I wasn’t sure what to expect going to Abi Dhabi. I knew going to the mosque would require me to cover up (arms, legs to ankles, head) and in this heat, I was not looking forward to it Luckily while shopping in the Dubai Mall the other day, I headed into Lululemon to get a pair of capri pants that I loved. The salesperson only had full length in my size. When I told her they were different than what I asked for, she responded “yes I know. They are better”. I ended up buying them. And good thing bcs I ended ups wearing them:) Our guide (We hired a guide for 1 day in Dubai (yesterday ) and to tak ..read more

We had arranged to have a guide today to show us around everywhere. We went to a few markets, saw some super fancy hotels, the museum of the future, the Dubai Frame… We went to the Mall of the Emirates and checked out the indoor ski hill: We headed over to the Spice and Gold Markets (souks ..read more

Back in February we decided we wanted to take a big trip. We didn’t know where, but knew we wanted to be away for 3 weeks. Although summer has never been my preferred time to travel away, we knew that 3 weeks would work for both of us this summer. We toyed with different ideas, but got stuck on where. Rob mentioned he always wanted to go to Dubai so I googled what are good places to visit along with Dubai and came up with Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We researched it all – and it sounded amazing! Aside from being super hot, everything else sounded great! And so here we are… The day before we we ..read more

Well at least this blog gets some love when I travel! I had a life coach conference in Nashville to go to the weekend after Gabe’s graduation. But before I got to head out to Nashville, I headed out to Montreal for a quick trip. My brother and sister in law are leaving to lead our church’s mission in Denmark for a few years, so my brother went to spend some time with my mom and sister. I decided to go bcs it is rare we are all together! We just hung out, went for a nice dinner, and hung out some more. We took a few pics too – although they are not the best – they serve the purpose of getting ..read more

Wow I can’t even believe it as I write the title of this blog! Gabe graduated law school!! I remember his grade 6 graduation so well! I remember how school was never his thing and it took a lot of pushing, and we definitely got in the bad books. And while maybe there are things I would do differently, I will never regret believing that Gabe was capable of so much. And he put the effort in and achieved his goal. He did the work, he sweated it out, he sacrificed and he had success. And Shannon was a stellar partner all the way through – supporting him all the way. It’s a celebration for her too ..read more

It was kind of nice to be in NYC for Mother’s Day and to have Zach there (that was my Mother’s Day gift to me). (Josh is up tree planting in northern Alberta this summer again, and Sam is also up in Northern Ontario tree planting). We had decided to spend Mother’s Day separately (so Shannon with her parents and the Gabe & Zandra with their mom). So it was just Zach, Rob and me. We had tickets to Hamilton which I was so excited about! Before that we did a bit of shopping – but then ran out of time to get food before Hamilton! We had to get some hot dogs on the street and got royally ripped ..read more

A couple of weeks ago we went to NYC for Gabe’s graduation. He was graduating from Brooklyn law school and the actual ceremony was the Monday so we decided it only make sense to spend the whole weekend there. It fell right on Mother’s Day so the perfect opportunity to get Zach to come join us! Rachael was in India for a Nursing school program. Zandra was also able to join us! Rob and I flew in early Friday morning as did Zach. We went for a little walk to check out the gorgeous city view near them, and had the BEST raspberry croissants. The boys headed off to Queens as they had planned a who ..read more

I’ve been neglectful to this blog – even didn’t do any Birthday posts this year! But I thought I’d try to keep up with some travel posts and more importantly, photos bcs that is what I skip to anyway:) I did post this on my instagram: I love it when the planner part of me meets the spontaneous part of me. I’m planning something exciting for the fall of 2025 – yep- my brain thinks that far ahead. But I realized that the planner part of me needed some more info to take some steps towards making my future dream plan come true. Luckily my spontaneous part of me woke up a couple of weeks ago, rolle ..read more

This is always a fun one to write to capture the year in review too! 2023 had a lot going on – here are some of the highlights and lowlights and everything in between in no particular order Zandra and Ilyah’s wedding celebration Sam’s 16 trip to England Outerbanks for 3 weeks for working remotely Zach and Rachael in France for 6 weeks Josh tree planting in Alberta LCS Mastermind presentation in Dallas Loss of Rachael’s brother Sam’s graduation Lots of Netflix, prime and Apple TV Advanced Training in Nervous System Resilience was born (3 launches!) Canadian wildfires Collingwood for a week Zach ..read more

Although this blog runs a little sparse these days, there are a few “must captures”. Rob’s Christmas poem is one for sure: Christmas 2023  It all started clear another CDF year It started with one of our New Yorker crew celebrating a birthday  Shortly after we had Josh celebrating too In Ottawa and studying in the capital city He finished year one sitting pretty  Soon he’d be in his new student house without dispute Warding off any ill repute Sam graduated the last to complete He was through the gauntlet of high school so neat  Planning began for Sam’s somewhat late 16 trip ..read more