Leaving Ontario

After a day in downtown Toronto doing the tourist thing, its time to start heading home. I have assembled some pictures from the last day, a tour of the CN Tour together. It was a time for connection and reflection. For Kristal and Kelly, it was their first time in Ontario, and for Wayne, it was a visit with family and friends. All in all we are sure glad that we have had this time together.
Click here to see more pics of that last day.

Sitting on Top of the World

Wenda sat on the glass windows that looked straight down a thousand feet to the bottom of the tower. It was a great way to spend our last day with Wenda's brother Wayne, sister-in-law Kelly, neice Kristal, and nephew Aaron. After a lovely dinner at the Baton Rouge, we took them to the airport for a tearful farewell. A few days together to make up for the many years apart. Now everyone is loading Skype on their computer.

90 YEARS YOUNG

We went out to the Snug For breakfast and the owner brought a cake for Ken.

First Soccer Tournament

Aiden played well against some very good teams Saturday. He scored once and assisted in another in the three game event. They lost 2 and tied one but I think the experience is what had the most value. You just had to be impressed at the skill level of these 7 year old players. One team in particular was playing a rough physical game and the teen referee was not calling them on it. This made the parents pretty upset. Click here to see more photos of the Tournament (dark blue shirts) and more pics from his house league (Teal shirt) this season.

Over 30 Years Since He's Been Home

There was a surprise guest at Ken's birthday party. Ken's son Wayne (Wenda's brother) has not been back to Ontario in over 30 years, so when he walked up to Ken and Doreen at the pig-roast party they were sure surprised as you can see here. Wayne's daughter Krystal and his wife Kelly were also here. It was their first time to come to Ontario. There gonna be a whole lot of visiting going on in the next few days. Click here to see more pictures of the birthday pig-roast party.

HOCKEY GUY

Today is the last of the days in Hockey Camp. Aiden is starting to slow down a bit with this busy routine. Yesterday he had a 2 hour soccer practice after 7 hours at hockey camp.  No wonder he had 4 bowls of cereal this morning.

90th Birthday at condo

Most of the neighbours in the condo go together to celebrate the big one. Click here to see more pictures.

Aiden's Hockey Camp

Aiden is in hockey camp for the week. He is on the ice for 4 hours a day all this week. He is going to be one tired boy when he plays his soccer game tomorrow evening.

Trip to Niagara Falls

A bus trip to Niagara Falls is just $17 by bus and that includes a fabulous fabulous buffet. David Staples and his wife Sharon invited us to go to the Casino and try our luck at the slots. Well we are not big gamblers - averaging $20 each, but that money lasted for the afternoon and in the end we were 55 cents ahead. Click here to see our preferred seating overlooking the American Falls. All in all it was a very interesting day.

Cousin Ken and Jane Visit

Ken came for a visit on his way through Southern Ontario this week. Just 25 days older, Ken is a cousin on my father's side and lives in Winnipeg. We had a wonderful BBQ with a few of our friends to welcome Ken and Jane - what a perfect evening. Their son is an understudy for several lead roles in a main theatre production in Toronto so this is a great opportunity to take in some theatre and visit his grandson and family in Ontario. Perhaps someday soon we can visit Winnipeg and see more of my family from the West. Click here to see a couple more pictures of Ken and Jane.

A Time To Lose

It was only the team's second loss of the season and it came against the #2 team. In this picture you see Aiden going up against the star player on the other team who happened to be on Aiden's team last year. They played well, but it just could not come together for this match. Better luck next time kids.

Summer of 72

My old friend Sudsy found some pics from the past that I have not seen before. So here I am 24 years old with my first daughter Kristine Amber. Not much has changed since then, Kristine was not talking to me then and she is not talking to me now, but you will notice somethings have not changed ... I have a camera in my hands. Click here to see a few more pictures from the 70's album.

Fenlon Falls Dining

It was one of those sunny - come - cloudy days when the weather could not really make up its mind. We picked up Ken and Doreen my in-laws in Lindsay Ontario and went for a wee drive in the country. With that surgical steel sticking out of Ken's toe and Wenda's gimpy foot, we weren't about to go cruizing on foot very far. We found this nice restaurant overlooking the falls at one of the locks in the river system. While it looked quite charming sitting at a table overlooking the cascading waters we soon found out that we had to yell in order to be heard over the din of that beautiful waterfall. We had a great time just the same - a nice outing. These pictures were taken with my new "droid" phone. Click here for another couple of pictures.

Swimming Lessons Part 2

Every once in the while you see one of the kids excell. Yesterday, it was Quinten who was making great progress with his teacher. Perhaps it is because the lady is the most senior swim instructor in the entire region but he listened and progressed with amazing speed. Both Lexy and Aiden were doing well with their lessons but today it was Quinten's day to shine. Click here to see a few more pics.

I Have a Droid

As

As you can see I have been assimilated by the Borg (Droid). I have got the new Samsung Galaxy S smartphone and it is a giant leap for me but a small step for man.  This thing does everything but tie my shoes. Still learning and a heck of a lot more to learn.

Visit With Sudsy

When I moved to Southern Ontario from Thunder Bay in 65, I found the people cold by comparison. I had been rejected from the high school I was applying to, and people on the street were reluctant to talk to a stranger. To me, everyone was a stranger, until I met Jim suddard whom I nicknamed Sudsy. The name and the friendship stuck and we were best man for each other's weddings. Click here to see the picture of Sudsy's wedding.

We had lost contact for 39 years, but recently Sudsy's wife Therese found my facebook page and made contact. Wednesday, Sudsy and I got together again and went over 'old times'. We had a lot of ground to cover and we parted company in the wee hours of the morning. I am sure that we will be keeping in touch from now on.
Click here for another picture of Sudsy.

Higher Papa ... Higher

I am this big 6 foot 4 inch guy who typically gets handled by a girl that is literally less than half my size. I follow the command "Come Papa to the fwing .. push me high". This little girl is practically going horizontal and she is still commanding me "Higher ! Higher !"
We took Quint and Lex to Lindsay today to see the great grandparents. While there, Lexy gets the spa treatment as her Nana paints her nails and toes hot pink ... oh so chic. They had a great time today as did Wenda and me. Click here to see a couple more pics.

Posing For The Camera

A while ago, when Wenda and I would pose Lexy for a picture we would ask her to put her face on her hands ... now when she sees me pull out the camera ... well you can see what she does. Quinten was watering my flowers - helping out in the garden. Click here to see a few pictures.

The Honeymoon

Tracy and Frank were out fishing yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico. I believe Frank hooked into a giant of a fish but could not get it all the way to the boat before it broke free. Tracy then I guess would have taken the prize for the biggest fish. Today, I think they are off to a Mayan adventure as they tour some ancient Mayan ruins - its an all day organized event. It looks lovely down there.

Tough Game Tonight

Sorry folks that are no pictures of tonight's game. I was an assistant coach along the sidelines yelling myself hoarse so even though I had the camera with me ... it never saw the light of day. Aiden's house league team was playing the 2nd best team (guess which one is best) in the league with 2 huge giants in the lineup. It was a scoreless first half and the opponents scored first in the second half. We got one back to tie it up but with 2 minutes and 45 seconds to play ... I put our 3 star players on the front line with instructions to score score score. and that they did to tie it all up. The game ended up as a tie but that keeps us in first place in the league.  I was proud of the way Aiden played tonight. He stopped their big guys' attacks and ran the ball up the sidelines and passed out in front.  We just did not necessarily have the strikers in front to pull the trigger.  As I was walking to the car I saw a former neighbour of ours and asked if he had a grandkid playing in the opponent team... they said yes. I said I have a grandchild playing too ... they said, we know ... Aiden.   He was the star of the game and all the parents on both sides knew it.