Family is the Best

We had a special family dinner on Sunday, August 26 at my parents house. In attendance were Ken and I, my parents and some very special members of my Dad's family. His cousin Nancy Fine, his Aunt Adrianna, and his Uncle Stanley and Stanley's wife Mia. We had a lovely dinner. It was a treat for Nancy and Stanley to see each other as they hadn't seen each other in a very long time. There is something very comforting and reassuring about spending time with extended family.

My little treat was a photograph that Adrianna brought. It still needs to be fixed up and I'll change this post when it is. But for now, here it is.



















This is my Dad and his mother I'm guessing around 1943 or 1944 as my Dad looks about 3 or 4 years old.

So much to do, so little time!

I can't believe that the summer is basically over, I have five days left... I am currently surrounded by boxes, lots and lots of boxes. It's more than a little out of control. In any case I have so much to blog about - our fabulous road trip (Ottawa - Sudbury - Manitoulin - North Bay), and then of course the move. However, it's late and then there's the work I have to do and it just isn't time yet... soon I hope.

Dumbo - Brooklyn

Dumbo (an acronym for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass" or "Down Under Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass") is a really fun little area. This is where we went on Monday, August 6. We started out by trying to go to the Brooklyn Children's Museum only to discover that it's closed on a Monday. To salvage the trip Suzanne decided that we would go to Dumbo. After finally finding free street parking (for the minivan in Brooklyn!) we walked to Grimaldi's Pizzeria. The pizza was really good. It was worth waiting in line with five children and being squished once we were inside.













After the pizza we walked around the corner to Jacques Torres chocolate store and bought ice cream sandwiches. They were delicious. Our last stop was a little park between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. The boys had so much fun running around and playing.



















Joey and Isaac, Mason - Isaac's friend




















The Lott boys and the Bates Boys





















I took a few pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and was only moderately satisfied. There are limitations to our fun new digital camera.

The Adventure Begins

Train travel is supposed to be romantic yes? I'm not sure that's what I would call my 14 hour journey. I've known for a while that I could take the train to New York but it never seemed that appealing. Ken however, was convinced that this would be a great way to travel to my sister's and I thought that I would give it a try. My favourite thing about the train is that the tickets are fully refundable!

We left Union Station in Toronto at 8:30 am. I had a window seat and a pleasant seat mate - I don't think we exchanged names. We chatted a little and the morning passed fairly quickly. We arrived at the U.S. border at 11:10 am. The border crossing took TWO HOURS! I should mention that the American Board Guard that interviewed the people in my car was very pleasant, friendly even. The most interesting part of the border crossing was watching the agriculture inspection. After being asked for identification a second border guard asked about the food I was bringing over the border. I knew what not to bring so there was no issue. The interesting part was watching the inspection of the woman in front of me and across the aisle.

When it was her turn she was asked if she had any fruit, vegetables or meat. She promptly said no. Then she was asked if she had any food. Again she replied no. The border guard asked again, and she said no, again. He then informed her that he would need to search her bag. At first she seemed not to know how to open her bag, so the border guard lowered the table tray and placed her bag on top. He then proceeded to open the bag and remove the contents. Every single item in her bag was FOOD! It was ridiculous. I couldn't believe that she would just completely lie. But the pathetic part - she had meat, and fruit... was that the border guard didn't take anything away, his retort, it would be too heavy to carry. He simply told the woman that she shouldn't be bringing this stuff into the country. He really told her!

Below is my self-portrait, taken about half-way through the journey. I don't think I ever want to take the train to New York again. Perhaps the only way I would do it again is with Ken as a traveling companion. After the border my seat mate was reassigned to another car - she was only going as far as Albany. My new seat mate was a man (maybe late 20's early 30's) that basically did not talk. He slept from the border until about half an hour from New York. I enjoyed reading my book but I would have really enjoyed talking to someone.














I was expecting the romance of the train trip to be in the scenery. I think the view is prettier from the interstate. The picture below was taken somewhere in upstate New York. There were some pretty forest patches that we went through but there were lots of industrial areas too and by the time it would have been really pretty - along the Hudson River south of Albany, it was too dark to see anything!

A Week for Saying Goodbye

I started the week saying goodbye to Sumin. We have been George Bacon for the last two years. Let me explain. Sumin and I have shared a homeroom class at Blue Willow P.S. for the last two years. Her last name is George, my last name is Bacon, put it together and what do you get? You get George Bacon! We called the kids George Bacon and we generally had fun confusing other people in the school. The first year we put up little signs that said "Who is George Bacon?" Sumin is off to Mexico to teach - I'm going to miss her!















For the last three and a half years at church I've been one of the leaders of the youth program. In this picture are four of the girls and one of the other adult leaders. Since we're moving to Whitby we'll be going to a different church building and I was therefore released from my duties. I'm going to miss the girls, but hopefully they'll all keep in touch - email is such a great thing!















This is a picture of my friend Roslynn. She is another teacher from Blue Willow P.S. She and I met three years ago when we were both new to Blue Willow. I taught her grade 4/5 class music. Roslynn is a beautiful person inside and out and she is embarking on a teaching adventure just like Sumin. Roslynn is going to be teaching in Dubai for the next two years.















The last goodbye of the week was the Treagars. Becky and Seth moved into the ward a year after we did. They are our LOST buddies. They are from Arizona and are heading back - Seth is going back to school to get his M.B.A. Below is Colton - their one year old. We've had lots of fun hanging out with them.
















I think I'm finished saying goodbye for a little while, unless of course you count saying goodbye to Ken tomorrow morning at the train station... well, that's another story.

The road leads to Whitby.

Can you see the building for the trees? This is going to be our happy home for the next year. Hopefully we'll actually be spending more time there than on the 401!

The building is almost 40 years old but very well maintained. There are a number of older tenants in the building and consequently it is very, very quiet.

We'll be squishing back into a one bedroom apartment but it will be great. Our apartment is on the main floor and we actually have a side door to a little patch of green space! Perhaps we can even plant a flower or two in the spring.

The road to somewhere?

So where are we? It's July 21st - Harry Potter Day. (We've already read ten chapters) Yesterday was an interesting day. Ken had the day off and I completed the last day of the second week of summer school. Ken picked me up after school and we drove to Uxbridge to check out some apartments.

Plan A - well forget plan a, Plan B was get transferred and live somewhere like Port Perry. I decided not to transfer so we thought that Uxbridge (Plan C) sounded like the next best option. That was until yesterday. You wouldn't think that after paying $900 a month for a palatial apartment in Toronto you'd be expected to pay $800 a month for a tiny hole in the ground in Uxbridge? At least I wasn't prepared for the two apartments we looked at. The second (or rather second and third) were two apartments above a store. I figured it might not be our first choice but it might not be so bad, but I just can't see myself in either of the apartments.

That's when Plan D (!) started to form. We headed from Uxbridge to Lindsay to see how long it would take to drive to Oshawa. It took about 45 minutes using the 35 and the 401. Not too bad really. What about Oshawa to Woodbridge? Well if there's no traffic it will take about 45 minutes. (No laughing allowed, I'm too fragile)

Hopefully in another week or two we won't be homeless and we'll be able to embark on the next great adventure - moving!

Graduation Day

Today was a beautiful day. The weather was beautiful, Ken was beautiful, the ceremony was beautiful! It really was a lovely convocation ceremony. The graduates were all encouraged to think about how they could give to their communities, to not take for granted the level of education they had attained or the wonderful country that they live in. We finished off the day with a beautiful BBQ graciously hosted by my parents, featuring the beautiful chef Andrew.