Josh’s 16… I mean almost 19 – trip

Sometimes things line up perfectly, somethings they don’t.

The summer of Josh’s “16 trip” we had a ton going on. He was heading to HEFY in Paraguay, Zach was heading on his mission, and Zandra was heading to BYU-H. It was too much to fit in a European vacation.

Plus – what’s the rush?!?

So we decided to postpone it a smidge.

Then Covid hit and boom – the trip was off the table. For a while.

There were a few windows here and there but none seemed to work.

Then Josh decided to take a Gap year and work/travel. I knew we had to find a way to squeeze the trip in!

I suggested we meet him at some point in Europe – as a nice break, or maybe at the end of his trip in the summer.

He would have none of that bcs that would require too much planning and he didn’t want to be restricted with friends.

So he agreed to go ahead of his buddies with us to Europe and he would meet up with them when they arrived in Europe.

But where to? In the winter?!

The criteria was: somewhere ok with the cold and somewhere too expensive and out of the way that he for sure would not travel to with his friends.

Scandinavia and Switzerland. Obvious choices.

With Covid on the up though it was seriously touch and go right down to the last minute!

We had to cut out our original plan to go to Stockholm due to flights continuously getting cancelled. Plus more countries meant more paperwork headaches. You really do have to do a lot of things to get prepared and safe to go.

So we decided on Copenhagen for the weekend and Switzerland for the week (Zurich, Lucern, Interlacken and Zermatt).

We flew via Portugal – who has a whole lot of paperwork to do just for the very quick layover. The guy told me I was very organized and we made it through but had to race to catch our connection!

I was excited to hit Denmark bcs that is where my brother had served his mission back in the early 90’s. I remember hearing so much about it – so it was high on my list to go. Of course with all the chaos and uncertainty around going, I forgot to even tell him we were going! When we arrived in the city, I took a quick picture of Tivoli (which was closed) and he then shared with me all his recommendations!

Our hotel – Plaza Copenhagen. It had old school charm and amazing breakfast!

Things were relatively open in the city. The museums were closed – but Josh is not a museum guy anyway. The churches were open and there is a ton to do via walking and a canal ride. Restaurants were somewhat open – some where closed so the open ones were busy. We figured it out and made reservations the second night after having to settled for burgers the first night.

We first grabbed some lunch.

Then we just went out to explore and happened to discover the famous pedestrian street that we ended up walking on several times a day.

Here are some photos of our first day. The photos are pretty random, but we covered:

Radhuspladsen (city hall) & sitting on Hans Christian Andersons’ lap:)

The Stroget (main walking street)

Von Freslers Kirke (unfortunately it was closed to go in and climb the tower)

Christiansborg Palace – we climbed the tower.

You can see that we stayed out and got to see the lights of the city. It was so pretty. Copenhagen is beautiful!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

It’s birthday time!!

It has been big year of transitions for Gabe and Shannon!

And I have loved watching this girl face every adversity, challenge, and opportunity with such grace, humility, gratitude and sense of adventure.

From graduating last Dec to entering the world of full time employment, to losing her job due to cutbacks to starting her own business! She has packed and moved multiple times – including cross county, and had a fun stint in NYC.

I’ve also loved this year bcs we finally got to see Gabe and Shannon after over 2 years!

We got to see them in the summer for 10 days and a whole month over Christmas!

So we got to have a lot of “everyday” interaction too which was so so nice!

Here are 10 of the many things I love about Shannon:

She is hardworking. It was fun seeing her in action and bcs she works in the life coaching industry we have some common circles and I love hearing how much people love working with her!

She is always up for an adventure . Moving cross country? Done. Moving again? Why not?! Travel anywhere – sure!

She has strong opinions. I love that she is a strong, independent woman who has ambitions, perspectives, desires, beliefs and is never afraid to speak her mind.

At the same time, she is so respectful of others. She advocates for herself, others and her beliefs, but is patient and tolerant all at the same time.

She is always so quick to respond to any text our family (or me!) sends. I can count on her to be one of the first to respond!

She is supportive of everyone around her. If you have something going on, she remembers. She asks questions, offers help, shows enthusiasm – she takes an interest in all around her.

She needs her quiet time – and is not afraid to show it, take it and recharge!

She is resourceful – whether it be finding out how to do something, make something, go somewhere – she figures it out. She researches things and is always willing to share.

She is a planner. Nothing more to say except she’s a woman after my own planning heart!

She is a great life partner with Gabe. She is loving, kind, supportive, fun, playful, serious, honest, considerate, challenging (in the good way lol)… they are so great together and it’s fun watching them grow together in life!

So happy to have Shannon as part of our CDF family !

Happy happy birthday and much love to you! Looking forward to another fun year together!!

Love you!

Xox

Monthly Snaps of Life

It’s been a while… will I do better in the future at updating this blog? I hope so! But I do have some photos documenting some things the past several (or more) months. I also rely on who sends me photos nowadays since we are almost complete empty nesters!

But here’s a massive photo dump (in random order bcs it just does that when I do a massive photo dump and I don’t feel like resorting them all!)


2021 in Review

Covid again

Lots of walks

Lots of TV shows: Grey’s, Virgin River, Bloodline, Succession, Emily in Paris

Zandra & Ilyah engagement

Sam learning Bass

Greece!!! So many good memories

Zach moved from Lethbridge to Airdrie then home from mission

Josh graduation from grade 12

G&S New York time

Genesis concert

Shannon FT job – then started own VA company

Certifications – EFT, chronic pain, Breathwork

Podcast over 12 K downloads and 50+ episodes

Seminary mornings

Zion National Park getaway

Zach to BYU

Josh to Jasper

G&S Denver to Tampa

Sam started band

Instacart

Patio dining – love getting out!!

Montreal visit- Mom and Robert&Tarina

Rob turns 50!

Rob’s 50th celebration

Sam starts grade 11

Gabe starts law school

Josh accepted and deferred Carlton

Reggie

Zach & Rachael engaged

Positive Covid test change Christmas plans

Buffalo adventures

Summer jobs

Wedding dress shopping

Transition to Leah Davidson Life Coaching

Mamapreneur finalist

Guest and speaker on multiple podcasts and summits

Rob winning big car deals

Alfa Romeo for Rob

Lots of coaching

Tapping for the Holidays series

Lots of reading

Robbie running

Writing that gets published

Family games

Family Karaoke

Our faves: Sushi, poke bowls, burgers, Eataly, Danforth Dragon, Market Street Catch, Bier Market

Online zoom church

Zoom everything

Work from home

Rob’s 2021 Christmas Poem

Christmas 2021

Clickity clack Covid don’t come back.

What a crazy year, on that point let’s be clear!

Birthdays and such started early in the year with Shannon, then 

Josh, Leah, Zandra, Zach, Gabe and Sam too, 

And half a century for you know who!!

Josh could vote and Sam could drive

The empty nest feeling we will learn to jive

Confined to be local as we locked down round by round 

Despite the uncertainty we fought off the frown

Some big events happened even while the pandemic glitched 

CDF middle ones made plans to get hitched!

Zandra at first living among the Hawaiian beauty 

It was a young man on active duty

And then there’s Zach who was soon to be on his way back

From Lethbridge to Airdrie and Calgary too, he certainly left his mission with nothing left to do

Covid continued to play havoc with the year

The youngest two online but graduation for Josh was in the clear

Sam on to another grade, more whiskers on his face

He was now a rocking band member playing his bass

A drive to the big Apple

New start to grapple 

On this smarty pants front, 

Gabe and Shannon off to 

Florida, the unjust and social media challenged to confront

Then there was Leah the true brave heart 

Another business and big venture to play her power part

She branched out for her solo fable

Exciting new change and best of luck to Ms. Stable

But wait back to me the oldest in the crew

A big birthday bash downtown and a hotel night too!

Then a quick trip to drop off Zach and Rachael at school

We even hiked up to an emerald pool

And we made plans for a getaway Leah in a bikini!

We were off to Greece and Santorini

We made it back to the Great White North,  PCR friendly to boot

And started to think of home comings and Christmas loot

A quick aside age as our nemesis

We even managed to go see Genesis

And now if you please pass the mayo

It’s the only thing that rhymes with Afla Romeo

But back to the ramp up to old Saint Nick 

And there was another proposal to stick

With signs and a dash and planning from Zach’s marry me  crew

Rachael said yes to make it engagement number 2!

And so with Josh in the woods all tired and in Jasper Park

I better get on with the end of this rambling before it gets too dark 

So positive negative, we didn’t know where to go

But we made it here! Thanks Buffalo

So with a wink and cheer and snow afresh on the ground

Merry Christmas to all and let the love abound!

Christmas 2021

We had a full house this Christmas! Everyone arrived home except for Josh – who stayed out in Jasper to work at the Fairmont Jasper Lodge.

Rob and I first went out to the “Winter Village” (aka The Toronto Christmas Market – they changed the name for some reason this year?!?!)

Gabe and Shannon arrive in early December. It was so nice to have them around for decorating and just doing everyday things.

Zandra and her fiancee Ilyah arrived next from Hawaii. We then had a nice Chritsmasy dinner and headed out to deliver Christmas cookies to friends:

Zach and Rachael has some drama getting home. They day after they got engaged – they got Covid. Although it felt more like a flu, it caused complications for getting home to Canada. There were time restrictions related to how long had to pass since they were diagnosed before they came through the border. We were able to get creative and re-route them to Buffalo where at least we could spend some time together while waiting for the tie to pass- or until they got a negative test. Miraculously, the day after they landed in Buffalo, their test came back negative! We were so happy to head home! But first, we spent some time in Niagara – on the US side. (I also had to do some work there and had to get creative for my zoom call!)

Meanwhile, back home, Rob and some of the kids went to the movies:

Everyone came home to get ready for Christmas:

We went out for Pho one the 24th and went to the Distillery to walk around a bit:

Christmas Eve we did our traditional program and nativity – a lot more participants. We missed Josh and my mom and sister:(

Gifts came next:

Missing this guy:

In the morning:

We had a chill couple of days and then did a “Family Fun Day” where we went for a nice walk in the ravine, played some games, ate some schwarma poutine and then followed the night up with some karaoke.

The fun starts when your brother in law helps you tuck your pants into you mother in law’s too big boots, lol:

Rob and I went out for dinner at Ki (squeezed it in before restaurants went in lockdown again!)

We had dinner with everyone on NYE – Danforth Dragon – everyone’s favourite Hakka Chinese food:

Everyone went their separate ways (except Gabe and Shannon stayed with us) and then Zach and Rachael came home just bore midnight to ring in the new year with us:

We went to church:

And then we got to go pick up Rachael’s wedding dress with her! She had shopped with her mom and sister and then decided on one so Shannon and I went to get it with her!

The kids engaged in some silliness:

And then we all headed to the airport to pick up Josh:

I snuck in to get him

He had lots of stories

We watched him open his Christmas gifts:

And then got the call two days later that all the staff from his department had Covid – so we tested him and guess what – he was either pregnant or positive:

So room service it was:

Then I took a test and it was pretty doubtful it meant I was pregnant…

So Covid started our Christmas holidays and ended it…

Overall though, we had a great Christmas:)

Good bye Mykonos

After another amazing breakfast, a great beach day, we head back to our hotel terrace and soaked in the hot tub – I brought my kindle in and just spent some final hours enjoying reading!

We went to the beach for dinner again and had a really good final dinner. We admired the view from our terrace for the last time.

The next morning, we were off on our long journey home!

And we were off!

What an amazing vacation!!

It was so good to be out travelling again – hopefully the world can continue to get the help they need to open up!

Mykonos Beach Days

We were in Mykonos for two full days and we decided to spend them on the beach.

We initially planned to tour the island – but the weather was gorgeous – we were finally unwinding and knowing that the end of our trip was coming so decided to just chill. We did head into the main town Chora one evening – but I will post about that separately. For now, I’ll just post a collage of pictures from our two beach days.

They started off with the incredible hotel buffet. I mean incredible (we stayed at the Myconian Ambassador) .

We then walked the 5 min to the beach (Playa Gialos), rented two sun chairs and umbrella (luckily low season meant they weren’t astronomical priced and they were available ) and parked ourselves there. We read, napped and even went in the water as it got really hot! We had lunch at the restaurant that rented the chairs both times and it was really quite good (we even went back there for dinner one night).

So here are the photos starting with breakfast at the hotel by the pool:

There are only so many photos of doing nothing I can take, lol.

They were some very chill, relaxing, amazing few days!

Heading to Mykonos

We decided to wake up super early and go for a walk and go back to the restaurant where we had the great bunch… we were the first ones there when it open!

We headed to the port to catch a ferry to Mykonos. Not the most organized process – but we managed to get on the ferry and sailed to Mykonos.

Neither of us had every been to Myknonos and we stayed super close to the beach bcs we were looking for some great beach days.

Our hotel was pretty nice:)

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on our great terrace. We then headed to dinner right on the beach:)

Perissa Beach and Red Beach

We decided to rent a car to head to some beaches,

But first – word of warning. You need an international drivers license in Greece (which we did not have – we have never needed one ! But luckily we found a couple of places that were willing to rent to us anyways (charging a ton extra in Crete but we had no choice since we needed the car for the week) but we just got a simple convertible smart car for exploring Santorini.

We mainly wanted to go to the beaches anyway.

We headed to Perissa beach (black sand beach ) – which I vividly remember spending time at ( and getting heat stroke at!) and we saw some backpackers there – so clearly it is the young place to go. LOL.

But since we are older, instead of spreading out our towels on the sand, we rented the chairs and umbrella and ordered drinks:) Sometimes it is rather nice to get older…

We had an ok lunch – we ordered the wrong things – but the place was cute:)

Here is a whole mix of lazy beach pictures:

Our cute little card wedged in:

After lunch , we decided to head to Red beach. We got a bit lost and went down some pretty scary roads (that we were worried about with our little smart car that if we leaned a little too far over we would tip lol)

But we got there and hiked to the beach and it was so pretty!!

We got back in time to sit on the terrace and take in the sunset again:

We found this amazing restaurant that was in the perfect location – right on the edge with incredible views – it was so romantic and delicious! It was a little chilly – and they had nice heaters and gave us blankets. It was a small restaurant with only a few tables so the service was also great. It was the perfect way to spend our last Santorini night!