Canada Day and an unexpected week in Manitoba

Wendy and Eric took Tanya (Anton went to bed early) to her first Canada Day celebrations in the town of Lynden. They have a great small town event with music and food, topped off with fireworks. Cotton candy, kettle corn, and lemonade were purchased as we sat waiting for the fireworks. After a bit of a delay for technical issues, the show was great! Even better, there seemed to be no mosquitoes! 

Eric, Wendy, and Tanya

Eric's father had a medical emergency and needed surgery to insert a pacemaker. Eric and Parker took a week and flew out to Manitoba to help out. Flying through Hamilton (on Swoop) was a great choice, with no lineups for security. 

Eric's younger brother Dave picked us up in Winnipeg and drove us to Portage la Prairie. We stopped for a quick dinner and introduced Parker to Slurpees from 7-11! He had a few during the week.

Eric's mom's flower gardens were doing very well (although not so well for vegetables). Lots of interesting things to see growing in the yard.

Dying poppy

Eric did some cleaning and cooking so that everyone had lots to eat, and went shopping for groceries a few times. Even had some time to walk around town to recall some fond memories.

Eric's father is still recovering from his surgery, but is keeping as active as he can. Sometimes he was too active... and needed a few reminders to try to take it easy. 

The BBQ got a work out several times during the week.

Burger day

Chicken legs, grilled turnip, peas

When it was time to head back home, Eric's older brother Karl came from Winnipeg to take us to the airport, giving us a short visit in the car. 

Even with blue sky and sunshine all around, we saw a rainbow on the way to Winnipeg. Within 10 seconds of taking this picture, the rain started. 

A minute later, still under blue sky and sunshine all around, the rain stopped as suddenly as it began. Must have be one cloud directly overhead.

After a late flight back to Hamilton (landing at midnight), Adam picked us up to bring us home. Overall, it was a good trip and the little things we could do to help settle things back into a routine were well worth it. 

July was a blast...!

Sorry for the long post... it is hard to keep up since we are so busy!

July certainly was a blast around here... in fact, it started with lots of blasts. We took in Canada Day fireworks twice this year. The first (Ying and Fanfan's first Canada Day!) was actually June 30th in Waterdown, but it was a nice warm night and the fireworks were not bad.

Ying, Wendy, Christine, and Fanfan waiting for dusk

Not on the diet... but hey, it is Canada Day!

Even with the daytime heat, it did chill off a little

Talking about heat, July was a real scorcher around here. We had many days where the humidex was well over 40C.  Sometimes even hotter. Here is a screenshot Wendy took on the 1st of July. We don't think it was quite that hot - maybe the Weather Network mixed up Dundas with Dubai?

51 C in Dundas?

In that heat, we went to Dundurn Castle to take in their annual Canada Day Tattoo. It was definitely hot, but was still a lot of fun.

Shade was at a premium on the castle lawn

For some videos of the Pipes and Drums and the marching band, check out this album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vi9rNSHL6tzZN4xP8

Not having enough of the heat, we quickly had some supper and drove out to the town of Lynden for their annual fireworks. One video of the display is on the album linked above.

Setting up the show in the middle of a corn field

Compared to the Waterdown fireworks, these ones were spectacular! The view from our chairs behind our car was the best, since we could see the whole sky at one glance.


With the Canada Day weekend over, we went to the Dundas Driving Park for a free Dundas Concert Band performance on Tuesday evening. They usually perform every Tuesday evening in July. Unfortunately, the moment the concert started this time, the skies opened up.

Check this link for some video of the band playing their first piece. We lasted through most of the concert but got wetter than we had expected. We went to a few more concerts over the month, but all of them had much better weather.

On a slower note, one night Parker decided that he was going to cook his own Kraft Dinner. He doesn't cook much, but he did make a couple of boxes of KD successfully. I guess he has never heard the expression 'a watched pot never boils'!

A post-millennial cooking moment

With the weather so warm, the raspberries this year seemed to really grow well. Wendy picked many from our own back yard, but that was not quite enough for her. She and Christine went out early one weekend morning to a pick-your-own place west of Dundas (not far from the fireworks area).

We also went for a day trip to African Lion Safari in Cambridge and met up with our nieces and their families for a day in the sun. Thankfully, the heat had broken and it turned out to be a great day for all.

Elyse, Brynn, and Fanfan waiting for Laura and Jacob to arrive

The whole crew taking a break on the train ride

Also not on the diet, but it was frozen yogurt (not as fattening, right?)

Fanfan's actual 6th birthday (her princess party was in June) arrived in the middle of July.  Ying, Fanfan, and Wendy decided to make a cake for a quiet celebration. Fanfan chose a butterfly shape.

Hard to blow out candles with a missing tooth (check the link for video)

Close to the end of July, the opportunity for Ying and Fanfan to sleep in a tent for the first time came up. We had seen fireflies in our back yard a few days earlier (see the album link for video), and the campers were not disappointed. The whole back yard sparkled after dark.

Success!

To close the month, Fanfan experienced another Canadian summer activity - jumping through the sprinkler!

She also lost her second tooth! Wendy pulled this one out, just like the last one.

All in all, July was a great month for all of us. August is looking like it will be even busier... I'll try to post sooner than the end of August, but that will depend on how much we pack in to our schedule. There will be at least a few trips in August - Banff and Sauble beach.


Here's the link to my Google Photos album with pictures and videos from July:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vi9rNSHL6tzZN4xP8