Oklahoma We Meet Again

A couple of weeks ago Brad and I took a short trip to Oklahoma to see family. He had some days off of school and I found us a cheap flight. We left during a winter storm in Buffalo, and after we arrived a big winter storm popped up for most of the US. As the week went on all of the news coverage was about how terrible it was going to be, so I knew our trip home would be  a bit delayed!

We enjoyed lots of visits with my dad, my mom and stepdad, and my brothers. My dad got to show us his "trails" he's been working at his house, and wet got to meet his new dog Bingo.

My mom we recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's so this visit was important for us to see her and spend time with her. She didn't remember us but I did get to spend an afternoon with her and even got her to play a bit of piano! She's an excellent pianist and although I'm sure it has been a long time since she last played, she took right to it and was able to play a couple of pages in each book. 

Brad and his grandpa Gary went out for the afternoon for some fun while I stayed at the house with my mom. I did some light cleaning while she napped then visited with her after I got her up.

We even got a brief visit with my sister in-law Sarah and our niece Zoe. She's just a few months older than Bradley but he is now taller than everyone!

A couple of days before the winter storm hit, our flight home got cancelled so I had to bump it to the next day and extended our hotel one more night. I turned our rental car in a bit early as well so my family wouldn't have to get out into the snow and ice to pick me up. We pretty much just stayed in our hotel room all of Saturday watching the snow outside and eating my rations of snacks and hamburgers I stashed in our mini fridge.

The new flight was supposed to be Sunday afternoon, but in true Oklahoma fashion that flight was also cancelled and I had no choice but to extend it yet another day to Monday morning. As fun as the hotel room was, my brother Eric offered to let us crash on his couch Sunday night so we happily took him up on that. He braved the few inches of untouched snow on the roads Sunday afternoon to pick us up and we hung out at his house the rest of that day.

We got up at o' dark thirty Monday morning and thank you sweet baby Jesus the airport was cleared and beginning to function after the apocalyptic 6" snow fall. We made it to our connection in Chicago but of course now the snow storm had moved east to Buffalo so our flight home was delayed a couple of hours. I soothed myself with an airport hotdog.

Thankfully Buffalo is much better at handling actual snow so we landed safely Monday evening and greeted Nick and Jacob with joy to bring us back home. School had been cancelled that day so Brad didn't have to worry about missing the first day of his new semester, and my coworker switched my shift with me so I could miss that night of work. 

As much as I would have rather been stranded on a beach vs Oklahoma, it was nice to see the family and catch up!

Celebrating 23 years of Marriage

Nick and I recently had a date night out to celebrate our 23rd anniversary! We went to our favorite hibachi restaurant and it was so good! They even made us a delicious dessert to share.

It's crazy how the years have gone by. I have a lot of big milestones I'm celebrating this year so stay tuned. 

RIP To Our Cuddle Kid

February 13, 2005 to January 13, 2026

The Infamous Mr Cuddles 

We are heartbroken to share that we unexpectedly lost our Cuddles on January 13, just a month shy of his 21st birthday. 

He has been here longer than our children, and is the only main pet they have ever known for the whole lives. The house is quiet without him walking around howling for attention and we will miss him every day.

We did have him cremated and memorialized to celebrate his long life and the imprint he made on our hearts.

Catching up and Christmas

These last couple of months have been filled with school activities and prepping for the holiday season! Bradley is in many clubs at school for his senior year, and at their "Senior Tea" he had an art display with a few of his projects. He received a certificate noting his accomplishment!

For one of his classes he had to turn in an essay, so of course he brought out his typewriter for some vintage style.

We all enjoyed a breakfast with Santa at a small place in a nearby town. You're never too old for Christmas cheer!

The house has been very festive with the traditional village on the mantel and our tree in the window.

With the Student Council Brad assisted with a blood drive, then donated blood as well for the first time!

Jacob received perfect attendance for the first semester!

The boys enjoyed their annual trip to the school's holiday craft night. They didn't make any crafts this year haha, however they did enjoy hot cocoa and decorating cookies that they promptly ate.

Brad let the little kids throw rings at his antlers. He's still a little kid at heart.

As we were leaving we caught the gingerbread man coming in!

Jacob also got 3rd place in his Geography Bowl competition.

For Christmas Eve after dinner we packed up and headed out to a charming light display in a neighboring town. Unfortunately we had no snow on the ground for Christmas! But the lights were very nice.

Christmas morning with my boys was fun! First they got to open their stockings to see all of their treats.

Next we had homemade buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast.

After breakfast we headed into the living room to organize the gifts then tear into them!

Even Cuddles got some gifts! He got a new food dish, some treats, and a couple of sweaters to keep warm on the chilly nights.

Now we're just relaxing while the kids are home on break before getting back into normal life next week.

As far as Brad's college update....unfortunately he was waitlisted for MIT and won't find out the final decision until March. He still has a pending application with RIT and expects to get into their Honors Program there--we will find out in late Jan. He has also decided to put in a last minute application for Stanford that is due next week. They also have a very competitive process and low acceptance rate, but we know whatever is meant to be will happen for him!

A Weekend in Banff National Park

I just returned from a fun weekend trip to see the beauty of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. My travel buddy Christie needed a spontaneous adventure so she booked us a hostel in the town of Banff for a few days. We flew from Toronto to Calgary and after getting our rental car we made the 2hr drive to Banff last Thurs evening.

We stayed in a private room at the HI Banff Alpine Center and were very happy with it! We ate dinner at the cafe on site that night then got some sleep.

We woke up Friday morning to a fresh layer of snow! I enjoyed some coffee in the loft with an amazing view of the mountains.

That day we wanted to see Lake Louise, but there are lots of sights along the way.

Here is the viewpoint at Morants Curve:

The next stop was Johnston's Canyon for a hike to Upper Falls. There was a nice paved boardwalk to go on however some parts were slippery from the packed down snow cover. The views thru the canyon and numerous waterfalls were beautiful!

 After that we continued on toward Lake Louise, stopping at one more scenic viewpoint along the way.

We finally arrived in the ski town of Lake Louise and made our way to the popular lake. It was getting pretty busy but we grabbed parking then headed toward the lake shore for the tranquil alpine views.

We grabbed lunch in town then made our way back to the town of Banff so we could go on our next adventure.....the gondola! Our tickets were for 4pm so we got there and were able to get right on for our ride up the mountain side. 

The gondola brought us to the visitor center at the top so we walked around a bit to wait till closer to sunset. Then we went outside to the boardwalk where we walked that all the way up to the summit of Sulphur Mountain! We watched the sun go behind the clouds and mountain range and enjoyed the views of the valley from 8,000+ft elevation. 

After walking the boardwalk we made our way back down to the visitor center and warmed up with a latte while we sat and enjoyed the views from inside.

It was starting to get dark by the time we took the gondola back down,so we got great views of the town lights in the valley.

Last little peak of the sunlight in the west.

For Saturday our plan was to leave early and head SW for a natural roadside hot spring! It was about a 2.5hr drive with amazing views along the way. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife the whole trip, and finally got to see some up close in the town of Radium....big horn sheep!

In the valley we drove in and out of the fog

Eventually we crossed into the province of British Columbia and made it to the Lussier Hot Springs just past Canal Flats. We had to take an unpaved logging road for about 11 miles that went a long the cliff side down the valley, then we finally made it to the parking area for the hot spring. The province did make the parking area and trail to the river more civilized, however the hot spring is uncommercialized.

It was just a few small pools off the side of the river where natural hot water comes out of the mountain side. The first pool here was the hottest ranging from 110-120°, but the the others closer to the river were cooler.

We stayed there about 2hr and by noon it was starting to get more busy with visitors and families so we packed up and headed back to the car. We grabbed lunch and enjoyed the wonderful views along the ride back to Banff.

We passed by a marker for the Continental Divide which also marked the border of provinces, putting us back in Alberta.

Once back in Banff we went to a grocery store for some dinner snacks then cooked our food in the kitchen at the hostel.

For Sunday our last full day there we just walked around the town and checked out the sights and the shops. Here is the Bow Falls in Banff:

Inside one of the shopping centers we got a delicious lunch at the food court. I got a falafel plate PLUS butter chicken poutine. I took the poutine with me to eat later that evening it was so good.

But on the way back to the car I saw a place with hotdogs, so of course I had to get one of those too! It was little and made a good snack.

In true travel fashion our flight home on Monday was delayed about 8hr due to "maintenance", which would have put us landing back in Toronto in the middle of the night. We would have essentially been stranded because our car was parked and we would not have been able to access it until the place opened the next morning on Tuesday. After some fighting with the airline, we got the flight changed to a red eye flight for Sunday night instead of Monday, so then the plan was to just check out of the hostel early and make the drive back to Calgary Sunday evening.

But wait, there's more! Then a snow storm decided to pop up around Toronto on Sunday and delayed a bunch of flights coming and going. So due to that our flight yet again got delayed a couple more hours. So we got to vegetate in the Calgary airport until our flight left around 3am Monday morning. After a VERY long day we landed back into Toronto around 9am Monday and made it thru the snow to collect our car and drive the 2hr back home. Another adventure done!