Spain and Stampede Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been awhile since we've written, so thought we'd let everyone know how we (especially Jakob) are doing. We had a wonderful time in Madrid, Spain at the end of June / beginning of July. Jakob was wonderful on all of our flights. He has the whole flying thing down and manages to keep himself entertained with a book that Rachael gave him (think we owe her a million dollars for that) and also does a good job of sleeping on the planes. We worked out that he has been on 14 airplanes in 5 months! Wow!

Spain was nice and warm for us! Nice to not have a light jacket with you everywhere you go. We all went to Parque de Retiro (largest park in Madrid) after we arrived and had a boat ride, then hung out by the pool at the hotel the rest of the day. Jakob is like a fish...just loves the water. The rest of the week, I was at the World Petroleum Congress and only got to see the boys for a little bit each evening, but it was a great time for them to bond. They went to many parks, the zoo, a water park, and had pasta nearly every night (which Jakob loves)! The food in Madrid isn't great, so we did the best we could. The conference ended Thursday and we left on Saturday, so we had a chance to go to an amusement park, the zoo, and a gondola ride. We tried to go to a water park that was in a "Top 10 Madrid" book we just bought off of Amazon, but after driving 40 km south and hearing "You have arrived" on the navigation system, but not seeing the water park, we knew something was wrong. We sat there next to all of these car yards thinking "where in the heck is this thing?" Then, behind a tree in the distance I could see what used to be a waterslide. Turns out the place shut down and the book on Amazon was from 2003! I guess a lot can change in 5 years. Poor Jakob is still asking about the water park that is "all gone."

It was amazing how much his vocabulary increased while in Spain. I think there were just so many new things he was seeing each day and he was so excited, that he was like a little sponge. One funny thing in particular was when we were on one of our flights home and I took Jakob to the potty. We had to wait because someone on the plane was already in there, but Jakob could see Wayne sitting in his seat. He kept yelling something at Wayne and it took me a minute to figure out what it was. He was yelling, "Wayne.....Wayne.....Wayne!" I didn't realize he knew what our names were. I know every kid goes through that stage of calling their parents by their first name and I guess Jakob is in this stage. He then started calling me Courtney. So funny!

Once we arrived back from Spain, the Calgary Stampede (rodeo / fair) was in full swing. It was party after party each week for us, so we traded off staying with Jakob. Jakob was able to go to the Accenture Employee party and he had a blast riding the bus there, jumping on the bouncing castle, riding a mechanical bull, and playing musical chairs. It was a very fun party. On the weekend, we took him to the fairgrounds to see the horses and ride rides, which he loved. He is not as interested in rides that are on the ground as he is the ones that go up in the air. Very much a daredevil. When we put him on a helicopter ride by himself, we could not tell if he was having fun or not, but when the lady took him off, he started balling saying, "More! More!" So, we put him on again and told him, "1 more time..." So, each time he would come around on the helicopter, he would lean out and say to us, "1 more time...1 more time..." It was so funny. I told Wayne it is like he can't even enjoy the ride because he is so worried about, "1 more time." My mom reminded me that I was like that when I was younger. Everyday when she dropped me off at daycare, I would confirm with her, "4:00" which was the time she would pick me up. One day, she got in the car and realized I had not asked her what time that day, but when she looked at the door, I was standing there with 4 fingers up on one hand and waving with the other to confirm "4:00."

In terms of his Russian speaking, his teachers at school told us that he did actually speak a Russian word in class the other day (besides "dah" which means "yes"). Apparently, he knows the word for butt! Isn't that nice? He used it when one of the other kids was going potty. I've actually been working with him a little bit to try to say a word in English and then in Russian and getting him to repeat. I can tell he still understands things in Russian and his teachers say the same...he just does not really speak it.

Just this weekend, he started saying, "Excuse me" if he wants to talk and then sometimes he even yells to Wayne and me, "Stop Talking!" so that he can talk. He must have learned all of this from school.

Wayne has been having to do a bit of traveling with work...a trip to Houston, Madison, Wisconsin and this week St. Charles, Illinois outside of Chicago. I just recently started golf lessons with one of my work friends, so hoping to get to start playing a bit. I really enjoy it and I find it very relaxing.

We are getting ready to have relatives, Rex and Betty, visit from Australia on July 31 - August 4 while they are on a 1 year "around the world tour" and then we have friends, Yusuf and Nicole and their kids, coming on August 4 for 1 night, but then we will meet them in Thunder Lake just near Edmonton the following weekend for camping with their friends. At the end of the month, we head to Memphis and then the summer, as we know it here in Calgary, will be over! Sniff sniff! Right now, we are enjoying some sunshine (and a daily rain) and trying to make the most of it by staying outside as much as possible going for bike rides and to the park. Hoping to go hiking and canoeing at Lake Louise next weekend.

I hope everyone is doing well and please let us know when you are coming to Calgary!

Zoo in Spain with Monkeys

Jakob at an amusement park in Madrid

Headed to the Calgary Stampede with his cowboy hat backwards

Jakob on a helicopter at Stampede