Liam and the Busy Edmonton Weekend

During the summer my nephew Liam from Saskatoon came up to spend a week with my sister Monica and myself. Most of the week he hung out with Monica's family doing cool stuff like hanging at Galaxyland, Launchpad, Vertically Inclined, and watching the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. As the weekend approached I scooped him up to accompany me to a couple of events going on in the City.

Under 20 Women's World Cup Soccer

During August, Edmonton was one of the host cities of the U-20 Women's World Cup soccer tournament. On a rainy Firday night Liam and I attended a big double-header Group B matchup.

The steady rain led to a bunch of empty seats as the masses headed under the overhang of Commonwealth Stadium. Liam didn't seem to mind the rain so we ended up hanging out near the edge of the playing field for the barn-burner 5-5 draw between China and Germany (Eventual Gold Cup winners) and the slightly more tactical 1-0 USA win over Brazil.

Aside from the actual games their were multiple soccer based activities in the fan area including an impromptu pickup soccer game (Liam had a couple goals) and penalty kicks.

Downtown and Whyte Avenue

Probably my favorite summer activity and what I consider a "must do" for any visitors to the city is a trolley car ride between the downtown and Old Strathcona. 

In Old Strathcona we checked out the Farmer Market for deals and stopped off at Hub Cigar for a Pop Shoppe before heading back downtown. I think Liam picked a Lime Ricky just because it matched his Brazil shirt.

Getting off the trolley we stopped at neighboring Legislature Building and it's fountain to cool down.

Cariwest Parade 

From the Legislature Grounds we headed straight north upto Jasper Avenue to see the Cariwest Festival Parade.  As an impatient man I forced Liam to walk the parade route with me as opposed to sitting in one spot and watching it go by. He took no issues in my parade watching approach - apparently I share the same attention span of a pre-teen :)

Miss Cariwest 2014

Liam the ladies man

We finished our walk before the parade hit it's end point of Churchill Square so as we waited for it to finish we had a quick game of HORSE in Centennial Plaza.

The kid put up a good fight but after my 2 consecutive wins I took mercy on him and we proceeded back to the Cariwest festivities.

The Square was beyond packed so we only stuck around for a couple stage shows concluding (for us) with a capoeira demonstration.  

Animethon

Walking around downtown over the weekend you would occasionally run into young folks walking around with a tail pushing out of the back of their shirt or fuzzy elongated ears. The proliferation of cosplay steadily increased the closer you would get to MacEwan University. This could mean only one thing: Animethon!

I know nothing about Anime but I do love a good costume. So, Liam and I took a walk to people watch in the plaza area along 104th Avenue in front of the University.

Hanging with the Family

After power walking the centre of the City we headed back to Monica's place to meet up with her family, Chrissy and the recently arrived Stephanie. 

Not soon after arriving I was challenged to a water fight. My aqua warrior honor dictated that I accept. While I put on my gameface, Ren didn't take it quite so seriously.

Water fill up break for Liam; Chrissy chooses another liquid.

Stephanie wasn't too enthused about the water fight, she had her eye on another backyard activity: Playing on the Geodome. 

Very impressive Stephy! I think I can safely say you would make the best gymnast out of all of us siblings. 

Saskatoon Berry Barn

To finish off the long weekend and our 'family reunion' a flock of Kehrigs descended on one of our favourite prairie spots - The Saskatoon Berry Barn.

Aside from being a very attractive spot along the river it offers fantastic Ukrainian food and a stellar waffle bar with fresh berry toppings. A great spot to celebrate exactly 50 years since my parents wedding. A few pictures below.

This is Christina's favorite new dress. Mom ended up hemming the top on it right before leaving the house. However, it wasn't without a small misstep.Mom ended up getting distracted by the multitude of children running about and hemmed the sleaves across from each other. I was scared that Chrissy was going to lose her mind, but she took it all in stride and 5 minutes later Mom fixed it and no one was the wiser...til now I guess. Sorry for ratting you out Mom. 

Bonus Picture - My neice Jade has quite long hair. To keep it from getting knotted her mom braids it into 3 pigtails. I have never seen that number of pigtails before and was fascinated by the process and the end product. This is Jade getting her hair done before heading out for lunch.

50 Years of Family

On the August long weekend myself and all of my siblings headed to Saskatoon to celebrate a family milestone. On August 5th 1963 my parents Mary and Francis were married at Nobleville church. In appreciation of that event 50 years prior we gathered to celebrate.

My sister Monica, has already written a fantastic blog post recapping the weekend. Her photography and language skills dwarf my own and I highly recommenced you go and read it before reading the rest of my post.

Have you read it yet? I can wait.....

Alright! Pretty great huh?

Consider this a brother to the sister post where I will share some of my pictures (plus Geoff's pictures), and offer my own brief comments.

Being that all of the 'nuclear family' were present, my sisters Monica and Stephanie thought it would be a good time to formally welcome my betrothed (Christina) into the family with a Kehrig wedding shower. (Another great Monica blog post). While Chrissy was getting all of the attention I thought it would be a good time to spend some time with my brothers. With a very limited plan we headed out in a couple of cars to Humboldt Lake and Lawrence's cabin.

Geoff, Paul, and myself packed into Randy's car and headed out taking a short-cut down a gravel road. As is the case with shortcuts in Saskatchewan we soon ran into an obstacle.

A little back-tracking and a liquor board store stop later we ended up at Humboldt lake. 

The lounging and BS'ing began.

After way too many beers and way too much sun the inevitable one-upmanships and challenges started to go around. My closest brother in age and athletic hero as a child, Geoff, put it out there that he could beat me in a sprint. Egged on by Paul (and booze) we decided that there was only one way to settle it. The race was on.

The spectator judges measured out a 100 metres for us and signaled the race to begin. We both got off to strong starts with Geoff jumping out a bit ahead. Over the next couple of strides, with no shoes on to weigh me down, I found my next gear and passed him. I was ahead for quite awhile before I noticed that I couldn't feel his presence at all. Surely, the old man wasn't that slow! As I breezed past the finish line I looked back to see Geoff brushing himself off not far from the point where I passed him. Apparently while trying to find his next gear he hit a low spot in the grass and did a headfirst role into unkempt field. 

With a few scrapes and bruises to his knee, head and ego he recognized that I was the sprint champ. 

Not long after the race we headed back to Saskatoon and Stephanie's place to catch the end of Christina's shower and receive some surprise gifts.

Old Vienna hats courtesy of Paul

I received a very special, and fitting to the date, wedding gift from my family - custom made cuff links designed with my fathers distinctive signature.

Photo courtesy of Chris Parry - Bespoke Jewelry

I played it cool at the time, but really this is easily the best gift I have ever received. I can't wait to wear them on the big day and will cherish them for all time.

While everyone was assembled we got together to take some pictures. I was pretty boozy and Geoff was a little scraped up but we managed to get one or two decent pictures.

Sunday started low key for Chrissy and I consisting of a little Saskatoon sight seeing before heading back to visit with the rest of the family.

We really like the painted rocks visible along the shore from the Broadway Bridge. Very cool idea.

Back at Mom's the trampoline was the cause of much of the days excitement as the grand-kids bounced for hours on end. 

I eventually found my way inside the bouncing madhouse with the kids where my considerable weight sent them double bounced in all directions.

It didn't take much to wear me out and after about my 3rd shower of the day it was time to eat and toast Mom for all she has done and provided for us over the years.

Mom's gift was a clay replica of the Church where her and my father were married. It was constructed by Toula's House of Clay who I can't recommenced highly enough.  Photo's on Monica's blog site - which you already know as you went and read it first. Good Job!

Wrapping up the day was a trip to Dad at his marker and resting place. Mom prepared some speaking notes and we conducted our own tribute to the man who in partnership with Mom made it all possible.

It was a fitting way to end the day, together with family in a beautiful and serene location.

I can't say enough about how blessed I am to have the family that I do: The fine example and loving home provided by my parents, the camaraderie of my siblings, the acceptance with open arms to the family extended to Christina, I recognize all of this and I am truly fortunate.

Thank you to all of you.