Sunday, November 27, 2005

November 27, 2005 - Sunday morning coffee


Here I sit on Sunday morning, my favourite moment of the week when Mommy and Magnus are still sleeping and I'm halfway through my first cup of java listening to classical on the radio.

What to talk about?  We watched War of the Worlds yesterday.  What a show!  Other than the nonsensical conclusion (I still have no idea how the aliens died), the movie was pretty good, especially the scenes with these giant tripod machines vaporizing everything in their paths.  I couldn't help thinking during the movie how a tragedy like that immediately refocuses peoples perspective on what is important to them.  We get so stuck in our routines of going to work to earn money, then spending that money, then going back to work to earn more, then spending more that we forget to ask "what's the point?" often enough.  Isn't it sad that we are often so busy with busyness that we don't ask ourselves this question until something really bad happens?  Ana and I have been concentrating a lot on our finances lately, trying to put a good plan in place now that will help us in the future.  As we work on this plan and talk about investments, returns, earnings, expenses and all those other credits and debits we've often looked at each other and realized how lucky we've been in our lifetimes to have never had to live through real tough times.  Even our parents generation haven't had to live through what our grandparents did.  People born in the first decades of the 20th century lived through the great depression and two world wars.  The great depression where people in this country had no jobs, no crops, limited health care and even starvation.  Then the world wars came along where thousands of innocent people were killed.  Can you imagine what living through these kinds of events does to people?  When an 85 year old person today looks at how the younger people live this life of entitlement, instant gratification and total disposability of everything, how must they feel?

Eventually another depression will come around, at least this is what history suggests.  What will happen then?  Especially when people have so much of their wealth tied up in electronic assets that could practically disappear overnight and overpriced, overbuilt bungalows that cost a fortune to maintain.  What assets and skills will have value if we go through a depression?  I certainly don't know how to do anything useful like slaughter a cow or grow vegetables.  We don't even have any land on which to plant a garden to grow food that would keep us alive!  The business skills Ana and I have would be completely useless in an economic meltdown.  It makes you change the way you look at the future when you consider this possibility.

Yikes, that's a little heavy for Sunday morning.  On the bright side, after going through these planning processes together the one main thing we do agree on is that we want to be able to spend as much time as possible raising our kids and enjoying life with our families and friends.  There is nothing more important than that.


Kris

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

October 12, 2005 - Home in Calgary


As fall sets in and winter looms, we are now well into our new routine.

I'm back to work full time (2 days from home) and Kris is thoroughly enjoying his Fridays off - Man's Day as he fondly calls them. He and Magnus do their bonding and I slug it out at WestJet. Magnus spends 2 days a week at Maria the daycare lady's house and loves it!! He even has a new 4 year old girlfriend named Lisa! Starting young!

The schedule hasn't been nearly as busy or hectic as we imagined. We still get a nice evening although the days are getting shorter and I find it is getting harder and harder to get up in the mornings.

Since our last journal we have been on a few adventures. Magnus and myself went to LA for a weekend with our good friend Emily. Loved LA and spend lots of time on the beach, shopping and people watching. That was a great time!! Kris had a boys weekend and went fishing with his friends Jon and Chris in the Crow's Nest Pass here in Alberta. No big fish, but they looked like they had a good time in the photos.

We've also went to Victoria for quick visit with Curt (Kris' brother) and then off to Saskatoon and Foam Lake this past weekend for Kris' cousin Isabel's Christening and Thanksgiving. It was great to have a really good visit with the Gustafson side of the family.

We have a trip to Brantford planned to see my family in the next few weeks. Then things shockingly get quiet with no trips on the horizon until a winter holiday to Jamaica in January.

Of course between now and then we have Halloween (Magnus will be a Bee this year), my 34th birthday (aahhhh!!!), Christmas and New Years. My parents will be spending 2 weeks at Christmas time with us, so that will be nice change. We have traveled every Christmas for the last 5 years, so it will be nice to wake up at home.

How the year has passed, only a few more months to go but hopefully lots of new adventures on the horizon.

More soon,


Ana

Sunday, August 21, 2005

August 21, 2005 - Magnus' first day as a one year old


It's been a slow, lazy day after Magnus first birthday party last night.  In fact, it's been a slow, lazy few weeks since returning from summer vacation.  The trip to the Azores was superb and besides all the wine drinking and fish eating we managed to find time to scout out and purchase a nice piece of ocean front property.  We also spend some time in Ontario and Saskatchewan visiting family and friends (thank god for WestJet flight privileges).

Ana will be returning to work in September after a glorious year at home nurturing this beautiful little boy.  We're sure to be on an extremely busy schedule, though we're hoping it will be manageable.  We've decided we better get a winter vacation booked to give us something to look forward to and ease the pain of the winter weather which will soon be upon us.

Magnus is well past his baby days and is now a busy, curious little boy that never stops moving, even when he's sleeping.  He is now walking everywhere, eating on his own - no baby food anymore, clapping, dancing, making people "talk to the hand", and scaling large buildings in a single bound.  He's widely known as a bruiser since he likes to hurl objects across the room and stick his fingers in peoples' eyes.  Today he took a tumble off the deck and got some scrapes on his face, which makes him look even more menacing.  He is a lot of fun now and we consider ourselves so lucky to have such a happy, healthy little boy to love and care for.

Getting a bit late now so better cut it off here.


Kris

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

May 18, 2005 - Home Alone


I'm home alone tonight for the first time in a long time.  Kris has a BIG go-live on his project this weekend and the fun starts tonight at 9:00 pm.  So I just dropped him off at Shell and it looks like it will be Magnus and I tonight.  As I was dropping him off he said that this is as close as an IT geek ever comes to seeing that "completed house"!! 

Magnus is still a ray of sunshine, or is that a lightening bolt tearing apart our house.  He has been crawling for about 2 weeks and stands while holding anything he can get his little paws on.  It won't be long before he starts walking and then the real fun begins.  He is still at 26 pounds and has only grown an inch or two since the last doctor visit, which is fine by me.   I'm already running out of storage space for all the clothes he has grown out of.

I can't believe that it is already May.  Where has this year gone?  I'm now quickly facing the fact that I will be back at work in a few short months.  We have a very busy few months ahead so I'm sure it will be here before I know it.   This past month the weather has been wonderful and we've enjoyed several weekends in Alberta for a change.  We did a driving trip up to Drayton Valley near Edmonton to see Kris' aunts who live there and grandparents who were there for a visit.  It was a great trip.


I will be returning back to WestJet in September, but hopefully be able to work from home a few days a week.  Kris is taking Fridays off to stay home with Magnus and the other 2 days he will be staying with his new nanny.  Thankfully we have been able to find someone who we are very comfortable with.  Her name is Maria  and she is a 64 year old Portuguese lady....no it's not my Mom, but the next best thing here in Calgary.  I met with Maria a few weeks ago and Magnus instantly went to her, so we are very lucky.  Makes the sting of leaving him a little less.

Our summer plans are heating up quickly.  Kris' annual fishing trip to Saskatchewan is in early June.  I'll be in Brantford during that time.  We will be back in Brantford for the annual Portuguese festival in mid June.  July long weekend we are in Fishing Lake for the 50th anniversary of the Olson Cabin.  It will be great to see the whole family there including the Pakistani contingent.  Immediately after that we leave for the Azores for 2 weeks with my Mom and Dad, Peter and Loretta (Kris' Dad and Wife) and another Aunt and Uncle of mine.  While we are there, we will attend my cousin Natercia's wedding and immediately upon returning will attend a party for my cousin Michelle and her fiancĂ© Brad who are being married in Mexico in mid-July.

So it looks like we are free in August.  That month will no doubt be recovery and mentally preparing for the working life ahead.  The great thing about all of this is that we'll have many stories and tons of photos, so stay tuned!!


Ana

Sunday, March 6, 2005

March 6, 2005 - Sunday arvo slowdown


Don't you hate when you awaken in the morning and your first thought is about work?  That happened to me a few days this week as we're going through another busy spell, but that's the name of the game with project work.  All part of the fun.  Thankfully the week was broken up a bit when Carrie passed through town on Thursday and we saw her show down at the Ironwood.  I then elected to work from home the next day....not because of a hangover thankfully, but I realized that I had no meetings that day and I can often get a hell of a lot more done at home.

What's new with the Olsons?  The past few days have been gorgeous here in Calgary with temperatures in the mid teens, quite a treat in March.  That obviously has us thinking a lot about the summer, but even more about our upcoming trip to the Turks & Caicos.  The original plan was to dump the little guy off with grandma and grandpa but he seems to have talked his mommy into coming along with us.  Quite amazing, considering he can't even talk yet.

Not sure what else to report, it's that time of the year when people keep a pretty low profile, don't go out too much and spend most of their time bitching about the weather or, this year, the lack of hockey.  I just thought of one piece of news - Magnus' bald patch on his head is growing hair again, though we still need to do a "comb over" when he goes out on the town.

More news soon ( I promise the next entry will be much more interesting....it's been that kind of month)


Kris

Saturday, January 22, 2005

January 22, 2005 - Saturday morning java



You've never seen anything as beautiful as your little baby smiling in his sleep.  I fed Magnus an "early riser" bottle this morning, then he immediately fell back asleep and gave a grand, gummy smile after he nodded off.  I couldn't go back to sleep after that because I started thinking about how lucky we are to have such a sweet, happy little baby and be settled back here in Canada with lots of visits to see family...something we have missed over the years.  I was feeling very touchyfeely until I realized I have to go to work today...drat!  We have one more week left of insanity on my project then we should have a little break from the overtime for a month or two at least.  I don't mind working more now, since January is such a dull month anyway and the weather has been rotten - it just means I can take time off later!  We have two trips planned for the year, the first is a long, long weekend getaway to Turks & Caicos during Easter and the second is a trip to the Azores in June or thereabouts.  Ana is so anxious to get back to the Caribbean and become an "island girl" once again.  Unfortunately, Magnus is only going as far as Ontario, he'll have the pleasure of grandparent attention (perhaps 'adoration' may be a more appropriate word?) for a few days while we are away.  It will be tough to be away from him but I will seek solace in conch salads and many, many Kaliks!  Mmmm, Kalik, I haven't had a Kalik in about three years, I am well overdue.  I wonder if they will taste the same?

Before my thoughts go completely to sun, sailing and beer, I better do a quick update of Magnus' new tricks.  He has recently:

1. Learned to sit up all by himself, but with the occasional carpet faceplant

2. Found his feet and learned to suck on his toes

3. Got a new car seat after outgrowing the old one

4. Received his second set of shots, and is now weighing in at over 22 pounds

5. Learned to pass things from hand to hand

6. Learned to hold his own bottle and drink from it (this one is hit and miss, he often just pulls it out of his mouth and stares at it, in stunned disbelief that his is actually feeding himself)

7. Realized that passing gas is really quite funny, and sometimes laughs after exploding


That's all for now, have to go wake up the rest of the family!


Kris