And baby makes three

Well, life is certainly different for us since the last time I budded in to the family round robin. Sasha has changed our lives, but not necessarily in ways I was planning for. For instance, I am getting really good at typing with one hand. I have gone back to my university days where I was able to live with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep; granted those 5 hours of sleep used to be uninterrupted, so it’s not quite the same. He has grown in leaps & bounds so for those of you who have yet to meet him, he is completely different than he was as a newborn. He is over 13 pounds now (was just over 7 pounds at birth) and keeps his mouth busy by eating, spitting up or talking cute little gibberish.
I am enjoying being off work, and dread having to go back, so if anybody has any ideas for me; I’m welcome to suggestions. I was walking to get back into shape, however the cold & snow has put a damper on my enthusiasm in being outside.
Vadim loves the life of an electrician however is looking forward to starting school in January, where he won't have to be out in the cold. Fatherhood agrees with him; he now looks for excuses to have family days where we don’t change out of our pajamas all day. He also has tried instilling into Sasha a passion for motorcycles & guitars – he bought Sasha his first little motorcycle that also acts as a remote for a video game. It will be years before he’s actually able to control it, but I guess it’s the thought that counts.
We will miss you all at Christmas this year, as we are heading west to the Island this year. For those of you, who have yet to meet the little guy, give us a call anytime; we don’t do much anymore other than stick around home.

Check out our Picasa website, we will be uploading pictures of Sasha there when we can. http://picasaweb.google.com/vadimjacquie

Thanks Robin!

Thanks for the e-mail letting us know it was our turn. As for the posting, I was able to muddle my way through Steve's original instructions. :-)This was a good thing since I'm not sure what an iTunes card is!

Cheers,
Michelle

Update from Calgary

Well, the Munks are two up on us…no foot fungus over here in Tuscany but half of us are still occasionally picking our noses in pubic! Otherwise, we are healthy and have lots to keep us interested (not necessarily interesting!) and busy – what more could we ask for?

We’ve had some great times visiting with family over the last couple of months – Jill and Trevor’s clan in October, Dianna and Gordon in early November and Michelle and Steve’s clan this weekend. Everyone here is enjoying the transition into the winter season. Gary’s bought his COP pass, Brynna and Maya will be taking skiing lessons and I will be cross-country skiing and observing any downhill. The Maritimer in me still doesn’t get the whole waxing of plastic projectiles and then hurtling oneself down a mountainside! I am at the point where I can watch the girls without covering my eyes, though.

Hope you are all doing well and we look forward to seeing you over the Christmas holidays.

All the Best!
Michelle, Gary, Brynna and Maya

Gary, You're IT

If you want I could enter your post for you just like I did for Jill. No one needs to Know. I don't charge much. Just a small token [perhaps an iTunes card]. Let me know. (Robin)

What the Real Munks are Up To

This is Jill here - I am happy to let you know that we are all doing well. We almost never pick our noses in public anymore and the foot fungus treatment was successful. The only sad thing in our life is that we don't live in Edmonton, a far more vibrant and fun city with thrilling opportunities to occupy our time and much more interesting people (except Gary and Michelle of course, the exceptions to other Calgarians). I also wanted to let you all know what a remarkable woman my sister Robin is and that I will be sending her an iTunes card soon. Next time I will also be sure to update my blurb in a more timely fashion!!! Love Jill and the Munkees

Skipping the Harmatys Millards

We're just going to bud in here and try to get the process going again. The Ross family is doing well, healthy and happy. Summer went by way too fast, the kids spent a week in Victoria as well as a week each at summer camp. We all camped at Lake Kalmalka (outside Vernon BC) for 2 weeks in August, where we toasted our skin to a light golden brown, learned to wakeboard and waterski, and ate far more than our quota of fresh peaches. This fall was a smooth transition back to routine - Halle Grade 7, Payton Grade 5, Tre Grade 4. Darren is working full time as a personal trainer at True Form Personal Training Studio and I am part time (Mon - Thurs 9 -3) at Sherwood Centre Dental Clinic. Halle is playing the flute, all 3 kids are in the track club at their schools and all are registered for indoor soccer this winter. We are having so much fun with Sasha (our new cousin/nephew) who we try to visit every other day. One of Darren's clients gave him an entire skybox (10 seats) for the Def Leppard concert last night. Unfortunately we had neither leather nor spandex pants in our closets, Darren was unwilling to backcomb and feather his hair so we looked alittle conspicuous. Styx, the opening band, didn't even play Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto, but Def Leppard was pretty impressive and they did treat us to Pour Some Sugar on Me and Rock of Ages so good times were had by all. We were glad to see many of you at Aunty Penny's birthday party and look forward to seeing you all again at Christmas? Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with laughter and love!
Darren, Robin, Halle, Payton, Tre and Oliver :)

PS
Jill - you're IT.

False Alarm

I saw Michelle and the boys last night at the party for our esteemed Aunt who is now 65 years old and should be treated with greatest respect. Anyways, they're alive and well. Apparently she doesn't know how to post (or I suspect she doesn't care enough about her relatives to include us in her busy schedule). Give her a couple more days to "figure it out" and then we'll jump the line and put our post in. HAPPY BIRTHDAY,RESPECTED AUNTY.

Rescue alert

Should we send a search party out for the Millard Harmatys family?

We Are Still Alive!

Why didn’t somebody tell me it was my turn? Sorry gang, things have been very hectic in our life.

On March 28, 2007 we stood and watched Argyll Travel burn to the ground. Well, the struggle is over - we are back in the game selling travel from a new location two blocks south of the old location. Stop by and have a look (call me for the actual address).

Sharon and Brett have kept us very, very busy. Brett with her hockey and soccer (tier 1). We are off in August as her soccer team has made provincials, so a roadtrip to Red Deer awaits the family.

Sharon is the treasurer of the North Seera Hockey Association. Sharon’s ‘doctor billing’ business continues to grow. She now has 6 employees and serves a large percentage of the emergency doctors in Edmonton.

The family pets, Jake and Scooter, enjoy sneaking out of the yard causing havoc on the Millwoods golf course.

We have just installed a hot tub off our back deck and so are looking forward to some cooler weather to rest our weary bones.

I keep busy with “fire details”, Kinsmen Club, South Edmonton Business Association, coaching and BBQing.

We are continuously looking for staff. If anyone kinows someone with a lust for travel, CALL ME.

Bob, Sharon and Brett
PS. Steve, let’s keep this thing moving.

Sick of waiting for Bob (Steve's update)

That's a good suggestion Robin. Here's a quick update on us.

Tina, Lex and I are doing fine, living in Rutherford and slowly getting used to life in Edmonton.

Lex played hockey for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. I helped the coach and had more fun watching Lex’s team than watching the pros - really didn’t expect it to be that much fun. Lex is now in soccer (his sport of choice) and having a great time.

Tina has started a new job with the company that built our house (and is building our new one) Pacesetter. She has only been doing it for a few weeks and is not sure yet if it is for her or not. She moved into this from working part time at Bombay (a home furnishing company). Next time you come to our house you’ll find a Bombay showroom.

I still work at Steve Harmatys’ company, Willbros, as a scheduler. Steve suggested I get into this and it suits me really well.

I bought some electronic drums a few months back that will allow me to record with some friends in different parts of the continent.

Our heads are still spinning a bit from the Florida - Shanghai - Edmonton change in three years. However, the current warm weather and the vibe in this city is helping.

We will move into our new house in Blackmud Creek in late summer or early fall. We’re looking forward to having people visit once we’re settled in (we really, really liked having everyone over on Boxing Day).

By the way, I've messed around with the look of this blog a couple of times. I move that each poster make a small change if they like. Seconds?

Just a Suggestion

Maybe, given the circumstances, we could give Bob a mulligan this time around. Grandma always said, "Rules were made to be broken!" Could we just move on to Steve? If this is not acceptable, perhaps we could each submit creative entries for him and enter bc in the label, red wine optional.

Life Lesson

Let this be a warning to the rest of you about mixing wine and blogging. It's Bob's turn but he mostly burned down a while back. I'll bug him to get it done.

oh, i dindt know

thanx

mc

Miles, your initials are mc

Miles is blogging under the pseudynom sh.......

oops..

march 23rd............ even worse, that is almost a whole month!

sh

we are all waiting

people, the last blog was march 27th..........

i thought that i was bad.

where are you?

sh

Dianna & Gord

We escaped the first round robin by leaving for Thailand - so we should tell you something about it. But first we want to congratulate Jacquie & Vadium. What wonderful news! Jacquie, we hope you will soon be over your 'Morning Sickness' Also great news on your house. Hope you enjoy your new home. It will be wonderful to have little feet padding around it!

We were met at the airport by our 'Guides' and driven to our apartment that they had secured for us. Two days later we headed out on a driving tour, up to Chiang Mai. We stopped along the way at the Old City and saw the wonderful architecture from the 1100's through to 1500's in what was then the capital of Thailand. We spend a night at a Dam Site, in a setting not unlike JPL. When we arrived in Chiang Mai, we stayed at Dr. Subin's Summer house- a palatial mansion of about 12,000 sq. ft.

We attended an International floral exposition, shopped at night market, rode on elephants, floated a river on a bambo raft, and ate! We returned to Bangkok, and continued our tour - we saw the Grand Palace, rode the long tail boats, shopped the grandiose shopping centres and the night markets. Saw the Ancient City (a facility that has either actual structures from various regions or replicas of same). Toured many sites and treasures. Diannna had silk outfits personally tailored, shoes custom made, and Gord had some shirts custom made. We ate in multiple wonderful restaurants and had fabulous food. We were treated royally and saw many features an average visitor might miss - we were so lucky.

What a wonderful trip!

Here is link to our first Picasa site with pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/
Dianna.Gord/NewAlbum280207857PM

Here is a second album with 56 pictures so far:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Dianna.Gord/Thailand2

Zabirans Can't Wait For Their Turn

We'll see who actually reads these.

I know I'm jumping out of turn - but that's what I do - I bud in line.

There have been some significant changes in our life that I thought I should share - so no one goes, "I didn't know that, how come I didn't know that?" with a whiny voice. Or is that just me that does that?

Tomorrow is moving day for us - we leave our 3-year old house for a 35-year old house. Why would we do that? The yard is bigger - somewhat smaller considering there is a giant play-structure encompassing most of it (bring your kids over, they'll have a blast) - the trees are bigger, mostly there are trees. There won't be construction going on around us every day, another nice benefit. And when we first bought, we really wanted a bungalow in older Sherwood Park - so now we're going to do it.

Vadim started a new job/career a few weeks ago. He's started his apprenticeship as an electrician. So far, he's loving it. It was a huge change after being in the oilfield business after almost 7 years - but what seems to be a worthwhile change.

I'm still working for ATCO I-Tek, just waiting out the next 6 months until my maternity leave will start. That's right - we're pregnant. I'd say loving every minute of it too, but that's not entirely true. Morning sickness is more than morning and more than sickness. But I hear this shall pass eventually - I'm not believing it yet.

That's about it - everything else is the same. Kona is still cute as ever. Vadim is still completely in love with his motorcycle. Life goes on.

Sue's first post

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in adding my blurb. It has been very different since I took over Solar Travel here in Wetaskiwin in September. My commute to work has gone from two hours a day to a minute and a half. But, somehow, my work day has gone from eight hours to ten or more. I do love being my own boss though. As much as I enjoy living in Wetaskiwin, I miss my boys and hate having them not living with me. Brennan is still at the Outback in the westend. I think he and Katharine are still together but that changes.
Jesse is in grade 11 at Shep and has recently begun playing in a band. He is still big into soccer. Skipping Physics 20 is also something he’s started and seems to enjoy. Griffin is in grade 8 and football is his life. Keeghan is in grade 6 and playing basketball and soccer. Miles and I went to the Bahamas in February which was great although the weather was not. That’s about it for now…..looking forward to actual spring, not just the theoretical spring we are currently experiencing.

Sue et al