Eimear's visit

It was really lovely having Eimear to stay for a week. Even though she arrived in what is supposed to be the coldest month of the year it turned out to be not bad at all. Although despite a foot or two of snow on the ground, the lack of new snow was very disappointing for Eimear! We had a couple of crazy non-stop days of looking around Fredericton followed by a couple of days lounging around watching movies. We also went ice skating on a couple of outdoor rinks on a beautiful sunny day and played hockey with an OJ bottle for a puck. Eimear came to Brendan's babies in the library session and was there to comfort him when he fell and got a carpet burn while his mummy was chatting and not watching him at all! We went shopping in second hand shops and walked around downtown taking pictures of old (for this side of the Atlantic) houses. We also had a girls' night out one night leaving the boys at home. It was my first proper night out involving drinking a large amount and dancing a lot- very much appreciated and about time!
All in all a great week. We love having people to stay so... everyone else- get out here sometime soon!!

Miramichi Rotary Pond Hockey Tournament

What an awesome weekend. Shane, Darcy, Jamie and I entered the Miramichi Pond Hockey Tournament. It's a chartity event which raises funds for Rotary projects. This years project is the French Fort Cove Eco Centre. There were 97 teams competing in 7 categories. We entered the non-competitive category just for some fun shinny hockey. Our team name was "My Wife's At Home With The Kids" which won us the 'Best Team Name' award. The award ended up being four pairs of white and pinks socks for our wives. We won 3 of 4 games although it didn't really matter. We had our first two games on Friday night and the snow was coming down really good. The atmosphere of the Cove was excellent with music playing, bombfires lit, flood lights iluminating the rinks and the sound of hockey skates and sticks going at it. Our other two games where today. The ice was in really bad condition with massive cracks, ruts and pot holes. The only way to characterize it was that players on all teams had spectacular falls. All I know is that it was so much fun I've already marked my calendar for next year, 6-8 February 2009.