Anvik Family

This past weekend found both Victoria Anviks enjoying the snow up at Mt. Washington. My company arranges an annual ski trip and Nels’ family came along this year.

With the Olympics around the corner and Mt. Washington having the most snow of the resorts (e.g. they are having to truck snow from Manning Park to Whistler for the Olympics) there were a lot of athletes training there this weekend. Too bad we didn’t see any.

The conditions were less than optimal. Nels commented that it was the worst he’d seen there. The temperature hover just above 0° Celsius and there was lots of fog and rain. Despite that, the kids had a lot of fun digging and sliding in the snow.

You can see pictures from our weekend here and here.

Some may be aware of the story of Angel, the Golden Retriever that saved an 11-year old boy from a cougar in Boston Bar around New Years. What some may not be aware of is that Angel was brought to our father’s animal hospital after the attack. For a vet’s eye perspective, see http://www.sardisvet.com/angelatsardis.html.

One of the things to show up under the tree this year was a bird feeder. We live right along a creek and green space so the bird life out our window is fantastic. Along with an ordinary bird feeder we’ve also hung a humming bird feeder. While it hasn’t had as much attention as the seed feeder, it hasn’t been ignored either.

Off the top of my head here’s a list of confirmed visitors thus far.

Dark-eyed Junco
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Chestnut-backed Chikadee
Spotted Towhee
Purple Finch
Anna’s Hummingbird

Today I managed to spend some time up close with the big lens on the camera. I think I managed to get some reasonable shots. I’m hoping to get some hummingbird shots at sone point, but I won’t hold my breath!

Every year the LDS community in Victoria puts on a Nativity Pageant for the community. It’s well attended by people all over town with 4 shows a night for 3 nights straight. Having a baby this near Christmas and being part of the LDS community, the newest edition to our family had a chance to play the role of baby Jesus for a couple of showings. Not sure what the record of for youngest baby in the pageant is but he’s probably close!

Here’s a few pictures from last night.

Tonight was the kid’s Christmas concert at their new school. I must say it was definitely one of the better ones. The whole program was 45 minutes start to finish. It was also very entertaining. The Grade 1-3 students sang three songs - including one about how to eat a gingerbread man to the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey”:

I bite off a finger, then one of his hands.
That’s how I start eating my gingerbread man.

I lick off the icing; it’s creamy and sweet.
And then I devour his cute little feet.

Next are the buttons, all shiny and red.
And last, but not least, (yum) I bite off his head. (Crunch)

The older kids (Grades 4-6) put on a play called “North Pole Fever”. It included such hits as “Swine Flu is Coming to Town”, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and “Rudolf the Pig-nodes Reindeer” (he caught swine flu).

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

John, Erik, and Evan all attended their first camp of the Scouting season last weekend. The theme of the camp was Robin Hood, so all the activities revolved around things that Robin Hood and his Merry Men, the Sheriff of Nottingham and his Tax Collectors, would do. There was making loot bags and caps, searching the forest for taxes, making arrows for an archery competition, shooting slingshots, and jousting. Despite the rain, which occasionally lessened so we could go outside, all had a good time and came home happy but exhausted.

No better way to spend the first day of November on the wet coast then playing a little baseball! I love living in Victoria.

Evan and I did a little fishing again today. It rained hard all morning but had let up by early afternoon. I hoped it was going to hold off for the rest of the day. It didn’t.

Clara started playschool this week. She attends twice a week from 9:00 to 11:30. She likes it so much that she started to cry when I came to pick her up! She especially likes having a pink backpack to carry her pictures home in.

She also started ballet lessons recently. She loves her new ballet outfit and is having fun learning some new “moves”. It’s shaping up to be busy year for her!

Check out some pictures of her here.

I knew it had been a while since I last posted something here, but I didn’t realize that it has been almost an entire year.  It has also been a while since I last posted any photos to our photo album, so I have posted a number of new albums that can be found here.  These include photos from Leif’s first birthday, our summer vacation, and Clara’s third birthday.

Clara is very excited about some new beginnings this Fall.  Yesterday she started ballet, which she has been looking forward to for a very long time, and on Tuesday she will start preschool where she will spend a few hours twice a week.  Cassandra bought her a new backpack for preschool, which she has been carrying around with her wherever she goes.

Leif started walking a couple months ago while we were on our summer vacation, and he has never looked back.  He is very excited about this newfound freedom and is keeping Cassandra and I on our toes more than ever.  He has also acquired a few words, like momma, daddy and doggy (the latter two more or less sound the same).  I understand that he has also learned how to meow, but I think I’ve only heard that once.