Family Christmas Letter – 2013
This
year was an eventful year – we experienced many wonderful things as a family.
In
February we went on our first ever warm holiday to spend a week in
Florida. We went to Disneyworld – the
Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom which was tons of fun. Mary Ellen liked seeing the shows but the
boys all liked the rides the best. We
also went to a manatee observation area, to Legoland and the Orlando Science
Center to see a special Star Wars display.
At the end of the trip, we met Aunt Lynn and Uncle Leroy for lunch and a
lovely visit, then stopped by a conservation area where, entirely by accident,
we ended up a few steps away from a rather large alligator out in the
wild! (We beat a cautiously hasty
retreat when we saw him…) We had
beautiful weather and a w onderful time.
On
June 6, we all left Halifax and headed to the farm. We spent six weeks in Ontario seeing family
and friends and enjoying ourselves. We
went on some great day trips and had some relaxing days with Grandma and
Grandpa and the boys’ aunts, uncles and cousins. We spent a great weekend in Toronto and made
it up to Camp Kintail to visit my brother and his family. We took in all the festivities of the local
Canada Day weekend including seeing Grandpa in the parade. Donovan loved the three-legged and
wheelbarrow races and Malcolm loved the fireworks.
Then
in mid-July it was back to Halifax.
Malcolm had his tonsils out and shortly after, Grama and Grampa Rainey
arrived back in Halifax. The boys spent
the rest of the summer enjoying the outdoors with Grama and Grampa Rainey –
digging at the beach, climbing on the playground, catching minnows in the lake
and playing tennis and soccer. It is
hard to imagine a better way to spend their August days!
On
August 20, 2013, we all welcomed Kieran George into our family. He was born a bit late and it was obvious
right from the start that he was ready to jump into life. He has grown into a bit, strong, alert baby
boy. His brothers love holding him and
talking to him and he is such a wonderful addition to our family.
This
fall, Malcolm started Grade Primary (Nova Scotia’s version of kindergarten). He is enjoying his class and gets great
support at the school. Donovan is
thrilled that his brother is attending school and they are both having a lot of
fun this year.
Both
Donovan and Malcolm took swimming lessons last spring, and Donovan took skating
and rock climbing lessons as well. He
also started piano lessons this fall, which he is really enjoying and doing well
with.
We
will be at the farm for Christmas this year and are looking forward to
that. We are also looking forward to a
visit from Grama and Grampa Rainey in Halifax earlier in December. We are looking forward to our first holiday
season as a family of five. Our very
best wishes to all of our extended family and friends!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Jan, Mary Ellen, Donovan, Malcolm and Kieran
