PG Adventures: Thanksgiving Family Time

For my “Tablespoon of Geek” post this week I talked about how I was out of town last weekend and therefore did not get a chance to cook. I will explain a little further for thanksgiving this year my Wifey and I made the nine hour trek from Calgary to Prince George. It is best to be around family during the holidays and when you get to see Family you normally do not get to see during these holidays it becomes special.

To get from where we live all the way up to Prince George is quite a long trip but totally worth it in the end. I have a strong belief that everyone should enjoy the journey just as much as they would the destination. Driving through the Rocky mountains is quite an experience, watching all the beautiful landscapes as they pass by the windows tends to leave me at a loss for words. It is so stunning it really makes you realize not only how amazing this country but how outstanding the world can be.

Once we got there landed in the country side house it was essentially family visiting non-stop and I am actually pretty ok with that. It was nice sometimes being a fly on the wall and watching as this family interacted and laughed all the time. One thing I can say for sure is that Wifey’s Grandma made sure there was no possible chance for us to hungry. There was delicious food everywhere all the time and sticking to a diet plan was actually impossible but that is ok because it was totally worth it.

Being out there it was essentially like radio silence, sure we had our phones on us but for the most part they were off. We had so many other things to occupy our time that the lack of social networking wasn’t really missed all that much. Wifey and I didn’t get a lot of time to just the two of us and that is to be expected when you are visiting family.

Even though our lack of couply time was severely in lacking out there we did get the opportunity for a little us time. Her Aunt and Uncle were very gracious to allow us to take out their side-by-side Quad out for a ride through all the back country that surrounds there lovely home. Just as the drive up there carting around the wooded hills was beautiful and getting to look out at amazing views was very romantic, even if we both had on giant helmets.

On Sunday we all got together and went out to the golf course for the first ever family golf tournament. Bear in mind that I have not held a golf club in just about ten years and therefore promptly suck very hard. Luckly I was not the only one without any skill in the Scottish game of hitting a little ball into a little hill hundreds of yards away. We were devided into teams with all the couple separated and the terrible un-experienced golfers were also split up. I learn from this experience that I have a very good short game and that unlike most people with a driver in my hands I can hit the ball higher up than I do farther.

Every night after a large dinner everyone would gather around the table and play a large game of yatzee. Due to the size of the group it was a guys vs. girls game with everyone laughing and egging each other on. This isn’t the first time that I have gone up there for a visit so I am well aware of the yatzee tradition, but unlike last time I finally rolled a yatzee and brought my team to victory, on duces no less.

All in all it was a pretty good family weekend and I am glad we got to go out there this year.

Sincerely Urban Yeti

Home again

Well today I am freshly back home from a visit of the extended family out in the flat province of Manitoba. We got a little more visitation in before we boarded a metal tube with wings and jetted back home. As with any family trip we continued to meet hoards of new people whose names I have already pretty much forgotten which is ok because I do not believe that I will ever need to remember them.

 

After a swift check out of our hotel and a quick stop for life nectar, I mean coffee, at Tim’s we drove over to my uncle the father of the new groom. We arrived earlier than anyone else so we could help my uncle to set up for a hundred some odd BBQ he was holding in honor of his son and new daughter in-law. Being the first to arrive has some unique benefits that come along with it, the first is that my uncle being a bachelor with too much spare change means he has a pretty sick electric drum kit set up in his living room. Him not having anyone around a lot he was more than happy to let Brudar and myself play on his awesome big boy toy, Wifey however was not so impressed with our terrible attempts to have rhythm.

 

 

One of the other fun toys that my uncle has in his possession is a very large meat slicer complete with over sized rotating blade. He let me use this apparatus to slice all the vegetables for the BBQ, this is one kind of toy that makes prep work in the kitchen tons of fun.

 

We only got to stay to see a few of the guests arrive at the shin dig in my uncles back yard before we had to leave to catch our flight back home. As I have previously mentioned in my blog traveling with my direct family is frustrating and ultimately tiring. Last night I was glad to be home in my own house in my own bed going to sleep, travel is fun and all but ultimately it is nice to have my own space.

Today I started at my new job downtown like all jobs the first day is kinda boring because it is all about the orientation and getting to know what is expected of you within the job. Ultimately this is boring as all can be, you just sit there listening to human resources representatives tell you pretty basic things about safety and what kinds of forms you need to hunt down to get anything done. Alas it is not a total lose however some exciting things happened today, like i got my own cubical and my own office space with a name plate that means I am going up in the world. so here I go scaling up my corporate climbing wall because ladders are boring.


Sincerely Urban Yeti

YWG Day Three: The Final Day

My cousins wedding was crazy amounts of fun last night and today is my last day in the city of Winnipeg. Being older now visiting with all my cousins is completely different then it was before when I was younger, I no longer feel like I am on the outside of the group like I use too. Conversing with my cousins is a lot more enjoyable now compared to when I was younger and I was the artistic kid and they all liked sports but this time we could laugh together and have a jolly old time. It was nice having my beautiful Wifey by my side while I rediscovered my family roots and ties, and like times gone past my brother stuck by me so that we wouldn’t have to face the kin alone but as a united front. 

I have a slew of photos from the evening of my family that I want to share but right now I need to stop typing so I can pack. There is one more family event to go before we hop on a jet plane and head back to my wonderful city of Calgary. Check out is in a couple of hours and as always my father has planned everything down to the last minute for our trip so we must not be late for his very important dates and times.

I hope Mr. Devo is happy with the rock we found him on the beach of Lake Winnipeg.

Sincerely Urban Yeti