Ted / Dad

Here I am again on Christmas Eve scrambling to finish up this annual Christmas Message. I thought I had a good start, with some of the sections actually done in November! Just like every other year, 2014 has been an extremely busy one for our family. Like 2013, it has also been a transitional year, as Laura and Spencer find their way in the world.

My year, as usual, was dominated by my work with the City of Wetaskiwin. It has now been more than a year since our last election, and I can report that this council is much easier to deal with than the previous one. That has relieved a big stress in my life, as compared to the last couple of years.


Enjoying the snow!

We had lots of snow last Chritmas, so over the Christmas break we were able to get out on our sleds! The snow was amazing! We had a few wonderful, bright, sunny days out in the snow with the trees heavily laiden with frost. It made for a magical setting - very beautiful!

Louise and I, once again, started out our year with a trip to Las Brisas in Hualtoco Mexico with our friends Bob and Wilf. This was my fifth time to the resort and Louise's 4th. We love the friendly people and atmosphere. You can see more photos and read more about the trip here.


We leave to visit Las Brisas again in about two weeks. I can't wait.

When we returned from Mexico, we had a new kitchen counter! Our neighbour Ron, who is a cabinet maker by trade, decided to suprise us! What a wonderful present.

Old Counter!

New Counter!

Riding in Arizona!
In March, Louise and I made a trip to visit Bernie and Carmen in Yuma. We flew to Pheonix and then rented a Honda Gold Wing for the drive to Yuma. This time we took our time and went out of our way to find some curvy roads. We had a very nice whirlwind visit. You can read more about it here.

Spring was a busy time for me with several meetings and conferences. I was in Kananaskis twice, once for a management course and then for an Economic Development convention. We had a very interesting presentation about how the spring floods impacted the entire tourist season in Canmore. (Everyone saw the news clippings and assumed that the whole place was washed away - so they cancelled their bookings and plans. The economic fallout was much worse than the flooding...).
At the end of May I was able to go to Niagara Falls for ten days. While there, I attended two conferences: first, the Canadian Association of City Administrators (CAMA); and then the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Conference. I always enjoy the CAMA conference. The delegates are mostly city managers from across the country. It seems we all have similar issues with our councils and communities. It is a great opportunity to network and also have some fun.
Touring the Jackson Tiggs Winery

Niagara Falls
One highlight was a cycling wine and brewery tour around the Niagara region. What a great idea! - get some exercise while sampling local wine and beer and learning about how they are made. FCM is a much bigger conference, but is geared more towards the Mayors and Councillors.

Two presentations which I enjoyed were a talk by Chris Hadfield about his experience as Commander of the International Space Station, and a session with Rick Mercer. He performed a "RANT" for us which was very entertaining.
In June, Louise and I headed to Calgary to watch Spencer's convocation ceremony. We were very proud to watch him recieve his Kinesiology degree!

From there I continued south for my semi annual Windsurf Trip. As usual, there were about 14 of us, for both our June and September trips. I think this our 11th year of these trips. We have a wonderful time windsurfing and biking. I enjoy photographing the guys and writing a blog for each of our trips. You can view the blogs here. (Remember that you have to read a blog from the bottom up as the top post is the last one.)
2014 Spring Gorge Trip - 2014 Fall Gorge Trip

The Windsurfing Crew at Hood River.

Ted trying out the new Board Rider at the Manluk Centre in Wetaskiwin.
Late in June, we were able to open the Manluk, Wetaskiwin Regional Aquatic and Fitness Centre. It had been a three year project, with construction taking a year and a half.

It was a very controversial project. As with most municipal projects, some people believed that it was too expensive, while others (myself included) believed that if you are going to invest in a facility, you should do it right and make it something that the community can be proud of. The opening went very well and attendance has been great - significantly more than we had in our old facility. People are now coming to the community for Aquatics and Fitness instead of leaving it...
In July, Louise was able to join me at a planning conference in Fredericton, where I co-presented a paper on our Wetaskiwin Main Street project. More here!

Over the summer, we stayed pretty close to home. I took a few Fridays and Mondays off to make the occasional long weekend, which made it very nice. Without Laura and Spencer at home, we didn't get out on the lake as much as usual, but we still had a few very nice days with Spencer, Laura and their friends. Ross and Graham also came out a few times for waterskiing and wake surfing.

I was also able to get out windsurfing on the lake a couple of times. I had one wonderful day sailing with Spencer. He hadn't sailed since 2007, but decided he would try it again - and was as good or probably better than he was 7 years ago. Oh to be 22...

Windsurfing at Home
In August, I did the Tour de Alberta road bike tour again, but this time only 50km. I just hadn't been out enough to do the 100km this year. Hopefully I will be back in shape to do the 100 again next year!

Last winter I bought a Radio Controlled Airplane simulator, and started practicing with it. I thought that if I got good enough I could purchase a plane in the spring and start flying with Dad. (RC Flying has been a passion of his since about 1967).

Getting ready for the Tour da Alberta

Dad and Ted at St. Albert Field!
Well, I did buy a plane in the spring, and then another, and another... Louise says I am a little out of control. I now have six, and am in the process of building another one. I am a member of the Camrose Model club and Dad arranged for a membership for me at the St. Albert Club.

Over the summer and into the fall, I had many nice evenings flying with Dad at the St. Albert field.
Some of the smaller and slower planes I can fly right behind our house, but there are power lines, trees and RVs around so there isn't enough room to fly the faster ones at home. I did take advantage of living at a lake, with my Seawind which is a seaplane.

I had few very nice evenings sitting on my boat in the middle of the lake flying the plane.

Ted with his RC Seawind - seaplane.

Sunshine
Spencer moved back in with us in the fall when he started his job in Ferintosh, so there was some adjustment for Louise and I, who were used to having the house all to ourselves.

The last couple of months for me have been a complete blur with hosting a fellow from Japan for a few days, and working very hard on our municipal budget.

Louise and I did manage to sneak away for a snowboarding weekend at Sunshine in early December. We had a great time, and are planning another trip, (this time with Laura, Spencer and Tara), the first weekend of January 2015.

American Falls Selfie

Enjoying the view near Yarnell, Arizona!

Ted with his Micro Yak54 Aerobatic RC Plane

Flying Behind the House

Exxtra 300 Aerobatic Airplane

Seawind - Seaplane

Lady watching me fly my Hawk

Enjoying a visit with Lady

Windsurfing Group at the Gorge
I can't believe it is only a few more hours until Christmas! We are looking forward to visiting family over the next few days.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy Happy New Year!

Niagara Fireworks from Ted Gillespie on Vimeo.

Ted



For extra fun - have a look at our Christmas Past !!!


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