Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning around our house is much calmer than it used to be, although we did have an overnight visitor this year (Maddy's best friend Abby). We were all up at a reasonable time and opened presents in an orderly fashion.

Eric got a number of bottles and a great leather messenger bag.

Wendy got an infinity scarf, hot chocolate, and several hugs from the boys.

 

 Adam was happy to get a video camera to mount on his motorcycle helmet and a torque wrench.

Parker got lots of accessories for his car and a nice robe that fits him. He could not figure out what the silver cylindrical device was for (originally thought it was a pen) - even when the 'pressure gauge' was pulled out of one end, he still had no idea.  We will probably tell him later...

Maddy and Abby got some chewing materials. Here, Maddy licks her lips after tasting her new grey rat. Both dogs remained in the middle of the action all morning.

More photos to come - we will go to Wendy's mom's later today then to watch Rogue One: Star Wars later this evening.

September was a nice break from the summer

Thankfully, not much happened in September. Everything nicely slowed down as we got things back under control for another school year. Here are some of the highlights.

Parker started Grade 10 this year, this time at the single location of Dundas Valley Secondary School. Last year he was located at the east campus (formerly Parkside High), but the west campus (formerly Highland) was renovated and opened just in time for the new school year. They didn't have enough desks and chairs for everyone for several weeks, but they seem to have sorted that out now. We think that this picture of Parker is likely the very first one since Adam started school that actually required an umbrella. I will have to look back at our old photos to see whether that is true.

Grade 10!

I did get some fabric and had some foam cut (the store where I bought it cut it all in 5 minutes!). The chairs are now much more comfortable and don't look quite so late 80s pastel pink/green. This fabric has some metallic gold in it as well as shiny brown. Wonder how long it will be until someone cringes at the choice of fabric like we did with the chairs' previous incarnation? The fabric I removed wasn't the original, so I can only guess what it might have been!

2 leaves can be added to make this a huge table

We had Mel and Murray's dog Abby stay for a sleepover while they were away. She fit right in and learned all the proper places to sit to watch the action.

Parker got his full braces this month. He'll have them for a few years. He also had a couple of bite guards attached inside so his lower teeth don't knock off the braces from the inside.

We got the opportunity to do another leg on the Bruce Trail hike with Terry and Theresa. Here we are near the starting point of the leg (close to Pen Centre shopping mall). We ended at Brock University.

The Bruce Trail hike was on a perfect weather day - here is some of the early fall colour that we noted.

Maddy has been watching a lot of Blue Jays games recently, so her eyes were getting a little strained. You can just see how tired she is after cheering for several hours...

See you next with October!

Another busy week

Lots of things to update in this post...

Wendy and I started with our group on the official 2015 Bruce Trail adventure! Turned out to be a great day (too warm for a jacket most of the day). Here is the whole crew for this adventure

The Bruce Trail hike 2015 begins! Eric, Wendy, Maddy, Theresa, Terry, Dave, and Nicole.

The trails were in great condition compared to the mud bath 2 weeks ago. Part of the route included the Laura Secord Legacy Trail, adding a dose of history to the beginning of the adventure.

When we got home after the long and hot hike, it felt positively freezing in Dundas - only 6C. We had been less than an hour away and the weather was completely different at home!

That same evening (after the hike) we had Adam's 19th birthday party. We had all the family in attendance, including his Uncle Peter from North Carolina. Adam had asked the day before the party if we could buy some vegetarian hot dogs... a strange request coming from him, until he explained that he would be bringing his girlfriend to the party to meet us! Wow! She has got to have some gumption to meet us all at once like this! Sorry, no pictures. Wendy has smacked me for this already...

Adam received a number of different gifts, many of which were liquid. His cousin suggested that she might get a bottle for him, although the alternative was dessert with strippers. You had to be there to see his face change colour.

I think three or four bottles were among the gifts

Now that Adam is "old", this is what he should expect to have happen to him every time he has a birthday cake. He may need to ensure that there is a fire extinguisher nearby from here on out!

Yes, 19 candles!

During the party, 2 year old Laura really warmed up to Maddy and had lots of fun. Laura also was very impressed by Mel and Murray's dog Abby - she threw the ball for her for a long time in the back yard.  Here are a few extra shots from the party.

Peter and Marion

Ron

Mel, Carrie, and Jacob

Marion and Jacob

Laura (and Abby)

Carrie

Abby

On Adam's real birthday, he attended his last cadet function and officially retired that evening. He is now working on the paperwork to return as a civilian (adult) volunteer.

His first retirement!

Parker has some news as well. In addition to his twice weekly volunteering at the local seniors residence (Wentworth Lodge), he is in training at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club as part of their caddie program (their spelling, not mine... I prefer "caddy"). He will be trying out his hand as a caddie this summer to make some money, in addition to working as a baseball/T-ball umpire. He will certainly be busy.

Another change that happened this week is that Parker got his braces! Here he is with braces on his upper teeth.

Well, that is about all of the major things that happened in the past week. I'll post again as new developments arise!