Hey, we are still hanging in there...

Amazing how fast the days continue to fly by... we have been kept busy for the past week or so, and this will continue into the future.

Last week 7 of us got together to have dinner at "The Mill" Restaurant in Cambridge. What a great spot, right on the Grand River, to enjoy an evening out. The supper was surperb! Did not stop there though...

We had a nice table overlooking the Grand...

After dinner, we headed over to the new Theatre Building in Cambridge, it is only 2 years old... what a great theatre...

Gerard hooked us all up with tickets to watch Spamalot... what a performance, based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I never did see this movie, but the play was just crazy... we all enjoyed! Nothing better than local Theatre.

 

I was also busy this past week hanging around with Lois, she continues to be the model that all babys should follow! I am thinking that Chris and Kristina lucked out with Lois as far as Baby Maintenance is concerned... she is really low maintenance! But, of course, I don't live there, and try and sleep there I guess, and miss all the late night feedings... but from my view, she is a keeper! (Oh... I also have severe allergies to changing baby diapers!)

Charlie also continues to do well, here he is enjoying dinner out at the RV last week... I took him over to watch some demolition going on up the road, and he just loved watching all the big digging machines destroy an old factory. Still can't post youtube videos yet on Blogsy, but maybe soon... as soon as they fix the problems.

Hard to believe, but this coming September, Gwenny will be attending Kindergarten! Last week Kristina took her over to the School for a dry run type of day, so the kids know what to expect. Gwenny loved it. They even took them for a ride on a school bus. Kristina reports that Gwenny did great, and that Mom did not even cry...

On Saturday, we attended a Celebration of Life for a Co- Worker of Judy's from Bracebridge, which was held in Penetang. Michelle was taken in a tragic accident way too soon in life at only 36 years of age. Hundreds of people attended the Celebration, we got to meet up with a lot of Friends we had not seen in a long time. Our thoughts and prayers are with Michelle's Family and many Friends and Co Workers Beaver Creek/ Fenbrook Institutions during a very difficult time.

As we were travelling this past weekend, we had the opportunity to spend the evening in the Allsiton area with good Friends, John and Pat! It was great to see them and get caught up... Pat, as always made sure we did not go away hungry, and John made sure we did not suffer from thirst! Had a great time!

Even got to stop on the way home today in Mount Forest, and stopped in to see Jim and Ruth, Friends from when we lived back in Mount Forest... eons ago it seems now... Had a great visit with them over coffee!

Till tomorrow...

 

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Do you have a favourite ???

Recently I was reading an interesting article that I found on CNN's News App on the iPad. It was an article that declared the top 10 most scenic airports to land at in the World. This was published by "PrivateFly" which does this list annually.

This years overall winners are:

The reason I post this, is the fact, that I have actually landed at 3 out of the 10 most scenic airports in the world! I didn't know... maybe I should try and close out the list... only seven more flights!

For business purposes, I have landed a few time at the Bill Bishop Airport in Toronto, formerly called Toronto's Island Airport.

Now, this is a real cool airport to come into... very scenic as you get an incredible view of the Downtown Toronto buildings. They do not fly jets into here...(yet...) and I came in on turbo prop planes from Sudbury. I think this airport deserves to be on the list.

I have also landed a couple times at St. Maarten's Airport. If you have not been here before, you have to go!

When the planes come in here, it is like they are going to land on the beach. While in St. Maarten, we did take the opportunity to come and visit this beach one afternoon, as there is a great bar at the one end of it, and you can sit and watch the planes, about 10 minutes apart during the peak of the day. Being right on the beach is crazy when they pass above you, and we would not even go out there when the planes come out to take off, and blow the people on the beach right into the ocean with the jet blast... really!

However, my all time favourite Airport landing of all times, has to be on the Island of Saba!

The above picture shows you the whole Island, with the airport visible on the far right of the picture. What a landing! We took a turbo prop plane from St. Maarten, for the 15 minute flight over to Saba. When we came in for the landing, the wing was right against a cliff on the island... seemed like we were going to hit. They only will let the Pilot land the plane here... no Co-pilot landings! The take off is eqally as thrilling...they use every inch of the runway and once you leave the runway, the plane drops a bit towards the water, before it climbs up in the air! Phew.... As you can tell by looking, Saba is the top of a volcano, only about 5 miles wide, by 5 miles long... We came here to tour the Medical Facilities and University, where our son Shawn, took his Medical Training. The University is out of Boston, but has the Campus on Saba. What a neat tour that was. Will never forget it!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Till tomorrow....

 

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A Rogers game breaker!

This blog may be of interest for anyone who travels down to the U.S.A. for any length of time any time of the year. This year when we arrived back into Ontario, I began to notice the battery on our iPhone 5 did not seem to be lasting near as long as it used to... Hate it when that happens. I decided to look into replacing the battery, which you can even try to do yourself, however I don't think I would try it. It was going to cost $50.00 and no real guarantee on the battery. I figured our 2 year plan was due very soon, so investigated that end of things... turns out it is due Aug. 2nd this summer. I phoned up Bell, and they wanted only $62.00 for an early upgrade fee. Hey maybe I might consider upgrading instead of buying a new battery!

Next, I decided to spend an afternoon checking out the other cell phone suppliers to see if any of their offerings had changed since 2 years ago when I looked into it. Tellus did not seem to have anything new, and their U.S. plans are terrible, even Bell was better. When I checked Rogers two years ago, they too did not have a good U.S. offering... however that has changed! I was surprised when I asked about U.S. plans, when they told me you can now "roam like at home"... Here is how it works. We have an unlimited phone plan in Canada, including texts, call answer, unlimited calling, you get the drift. We also had 10 Gig of data but wanted to upgrade this too. Need more! Under the new plan at Rogers, you can now pay a maximum of $50.00 a month, and you can use your cellphone and all your data just like you are in Canada!!!! This was a game breaker for us! We had been using Verizon as our supplier of internet in the U.S., but for some strange reason changed their policy so that we could not suspend our account for 6 months, like we always did for the summer while in Canada. They wanted us to continue paying full price! What???? Cancelled account, that fixed that!

So right away we decided after 45 years of being a Bell Customer, to switch to Rogers! They agreed to pay our early buyout on our iPhone 5 from Bell, and gave us addional $300.00 in credits just for coming over to Rogers! Perfect! Guess what I got?

Yup... a brand new iPhone 6 with 64 Gig of memory to boot! What a neat machine... I am impressed! Bigger than the 5, lighter than the 5, faster than the 5, you get the drift! This phone transfers data much faster than the 5 did, so using the internet on it is like trying to catch lightening...it is fast! I did not get the gold case you see above... I decided on the similiar black like my old 5. Very conservative Judy would say. Also updated our plan to 16 Gig of data to keep the wheels turning... Going to love just taking our phone to the U.S. and just carry on using it! Perfect!

Took my old iPhone 5 downtown and sold it to a guy in a phone shop, no problem... so with the sale of our old phone, and with Roger credits, we picked up our 6 at no real out of pocket expense... it is a $470.00 phone, on a two year plan. Retail value of the 6 is over $950.00... hope I don't lose it....

So, for the past couple days, I have been playing with the new phone getting used to it, and setting everything up the way I want it. Decided to stay with an Apple phone, as we still use our iPads a lot, so keep it all in the family.

Thanks to Rick, for letting me know about upload problems from youTube into Blogsy... as soon as they fix it I want to show you some slick new things you can do with the iPhone 6 and it's fancy cameras.

TTill tomorrow...

 

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Happy Birthday Charlie!

Two years ago today, Charlie was born, and has never looked back! What a great day we enjoyed with him today to celebrate!

We started off by taking Charlie and Gwenny over to our walking track, which also doubles as an indoor soccer field! The track is elevated above the field. The kids had a ball on the field with a bunch of other kids who come out just to kick around some balls for an hour... great exercise for them.

Took the kids over to McD's for a Happy Meal, and 45 minutes playing in the indoor playground. Everthing was indoors today, as it was a bit rainy and yucky out.

Later this afternoon things got a move on, as we had a birthday party for Charlie...

 

 

There was no shortage of gifts for him, and he just got right at it! Had a blast watching him!

I had a couple videos to put up, but just having problems with Blogsy tonight during the upload... will have to wait...

Till tomorrow...

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Lois has a big day...

Last Sunday young Lois celebrated her Baptism. Turned out to be a fantastic day all around, including great mid summer weather.

Chris and Kristina brought this fantastic cake to the Church but somehow everyone else beat me too it, and I didn't even get a crumb...sigh...

 

Judy and I got to help coral the big kids while Mom and Dad were busy with Lois! Look how big they are quickly growing... I know!

Amy and Jason flew in all the way from Edmonton, and stood in as the God Parents for young Lois! They are good friends of Chris and Kristina...it was great to see them, and they are expecting their own first bundle fo joy this coming August! Good luck!

There were three babies Baptised in total, so it was a busy day. Chris' Brother, Kevin, and his Wife, Ramona, had their young son, Logan Baptised as well! Big day for the Family!

 

Lois is named after her Great Grandmother, Lois, who you see above! Oh yes, that Baptism Gown that is being worn by Lois is over 104 years old!

A fantastic reception was held by Lois's Grandma Diane and Grampa David at their home... simply a great time, and no one went home hungry.

 

 

Till tomorrow...

 

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No shortage of things to do...

Well, one thing we are doing for sure here in southern Ontario, is enjoying 30 + Deg. C. weather! What is going on... it is still ealy May! Check out the picture I took of the Control Screen in our Chevy Cruze this afternoon...

It may not be totally in focus, but it is reporting 35 Degrees C. outside the car. We certainly had the air conditioning on, that is for sure! We are having record breaking temperatures, and we will take it!

Judy and I were in to do a bit of baby sitting for Kristina this morning, and I had time to cut the lawn for them... check out this nice rose coloured bush in the back yard, right in front of the fence we just built last weekend.

The two pictures above are taken from a nice hiking trail we found in the south east section of London, while we were over there all day yesterday for Medical Appointments. We had a bit of time for a nice hike before stopping for lunch at Timmy's...

This morning we had a great time with the kids, and ended up taking them over to the local McDonald's Restaurant for Happy Meals... they simply loved it, and played at the indoor playground for over 1/2 an hour. It was too hot outside for the outdoor parks. There is A/C inside! :-)

This week we pulled the motorcycles out of hybernation, and you can see Judy taking the dust off of hers... took a real nice ride over to Paris, Ontario for another great hike.

 

Judy has been getting her Lo Lo fix for the last few days... Lois, as you can tell, is getting ready for a big weekend. She will be Baptised this coming Sunday, Mother's Day! Will be fun!

Kristina was out picking up Friends Amy, and Jason this afternoon at the London Airport. They flew in from Alberta for the Baptism, where it was -1 Deg. this morning when they left, and over 30 deg. this afternoon when they thought they had landed in Mexico by mistake!

Till tomorrow...

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A building project to keep the skills up...

I don't know what is going on, but the weather here in south western Ontario is simply wonderful! We are getting temperatures up near 30 deg. C. here this weekend, and lots of sun and clear skies... what is going on?

Well, we will just take it, and found a job to do while we take it. Over the winter, which was long and hard here, the Kid's had 4 or 5 sections of a fence blow down that ajoined to a neighbours house. That was the first problem, the second was that there was now an 8 foot deep swimming pool exposed to the backyard, which is not good for the kids out playing! This had to be fixed and fixed soon!

You can see above that Chris put up a red temporary construction fence to help keep Gwenny and Charlie corralled into the back yard. Last weekend, we had sunk and set the 6 fence posts into the ground with a bunch of cement in each one to help hold in place!

 

We used screw nails to hold the fence together, and this is the new style pressure treated wood. No longer does it come green from the lumber store...kind of nice.

We started around 10:00 this morning, and by 3 we had it pretty well assembled.

Chris got out the skill saw and knocked down the excess length on the fence posts, and we were done! All the kids had to do was play on the swing!

 

Here is what Judy did today while all the fence work was being completed... special bonding time with Lois!

Till tomorrow...

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