Another weekend, another trip. It seems just like yesterday that we were in Brantford. Adam took the boys to his mom's this weekend to give Tina some time and space to clean and organize the laundry room, everything room and part of the crawl space.
The trip to Brantford was uneventful, though it seems the volume of traffic is getting higher every year. They are finally widening Highway 401 between Wellington Road and replacing the Wellington Road overpass in London, Ontario. This has not meant too many delays as there are no lane reductions, yet. It will be nice not to have four lanes of highway traffic merge into two lanes. Highway 403 from Woodstock is carrying more vehicles each year - I suppose that some day it will have to be widened to three lanes each way.
When we arrived, the boys naturally wanted to play in the basement - where all the toys are. Adam unwound and relaxed. The next day Adam, Babcia and the boys headed to Toronto to visit Adam's aunt, Genia (Adam's Dad sister) and to do some shopping on Roncesevalles Ave aka the Polish area. We arrived earlier than anticipated, so we decided to shop first. Babcia bought some tasty goodies at Granowska's, a Polish bakery and cafe. We stopped a bookstore and a few other polish stores before heading back to the van.
Adam managed to find a parking spot in front of the senior's building that Ciocia Genia lives in. The four of us headed up and spent a wonderful time with Adam's aunt. Jeremy felt right at home and instantly told Ciocia Genia that he was hungry - he even started opening doors to find food. Corbin noticed that his GameBoy needed charging so he plugged it in and had some food too. Ciocia Genia showed us some old pictures (from 30s and 40s) of Adam's grandparents and his dad. Everyone had a great time and Jeremy actually cried as we left the building - seems that Ciocia Genia had left a good impression.
The rest of Saturday and early Sunday was spent relaxing and playing with the boys. Adam packed the boys up and they headed home shortly after 1:00 pm. He took the back roads back to Windsor, to give Tina some additional time to tidy up. Four hours later, the boys were back home.
Sunday, 19 November 2006
Sunday, 12 November 2006
A Weekend Getaway
In what seems to becoming an annual event, Tina and Adam returned home from a weekend getaway. That is code for time away from the kids. Yup two whole nights with no kids.
The whole family headed up to Brantford on Friday. The boys were spending the weekend with Adam's mom (aka Babcia). We unloaded their stuff from the van, went over some rules and issues, gave hugs and kisses and head out to Oakville.
Adam and Tina were amazed by the volume of traffic on the QEW. It was heavy and there was lots of braking. We finally arrived at the Fairfield Inn - Adam had been under the impression that last year we stayed at a Holiday Inn. In reality, we had stayed at this Fairfield Inn. We laughed. We took our belongings out and relaxed for a bit. We were getting hungry, so Adam headed out to get some subs from Quizno's and a some pop and munchies from a nearby convenience store.
The next we drove out to Square One in Mississauga to do some Christmas shopping for the boys. Our main goal was hitting the Disney Store to find some Cars stuff for Jeremy and Narnia goods for Corbin. We had a quick lunch in the very busy and very packed food court. Done shopping, we drove back towards the hotel. We stopped in at the movie complex to see when Borat was playing, and much to our surprise, the next screening was in a few minutes. We bought our tickets and headed up. The theatre was not packed but it was busy. Adam sums up Borat as "disturbingly funny".
Back to the hotel to unwind. We then took a drive along Lakeshore Road through Oakville and Burlington, just to get out of the hotel and to maybe find a nice place to eat. Now Oakville has it's share of very fancy restaurants - maybe next time. Arriving at the hotel, we decided to order Chinese food from Ho-Lee-Chow. The food arrived promptly and hot. We gorged ourselves on the food.
After eating breakfast at the hotel - they have a complimentary expanded continental breakfast buffet that included freshly made waffles - we packed up and drove back to Brantford making a stop at IKEA in Burlington (naturally). We bought a few things for the home and arrived at the craziness known as Babcia's house. Everyone had a good weekend it seemed.
The whole family headed up to Brantford on Friday. The boys were spending the weekend with Adam's mom (aka Babcia). We unloaded their stuff from the van, went over some rules and issues, gave hugs and kisses and head out to Oakville.
Adam and Tina were amazed by the volume of traffic on the QEW. It was heavy and there was lots of braking. We finally arrived at the Fairfield Inn - Adam had been under the impression that last year we stayed at a Holiday Inn. In reality, we had stayed at this Fairfield Inn. We laughed. We took our belongings out and relaxed for a bit. We were getting hungry, so Adam headed out to get some subs from Quizno's and a some pop and munchies from a nearby convenience store.
The next we drove out to Square One in Mississauga to do some Christmas shopping for the boys. Our main goal was hitting the Disney Store to find some Cars stuff for Jeremy and Narnia goods for Corbin. We had a quick lunch in the very busy and very packed food court. Done shopping, we drove back towards the hotel. We stopped in at the movie complex to see when Borat was playing, and much to our surprise, the next screening was in a few minutes. We bought our tickets and headed up. The theatre was not packed but it was busy. Adam sums up Borat as "disturbingly funny".
Back to the hotel to unwind. We then took a drive along Lakeshore Road through Oakville and Burlington, just to get out of the hotel and to maybe find a nice place to eat. Now Oakville has it's share of very fancy restaurants - maybe next time. Arriving at the hotel, we decided to order Chinese food from Ho-Lee-Chow. The food arrived promptly and hot. We gorged ourselves on the food.
After eating breakfast at the hotel - they have a complimentary expanded continental breakfast buffet that included freshly made waffles - we packed up and drove back to Brantford making a stop at IKEA in Burlington (naturally). We bought a few things for the home and arrived at the craziness known as Babcia's house. Everyone had a good weekend it seemed.
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
Halloween
Jeremy was excited about Halloween this year. He kept telling people that he was going to be a ghost and he would imitate the sound a ghost makes. That costume didn't quite work - well, it never materialized. Halloween began with a trek out to the Windsor Essex Therapeutic Riding Association and their first annual Halloween Spooktacular.
There was much to do, much to see and much to eat. Plenty of treats and hot dogs to munch on. All the horses had 'costumes' and took on new persona's for the night. There were several games of chance including tic tac toe, fishing, bobbing for apples and so on. Guests could walk out to the stables and see all the horses. There was even a haunted house. Despite the intense downpour, the event was well attended. Our friends, the Karbs, also attended with their boys. Corbin and Jeremy went as pirates. Everyone had a spooktacular of a time.
Halloween went off without a hitch. The rain never materialized and the cool weather was welcomed. Tina took the boys out - Jeremy as Jack Sparrow the pirate and Corbin as the Faceless Ninja (yes there was a costume change over the weekend) - along with the Karb boys. Adam stayed behind and handed out treats. When everyone came back, Adam took out Corbin down Rivard to ensure we had a good supply of junk food for the coming weeks. Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed trick or treating and everyone found his pirate costume cute.
There was much to do, much to see and much to eat. Plenty of treats and hot dogs to munch on. All the horses had 'costumes' and took on new persona's for the night. There were several games of chance including tic tac toe, fishing, bobbing for apples and so on. Guests could walk out to the stables and see all the horses. There was even a haunted house. Despite the intense downpour, the event was well attended. Our friends, the Karbs, also attended with their boys. Corbin and Jeremy went as pirates. Everyone had a spooktacular of a time.
Halloween went off without a hitch. The rain never materialized and the cool weather was welcomed. Tina took the boys out - Jeremy as Jack Sparrow the pirate and Corbin as the Faceless Ninja (yes there was a costume change over the weekend) - along with the Karb boys. Adam stayed behind and handed out treats. When everyone came back, Adam took out Corbin down Rivard to ensure we had a good supply of junk food for the coming weeks. Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed trick or treating and everyone found his pirate costume cute.
Tuesday, 24 October 2006
Cold and Wet
The weather over the past two weeks has been crappy, and that is being nice. It's been unseasonably cold and wet. While the cold is not too much of a problem, the wet means that Adam can't do yard work and that Jeremy and Corbin cannot play outside. They, as in the weather forecasters, are calling for a mild winter. Naturally, Windsor's version of mild is much different from the rest of Ontario's version of mild.
On the home front, Jeremy has one more gymnastics class. He has thoroughly enjoyed this session. At yesterday's class, Corbin helped out behind the counter. Yup, Corbin is working ;) Supposedly he want to earn enough tickets to get a remote control car - despite the fact that he has one. Oh well. Tina signed Corbin up for another session of gymnastics. Jeremy will be taking a break until the new year when he will begin swimming lessons - he loves to swim.
Tina took Jeremy to the Sears Photo Studio and, as usual, got some excellent pictures of him. The boy is photogenic and knows how to ham it up. Corbin's school pictures should be in shortly. For Halloween, Corbin is going to be a Ninja and Jeremy is going to be a ghost (or a pirate if Tina does not get around to putting together a ghost costume).
On the home front, Jeremy has one more gymnastics class. He has thoroughly enjoyed this session. At yesterday's class, Corbin helped out behind the counter. Yup, Corbin is working ;) Supposedly he want to earn enough tickets to get a remote control car - despite the fact that he has one. Oh well. Tina signed Corbin up for another session of gymnastics. Jeremy will be taking a break until the new year when he will begin swimming lessons - he loves to swim.
Tina took Jeremy to the Sears Photo Studio and, as usual, got some excellent pictures of him. The boy is photogenic and knows how to ham it up. Corbin's school pictures should be in shortly. For Halloween, Corbin is going to be a Ninja and Jeremy is going to be a ghost (or a pirate if Tina does not get around to putting together a ghost costume).
Monday, 9 October 2006
Thanksgiving Weekend
We decided to stay put in Windsor this Thanksgiving holiday. Good call because the weather was awesome - sunny and warm - allowing us to do a number of outdoor tasks. Staying in Windsor also enabled us to be on a very casual schedule.
Adam began the weekend on Friday afternoon. He ordered four yards of cedar mulch to be used to top up the Rivard flowerbed and to spruce up the corner bed, the garage bed and the herb garden (all future beds that hopefully will be planted in 2007). The Rivard bed needed some serious topping up - the existing mulch was very thin - and there was some garbage that needed cleaning up.
The real work began on Saturday. On the corner bed, Adam dug up an edge and also installed some edging along the sidewalk to prevent the mulch spreading all over the corner. The existing soil was graded as best as it could and the weeds were sprayed with some Roundup. Some drainage stone was used where the existing downspout ends to prevent erosion. It looks good against the mulch. The Rivard and corner beds look real good - no more dirt and weeds. Adam even managed to buy some cheap perennial ground cover to break up the vast area of mulch. Its a start. Adam is hoping that new mulch will soften up the soil for the plants next year.
Tina and the boys divided their day between cleaning and playing. They eventually went out to Lacasse Park in Tecumseh where the boys had a wonderful time running around, sliding and so on. They also spent some time in the backyard playing with their outside toys.
Sunday was another relaxing day. We ended up at the Maple Leaf restaurant for what seems to be our weekly family breakfast. It was not too busy, so we managed to get a window seat. Both Corbin and Jeremy ate their breakfast. Afterwards we went out for a short drive and ended up at Canadian Tire. Picked up a few things, like new headphones for the boys, and some other items. We rested for a while and headed out to Ojibway Park for a stroll on the trails. The boys managed to see an eastern garter snake, a catapillar and either a King Jay or a woodpecker. It was a very nice day out with the family.
Monday was Thanksgiving Day. It was another slow day. We had a ham for dinner - excellent job by Tina. We went out to the river to a new playground that was jam packed with families. Man that place was crazy. Jeremy's highlight was climbing a big rock and then kind of slide-jumping from it. We took a short stroll down the riverfront trail to look at some sculptures before heading back to the van and driving home.
Adam began the weekend on Friday afternoon. He ordered four yards of cedar mulch to be used to top up the Rivard flowerbed and to spruce up the corner bed, the garage bed and the herb garden (all future beds that hopefully will be planted in 2007). The Rivard bed needed some serious topping up - the existing mulch was very thin - and there was some garbage that needed cleaning up.
The real work began on Saturday. On the corner bed, Adam dug up an edge and also installed some edging along the sidewalk to prevent the mulch spreading all over the corner. The existing soil was graded as best as it could and the weeds were sprayed with some Roundup. Some drainage stone was used where the existing downspout ends to prevent erosion. It looks good against the mulch. The Rivard and corner beds look real good - no more dirt and weeds. Adam even managed to buy some cheap perennial ground cover to break up the vast area of mulch. Its a start. Adam is hoping that new mulch will soften up the soil for the plants next year.
Tina and the boys divided their day between cleaning and playing. They eventually went out to Lacasse Park in Tecumseh where the boys had a wonderful time running around, sliding and so on. They also spent some time in the backyard playing with their outside toys.
Sunday was another relaxing day. We ended up at the Maple Leaf restaurant for what seems to be our weekly family breakfast. It was not too busy, so we managed to get a window seat. Both Corbin and Jeremy ate their breakfast. Afterwards we went out for a short drive and ended up at Canadian Tire. Picked up a few things, like new headphones for the boys, and some other items. We rested for a while and headed out to Ojibway Park for a stroll on the trails. The boys managed to see an eastern garter snake, a catapillar and either a King Jay or a woodpecker. It was a very nice day out with the family.
Monday was Thanksgiving Day. It was another slow day. We had a ham for dinner - excellent job by Tina. We went out to the river to a new playground that was jam packed with families. Man that place was crazy. Jeremy's highlight was climbing a big rock and then kind of slide-jumping from it. We took a short stroll down the riverfront trail to look at some sculptures before heading back to the van and driving home.
Monday, 2 October 2006
Happy Birthday Corbin
Look who turned eight years old today? The day began with the traditional 'wake up the person' with a cake with a candle and the personalized Captain Zoom happy birthday song. Jeremy gave his present in the morning - a character from pirates of the Caribbean. Mom and Dad gave their present after supper - an mp3 player.
Saturday, 30 September 2006
Ahoy Matey
Shiver me timbers - has a year passed since the last birthday party? Yup, Corbin had his birthday party today. This years theme: Pirates. Corbin and Jeremy were dressed up in pirate gear - though Jeremy sometimes looked like a little gigolo. The kids at the party are received an eye patch and bandana to wear. The hose was decorated with pirate flags, skulls and dungeons. The games were pirate based - musical chairs became musical islands. The pirates had to find clues in order to unlock the treasure chest. All in all, everyone had lots of fun. Good job Tina.
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