Fall is falling...

The Fall colours are sure at their max right now, and it has been kind of nice as we are enjoying great summer temperatures right now... however that may be coming to an end, as we had rain today, and things started to cool off quite a bit. Maybe a couple warm days left, we will see.

It has been summer down in Johnson City, Tennessee, where the Hollinger Clan is getting setteled into their nice new home, and work and school. They have been a very busy bunch this fall, good to see. I borrowed a couple pictures off of the Facebook Pages to show you what is happening...

Paige is going to Pre-School and they just visited a local farm which is always fun to do at this time of year.

Looks like they had a great wagon ride...

Pumpkin time is coming soon...

When I was a kid, I was always a little concerned about getting to close to these goats with real horns... but Paige looks like she is right into it!

Emmie is in Grade 1 in Tennessee, and I was laughing, as a week or so ago, they had a School Spirit Week, where the kids get to dress up...

Above was Super Hero Day, as you see Super Emmie ready to fly!

Hawaiian Day... most favourite spot I ever visited!

Good old Western Days in a Country Music State would go over big!

...and my favourite one, dress like your Mom did in the 70's when she went to school! lol Love it! Great hair Emmie!

Sounds to me like they have lots of school spirit at Emmie's school, good to see!

This morning we enjoyed coffee with Kristina and the kids, and went for a nice fall day walk on the Standard Tube Trails...

Till tomorrow...

 

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A busy couple days, but "hey", it's Summer!

Summer continues here in southern Ontario, and I am liking it! Today was simpy stunning with lots of sun, nice mid 20's temperatures, what else could you ask for.

On Sunday, Judy and I jumped into the Cruze and headed for a quick trip up north to Orillia. We left early, at 7:00 a.m., in order to arrive around 10:00 and be able to meet up with my Mom at her Church. St. James Anglican Church is a landmark structure on Peter Street in the Downtown area. Judy and I were married here over 40 years ago! Yikes! We had a great day with Mom, and were able to enjoy a great lunch at the local Boston Pizza Restaurant. Mom and I both love pineapple, so we enjoyed a great Hawaiian Pizza! We were able to help her out with some shopping that she wanted to get done, and then it was time to head back to Woodstock.

We knew that our friend David, was heading to Woodstock to visit us on Sunday evening! We headed south on Highway 11 and phoned David's car, only to find he was about 10 minutes behind us on the road! It was just over 3 hours to make it back, and we headed right downtown Woodstock to enjoy a great dinner with David at Charles Dickens Restaurant! This is a nice Irish Pub style place, and we had to enjoy some draft beer. David ended up staying the night in our RV, as he has big plans for today. He is heading down to stay at his Condo in Lake Havasu City, which is a 30 hour drive from here! Yikes... He will get there later in the day Wednesday. Keep those wheels turning David! His wife, Angela will be flying down this coming weekend, to join up with him in the south!

After David left at 5:00 a.m. this morning, yawn, I went back to bed! Once Judy and I woke up, we headed down to the Standard Tube Trails, and put in a nice morning walk! Felt so nice in the great weather, while enjoying fall colours. Don't look now, but time is getting short before it is time to hit the road!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Ya, Paris Baby...

Wow... with weather like this, I am heading to Paris...on my motorcycle of course! 26 deg. C and no clouds AGAIN here today... will it ever end? Hard to believe. More yet to come!

As we drove through farm country in Oxford County, we passed these bullrush type of plants, that were brilliant white with tassels on top... however it does not show good in the pictures... it was neat to look at.

 

We passed by lots of these in the picture above... after all, we are the dairy capital of Canada apparently... One thing for sure, the fall colours were out here in full force... it would be neat to be up in Muskoka right now.

We had the bikes all revved up and ready to go this morning... Paris was on our mind.

We walked the Conservation Trails that run beside the Grand River up to the City of Cambridge. This is a great trail, and thankfully, it had lots of shade, as it was way too hot in the full sun.

We checked out the old rail tressel across the Grand... don't mention it now, but I have blogged about this before...

These fishermen, had more equipment than most fishing boats carry, and they never caught a thing! I asked them... they were honest!

Everywhere we looked we saw colours just like above, on the boardwalk up to the tressel... just an amazing day! Nice to get out on the bikes, and put in a 3 1/2 mile walk!

Till tomorrow...

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Daytripping to "Clovermead" and Charlie's first haircut!

It seems Ontario, and most of North America is stuck on summer! What a day we had here today! Twenty Five Deg. C and nothing but sun! We will take it!

Got a text from Kristina this morning, asking if we wanted to join them on a day trip out to Clovermead. This is a great Child Adverture place, and we had Gwenny here 2 years ago, so it was time for a re-visit.

This place is all dressed up for fall... It looks just great and the kids love it!

 

 

Hard to believe it is the end of September and everyone in shorts today...

 

Gwenny took a ride on "trigger..."

They have lots of animals for the kids to see... check out Gwenny and the Peacock above... Charlie just loved all the animals, and just sat down in front of them to watch and talk to them, what a guy!

Did not take long for Gwenny to find a bunch of different slides...

Charlie kept pointing up at this crazy goat, living up on Billy Goat Bridge. You can use a pully system, and send food up to him... I think he is best fed in the whole park!

By far, Gwenny's most favourite thing, was bounching on this huge Jumping Pillow... it was a blast! We could not get her off of it!

While Gwenny was bouncing, Charlie was picking out a pumkin...

Noak's Ark was also a huge hit with all the kids... hmmmm...seems I am over loaded with pictures of Gwenny today... well, here are some great shots of Charlie's first haircut that happened yesterday!

His big blonde locks were getting a little long, so off to the Barber with him!

Seems we needed a bit of comfort from Mom during the first part of this cut...

Seems he warmed up a bit after a few clips of the magic sizzors... starting to look like a new young man!

Hey, I would say your good for a couple months Charlie, before you have to think about going back!

Now there is a good big sister, who jumped up in the chair and had her golden locks clipped back a little bit... Gwenny apparently could not get enough of it!

Looks like another great weekend weather wise...enjoy everyone!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Project completed!

I was in on the job bright and early this morning, cleaning up a few loose ends, repairing some drywall holes, and touching up a bit of painting, however, this job is now completed! One new mudroom and sewing room finished.

This is what the room used to look like...

Above I start to take apart the old closet...

Some of the old subfloor had to come off above...

This room had really dark green paint, and the ceilings were all faded, damaged, and just not white anymore, and the floors had really old linoleum covering them, which was under old carpet. The whole room had to be renovated. Chris and Kristina had a plan. They wanted the old closet in the room removed, and a new wall put in to create a new mud room. I was not too sure how all this would work out, but what the heck, we have nothing but time! Let the destruction begin.

We soon had the old closet removed that opened up the room, and then we put in the new mud room wall. This reno took about 1 month and went fairly smooth.

Now lets see what the finished product looks like...

Above gives you a good idea of the new laminate flooring we put in, it turned out great! Costco flooring. You will see better pictures of the cabinets below...

Charlie and Gwenny ended up with a new "kids corner" where they can store some of their million toys, and artwork etc... great idea. Kristina comes up with good ideas for storage.

Here is another good idea for storage... the new mud room. Check it out! Everybody has a couple hooks to hang coats etc. on, and then there is a nice bench to sit on to put your shoes on, with lots of storage bins below the bench for storage of mitts and boots, etc! There is also a small broom closet I installed at the end of the mudroom that you don't see here for some strange reason. Check out the additional storage boxes up on the top shelf! Always thinking!

In case you can't remember where you hung your coat, your name is above your hook on these neat little blackboard signs Kristina made up!

Kristina also owns a million and a half books, so she has a nice book shelf, along with a computer/sewing desk set up in the new room with storage above. The patio doors you see on the right, lead out to the back deck.

 

This is the last piece of the puzzle, in progress. Chris is building a new stereo cabinet for a massive old record collection he has put together. He has just started assembling it now, and I will post further pictures when he is finished.

As you can tell, Chris and Kristina had a good plan on what they wanted to do with this room, along with lots of great decorating ideas and tricks. The whole family will get lots of enjoyment out of this new room!

This project really turned out nice, and gives all new utility to the family for that back room. Now what am I going to do with all this free time on my hands....

Till tomorrow...

 

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