The Grand Reunion !!

These two have missed each others company ... theirs is a complete can't live with ( or without ) each other kind of relationship ......................................

It has been just over a month since Lisa and Erik and Jilly moved to their new digs in Hamilton and we've not seen them in that month ......more to the point the girls have not seen each other !!! Today was the big day !!!

The girls were delighted to see each other - Jilly gave Rosalind and Carolina a tour of their new house ...which went as far as showing off her new bedroom and then they moved on to manicures and pedicures at the dining room table.

After all the fingers and toes had been appropriately and wildly painted we went to Gage Park and the girls had a blast playing in the water park getting completely soaked including Rosalind who wasnt packing a bathing suit.

Then Lisa and Erik took us to Tony Romas for dinner, we had a terrific dinner with rapidly tiring little girls- after which we left with the promise of sleepovers and a trip to Marineland in 2 weeks !!!!!

Think we will have to organize one of these ventures on a regular basis in the future now that we are in different cities !!!!!

Forever Family Day TODAY !!

5 years ago today we met Carolina Yuan Cheng McGrath !!! Expecting a chubby little sweetie based on her picture, we were stunned by the sight and weight of our little girl. Her picture showed a chubby faced little one - the reality was a miserably sick, sad looking, thin little girl. Her hair was thin and dry and took about 3 years to get to the lovely silken locks she now has. From a shy and very quiet baby to the little powerhouse we have in our house now has been quite the joyous and fun journey !!!!!

Carolina is always organized, has a keen 6 year olds fashion sense and a fabulous sense of humour. She is quite the strong personality - stands back to observe before jumping in and mastering whatever it is the other kids are doing. She knows where everything in the house is located and is a regular little manager and autocrat. She loves to help clean and organize and is very very focused !!

The CNE - The last big event of the summer !!!

Oh the fun we had at the 'Ex' !! Weather was overcast and we had some rain - spatters more than anything - which worked well to keep the crowds down !!! We drove to the union hall and parked the car, then took the Bloor subway and Bathurst streetcar to the Exhibition grounds which was an adventure in itself and got to the Ex around 11am.

Purchased the wristband unlimited rides for all of us and then hit the midway !!! We went on a roller coaster ride - pretty tame looking - until we were on it and then YIKES .........

Rosalind was in complete and absolute heaven, Carolina was a bit ambivalent and Chris and I WERE TERRIFIED

Thereafter Chris and I happily watched as Rosalind and Carolina went on every roller coaster ride they were tall enough to go on sans parents !!!!

We did the usual course of midway rides - the merry go round, the ferris wheel, and the swings and usual scrambler and haunted houses

The girls also fell in love with the giant slide and must have run up the steps to the top with their mats and slid down together a dozen or so times , holding hands and laughing, laughing, laughing !!! ... it was all we could do to move them on to new thrills ....

We also of course checked out the animals - baby pigs and baby turkeys , ponies, goats, cows , pot bellied pigs, ostriches, and emus - and fed some of them at the

petting zoo too ..

On our way back to the Food Building for dinner (yup we were still there at 6:30pm ), we passed the 'wall' and let the girls have a turn rock climbing ... this was their first time doing anything remotely like this and they were awesome !!!! They did not make it to the button at the top but they came pretty close !!!

We left around 9 and by the time we got to the car, it was pouring rain - all the way back to KW. The downpour held off till then !!! We were so lucky ...All in all a terrific day !!!!

Back To Real Life .....sigh .....

Ah yes .... well the grass looks like it has grown 10 inches overnight and the house seems to have become a dust haven soooooo .... ich ... the part I hate ... back to all those little chores that take up all your time ... back to real life ... sigh ....but so nice to be home ... so very nice ..

Lazy crazy days at Koshlong Lake !!!

What a Treat ...........................

Oh yeah !!!! Up at Uncle Doug and Aunt Mona's cottage for the week !!




On the trip up to Haliburton we stopped at this fabulous little Italian restaurant for lunch - thanks to Rosalinds bright eyes - and had the most awesome thin crust wood fired oven baked pizza !!!!

Chris was able to stay from Friday to Tuesday morning when he had to go back to work. This year really was the most amazing difference in terms of swimming skills for the girls. The 2 weeks plus their age had made the most amazing difference in terms of their abilities and confidence and it really showed !!!

We didn't do too much exciting stuff .... went into Bancroft to get the car part that hadn't come in on time for the boys there to install it , went into Haliburton several times and visited dthe second hand stores, the Teddy Bear store and of course managed to get to the one day fair in Haliburton !!!

Well there was this one thing... you see Doug has this family of chipmunks - totally trained over generations to expect peanuts from humans .... there is Princess, the dainty eater ; Bashfull - well that probably says it all ...and Cheeky, who can squeeze more peanuts into his cheeks than any other chipmunk in history

And we filled the birdfeeders and watched the wild life ...We had awesome weather , were able to have campfires with marshmallows and hot dogs and we had a fabulous time ... thank you Aunt Mona and Uncle Doug !!!!!

From Tuesday on we had a girls week till Friday when we headed back to KW and back to real life once more .................