Christmas Letter 2011

          2011 is coming to a close and what an amazing year it was for our family. We had an epic year of fantastic experiences that all began on December 14/2010 when we hopped our first of many flights out of the cold bleak Alberta winter and 20 hours later arrived in beautiful hot and sunny Australia! Darren took a year off teaching and after finishing all his fall term post-graduate courses, we all set off on an adventure of travel in 2011. We had been saving money/air miles for 10 years and were bound and determined to use it all up this year!

We arrived in Sydney and stayed with Krista’s sister Melissa and family for 2 weeks with a quick trip over to Adelaide to see George/Melissa and family. On New Year’s Eve day, we headed to Christchurch New Zealand to stay with all of Krista’s cousins for a couple weeks as we traveled north across both islands for many adventures too numerous to mention. The boys had an amazing time swimming and meeting family we hadn’t seen in a long time. Krista grew up in New Zealand and was eager to show us her old stomping grounds. We saw where she went to school and even met up with an old friend she has kept in touch with since Kindergarten!

We returned to Sydney for a few days before flying home to Calgary. It was a shock leaving +35 and arriving to -24 but we will always have the memories.

As soon as we arrived back, we were thrust back into routines of school for all the boys (dad included) and work. Darren’s Ukrainian band played the usual Malanka gigs throughout Jan/Feb (www.absolutedanceband.com) as well as worked many Flames games at the Saddledome through to April.

Nicholas continued with his rigorous indoor soccer schedule and Jacob gave basketball a try. We had a great soccer tournament in Red Deer despite the -35 degree weather in late February. Both boys continued piano lessons right up until June.

March brought us into birthday season with Krista, Nicholas and Jacob in early April and lots of celebrations. Darren’s mom and dad got away to Arizona for six weeks and made a stop in on the way there and back. Krista’s mum stayed in Australia/NZ until mid-April as well.

As Darren wrapped up all his papers and exams in late April, we had the opportunity to get away to our time share in Nuevo Vallarta Mexico with our good friends Randy/Caroline for a week. We had a fantastic time with lots of swimming and visiting and eating/drinking of course! We arrived back to our new nephew/cousin Micah (Andrew/Bobbi) being born in late April! Awesome!

Jacob received his first communion at church as was very excited to be able to partake with the rest of the family! Krista wrapped up her very successful season of netball in May. Nicholas performed his solo at two Ukrainian dance festivals and received Gold for both performances!

In June, Darren got away to Saskatchewan with his Dad, brother Patrick and brother in law Neil for a five day fishing trip way up north. We had fantastic weather, caught hundreds of fish and had an amazing week! Thanks Dad! Darren wrapped up his four year term as Vice President of the Alberta Teachers Association local as school wrapped up with some great report cards.

We headed into summer beginning with swimming lessons with Grannie while Darren bartended a bit and played 4 weddings with the band in July.

Time flew into August and we were off again on another adventure to Maui/Kauai in Hawaii for Jessica/Dan’s wedding! We spent a few days in Maui being tourists and going to the Dole Pineapple plantation as well as Pearl Harbour. Darren’s highlight was renting a 2011 Red Camaro and driving all over the island for a day – one of the top things on the bucket list of travel for 30 years!

The wedding was amazing on the beach and we got to see all of Krista’s family for a week as we had many adventures on the beautiful island of Kauai. We arrived back in Calgary for a couple days and then Darren and the boys headed to Saskatchewan for ten days of camping and visiting with Grandma/Dido. The weather was spectacular as we got to Porcupine Plain, Greenwater Lake, Martensville, Saskatoon and few days camping in Leader before heading back to Calgary to being school in late August.

          School start-up was great for all the boys, Darren headed back to Grade 5 at St. Sebastian, Nicholas in Grade 5 also and Jacob in Grade 3. Nicholas has his dad for Science and Physed and it’s an adventure for both every day! Both boys signed up for competitive soccer so mom and dad are driving everywhere.

Thanksgiving was in Calgary with Krista’s family as we enjoyed an amazing fall of weather!  Darren got away to Vancouver for a couple days with his sister Leanne to celebrate brother Patrick’s 40^th birthday! We had a fantastic time catching up with all of Patrick’s great friends and Mia/Lucas of course! We were getting the travel bug again, so we dashed off to Banff with some friends for a night at the Banff  Springs Hotel. We absolutely love the history and the heated outdoor pool! The following weekend, Krista’s mum watched the boys while Krista and Darren whisked off to Las Vegas to do some shopping and visit with Krista’s cousins Antony/Sebon from the Cook Islands! The weather was super and we got almost all of our Christmas shopping done!

Krista’s mum headed back to Aus/NZ for 6 months when we returned. Both boys decided they wanted to try new music lessons as we had promised them they could after a couple years of piano. Nicholas chose drums and Jacob electric guitar. Oh boy… We found some great electronic drums and are hoping the headphones will save us through the Christmas season. Jacob is jamming on his ¾ Strat and has the ‘Smoke on the Water’ riff down already!

December is upon us as school comes to a close and we reflect back on an amazing year of travel and too many blessings to count. We are off to Martensville, Sask. to Darren’s parents for 4 days with the whole family travelling from Vancouver and Calgary. We will be home in Calgary from the 27^th on as Krista is back to work and Darren works a bit at the World Junior tournament. We are hoping to get out and do some snowboarding/skiing in the New Year as the boys are eager to try out their new snowboards.

We wish you all the best in 2012. May God bless you with amazing health and happiness in the coming year. Travel safely throughout the holidays and keep in touch! Darren, Krista, Nicholas and Jacob.

Follow our adventures at www.morozfamilyadventures.blogspot.com

Wednesday Nov 9th

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The day started off like any other day-except for Jacob coming into our bedroom and rather than waking up his mother(who sleeps closest to the door and like my father can fall back asleep in seconds) proceeds over to his dad to tell me all about his nightmare about viruses. 
All this at 320 am. 

After getting Jacob settled back into bed with the reminder to dream about riding his bike and winning the lottery , neither of those worked on his dad, who remained up until around 530am. 7am came early as preparations needed to be made to leave after lunch. 

After getting the boys dressed  and fed , we managed to get out the door and to school by 830. I got the last minute preparations ready in the gym for the Remembrance Day celebration as there was no classes for the following 2 days. 

After a bit of practicing, recess came and went and the celebration was upon us. A very moving ceremony dedicated to women in the war and their roles played. A few songs and speeches later, it was noon. I said goodbye to both boys and gave them a hug and walked home to pack for our trip to Las Vegas!!

We headed to the airport for 1 pm and Westjet took absolutely forever to get us checked in and through security. 

We headed for Vancouver first and landed at 329 local time. My brother Patrick had a hockey game in West Van so he joined us at the airport for a two hour supper.  We had a great catch up on his family and renovations of his new home. 
With 45 minutes before departure, we said goodbye and headed to security. We breezed through but Customs took 30 minutes so we kind of 'jogged' to our gate to be safe. Even though we were 20 minutes from departure, the plane was mostly full and we left shortly after being seated. 

Our flight to Vegas was very uneventful.  The joys of Westjet,  we just had a dozen channels of satellite tv and no movies. Seats were small and uncomfortable, but the price was right. 

We landed on schedule after 2hrs&24mins. We grabbed our luggage and hopped onto our shuttle and sat for 20 minutes while the driver (IQ well below 100) figured out where everyone was going. 

The MGM is massive. 4 wings and a few towers with 28 floors on each. We got put into a room with '2 Queens' as our King wasn't available. We arrived to discover two doubles so we were either cuddling or getting our own bed. 

We freshened up and headed out to the strip. We walked for 45 minutes north and stopped to watch the fountain show at the Bellagio. It's always pretty cool. We went through a few major hotels and ended up in Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We had a a couple specialty margaritas and shared some jerk chicken. The place was packed for a Wednesday. 

We strolled back to the MGM and decided to renegotiate with the front desk. This time we got a gal with more seniority who got us into a great room with a king bed and a view of part of the strip. 
1am Vegas time = 2am Calgary time 
Time for bed....

Sunday August 7th

Started the day off early with a quick phone call to the parents to wish them a 40^th wedding anniversary! All is well in Sk. Boys got moving after 830 and we were out the door to church for 915.  Quick 10min drive to the oldest Catholic Church on the island and attended one of the most amazing masses ever. The deacon that gave the homily was bang on and applicable to everyone in the room. The music was stellar with piano, guitar and ukulele.  After mass there were blessings for newlyweds, birthdays, anniversaries and the children.

We headed back to the condo – had  a quick bite to eat and shot off to the Waimea Canyon just west of us about 45 minutes. We wound threw a couple villages and started the climb up the side of the canyon in the car. 3500 feet later we arrived at the top with some woozy passengers aboard! The view was absolutely breathtaking! On the way up we could see down into the canyon as well as 180 degrees of ocean – superb! The canyon from the top was Hawaii’s version of the Grand Canyon – not nearly as deep but filled with red rock and millions of trees and shrubbery. I had forgotten my video camera but we had the Ipad so we videotaped a bit of it – alas it does not do it a bit of justice.  We wolfed down some fresh mango and coconut and started our descent to the bottom about half an hour later. Nicholas suddenly began screaming in pain from a headache that would not go away.  It was clear he had some form of altitude sickness and we had to stop a few times on the way down to calm him down. After we arrived at the bottom and had a giant shaved ice filled with lime, mango and root beer – he amazingly recuperated completely…

We bought a couple souvenirs and headed down the road to the Shrimp Station – a little shack on the side of the road that prepared shrimp about 6 different ways. A dozen shrimp for 10 bucks.  I started with Cajun Garlic and the sauce was amazing! Finger licking good! Then we had some Thai chilli sauce ones and some deep fried coconut. All were great but the first were the best. We jammed back into the car and were hot and sweaty as the wind completely died and we were roasting.  Upon arriving back at the condo, we changed and were in the ocean within minutes.  We hung out Oceanside for about 2 hours enjoying our last swim and football games before heading back to the condo. Andrew and Bobbi left their two boys Kian (2) and Micah (3 months) with us and went out for supper. They arrived back at 8 and put our two to bed and Krista and I went next door to the resort restaurant where we had the wedding reception 5 days ago. We split a massive Chef Trio – consisting of Shrimp, Scallops, Rice, quinoa, steak, Ono fish and Snapper. There was enough for 5 people for $28.  We had bread and Caesar salad to start and were completely full for $40. Great choices!

We arrived back at the condo and put sleeping boys into proper beds for the evening. We put an hour in packing all our clothes and laundry as well as far too many souvenirs. Morning will come far too early and tomorrow will be the longest bloody day ever….

Saturday August 6th

After yesterday ‘s crazy day of driving, we thought we had better stay close to home and take it easy. We had a massive breakfast of food as the 10 people who left in the last two days all dropped off their extra food to our house to consume or give away and we have tons! 4 loaves of bread, 40 eggs, 6 boxes of cereal, 3 jugs of milk and 3 dozen beer! I might be 200 pounds by the time we land back in Calgary!

We chilled out in the morning and did some shopping across the street for some last minute trinkets. We signed up for surfing lessons at 3 pm and then hung out at the pool for a couple hours. Surfing lessons went really well. We had 11ft boards for Bobbie (sister in law) and myself and a 9 ft one for Nicholas. We learned all the skills on land and then hit the ocean. We were out there for 90 minutes and got about 30-40 runs in each. Its much easier with a guide who gives you a huge shove and gets you going rather than trying to paddle your butt off to get enough speed to get a good ride in. There is some serious work involved and not just stand up and ride like down hill skiing or snowboarding. I guess when all you have is ocean, you do whatever you can!

Tons of wipeouts into the reef and lots of scrapes here and there. Nicholas was a natural of course and got up every time with his low centre of gravity. He was able to even carve a bit and move around on the board by days end. We wrapped up after 5, inhaled a few Coronas and back at the Condo for 6.  We bbq’d hamburgers for a dozen of us and ate supper around 8pm.  We played cards til 10 while visiting with Toni Amanda and Nicola, who had done the snorkelling day at Tunnels like we had yesterday. They had a great day with many large colourful fish and a few tortoises so that made it all that much more worthwhile.  We watched some TV and called it a night at 11. Tomorrow is our last full day on the island – sad but will be glad to get back to reality. Doubt ill be saying that next week on my 9 hour drive to Saskatchewan with the boys…..

Friday August 5th

The day began very early for Toni Fraser Jess Dan Amanda and others who attended the Catamaran Cruise across the bay to the Forbidden island as they were up and gone by 6am.  We awoke to little feet and knocking at 730 a.m. as Sienna and Lucas wanted to visit with us before they left for Australia. We had a big breakfast and I drove the Wiggins to the Airport. We made a quick stop at the mall to pick up a couple things and then to the airport for 10.

On my way back to the condo, I stopped to pick up my very first hitch-hiker ever as it was pouring rain and I thought if ever there was a safe place to pick up a hitchhiker – it had to be Hawaii? This fella was about 45 and had moved here from Northern California 27 years ago. He worked at the Dive shop about a minutes drive away from our condo. We chatted all about diving and he gave us some advice about a great place to take the kids snorkelling way up on the north side of the island. Perhaps my good deed for the day would pay off…

When I arrived home, we packed up quickly and headed for our shopping trip. With it being overcast, rainy and very very windy, it was a perfect day to go for a cruise. We wondered how the Catamaran cruisers were doing in this weather…

We drove to downtown Lihue and grabbed some snack wraps for lunch. We headed to the Dirt Shirt shop and picked up a couple souvenirs. Krista had discovered a supposedly great snorkelling beach with kids playground about half way to the North Shore so we headed there next. We arrived to an ocean teeming with waves so we let the kids run around on the playground equipment for a bit. We headed a little further west to a sheltered beach but because of the rain and runoff from the river, the snorkelling would not be very good. We bumped into Andrew Bobby and kids at the next playground and had a visit for a bit before heading to the North Shore Tunnels that were recommended to us. It was quite a drive for almost an hour and though Krista was very sceptical, we were amazed at what we found.

There was a giant cave that we toured for a  few minutes and then talked to the lifeguard about the best place to snorkel on the beach. We walked about 10 minutes down to where the reef was quite high and the kids would be able to walk safely while viewing fish. We got all our water shoes on, snorkel gear working and in we went! I was in the water less than five minutes looking at the many fish when a sea turtle almost the size of me swam right up beside me! I was shocked and surfaced to yell at the whole family to head in our direction.  Nicholas was able to spend some time following it for a while but it moved on quite quickly. We were so excited as we had never snorkelled with a turtle before!

We spent a couple hours there and really enjoyed ourselves – we may go back in a couple days. We had a quick bite to eat and headed back. We stopped to take a couple photos and videos of the scenic areas. We stopped at the ABC souvenir store and spent $120 on clothes, dishes, hats, jewellery and stuff. We were caught in midday traffic a couple times and moved a little slowly. We stopped at Costco and fuelled up before heading back to our condo for 6pm.  Everyone had gone out for supper so we bbq’d some smokies and watched TV until 8pm when a movie came on for the kids. We all conglomerated at Toni/Amanda/Nicola’s condo and laughed and played cards til 11pm and called it a night. Another great day in paradise – all too soon coming to an end in three days…

Thursday August 4th

A strange day today as we had no real events planned – phew! We were all looking forward to a relaxing day around the resort. We headed to the beach around 10 and boogie boarded until almost 1pm.  Jacob disappeared with Sienna and Devin to the swimming pool for a few hours as they weren’t super fond of the waves. Nicholas was occupied with all the adults trying to do everything they were doing. We left him with the family and Krista and I went and did a bit of shopping across the road at the local shops and took Toni into Old Koloa to do a bit of shopping as well.  Most shops are quite pricy around this area, but there are a few deals here and there. We won’t buy anything for a couple days until we check out some prices on the north side of the island tomorrow when we go looking for a couple good snorkel places for the kids to go.

We got back around 4 and bummed around the condo with others before heading to the beach lawns around 5 for supper. There are tons of wide open spaces here with many bbq’s to use as we all gather to share stories and share a meal most evenings while we are here.  Krista and I brought chicken breast and sausage for most people to eat and others brought salads and chips to snack on.  With 10 kids under 10 running around, it is always a busy time playing soccer and tag and not much time for sitting and socializing. We had an amazing meal and visit with everyone followed by a quick game of soccer before the sun set at 8 pm. 

We headed back to the condo in the dark again and settled in for a quiet evening with the kids. We got them into bed and off to sleep around 10pm.  Krista popped over to Devin and Melissa’s condo for a quick visit with them before they left tomorrow morning as they headed back to Australia.  They played their usual frustrating logic games with the newest member of the family in the usual attempt to ‘infuriate the new guy’ and Krista returned around 1030pm.

Dan Jessica Amanda Toni Fraser Kari and Mandy are all leaving at 6 am for a catamaran cruise on the ocean with breakfast and lunch to do some snorkelling. I am taking Devin and family to the airport for 9 so another busy start to the day tomorrow. 

Wednesday August 3rd

After a late night of wedding mania, it was nice to sleep in a bit and recuperate. At least, so I thought. Apparently our initial plan of lounging by the pool was interrupted briefly by a plan to take off to the local waterfall and do some cliff jumping/diving as the water was much calmer as well as salt-free.

We packed up and met the herd and determined who was car-pooling with whom, as not everyone rented a vehicle for the week. We took Yvonne (Dan’s mom) and Rose (Dan’s Godmother) and headed East. It was a quick 15 minute drive and a 5 minute walk loaded up with towels, a cooler full of drinks and snacks as well as some swim gear and a camera bag. All in all, there were about 20 of us. The cliffs were quite good, and the clean water was a treat for us landlubbers.  Many people took turns jumping off the cliff waterfall into the water, then swimming over to the ladder and taking a turn on the rope swing.  Tim entertained us all with his veteran diving skills as he was doing flips and spins with perfect dives into the pool below every time.

 After a couple hours of watching everyone, we made our way back to the car and home to relax a while before heading off to the Luau at 4. Arrival times were anywhere from 5-530.  We took a ride on the little train tram around the park and got the tour of the thousands of plants and many animals that reside on the plantation.

At 6pm, the giant oven was dug up and the pig thrown on a huge rack to be carved up for the 250 or so people in attendance. We had 34 people attend which was great.  We had tables close to the stage for the early portion of the event.  We had open bar on Mai Tai’s, wine and beer so many partook as It was another very warm day. There was a trio of musicians on stage entertaining us while we ate.  The buffet was absolutely incredible. Many salads and breads, pulled pork from the bbq pig, teriyaki beef, roast chicken, fish in pineapple sauce, potatoes and many vegetables.  For dessert there was a couple coconut dishes as well as cheesecake and many bowls of fresh fruit. There were many people who went back for seconds and thirds.

Soon, it was time to make our way to the outdoor theatre down the way. We found great seats in the 5^th row on the right and saved a couple rows for everyone who was lined up for the washrooms.  The show began with a fiery volcano and a dancing girl while the speaker explained the spirit world of the Hawaiian people. A quick firework led to many other dancers from all the cultures from this side of the world. There were dances representing the Polynesians, Chinese, Japanese, Philipino, New Zealanders doing the Hakka and many more. The 75 minute show ended with an amazing display of fire stick twirling by one of the lead dancers who even spat fire now and again. We wrapped up at 915 and made our way back down the highway about 30 minutes and called it a night. Long days in the sun make for early evenings but another great day in Hawaii.

Sunday July 31st

Sunday July 31st

Travel day today! We got up at 8 and were on the road for 9 to the airport. We had the chubby guy from Star Taxi come get us as the price was right though the service was brutal. Guy was on his phone from the moment he arrived til we got to the airport. 
We checked in and found Amanda, Toni and Cousin Nicola. They had later flights but were able to join us on standby. 
Our plane was an actual jet and held 50 people. We were on Kauai after 30 minutes. 

We met Fraser and Jessica who came to greet us and bring people to the resort. We were able to pawn off the kids on Fraser while Krista and I headed off to Avis to get our rental car. It took FOREVER but got a triple upgrade after some haggling and got a nice full size Chevy Impala loaded with all the bells and whistles for the same price as our super crappy sub-compact we had rented. 

We headed to Costco and met Jess/Toni/Nicola and spent a combined $700 on food/booze. Prices were phenomenal and we were all starving and bought far too much of both food and drink. 
24 Corona for $25? 1.75l of Bacardi Gold for $20? This was going to be a rough week!

I lined up for food and grabbed a sausage and a chicken caesar salad which we devoured in line for the till. We jumped in our screaming hot leather car and 20 minutes later arrived in beautiful Poipu on the southern shore of Kauai. 
You always hear about the North Shore being the surfers paradise but that is only in the winter. In summer, it's the south shores that get the bulk of the trade winds and the waves are still massive. 

We got checked in to our condo and were very pleased to find all the amenities we needed. We changed into swimsuits and hit the ocean. It was a fantastic afternoon. 
We all met up around 530 for the first night meet/greet and had BBQ steak and veggies. The sun set very quickly and it was pitch black by 8 pm. We watched a bit of tv in our condo and got the kids to sleep before 10. It had been a pretty full day and we were eager to call it a night as well. 

Tuesday August 2nd

Tuesday August 2nd
Wedding Day

The day started off insanely early as predicted with  our two sleepover kids getting up very early. Lucas 2.9 slep
With us but talked incessantly all night long as well
As turning around like a Helicopter all night long.
Sienna and Jacob were up at 7 so we all just got up.
We had a massive breakfast of bacon eggs and toast at Dev and Mels. Tim convinced us we needed to come watch him cliff dive so we loaded up the car and off we went.
It was a quick drive but upon our arrival, the skies opened up and it poured for 15 minutes.
We knew it would stop as it rains in the evenings and morning every day and the afternoons are perfect.
We walked down a short beach and climbed some rocks up to a cliff where there was a good 60ft drop.
Tim was the experienced veteran and dove in.  Nicholas was dying to try it again but the waves were far too strong and we aborted the plan much to Nicholas' huge dismay. Devin tried to swim out with a couple boogie boards as a precaution but the immensely high winds and currents made it far too dangerous to attempt.

We made it back to our condo for some lunch while Krista ran a few errands for Jessica in preparation for the afternoon wedding.
We left at 2 and followed the instructions down the bumpiest, rockiest  pothole filled roads to a beautiful beach and arrived at 220. By 245, no one else had arrived and we were very concerned we might be at the wrong place, but eventually all the vehicles started pouring in and we began after 3.
The wedding was extremely beautiful taking place on the beach looking south into the ocean. The wind was extremely strong and our words disappeared into the air when we spoke.
Dan was wearing an all white linen beach shirt and pants with white sandals. He and groomsman Jackson waited while two Ron bearers brought the rings down the beach followed by a flower girl/maid of honour who spread flower petals on the beach before Jessica arrived on the arms of her parents Toni/Fraser.
There were greeting ceremonies followed by a beautiful ceremony, rich with island traditions and blessings. A coconut was broken open and spread on the sand for fertility and luck and then thrown into the waves. As the ceremony concluded, they kissed and years flowed from all in attendance.

We all shared a few bottles of champagne and toasted the couple. We took hundreds of photographs of every possible combination with the family and bride/groom. We made our way back to the vehicles and town the long bumpy road to the resort.
The restaurant in our complex was where the reception was being held. I set up my guitar/amp/harmonizer equipment and sang for 40 minutes. Dans mom Yvonne sang a few tunes as well.
Everyone enjoyed the Apple Martinez' (Martinis).
Appetizers came out in platters all night. The kids stayed til 7 then we rented babysitters til 1030.
We ate and drank all evening. Speeches commenced at 830 and many laughs and tears were shared as we all welcomed Dan to the Green/d'Apice families.
We headed home for 1030 and had everyone asleep in beds for 1130. An exciting fun filled day jan packed with events.