Home Grown Hero

Home Grown Hero

Just wanted to share this article, that was in the Spokane Newspaper this morning with you all. I am so proud of Derek, and all he has accomplished. Love that man!!

Venice Italy for the day

Monday Derek and I had the opportunity to drive to Venice Italy for the day to meet some friends. Its only about 2 1/2 hours from Villach. Our friends Maggie and Dylan Stanley are playing in Italy, and was a halfway point for both of us. What better place to meet, than in Venice for the day?? Derek played with Dylan in Edmonton for the Golden Bears, and it was so great to catch up with them. Maggie is expecting in January, and looked so cute. I hope I look half as cute as she does when I am pregnant.

Venice was better and more amazing than I could have imagined. It literally felt like we were on a movie set. The city was partially flooded while we were there, and they had walking platforms set up everywhere. We were actually curious to whether the city ever flooded, and were quick to get our answer. The main square had about a foot of standing water, so we were not able to get very close to the Basilica. But I am sure we will be going back to Venice once we have visitors. We spent the afternoon exploring, eating and taking in all that Venice had to offer. It is more expensive than most cities we've been to, but understandably so since its built solely on 118 small islands,separated by canals and linked by bridges. It's defiantly a must see in our opinions! Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the day.

Happy Holidays!!!

Hello Everyone! I know I know I am waaay over due for a blog post. I have so much to catch up on. It's now a little over a week away from Christmas and I can hardly wait. This is my absolute favorite time of year. We wanted our first Christmas away from home to seem as much like home as possible. We bought a little tree, and decorated it and our apartment a little. This morning Jules and I made gingerbread houses and lets just say it was a lot harder than we thought. I plan to do some Christmas baking here in the next few days too.

Yesterday Derek's sister Sarah had her first baby!!! We are so excited for Sarah and Eric, and so excited to be Aunt and Uncle to the cute little guy. Can't wait to meet him!! April can not come fast enough. That's all for now, but I will post more about the McKinlay's trip to visit us, and Dr's awesome year!! Love you all, and Happy Holidays!!!

HOCKEY

Well, we are three games into the regular season now. Derek is doing great. He already has his first goal and assist. The team is 1-2 and they have another tough road game tomorrow. Cross your fingers they get a big W. They have had 2 of their 3 games on the road, so I haven't been able to watch. Before the regular season started they had a memorial tournament at the rink. Their team won the tournament, and Derek was named Forward of the tournament. He got a really nice (and expensive) piece of Handmade Hungarian China as his award. Its apparently worth $400 Euro which is about $600. WOW, what a cool keepsake from our time here in Hungary. Here are a few pictures from the games and tournament.

Bory Var Castle

On our days off, Derek and I usually like to do something fun and adventuresome. This last Monday we chose to go explore Bory Var Castle here is Szekesfehervar. It is about a hundred years old, and was built by a man named Bory Var. He was the engineer, architect and builder of this small castle. Its so amazing to me what people are capable of. The castle was beautiful, but we both agreed the grounds were probably more beautiful back in the day. After the castle we went and had massages at the local Thermal Bath. We both had hour long massages, and they were only $25 each. Can you believe that? We will definitely be back.

Bory Var 

Staircase inside castle