Hope you made it through the year 2000 with your data intact!

It was just a year ago that the world was fretting about the possible end of civilization as we know it with the dawning of the new millennium. With the exception of a mild earthquake in the wee hours of January 1 (enough to make us roll over in bed and take notice), life has continued on in Deep River much as it did before. Of course, there are those who say that 2001 is the actual beginning of the new millennium, but barring another earthquake, . . . . .

Lauren, our ‘baby’ will be six in February. She began ‘real’ school, kindergarten, in September. Because we live in a rural district, kindergarten is alternate full days. This saves the school district $$ on busing, although it is obviously hard on small children. Although Lauren finds school days a long time to be away from Mom, she is doing very well. We are fortunate to live close to the school so that she (along with the others) can come home for lunch. Lauren has continued with gymnastics, has joined Sparks (junior Brownies), and is among a groundbreaking group of girls in the Deep River Beaver colony junior cubs). As a young person who feels things deeply, Lauren has her moments, but is a pleasure to hang out with and enjoys new experiences.

Biniyam is seven and surviving the big transition to grade one. He is pretty annoyed by the serious expectations, smaller classroom and lack of indoor play equipment. Just what kind of classroom is this?!?! While not a strong student, he is making steady progress, learning to read, write and all that good stuff. He’s enjoying the social aspects of school (perhaps too much) and has lots of friends. His greatest talents are in the areas of athletics (he’s good at everything), art (a very unique style) and Lego (fascinating and fastmoving vehicles). Biniyam continues with Beavers and has also taken up Judo. He must be discouraged from practicing flips on Lauren who doesn’t know how to avoid landing on her head.

Gosaye, now eight, is continuing to improve academically. He’s achieving at a solid second grade level. Given his lack of preschool experience, we are delighted by his success. He loves to be at school because there are so many people and activities. He is in his element! Forever chatting, he hates to be left alone, even for a minute, lest he miss out on something. Gosaye is also still in Beavers (that makes three of them) and is learning Karate. He and Biniyam can now fight with each other in new and interesting ways (only minor scrapes and bruises so far). He has also continued with swimming, overcome his fear of water and recently earned his fourth Aquaquest badge. Gosaye is planning for a future as a professional clown.

Meghan will be nine next month and seems soooo grown up! She’s loving school and excelling in third grade. A deep and creative thinker, Meghan often challenges her parents to explain the whys and wherefores of life. She’s a voracious reader (comes by that naturally) especially of mysteries and must have the Harry Potter series memorized from repeated readings. While she continues with gymnastics, her latest love is tap-dancing class. She is looking forward to performing in a dance show extravaganza in the spring.

Our first vacation this year saw us travel to Wisconsin for the May wedding of Leslie’s cousin Scott Little to a lovely gal named Colette. We packed up our camping gear in our new trailer (necessary because it’s illegal to tie kids to the roof) and did some camping and sightseeing on either side of the wedding. We enjoyed getting together with members of Leslie’s family seldom seen and spent some bonus time with her parents and a favorite aunt from Seattle. While the kids did enjoy a couple of nights in a hotel, we enjoyed the campgrounds where they had the space to run and play!

We also enjoyed our usual escape to Saskatchewan, spending close to two weeks at Leslie’s parents’ cottage on Lac la Ronge--glorious time with no phone, no TV, no interruptions. What made it different was our mode of travel. We took the train from Sudbury (3 hours from Deep River) to Saskatoon (1 ½ hours from Prince Albert). The trip is 34 or more hours with extra travel time on either side. We departed and arrived in Sudbury mid-afternoon which meant arriving and departing from Saskatoon in the middle of the night. Leslie’s sister was kind enough to collect us, while her Dad drove us back. Although slow, the train was a very pleasant experience. The kids had lots of room to move around and meet other kids. The thing we missed most was our usual stop in Manitoba.

With a year under his belt, Andrew is becoming accustomed to the cycles and demands of providing planning support to AECL’s research activities. While concerns for global warming are improving the longer-term prospects for nuclear energy, it will be challenging to preserve the technology in the short term. As a result, Andrew spends a fair bit of time helping to address the conflicting requirements of investing in the research required for the future, while meeting immediate fiscal constraints. When not wrestling with such issues, Andrew spends time trying to help Leslie maintain order in a busy house, being responsible for cooking and odd jobs. He is also managing to fit it time for running and being a Beaver leader with the three busy beavers.

With Lauren in ‘big’ school, Leslie enjoys more time to herself. She has resumed running (not just after the kids) on Lauren’s school days and tries to spend as much time in her sewing room as she can. Desired projects have had to wait though, what with the demands of sewing for Hallowe’en and then a couple of Christmas gifts. This Hallowe’en we had a wraith, a banana, a blue superhero, and a mermaid. Maybe in the New Year that first quilt project, started in ’97, will get finished. Leslie continues to be very involved with La Leche League, an international breastfeeding support organization. She has recently been trained as a Human Relations Enrichment Instructor. HRE is a LLL communications skills course designed to help Leaders in their listening and support skills. In addition to
regular volunteer time in the classroom, Leslie is also returning to teaching on a casual basis. The real advantage of supply teaching is that she can accept work only when Lauren is at school and does not have any responsibility for the time-consuming preparation.