Merry Christmas!!!

Hey there!

Merry Christmas to all!

Today was a good day. A very good day. After getting up in the morning and doing the present thing, we just sat around and enjoyed playing wih all our new toys. Meg, Nathan and I all got MP3 players, so we've been playing with them all day. Very cool stuff. The extended family came over later this afternoon and we enjoyed (thoroughly) the turkey dinner. It's been too long since I've had one of those. Yum!

And both Meg and I were very spoiled in the way of getting presents, one of which was two tickets to the hockey game on New years Eve from my friend. (Nathan, it's no Boxing Day test, but it'll have to do)
This isn't just any game, it's an epic battle between the two teams of Alberta, the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. I am a diehard Oilers fan, which leaves me as the hated minority at a game like this, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Meg, on the other hand, enjoys stirring me up and is a Flames fan and even has jersey that she'll be wearing loud and proud on game night. Go Oilers!

Well, tomorrow morning, we leave for Toronto, so it might be a week before another post is made to this blog. Grandma and Gramps don't yet have a computer (Shock and awe!) and so no internet until we get back on Dec. 31st...but to keep all of you coming back for more, I'm going to post a gallery of pictures of all the cool stuff we see over there, like downtown Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Well, I need to finish packing, so you'll hear from us soon.

Merry Christmas again to all of you

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Hello everyone looking at this from around the world.

And a Merry Christmas Eve for those of you whom it is already tomorrow.

Today was the fourth day above 0 degrees so we made the most of it and went out for a skate...and when you go out fro a skate in Canada, it means, bring your stick and puck for a hockey game at any rink you can find. It feels good to drive down the road and see games of hockey being played in every rink we drive by. And it doesn't matter who is there, as long as they're on skates and have their own stick, that qulaifies them for almost every hockey game.

I was a bit rusty on the ice and didn't do so well, but I managed a couple goals none-the-less. Because it's a balmy 12 degrees today, no jackets were needed for the game today.

Last night was a historic event. All the Dyck family was together for a night of hot wings, pizza and general fun. It might not happen again for quite a while so we all got together and just had some fun playing games, did our gift exchange and lots (LOTS) of pictures were taken. As you can see, that picture is of all the cousins and spouses/significant others. What a crazy bunch. And if you think you've had some crazy times? Try playing board games with my brother and cousins Kyle and Justin. Our motto is, "it's not a game unless someone's feelings get hurt." Oh, the yelling and the fighting...it's legendary for Dyck board games...it's just our style. Speaking of which, it's just about time for another soon.

We'll be posting a special Christmas day blog soon.

Merry Christmas to all you guys. Keep posted!

Kodak Moment!

Today was one of those days that everyone from Australia would be jealous of...we did a day trip to the mountains.

Since they are only an hour away, we thought we'd make the most of a lazy Sunday and head out to Banff. And we couldnt have picked a more perfect day. Although it was bitterly cold...hovering around -20 in the morning, and "warming" up to around -12 later on in the day, the cold weather helped keep the sky perfectly clear and blue. "Big Sky" Country, that's what they call Alberta...and for good reaosn too. As you can see by some of the pictures, it was an awesome day for pictures. These are of course, only samples of some of the great scenery we got pictures of.

So, we did some shopping, checked out the candy shop, the fudge factory...and nothing feels better after a hard day shopping than a dip in the pool. That's right...a dip in the pool...the hot spring 40 degree heated pool. It feels weird to bundle up for a chilly day and then the get into your bathers and get into the pool. But after a few minutes in there, you already feel like sitting on the ledge and cooling off.

All in all it was very good day. It's funny because for many years this as my backyard but now I realize that I took it for granted because I could go there any time...

Another week until Christmas and we've got my cousins (Justin, from my wedding) coming from Kelowna this week. Should be pretty fun to hang out with all of them and play games.

We're looking forward to hearing from all of you again soon.

A pathetic attempt to snow...

I arose this morning to a chilly -14 and light snow, much to my delight. It's been snowing on and off all day today but it's a very light pathetic attempt of snow. It wont last long at all because the weather is suppose to get to +5 by Monday. Apparently there's snow coming next week but we'll just have to wait and see.

On Boxing Day the whole family is flying over to Toronto, Ontario to spend 6 days with Jeremy's mom's side of the family. I cant wait because last night they were expecting 30cms of snow overnight so there will hopefully be heaps of snow there still. We also have a few trips planned to downtown Toronto as well as Niagara Falls which I'm really looking forward to.

It's Nate's 21st birthday tomorrow so tonight we're having a family dinner along with Sheena and a couple of Nate's friends. I've been talking up his birthday telling Nate that we need to have a huge 21st party Australian style but for some unknown reason he's not so keen! 21st birthdays are just like any other here, not big at all.

Sunday we're planning a trip to Banff with Jer's mom and dad which will be great. There's an amazing candy shop at Banff so we cant wait to visit. We'll also be making a stop at the hot springs while we're there, so we'll be sure to post lots of photos when we get back.

Our family here is into board games big time. Actually, most families in here are and I reckon it has something to do with the rediculious cold weather out. Today we played Power Barons some game I'd never played before but I might add that I happened to WIN the game! There's a real competitive spirit in this household when it comes to playing board games so nobody appreciates losing at all! You know me, I like to stir things up a little so it makes it even better when I talk about my win for the next hour or so! hehe...

Anyways I'm off to watch the battle of the brothers in foosball. Hope it's not too hot back home!

Love Meg

A little bit chilly

Hi everyone,

It's been a week today since we've arrived and we reckon time has gone pretty fast. I'm still praying for snow, so those of you who would like to join in prayer with me...please pray for snow on christmas day! The long weather forcast shows snow on christmas day but anything can happen with Calgary weather.

Today Jeremy, Nate (Jer's brother) & I ventured downtown to look around. Just a chance to do some shopping and walk around downtown Calgary. It wasn't too bad. For those of you familiar with Calgary, you'll know that even though it's -15 outside, you can still go from building to building and never take a step outside. They have these walkways over the streets called the Plus 15's...called so because they are 15 feet above the ground. You can go from one side of downtown to the other and never have to worry about going outside!

After we arrived back from being downtown Jeremy & I went for a walk down to Fish Creek Park which is just down the road. It's a massive park that stretches kilometres and kilometres through the SouthWest of Calgary. Sometimes bears & cougars find their way into fish creek park by following the river down from the mountains. We didnt even see a squirrel today much to my dismay! They look so cute and everyone here always gets me to say "squirrel" because apparently i dont say it the right way...whatever...Canadians are the ones with the accent!

Before going outdoors today we both rugged up for our adventure into the park seeing as it was about -10. In the summer here they had a mass flooding so today when we talked through the park so much of it had changed from when we last saw it. The river had moved in parts, so many trees down and debris everywhere. Looks really different. We get to walk across the river today seeing as it was frozen all the way over in some parts. I asked Jeremy to step out first just to make sure it was frozen all the way...hehe! There's a picture here of me, I was so cold and by the time we got back my legs were seriously numb, very cold.

To all those at Victory Church involved with the Christmas Production, hope tonight is a blast and all goes well. Really wish I was there watching it. Make sure you tape it so we can watch it when we get back!

We'll leave you with these pics. write again soon.

Love Meg & Jer

Just to keep people happy

Now that Im getting up each day at like 8:30 (I'm not a sleep in guy) and having no plans whatsoever except how many games of Settlers we play, or Monopoly, or Rage...those of you familiar with me or my family know very well how much we love games...anyways where am I going with this? Now that I have all this time, I suppose I have no excuse for not updating this blog all the time. We've heard from a few of our Australian family and friends who've reading this blog, which has been great. We do consider Australia our home, but truthfully, we're not ready to go home just yet.

Today, we had the opportunity to go out to lunch with Mel, a good friend of mine. It was good to catch up with him and some of you know about mel from what I said in my sermon. I'm glad he and I are still friends because he's such a cool guy. Meg got to meet him for the first time too...and she thinks he's pretty cool too.

Weather wise...it's not too bad here. Only -2 today although they are threatening us with a -19 in the morning and a HIGH of -10 later on this week. The cold weather cometh...but no snow on the horizon...believe it or not. Meg is NOT happy about that.

Meg and I are going to venture into Fish Creek Park tomorrow so expect plenty of pictures...since the flooding in the summer here, a lot of the bridges in the park have been washed away but Dad says it doesn't matter, since the river is frozen over so you can just walk across it. Great!

stay tuned...

10 degrees is a WARM day!

It's hard getting used to the idea that when you have a day here that's above 0, it's a warm day.
Today was 10 and a beautiful day here. So we decided to make the most of it and go skating. The ice was pretty good and if we got too chilly, a fire was made beside the rink so we could roast Hot dogs and sausages.
Although, we had to give it up around 4:30 because the sun was almost down. That's right. by 5PM, it's dark here. So, we stayed inside, drank eggnog (YUM!) and Hot Chocolate (for Meg) and decorated the Christmas tree. We had my brother's girlfriend Sheena over as well.
I'll leave you with a picture of all of us in front of the tree.

We'll write again soon!

We've figured out how to post pictures onto our blog now so look out for heaps of pics coming in the next few weeks! Today was a very warm 10 degrees here in Calgary, you didnt even have to put on your coat when you went outside. Jeremy and I along with his parents went out today to buy a 'real' christmas tree. We'll post a pic tomorrow when we decorate it! We're having so much fun, miss everyone back home. Talk to you soon!

We're Here!!!!!

Well, I think all of the family that was meant to be surprised has now been surprised, so I can say it
Gotcha!
That's right, we're already here in Calgary...everyone in Canada thought it was the 12th that we were arriving, but got here at 3PM on Dec 8th...and surprised EVERYONE..well, not everyone. Good job to Nate and Sheena for keeping the secret for so long. The faces were priceless...especially my mom who just screamed, gave us a hug, stepped back and screamed again...Hahaha!

It feels weird to be back...very weird. It was a good feeling though to arrive back in Canada and no longer be the only one speaking Canadian (eh?) and flying off from Vancouver and seeing the mountains again. Loved it! And we're back and I'm still getting used to the idea of driving on the right (and correct) side of the road. The ground is white, for the moment, because the weather for the next few days is supposed to be about 10 degrees...HEAT WAVE!

Meg and I did end up getting a digital camera in Singapore, which means that in a few days, we'll be getting some pictures up and running on this little blog of ours.

Well, keep tuned to this page...
Bye for now

A Shameless Plug

Just a quick a shameless plug for our Big youth conference and new CD our church has produced. The conference is called Historymakers and the band has just put out a new CD (which is awesome). You can check out the link on the side of the page or HERE to listen to clips, see pictures, do all kinds of stuff...the website was only up and running today so it's not completely done yet. Give it time. I personally love the logo...I wouldn't mind having a cool shirt with it on the back or something...Just thought I'd spread the word