Catching Up: March, Part 1

In so, so, so many ways, this has been the longest winter I've ever gone through.

First of all, it really was the longest winter.  Winter has a cold, unfair, and icy grip on Spring.  Miss A tells me that Winter is so stuck to Spring, that Spring just can't come this year.  For the record, Winter also hijacked Autumn, which is typically my favourite season (typically = southern, southern = the Maritimes).  Winter began at the end of September, and was firmly in place by the first week in October.

We are finally in the "sometimes it's above 0 degrees Celsius, but that's not a promise" phase, but usually the lows over night drop well below 0, sometimes as far as -20 or more if you factor in the wind. 

Tonight, for example:  April 28th, the low is -17 with a freaking -27 windchill.  I have nasty words in my head for you, Yellowknife.  Tomorrow's high is -17 with a -13 windchill.  It's almost May!  We want to pack up the parkas and snowsuits, people.

I will seriously karate chop someone in the head if they complain about the heat this summer.  Suck it up and get some ice cream.

So, with all of this wintering, you'd think that I would have loads of time to blog.  But, winter has won, and I don't have much fight left in me, or energy for almost anything above and beyond "getting through the day."  I think that Eli and I do a pretty good job on making the girls a priority, but I've done a crummy job lately of making me a priority (and the blog falls under "me").  In short, I think my brain has some permafrost, and is a little sluggish and stupid, just like the ptarmigan.

And, so, I bring you a jam-packed post about our March adventures, in three parts.

Part 1:  Birthdays

Daddy's birthday was the first day in March, and he had to work late due to some flights that got changed at the last minute.  On a Friday. 

The Reason I Was in Orlando

While Nicole and I did manage to squeeze in a totally awesome whirlwind two-day cousin retreat in sunny Orlando in January, the reason I was in Orlando was for a fantastic education technology conference for teachers, which started up the day Nicole left.

It was a really awesome tech conference!

The pictures from the conference are mostly of slides from presentations I attended, so I'll show you pictures "around" the conference.

Nicole and Shannon Take Orlando: Day 2, Conquering The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal Like Champions!

The main draw to make this whirlwind trip to Orlando, for Nicole -- aside from me, of course -- was the fact that we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure.

For us Harry Potter nerds, nothing could be more wonderful!

Nicole and Shannon take Orlando: Day 1, SeaWorld

Nicole and I spent our first full day in Orlando at SeaWorld.

Our major goal was to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and we decided to do SeaWorld as a second choice, and are we ever happy we did!

It was the BEST DAY EVER.  Seriously.  After our respective weddings and the respective births of our children, I think SeaWorld is next!

From -40 to +30

Through some fantastic luck, a great professional development fund, awesome encouraging husbands and more luck again, I spent the end of January in sunny Orlando enjoying a technology and education conference in January, which also means that I am getting a wonderful break from the arctic temperatures and short days.

My cousin Nicole met me here for my first weekend, but to chronicle our adventures, I will need a few blog posts.

This post is about my flight and meeting my week long home away from home in Orlando, the Hard Rock Hotel. I love you, Hard Rock!

Eli brought me to the airport for my afternoon flight south. 

On the Deck after Dark

And, now it's the cousins' turn...

In A Tree

It's been over a month since I've posted, and lots of things have happened.

First, I think my brain, body and fingers froze in January, which explains the lack of postings... The darkness, and having perma -40 degrees for over a month made for an interesting and sluggish start to 2013.

Then, I had a glorious week in Orlando.  Oh.  So much to tell.  So, so, much... But I feel like I need to back up and take a running start.

So, I'm going to back up.  Waaaay up.

At the very beginning of my blog-- my first post, in fact-- I had a series of pictures from my family farewell before we drove across the country to move to Yellowknife.

In the past few days, one of my aunts asked for a photo from that day, which got me looking at the photos leading up to that particular photo. 

Let's explore the background story of the picture of my mom with her brother and sisters in a tree, shall we?

**All dialogue is paraphrased, completely made up, or otherwise totally accurate... I'm not sure, but it's what plays in my head when I look at this series of pictures.