Splashdown!

Brian and his brother Kevin had season's passes to Splashdown, a nearby water park, when they were growing up. In the 12 years we've been together, I've never been there, though I've heard frequently of its wonders. So when a deal came up for discounted tickets and Kevin's family was in town from Calgary, we had to go.

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A Year in Unpublished Pictures - 2011: Part 1

2011 was filled with many Rushcapades. Much is missing from our blog archive - like all of May through August. So this year's unpublished picture list grew to more than just the one or two per month I like to keep it to. I decided we needed a three part installment. Part 1 - The Lead Up. Part 2 - Travels, or Insanity. Part 3 - Intro to China. There are many more pictures on our flickr site if you are interested. Hope you enjoy! Make sure to click Read More to see the whole post.

January: 

Sisters love each other. 

Brian goes to California for his last Jan term and begins the final stretch to graduation. 

Shannon has her first skype interviews for international school jobs.

Camping!

Brothers!

This last month we got two unique opportunities: visiting with our brothers. My brother, Jeremy, lives in Honolulu and Brian's brother (+ family) lives in Calgary, so we don't get to see either of them very often.

Our first visit was to Everett/Seattle to celebrate Jeremy's 30th birthday.

We went to our first Mariner game in a very long time.

Everyone really got into "Louie, Louie."

The following day, my parents hosted a brunch for all the extended family that came to see Jer.

Then, Maggie and Kaleia got some good uncle bonding time while Brian and I went out to celebrate our anniversary.
What a goof! It was fun seeing you Uncle Jeremy!

For our second special visit, we camped with Uncle Kevin, Auntie Melanie, and cousin Jamie. We had a great time playing games with Kevin and talking education with Mel. Jamie (3 1/2) and Magnolia (2 1/2) were inseperable. They had typical moments of learning how to play nicely, but mostly these two were best friends.

Kaleia had fun too! She practiced her new walking skills on the uneven ground, played "fetch" with Jamie's dog, Maddie, and scaled all of the camp chairs.

By the end of our visits we were all pretty tired out, but the good kind of tired.

Toe Men in Calgary

Our niece Jamie (almost 3), who lives in Calgary, saw Maggie's toe man video and insisted that her dad--Brian's brother Kevin-- make some of their own.

Are there any other toemen out there? Send us photos!

Christmas 08 - part 3

December 26th we shovelled and ice-picked our way out of our driveway,* heading north to Tsawwassen, BC for part 3 of our annual Christmas celebration. Just outside of Bellingham a blizzard hit and road conditions significantly worsened. After watching a car spin itself across the two lane highway barely missing a major collision, we began to feel like the fellowship of the ring on the snowy slopes of Caradhras -- maybe we aren't supposed to go...

In the end we made it there in one piece and in time to have a few hours with both of Brian's siblings' families, his parents and grandmother.

Cousins: Noah Bryerton, Magnolia Rush, Jamie Rush, Ella Bryerton

I thought the blurriness of this next picture was fitting. It was a frenzy of activity as presents were opened, played with, and traded in a matter of minutes. I missed most of what happened during that period trying to keep Magnolia from eating discarded wrapping paper or opening someone else's gift.

The rest of the evening was filled with a yummy ham dinner with the traditional Ukrainian side dish of cabbage rolls, watching the Canucks' hockey game, playing Wii during intermissions, and Brian's favorite dessert, Mud Pie.

Saturday, my sister-in-law, Melanie and I headed to the mall for some kid-free shopping time. Brian and his brother Kevin, took care of the girls. Not quite a year apart, they are about the same size. They had a fun time exploring Grandma Rush's house and learning to share their Christmas toys. When Magnolia was down for a nap, Jamie would go around the house asking for Maggie ("Monnie?").

Grandma Rush provided some of the day's entertainment by building Jamie a snowman ("No-man!") just outside the family room window.

The visit ended with a fun game of Agricola followed by a discussion as to the truth about Brian's vibrating ears.

We did get a little payback for our generosity with the stomach flu; Magnolia came home with her cousin Jamie's cold.

*Footnote: our very steep driveway is heated and works very well. However, in order to avoid backing into our busy street we tried to turn around in an unheated portion. Bad idea.

Our Babymoon

All of my pregnancy magazines have advertisements for "babymoons." (One last trip as a couple before you have a baby and your life changes forever). Most of the advertisements are for warm places with sunny beaches or romantic places in Europe, so a few months ago, Brian and I decided to take advantage of my Thanksgiving break and go to that most exotic of locales... Calgary, Alberta.

Why Calgary? Well, actually we stayed a few nights in Canmore, a town near Banff, which is a little more exciting and beautiful. There are a couple things that drew us to this destination. First, airfare during Thanksgiving is unreal, so we knew we would be driving. Second, we wanted to go somewhere new, and we could use our Trendwest membership to get a place in Canmore for very little. (It cost more to kennel our dogs for a night than for our room!) Finally, Brian's brother Kevin, his wife Melanie, and their 7 month old baby Jamie live in Calgary and we don't get to see them very often.

The drive is about 10 1/2 hours if you drive non-stop and conditions are favorable. Unfortunately with a 6+ month pregnant woman and two dogs you can't drive non-stop. Fortunately, the drive is beautiful. There was snow all around us, but the roads were bare and the sky was blue. The air was crisp and absolutely FREEZING! (Note the temperature on the dashboard in the middle of the day.)
At one rest stop Otis got to experience snow for the first time! Trudy needed to wear the coat Alli got her because she is so skinny and doesn't have much fur. While in Canmore we mostly vegged out in our room. But we did make one venture into town each day to walk around the shops and get something to eat.
Then on to Calgary to spend a few days with Kevin, Melanie, and Jamie. Melanie and I spent a lot of time talking about new motherhood. She passed on her maternity clothes, (My wardrobe at least doubled!) as well as some clothes and things that Jamie has outgrown. We saw some of Calgary; I drove around with Melanie one afternoon and Brian went to some art shows. We played a great new version of the game of Settlers of Catan and again just relaxed.

Our dogs got to stay with us at their house. Jamie gave them a crash course in how to act around babies! She poked them, pinched their noses, pulled their tails, took their bones away while they were chewing them and even tried to pull herself to standing using Trudy (and her fur!). They were so great! She also exposed them to lots of new smells and sounds. Our only trouble was making sure they didn't lick her to death every time they walked by. Jamie and the dogs even joined forces to become an irresistible wake up crew.

Our only sad part of our trip was that while we were gone Brian's grandpa passed away. We knew it might be soon and made a point to visit him before we left, but it was still difficult. The family decided to wait to have the service until after we got home, and Melanie decided to caravan back with us so she could be there too. Kevin flew in later in the week because of work.

Overall, it was great to get away with Brian. We had fun just laughing, dreaming about the next stage of our marriage, spending time with family we don't see often, and doing nothing. I came back really refreshed, in spite of spending an entire day in the car.

Happy Father's Day Brian!

So if you didn't catch the big news in some of the previous posts, Brian and I are expecting our first child! It is still very early. (I'm six weeks along as of yesterday) If all goes well, our baby will be born around February 10th.

In celebration of Father's Day, I made Brian a card with the dogs' paw prints and a sesame seed, all with "thought bubbles." In case you are wondering why the sesame seed was included, it represented our baby that is currently about that size.

In the evening, we went to Tsawwassen to Brian's parent's house to celebrate Father's Day and see Brian's brother Kevin, sister-in-law Melanie, and meet their new baby Jamie. (They live in Calgary and were just briefly in town) Brian got some baby practice; calming her down using various techniques and strapping her into her car seat. He's going to be a great dad!

Jamie Laurel Rush

Welcome to our family! Our newest niece arrived Easter Sunday to Brian's brother Kevin and his wife Melanie. They live in Calgary now, so we haven't been able to meet her. Hopefully, we will be able to visit soon!