the Steve Bell concert. He was introducing his new album, Dinner with Bruce which is a tribute to Bruce Cockburn. Excellent concert.



Update:
Here's a 12 second video taken with my digital camera.

Trip to the Science Centre

We took the kids to the Science Centre in Regina on Wednesday. Here's a video of the day.
More photos can be found on our flickr site.

Paula's ball

Paula's ball
Originally uploaded by shareski.

This is actually ball number 3. The first two were punctured by various methods. I'm saying this is the last one. Watching someone bounce up and down on a ball while you're trying to watch television is very annoying. I've been told to get over it.

Point Counterpoint

Point Counterpoint
Originally uploaded by shareski.

I just received 5 free copies of the magazine with my published article. The online version has been up for a month but it was kind of cool to get the hard copy.

Martha's magnets

Martha's magnets
Originally uploaded by shareski.

Martha's school had a science/learning fair this week. Martha's class studied Magnets.

Ergomates

Ergomates, for those of you who don't know is a product invented by a friend of mine and now is a company run by a few of my friends. Today, this article was posted in a business magazine.

Dad hits 100!

My Dad just emailed me to tell me he hit 100 geocaches. It's been just over a year since he started so I'd say he's doing quite well. He's going to work hard on his second 100 while in Lakeland.


He also has his sites set on 74. That's the golf score he hopes to shoot this year to match his age.

Paula's new smile

Paula has always hated getting her picture taken. Lately she has developed a new strategy using what I call her "fake smile". She's been getting several compliments and I on the other hand have had a few "disses". This comment from my sister after viewing this picture.

"It looks like Paula and her dad".

So I too have to work on my smile. Here's my attempt to compete.

Martha Skates

Martha was very excited to go skating and use her newly painted skates. Here's a clip of her efforts.






More photos here.

Mere's grade 1 journal singer entry

Mere's grade 1 journal singer entry
Originally uploaded by shareski.

Sometimes those early dreams come true.