December Recap

It was a very busy month as we were settling into our new house. Heather's parents, Jim & Sandy stayed with us for a few days to help with the transition. The big moving day was Friday, December 3rd when Mike and my two brothers were over to help us move our belongings from our storage unit in Woodstock.

Our new house.

Next day, on Saturday, Remi and Lisa came from to Toronto. Remi helped me with insulating the garage while Heather, Lisa, Jim & Sandy worked on unpacking things and shopping for blinds and other neccessities. Even Kim & Mike stopped by for a short visit with their kids. Remi and I put in about 8-9 hours of work as we put the insulation in place and drywalled over it. Heather and I chose not to pay the builder to finish the garage as the materials we bought cost only a fraction of the builder's price. However, we didn't quite finish as we ran out of drywall but we came close enough. We did a lot of work and I couldn't have done any of it without Remi's expertise and directions. Thanks, buddy!

Happy Birthday, Jolene!

As if that wasn't enough, December also had its usual share of family functions including Jolene's birthday, Adrian's birthday and we also had a small gathering at our new house for my birthday.

Happy Birthday, Adrian!

Then there was Christmas and we were able to spend it with our entire family as we had a Christmas dinner in Breslau with my parents, Heather's parents and her grandparents. A wonderful time of the year, indeed.

WE HAVE MOVED!

The big day has finally come and the excitement is overwhelming. Neither Heather or I could get more than 4-5 hours of solid sleep. It's a good thing we both had a day off work. At 8 in the morning I took Heather's car to a local garage for an emission test which is required for older cars at the time of renewing stickers. The inspection took about 15 minutes and the Grand Am passed the tests with flying colours.

Back at home, Heather was finishing out our passport applications. My passport expires at the end of December and Heather decided to get a new one with an updated name. We didn't encounter any lines at the passport office in Kitchener and were out of there in less than 15 minutes. Then we drove straight to Waterloo to the office of Ministry of Transportation to take care of some business. That business included: updating driver's licence to the new address (x2), purchasing plate stickers for our vehicles (x4 - Elantra, Grand Am and two Boulevards), new vehicle registration papers with new address (x4) and changing address on the health cards (x2 - we will not receive new cards as those don't include the address info). All of that took so long that the line behind us grew from zero to about 6-7 people as we were leaving.

Back in Breslau once again we had lunch and then Heather went upstairs to catch up on some sleep while I waited. The call finally came at 2pm. I woke Heather up and 25 minutes later we had the key to our very first house!

We have the key!

We went back to Breslau to quickly pick up some loose ends and then drove both cars to Woodstock. I had planned to ride a motorcycle but it rained constantly throughout the day so I decided that the motorcycles will have to be moved at a later date. We took both cars because beginning tonight overnight parking on city streets is not permitted in Breslau. The key worked and we were in our house for the first time as owners just before 4pm.

A little present from the builder.

I moved the Grand Am into the garage and then we went on a drive around Woodstock which included stops at a post office, Canadian Tire (making copies of keys), Public Storage to pick up some things that could fit into a car, and Subway for some much needed supper. Since the bulk of the move will not happen until Friday, we did a few little things and I was able to at least start furnishing one of the 'rooms' in the house. We left Woodstock at 7pm with three more days to go before we actually start living there.

The garage is filling up.

The Final Walk-through

With eight days to go before taking possession of our new house, we had a final inspection at 3pm. Aside from some minor touch-ups and a couple of missing small items, the house looked ready to move in. All the phone calls to utilities have been made and now we just wait.

Our new kitchen.

Concert Trip to Northampton, MA

A couple of weeks I suggested to Heather that we take an out-of-province trip to a concert. Now, because of all that's been going on in our lives we haven't been to a gig in nearly a year and Heather brought up the idea getting back into concert going. So with that in mind I browsed my Last.fm account and found that Matt & Kim are on tour. I discovered the band just over a year ago when their single "Daylight" was featured as a free single of the week on iTunes. As luck would have it the band was playing in Toronto last Friday but, as per previous posts, that day was reserved for our anniversary weekend. I checked the rest of their tour dates and found that they were playing in Northampton, MA today and I picked that day to give us time to get to and from the concert without missing work.

We left in the morning and made a quick stop in Cambridge see Heather's family including parents who were leaving for Sudbury after a week-long stint in town. I borrowed $50 from Mike, said our goodbyes and with Jim's advice, headed towards Lewiston at 9am. But as we arrived at the Lewiston/Queenston border crossing, Jim called to warn us of a line-up close to an hour long. It was too late to turn around at that point and we ended up crawling for over an hour. We hit the booth at noon and were bombarded with questions. And of course I got orders to shut off the car and open the trunk. We assumed it was because two people going to a concert surely must have some pot with them. We didn't.

Even though we encountered a delay, we were still ahead of the schedule I had planned. That schedule included stops in a couple of breweries where I could pick up some product and souvenir glasses for my new collection. Our first stop was Rohrbach Brewing in Rochester, NY. The brewery is located in the heart of the city between a train yard and what resembles a farmers market. Needless to say it was very difficult to find a parking spot. Once we did, we went to the brewery but this location only had tours and sold beer but not souvenir glasses. Instead we were told to go to their restaurant location just outside of town. At the restaurant, we each had a pulled pork quesadilla but unlike last weekend this one was more of a bar-food variety. There was so much pork we had difficulty finishing our portions. Before leaving I also picked up a growler (0.5 gallon or 64 oz.) of Vanilla Porter and Highlander Lager.

Rohrbach Brewing Restaurant.

We left at 2:30 and made our next stop in Syracuse, NY at the Middle Ages Brewing. I walked in to a large crowd during their sampling hour. I got another growler of Pale Ale, a couple of bottles and glass and got out. From there it was on to Northampton with a stop for gas on the NY Thruway. We were at the stop at the same time as a bus full of BC students. Once in the state of MA we stopped in Lee and checked in to America's Best Value Inn. As the name says it wasn't anything upscale but rather a place with a bed to spend the night in. At check in I asked the owner about breakfast options and he recommended that we save money and help ourselves to a donut tray in the morning. True to its name the light didn't work and the vending machine ate Heather's change without spitting anything out. Regardless of that, we dropped our stuff and moved on to Northampton. All the while we were using MA roads, the toll booth attendants were nice enough not to charge us any money unlike NY where we spent nearly $40 on tolls during both Saturday and Sunday.

We made it to Northampton around 8pm and, after finding a spot on the 4th floor in a parking garage, we walked down to the Pearl Street Nightclub. To our surprise the line to the club stretched for the whole block and then around the corner. Some of the people in line commented that it was one of the biggest crowds trying to get into the club with few hundred people in the line. I tried taking a peek at the front of the line because I thought there'd be a different line for people who had purchased tickets in advance and were picking them up at the will call. Unlucky for us, that seemed to be standard pratice at the club. The size of the line could have been due to the fact that there were concerts in two parts of the club but again that wasn't the first time it's happened. An hour after the doors opened at 9pm, we made it inside just in time to see the second opening act wrap-up their set. Matt & Kim's set started at 10:30pm and lasted until midnight. And it was worth every penny.

Matt & Kim.

SATURDAY'S ROUTE


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Home From Honeymooning

Once again this morning, our breakfast consisted of the goodies found in the mini fridge in our room. We arrived back home in Breslau around 1pm and relaxed. The rest of the day was spent relaxing while Heather also engaged in handing out Halloween candy to kids. It was a weekend getaway that we don't get to do very often but it was worth every penny to spend this time together.

Kicking Around Port Stanley

This weekend's breakfasts was courtesy of the hotel and the basket of goods that were in the room every morning included bread, juice, fruit, etc. At around 10am, we left the room to explore the town and to allow housekeeping do its job. The conditions outside were very windy and somewhat chilly. We walked in the direction of Lake Erie and even made it to the beach which was mere minutes from the inn. Despite the uncooperative weather there were a couple of brave souls in the water, albeit in wetsuits, waiting for a wave to surf on.

Jackson's Fish Market.

From the beach we walked from shop to shop including art galleries, bakeries, souvenir stores etc. Pretty much anywhere we went this weekend was within shouting distance of where we were staying. Just before noon we ended up at the train station where we inquired about train rides.

Port Stanley train station.

We ended up buying tickets for the 1:30 ride. The two car train took us on a few kilometer ride through the back country of Elgin County. We rode in the closed car (open was an option too but the weather wasn't ideal) to a station called Whytes Park which consisted of nothing more than a snowplow engine and an old circus car sitting on the sidelines.

Circus car.

I should also mention that the tour guide was a retired engineer that worked for CN for many years including a stint in Sudbury. From the train station we explored more of the town by visiting a local pizza joint Godfather's and an ice cream shop. In the evening, we again went out for supper to nearby Mickey's boathouse where in addition to a fine dinner we were entertained by a pair of local musicians, Mike & Michelle, playing their acoustic versions of well known classics like "Turn the Page", "Brown Eyed Girl", etc.

Official Anniversary Weekend Begins

As mentioned previously, Heather and I had an anniversary getaway a week after our actual anniversary date. But before we left, we still had to go to work and my office had various activities to celebrate Halloween including best costume, a pie contest and a pumpkin carving contest. I joined four of my female co-workers to dress us as the Spice Girls. One of my co-workers, Jennifer, made a jumpsuit for my Scary Spice costume which earned me second place and a small gift card.

Scary Spice.

We left Heather's office at 5:30 and arrived in Port Stanley shortly before 7. After checking in at the main building of the Inn on the Harbour, we moved our belongings to the adjacent building called the Little Inn. Then it was off to M.E. & Suzie's for supper. In a small port town like Port Stanley we would get around town on foot while the car sat in the parking lot. The restaurant had great food including a pulled pork quesadilla and specialty beer brewed exclusively for this restaurant. I enjoyed a tasty pint of Earl Elgin's County Auburn Ale. Our server was a very engaging guy who offered us complimentary dessert after finding out that it was our anniversary weekend.

Heather with leftovers from M.E. & Suzie's.

We left the restaurant shortly before 9 and spent the rest evening relaxing in the room which included a short stint in the hot tub.

365 Days Later...

...and we're celebrating our first wedding anniversary. The official celebration will not take place until next weekend over two nights in Port Stanley. We couldn't do it this weekend because Heather spent Thursday and Friday night at meetings of the Association of Administrative Assistants where she is the National Treasuser.

We did manage to get in a short ride in the morning to Kitchener to take a picture of an old water tower that is scheduled to come down starting next week. It was an overcast morning and the roads were wet from an early morning rain but the temperature was mildly warm in the low double-digits. As we arrived at the tower we saw an older couple just finishing taking their photos of the tower. I guess a lot of people will miss it.

When we got home we shared a piece of a year-old cake and it tasted as good as it did the first time we had it.

Our wedding cake.

We're just starting on this ride and we're looking forward to many more years together.

WATER TOWERS

Our Newest Niece

Early today morning, our stable of nieces and nephews grew to four as Heather's sister Kim gave birth to Robyn Michelle. This is Kim and Mike's second child as Robyn joins Jolene who is almost two years old now. Congrats, guys!

Our New House - Week 5 Update

Don't adjust your monitor - we actually went out riding today. On motorcycles! I somehow convinced Heather to leave the worries of her job behind and enjoy the warm evening. She said yes and we were off to Woodstock no more than 10 minutes after coming home from work.

Getting the bikes out the garage was a bit of a challenge with a lot of moving boxes stacked around them. We decided that it'd be better off if we moved our motorcycles to a storage unit. But tonight was all about riding. When we left at around 6pm, it was still quite warm outside but it got steadily cooler as time went on. By the time, we were coming home it was no longer possible to ride without gloves.

We arrived in Woodstock via back roads a few minutes past 7pm. The work on our house is still nicely coming along with the roof now completely finished. The brick has also started to make its way around the house and I even spotted our address stone on the garage floor. We didn't go inside because of all the scaffolding around the house and therefore we couldn't tell if any work had been done on the interior. We'll just have to wait until next week to find out.

Front view.

Rear view.

We made it back to Waterloo under the cover of darkness at 8:40pm.

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WATER TOWERS

Our New House - Week 4 Update

This weekend was usually set aside for the annual Cyclefest held in West Montrose by the Waterloo Wings. However, the Wings decided to retire the event and this year was going to be just a friendly campout. Once again, Heather and I decided against camping, which proved to be a good idea given the sketchy weather.

We went to the campground in the morning to pick up Heather's parents and we drove to New Hamburg for breakfast at the Old Country Restaurant. After breakfast, I took everybody to Woodstock for another look at our house. Changes from last week included stairs to the 2nd floor and the basement, a bathtub, water pipes, electrical wiring, electrical panel box in the basement and freshly delivered roof tiles and brick waiting to be applied to the house. The work is progressing at a brisk pace.

Front view.

Rear view.

From Woodstock we drove through Breslau to check on more house construction, to Waterloo for a pit stop at Williams. Then it was back to Kitchener to Campers World to look at some RV that Jim and Sandy are interested in purchasing. Finally, we arrived at Marj's in Alma for supper. By the time we left Marj's the skies had opened and it was raining quite heavily. We dropped the parents off at the campground and we made it home by 6pm.

A rainbow over a field of corn north of Waterloo.

Our New House - Week 3 Update

We left Sudbury at 8:30 this morning after a short stay although we did manage to visit the grandparents just before leaving. I took pretty much the usual route home: Hwy 69/400 to Barrie, then Hwy 27 to Pete's Donuts, then turned right towards Hockley Valley. While there we encountered a mass or 20 or so cyclist riding together and slowing traffic down for some 6-8 kilometers. That must have really pissed off some motorcyclists. From there we went through Orangeville, Arthur, Shakespeare all the way down to Woodstock where I arrived on fumes.

We got to Woodstock at almost 3pm to look at the progress on our house. To our amazement, this week the whole framework was in place, majority of the windows were installed and a couple of doors were also there. The floor on the main floor was also there for us to take a walk through the house.

Front view.

Rear view.

After a few minutes of taking in the sights we set off to Branford where we'd visit Darryl and Erin and their 9-month old twins Vincent and Avery. As always, it was an enjoyable visit. We finally made it home at 10:30 pm, just in time to get to bed and get ready for another week of work.

Quick Trip Out of Town

A couple of weeks ago, Heather and I decided to get away from town after all the hoopla of the previous month or more. So if we are going to get away we might as well go all the way and so we drove to Sudbury right after work. We arrived in Sudbury at 11pm and stayed up for about an hour. Today, we left home after 9am and headed to the driving range to loosen up. We also stopped for breakfast at Tim Hortons.

After the driving range, we all went to a new Wal-Mart store just to waste some time before arriving at Stonehill Golf Course at 11:30, well ahead of our noon tee time. The day was very hot and we were glad that we booked power carts as even on a comfortable day, the golf course is very challenging to walk through.

Stonehill Golf Course.

We kept score on and off for most of the day. Heather and Sandy stopped playing midway through the back nine while Jim and I laboured through the entire 18 holes. We arrived at the clubhouse at 4:30pm. Our reward after such an exhausting day was a great supper at Casey's. We spent the rest of the evening watching movies at home.

Greg & Justyna's Wedding

Greg and Justyna's special day was finally here. For Heather and I that day arrived well before 5am since we had to go to pick Agnes in Elmira and take them to downtown Waterloo for a 6am hair appointment. I was also then in charge of doing a quick Starbucks run with a list from all the five girls in the wedding party. Since I don't frequent Starbucks, only detailed written instructions will help me in getting what is needed.

The other four guys in the wedding party joined me sometime later at my parents' place where the photographer and videographer recorder our preparations. The limo picked us up at around 11am and took us to church for the noon ceremony. The girls arrived right at noon and the ceremony started a couple of minutes later.

The bride and groom.

Once the ceremony concluded it was off to the Sun Life building in Kitchener for some photos. Since the bride and groom both work there, we were able to get indoors and it helped since there was a persistent mist throughout most of the afternoon. The process of shooting photos was very long since we had nearly 4 hours to kill before the start of the reception.

The photos were bound to get silly.

After we finally made it to the reception, we partied well into the night but a grueling day finally got to us and Heather and I left at 12:30am. Congratulation Greg and Justyna!

Our New House - Week 2 Update

I quickly drove to Woodstock after work today as Heather was off preparing for the wedding. The additions this week included first level floor and a wall in the rear of the house.

You can track the entire progress of the building process here.

Front view.

Rear view.

Rehearsal Night

It's only a few days from the wedding of my brother Greg to Justyna and today was their rehearsal and dinner. We actually had dinner first at a King's Buffet in Kitchener. Our party included the wedding party, parents and a handful of family members that are here from Poland for this special occassion.

The rehearsal was at 7:30pm and thanks to Greg, the guys looked sharp and in sync for that event.

Agnes, Heather, Justyna, Margi and Ildiko.

Wojtek, Tom, Greg, Mark and Mike.

Our New House - First Update

What will be a weekly occurence, we drove to Woodstock this morning to check on the progress of our new home. We were pleased to see construction was well under way as the foundation was already in place.

The foundation of our home.

After taking in the sights and quickly dropping in to say hello to our real estate agent, I took Heather deeper into Woodstock to explore the town and things it had to offer. As we left our future neighbourhood we saw a motorcyclist approaching us. However, I was the only one to notice as he dropped some things which I identified as gloves. I pulled over and walked over and sure enough found both gloves. The unlucky biker came back to pick up his belongings which apparently also included a half-smoked cigarette. Clearly, multi-tasking while navigating a vehicle is a difficult thing for a lot of people.

We continued a couple of kilometers down the road where I parked the car since the road ahead was closed. The reason for the closure was soapbox derby. Unfortunately, we came just after they had ended and didn't see any kids in action.

Soapbox derby track.

We kept walking and eventually made it to a local park where the annual weekend-long Cowapalooza festival was taking place. The festival is sort of an homage to the town being the Dairy Capital of Canada, which was once home a record-milk-producing cow, the Springbank Snow Countess. The festival featured the above mentioned soapbox derby racing, dancing competitions, several vendors, fun for kids and of course cows, although it didn't have, to my disappointment, a cow-milking station. Maybe next year we can also catch the Bee Beard Festival in nearby Aylmer.

Cowapalooza Festival in Woodstock, ON.

We're definitely looking forward to further discovering our new hometown.

The Move-Out Is Complete

It was an early start to the day on this holiday Monday. Tomorrow is the closing date of our condo so we wanted to be moved out by end of the day today. We picked up a 14' U-Haul truck at 7am and an hour or so later Mike came by to give us a hand with loading our belongings onto the truck. My parents also came and offered their help. Once we were done with the condo we drove to my parents' place to unload our bed, had a quick lunch and headed to Woodstock shortly before noon. Mike followed Heather and I in his van to our storage unit in Woodstock and unloading the truck didn't take as long as loading it but it was still difficult on a very hot day.

After we finished, we went our separate ways and Heather and I had returned the truck back to U-Haul by 3pm. But just before that happened, I managed to make Heather's day by unintentionally slamming on the brakes causing her to spill a carton of chocolate milk all over her shirt.

And now we wait for the next four months...

Standing in an empty condo after the accident.

Soccer Season Wrap-up

My second season of coaching house league soccer came to an end today as my U-15 girls team bowed out in semifinals. We reached semifinals by finishing fourth in an 8-team round robin consisting of four games. The girls gave their all in all the games which included a game on Wednesday, Friday and two on Saturday. Sunday morning's game was also very hard fought but unfortunately our opponent scored the game's only goal late in the second half.

My team, however, was still rewarded with a medal for reaching semifinals. I also bought all 14 of my girls a gift card to Marble Slab for a cone of ice cream. Thank you Brooke, Michelle, Katherine, Leah, Heather, Isabelle, Melissa, Megan, Carly, Danielle, Jamie, Kayla, Emily and Stephanie for a wonderful season.

Heather was unable to attend any of the games as she left Friday morning for Sault Ste. Marie to attend her grandmother's memorial. I should have been there too, but I couldn't keep track of all my commitments.

We Are Starting to Move

Today, we finally took a big step in the process of moving our belongings from the condo. A week ago, Heather and I drove to Woodstock after work to reserve a storage space for our stuff and I followed that with a trip this past Friday to make the deal official. The property manager, Stefan, gave me a thorough explanation of the conditions of the agreement and I even managed to leave a couple of boxes there. We chose a location in Woodstock so that the next, and final, move will only be a short distance away from our new house.

We were moving on a Sunday because yesterday I spent the majority of the day at my brother Greg's bachelor party in Toronto. So, with not enough sleep, we went to U-Haul to pick up a cargo van. The first load included a couch, a futon and a few boxes from our condo storage. We then drove just down the road where my mom helped us load all unopened wedding gifts that were still sitting in her basement. After the van was full, we had a small breakfast and left for Woodstock just before noon.

Given the fact that I was paying 49 cents/km, I went into savings mode and tried to take the shortest way by distance. As we were driving down Trussler Road towards the 401 I noticed an unusual thing in sky. On closer look, it turned out to be Snoopy Two, one of the famous Metlife blimps, which have provided aerial shots for many sporting events including the Super Bowl. At home, I did some extra research and found out that the Metlife blimps cover the PGA Tour which will be taking place in Toronto from July 22nd to 25th thus its presence in this area.

Snoopy Two soaring in the sky.

We arrived in Woodstock less than hour after leaving. The unloading went very quickly and without a major mishap. A tiny piece of glass broke off one of the door from our wall unit but we'll worry about fixing that later. From the storage unit, we drove through downtown Woodstock taking in the sights and familiarizing ourselves with various local businesses. We ended up at our future home where we visited the model home and one of our agents who was there.

At the storage space in Woodstock.

Back in Waterloo, we went home with little desire to go back. Heather went for a nap but I changed my mind and braved the heat again and put more boxes in the van. Once Heather woke up at around 4, we first drove back to my parents' house to unload some plants we borrowed for staging purposes. We arrived at pretty much exactly the same time that my two brothers did so we stayed for dinner.

The second trip to Woodstock started just before 6 and this time it took us less than 15 minutes to unload the few items we brought with us. On the way home we encountered yet another unusual sight. A coyote crossed our path as we were on the Cedar Creek Road off ramp on the outskirts of Cambridge. You read that right, a COYOTE. What's even weirder about it was that earlier in the month I read an article about a coyote alert in neighbouring Perth County. Very strange. Heather mentioned that it reminded her of Johnny Cash's coyote on an episode of The Simpsons. Her comment kind of surprised me because it's usually my department to associate everyday events with a scene from The Simpsons (like the blimp sighting) but all I could think of was a scene from Collateral (a very fine movie with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx).

In the end it proved to be a very productive day with only two weeks left to vacate our current home. Stay tuned.

Canada Day Weekend - Day 4

We woke up quite early on departure day but another big breakfast put us on the road at 11am. Today was yet another clear day with temperatures expected to climb over 30C.

The ride home was very uneventful with the usual slow traffic sprinkled throughout our trek. We were safely home at around 12:30pm while our belongings arrived with Remi and Lisa at about 3pm.

During the evening we had scheduled a meeting with our real estate agent and an agent representing a potential buyer. We actually received a call on Friday afternoon but with us out of town and no access to internet or a fax machine we decided to meet tonight. The negotiations lasted 45 minutes and ended up with us agreeing to sell the condo at very close to the asking price. And just like that, we took another step closer to our dream.

The events of the evening capped off a great weekend of fun with great friends. We all hope it becomes an annual tradition.

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Canada Day Weekend - Day 3

Another big game featuring Germany and Argentina was on tap today in the World Cup and we made sure not to miss this one. After a quick Captain Crunch breakfast we were on our way to Kincardine by 9:40am. We found a Boston Pizza just off of Highway 21 and got in just minutes before the 10am kick-off. At the time the Germans scored in the 3rd minute, the bar was still empty but it filled up quickly with supporters of both nations, though mostly German supporters.

Once the game ended just before noon, we drove a short distance to the beach. The beach in Kincardine is much bigger and much more sandy than the one in Point Clark. We left the beach at 2:30pm and, after unsuccessfully looking for a video store in Kincardine, went back to the cottage where we had another barbecue feast. After lunch, we passed watching a couple of movies, Star Trek and When Harry Met Sally, and Lisa and Heather made a trip to a local pie shop to pick up a rhubard pie.

At 9pm, we our third trip to the ice cream shop and for the third time I had the New York Cherry Cheesecake in a waffle cone. The beach in Point Clark was very busy tonight as the locals were putting on their own fireworks display. It obviously wasn't as big as the one in Kincardine but it was still enjoyable. We tried watching the fireworks from the beach but a swarm of mosquitoes and black flies made it impossible. The picnic table in the backyard of the cottage made for a great alternative.

Watching the fireworks display in Point Clark.

After a late supper of chicken breast in a bun and rhubarb pie we were in bed by midnight.

Canada Day Weekend - Day 2

Today's morning plan was to drive to Kincardine to catch today's early World Cup game between Netherlands and Brazil. We weren't able to see it at the cottage since there was no cable or even internet connection. Our only link to the real world was a basic internet connection from Heather's Kindle, enough to see basic text version of some websites.

Unfortunately, because of a late night, nobody got up until almost 11am. By that time the game was half over. Thanks to Remi, we had a great breakfast complete with eggs, sausages, potatoes and bread. In the early afternoon, we all went to the beach to catch some rays. The water was still muddy so me and Remi only dipped our toes in the water before retreating.

An afternoon at the beach.

After an hour or so, we went back to the cottage to leave our beach things then walked over to Lighthouse Gifts for another round of ice cream. With ice cream in hand, we continued to the lighthouse and the adjacent museum. We inquired inside about tours of the lighthouse. As bad luck would have it, on June 30th, a rep from Parks Canada was here and deemed the lighthouse unsafe to tour because of falling rock. Another visit from the feds was scheduled later in the week where a decision would be made as to whether close the lighthouse for the duration of the season. The young girl working the counter was especially bummed since she was spending the summer working to pay school and this was her only income.

Back at the cottage, we spent the evening barbecuing more burgers and sausages and watching some DVDs, namely a movie about Zack and Miri. In between eating and watching the movie, we made another trip to the beach for some sunset photos. We turned almost two hours earlier than last night.

Point Clark sunset.

Canada Day 2010

It's been a busy time around these parts lately. While we've been thinking about buying a house in the near future, it's finally become a near reality. On Sunday June 18th, we drove to Woodstock to look at model houses and immediately fell in love. Heather was eager to make an offer on the spot but I thought that we needed to sleep on it. The following Tuesday we met with the agent representing the seller and made our offer. The next day it was accepted and it was now time to sell our condo. That process included a visit from a stager who helped us organize our condo to show very well. From that point on we spent several evenings cleaning, organizing, painting and prettying up our home. The photos were taken on Wednesday and today the condo was listed for sale. More on that to follow.

But today was Canada Day and the start of our mini vacation in Point Clark, one we've been looking forward to for a while. We were going to spend a weekend at a cottage with Remi and Lisa. Because Canada Day fell on Thursday this year, Heather and I had to book Friday off work in order to get a four-day weekend away from home.

Remi and Lisa arrived at our place around 11am to pick up our stuff for the weekend. Since we were going to ride our motorcycles, they offered to shuttle our belongings to and from Point Clark. We left the condo just before noon and Remi and Lisa took off for the shore of Lake Huron while we went to get our motorcycles. At my parents' place Heather and I had a small lunch and finally left Waterloo around 1pm.

The road to Point Clark is one without many turns and it covers all of Highway 86. We only made one stop and it was in Wingham to get fuel. Fuel that was now 8% more expensive thanks to Ontario's brand new HST which came into effect on Canada Day. We actually also stopped down the road in Lucknow too, but it was only for a brief moment. We made it to the cottage at 3pm without seeing a single cloud in the sky and nearly 30-degree temperatures.

Point Clark lighthouse.

Once at the cottage, we put the motorcycles in the garage and went inside to relax for a few minutes and change into lighter clothes. After an hour or so, we walked a short distance to a small shop called Lighthouse Gifts for some ice cream. The lady running the shop was very friendly and even liked our sense of humour. From the ice cream shop we walked another minute or two towards the beach which also features the town's main attraction, a 152-year old lighthouse.

Lisa and Heather enjoying some ice cream in the sun.

On our way back to the cottage, we strolled along the beach but because or recent rainfall, the waves hitting the beach were unpleasently muddy. Back at the cottage, Remi fired up the barbecue for the first time this weekend. The evening's menu included burgers and smoked marshmallows.

Marshmallow time.

We stayed outdoors for most of the evening. At around 9pm, we packed into Remi's car and drove to nearby Kincardine to see their Canada Day fireworks display. The parking in Kincardine was very scarce but we found a spot on a side street, about a 10-minute walk from the beach. The beach was full of people waiting for the show but we managed to find a spot on a dock, very close to where the fireworks were going to be set off from.

Waiting for the fireworks display in Kincardine.

The fireworks display started around 10pm and was very well done and even featured a sequence of fireworks shot, it seemed, from the water.

The fireworks display.

We were back in the cottage at 11pm and spent the next two hours laughing and joking our way through a game of Pop5. A great day to start the weekend.

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WATER TOWERS

We Have Another Niece!

Aunt Heather with niece Maja.

My brother Wojtek and his wife Agnes welcomed their second child yesterday evening as Maja joined big brother Adrian. The entire family was back home healthy less than 24 hours after checking into the Grand River Hospital. Heather and I visited with the newborn for a short while today after work. Congratulations to the proud parents and grandparents!

Big brother Adrian.

The Week That Was

The week did not start well for either of us. While we were babysitting Jolene last weekend, Heather and I both picked up a cold which began with a sore throat on Monday morning. I guess we're not used to overcooled places.

Then as I got to work on Monday morning I received news that one of my co-workers was involved in a fatal car accident only 14 or so hours earlier just outside of Cambridge. Needless to say our office of about 110 people was shocked to hear of this tragic news. Miraculously, though, the 22-month daughter, Emma, who was in the backseat of the car at the time of the accident, survived while suffering only minor injuries. Beginning Monday, our office will hold a two-week long fundraising campaign, comprised of various events, to benefit little Emma. What's hard to deal with because of my co-worker's loss was that she was only 32, same age as I am.

Rest in peace, Laurie Banks.

Monday evening was our soccer day which also happened to be photo day. By the time Wednesday rolled around, Heather felt too sick to make it to the game and I got drenched since we played the entire game in rain.

On Thursday, Heather left for Collingwood for a couple of nights to attend the annual General Meeting of the Association of Administrative Assistants (try saying that fast). I stayed home and found myself occupied. Or more specifically, others found ways to occupy my time. I babysat my nephew Adrian on Friday as his parents (Wojtek & Agnes) went to a stag-n-doe for Barb and Pat (Agnes' brother). I was available to babysit since I told Wojtek that I would skip the stag-n-doe because I didn't feel like going alone and I was a little under the weather. It should be noted that it was the easiest babysitting gig I've ever had since little Adrian was in bed when I started and he still hadn't made a sound as I left at 1am.

Saturday morning I got a call from my mother to keep her company while she was having an open house. Apparently, over the past couple of weeks my parents have decided to buy a hole in the ground in Breslau and it was now time to sell the house which they've called home for the past 11 years. The open house, which attracted a handful of prospective buyers, was from 11-4. Throughout that time, I generally tried to stay out of the way and cleaning the bikes was the perfect way to do it. And the motorcycles needed some good scrubbing from our Chatham adventure over three weeks ago.

There was another open house today, although the cool weather seemed to also cool the interest of prospective buyers. While that was going on, Heather was at work for 3-4 hours trying to catch up on missed work from Friday. Once she came home, we had some pizza for supper and then visited my parents' future home.

My parents' future home in Breslau.