Fenced

Alec invited us to a "Fence Your Parent" night last week.  It was exciting.  Kim got all geared up and learned a few things, and then Dana got all geared up to fence her brother.  Check out the quick video of Alec and Dana wielding weapons :P

Good-Bye Cookie Dec 2008 - Jan 2011

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December Greetings

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A Very Busy Autumn

Kim has had an extremely busy autumn. It began at the end of September with a trip back to Ontario, first to Hamilton for meetings with professors and some research, and then to Toronto for dissertation fieldwork. While she was in Ontario she stayed with her friends Alisha and Joe (thanks guys!!) and managed to fit in a gig with Swimming to Vegas (1 October, pictured above) as well as a visit with her sister, Hilary in Milton.

Next was a trip to Vancouver in mid October. In fact, Kim spent her birthday presenting a paper at a conference on Buddhism in Canada at the University of British Columbia (see this link: http://ubcbuddhism.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/901/ ). This was a fun conference for Kim because she got to spend time with her growing circle of friends and colleagues and meet more amazing people. Last was another conference trip to Atlanta, Georgia at the end of October/beginning of November for the American Academy of Religion. Kim presided over a panel of presenters (how's that for alliteration!) and met some amazing people, from publishers to highly esteemed professors. She also got a chance to hang out with her McMaster friends and go to the Coca-Cola headquarters and the Atlanta Aquarium (see pic).

In between all of Kim's travel, Dave was traveling too. He went back to Royal Military College for the Class of 1990 20th Reunion (1 - 3 October) and then a couple of weeks later he flew home to Ontario on a cross country trip with students to be with his brother Jay who turned the big 4-0. Dave is also continuously traveling to Winnipeg for work meetings, which makes for some interesting scheduling around all of our various activities.

**** Kim's autumn finished up with some great news . . . she has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship. A SSHRC is a Canadian scholarship at the federal government level that is extremely competitive and one of the best things to have on an academic curriculum vitae. Kim is thrilled to have been chosen as a SSHRC recipient! ****

Hero Shot

 Dave recently flew a cross country training trip back to Ontario to visit with his brother, who was turning 40.  When Dave arrived at the airport his friend Ken was there with his camera.  Ken is a fantastic photographer and snapped the "hero shot" below.  The picture was not only sent to me but printed and made its way through L3 Wescam where Dave worked before rejoining the Air Force and where Ken works now.  Apparently Dave is really missed there!

Alec is 12!

Somehow we missed getting pictures of Alec on his birthday.  He went out with his friends enjoying pizza at Pizza Hut, ice cream at Dairy Queen, and then swimming at the local pool. But just because we don't have pictorial evidence doesn't mean it didn't happen . . . yes, Alec is now 12. And he's such a great 'tween. He decided to ask for donations to the WWF instead of presents from his friends. Here is a photo montage of Alec this year. He is growing up too fast :)

The Duke

When we moved back to Moose Jaw we added a new family member. Meet Duke, the German Shepherd puppy who takes up a lot of space in our small military row house. Dave found him through a breeder in Stockholm, SK in early May. By the time we arrived in SK and finally got him, poor Duke had suffered an accident that caused hair line fractures to his right hip. We spent a lot of time rehabilitating him, because he couldn't play like a regular puppy.  But Kim walked him, and walked him, and walked him until the vet said that he was cleared to play as normal.  He's growing into such a beautiful big boy, and he has a wonderful temperament.  Woof!