Category: Glenn

We ended the week with a fun family outing to Markham Fair.  It was really fun…aside from the rain.  With all of the rides wet, the girls were a bit disappointed.  I was disappointed that I was the only one interested in the tractor pull.  Loud engines, bellowing smoke, what is there not to like?  Maybe next year we will need to try either the Monster Trucks or Demolition Derby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, we did see the Super Dogs show.  Which was as enjoyable as at the CNE.  Those dogs are really talented and not to mention adorable.  From there we went off to grab some food.  Boy was I surprised to discover that I got to eat too!!  While Glenn and the girls munched on roast beef Kaisers I enjoyed a steaming baked potatoe full of green onions, cheese and BACON!  Everything is better with bacon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we headed to the exhibit buildings to see how the girls had done.  Did I not mention that not only was this the summer of popsicles but also of crafting for the fair.  The crafting ran right up until the last day when Glenn supervised the making of rice krispie treats for the kids catergory.  I think that was the highlight of Katrine’s fair prep.  Elspeth enjoyed all of the art, and we did lots – veggie prints, fingerpainting, stickers, stampers, cutting, glueing  Me?  Watching my girls create.  My least favourite memory?  Having my fingers burned while holding things that were being glued.   They did well.  They didn’t place in everything but that is okay.  Nevertheless, they will be happy when they get to actually hold their ribbons on Sunday.

The girls at work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Fair:

The real Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is not until tomorrow but some good friends host a moon festival party each year so we get to stretch out our celebration.  It was an Elsa festival because can you guess who came???  Chinese Elsa, complete with white hair.  I must say that she was remarkably cute.  Her royal highness stayed at the party for about 2 hours, only leaving once dinner appeared.  Oddly enough, she showed back up after dinner but her face looked rather different and this time she had a twin! (OK, I must admit that I was biased in favour of the first Elsa but the other two were also adorable).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls had a lot of fun crafting lanterns, eating moon cakes and of course going on a lantern parade with their friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hostess even thought of me and made some gluten free moon cookies which were delicious.  May need to add them to our yearly tradition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon after church, we all headed out to the orchard for apple picking. It was a gorgeous day and we got a bag full of a combination of bakers and small eaters for lunches.  I love that the girls have learned to pick apples that are about the size they can eat in one sitting.  I hate cleaning apple schmutz off of the inside of lunch bozes.  Yuck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were there the girls were snacking on apples.  Now Katrine has had two lose teeth all summer.  She lost one last week but the other was hanging in there.  She was walking along happily munching when she started to tear up.  Turns out her tooth had come out and she couldn’t see it in the apple.  A quick reassurance that the tooth fairy would still come dried the tears.  Before bed she composed a note to the tooth fairy explaining what had happened and politely requesting that she leave something anyways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been a really nice fall weekend.  I am hoping that this week is a bit calmer at work so that I can get around to making up some GF apple pies.  Mmmm.

It is that time of year again – the CNE is town so off we went for a day full of fun.  And it certainly was a very full, aka long, day.

We started in the kiddie section.  Big news this year, Elspeth (at 38″) could go on rides without an adult…well, at least some of them. She was thrilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we headed to the shows.  As usual, Superdogs was amazing.  Those dogs are really something.  They never fail to amaze me.  Elspeth enjoyed the cool air so much that she…fell asleep.  Woke up in time to see the sand sculptures and floral displays before heading back to the show area for the acrobatic show which again was amazing.  Elspeth would call it “daring”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some dinner it was time for the parade.  Katrine was a superstar big sister because she gave a string of beads to a rather disappointed Elspeth.  The highlight of the parade was the Elsa / Frozen float that blew out snow to the delight of the watching children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we explored the displays (one of my favourite parts) before a few more rides.  I got to ride the sack slide about four times.  Elspeth would have gladly gone more but I refused to carry her up to the top.  I love sack slides.  Such a simple ride but so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the day with a fireworks display.  Glenn and the girls were on the Skyrider for the fireworks which was a treat.  Where was I?  Sensibly on the ground of course. I really don’t like being on things that I can fall from (yes I know it is not logical but fears rarely are).

 

 

With a cottage this beautiful how could we resist stopping by for a summer visit?  (Thank you Karen.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This summer has been full of rain so mushrooms were out in full force.  Katrine was thrilled to be able to share her interest with Elspeth.  Last year Elspeth could take them or leave them but this year she began to get into it – the colours, the hunt, the spore prints.  It was quite fun to go out walking with them.  We had tried to go out geocaching with them earlier in the day and were met by a wall of bugs so this was a welcome change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though it was a cloudy few days, we took advantage of the lake.  Swimming, fishing, wading and riding in the paddle boat.  The first time down to the lake the girls went prepared with their willies.  Well, Elspeth is not so good on depth perception with water and she flooded her boots.  Had a wonderful time nonetheless.  Both girls actually managed to catch a fish so they were quite happy.  On our final day a neighbour invited us down to his beach, much to the girls’ delight, and they dug and waded to their hearts content.

Then we topped it off with an ice cream stop.  Loving cottage days.

 

A happy gotchaversary to our travel crew!  Three years!  What a difference it makes.  Yesterday we celebrated with some mini golf, family time and treats at the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was Elspeth’s Forever Family day and the girls decided that they would bake cookies in honour of the occassion.  A day of smiles which is a world away from this day three years ago.  Time has helped to lay the foundation of trust and love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are two cute mini putt photos to cap it off.

How do you spend an August long weekend? Swim class, old friends and a bit of park time squeezed in between showers.

Elspeth is in the middle of retaking her current level at swimming.  She is continuing to struggle with any skill that requires her to have her face in the water for any period of time.  That is not to say that she hasn’t made gains.  Oh no, she certainly has.  At the start of the summer she wouldn’t even put her face in the water or jump in.  So she is getting there but it is slow going.  Her friend from the previous session is along for the ride once again so she has been having almost daily park playdates after swim class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we set out to try a new park.  It has a really cool climbing section.  According to Katrine it is quite a challenge as all of the various parts move.  Elspeth was not as impressed with that part.  Instead, she tried to flip herself over at the hanging rings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has also been a weekend for reconnecting with old friends.  Today we shared a lovely barbeque meal with a friend who I have had from grade school.  The girls had a blast sharing their latest antics with her and then while Glenn took care of dinner we had a chance to reconnect.  Yesterday saw us out for Korean barbeque (which as you can see involved too much food of questionable glutenfree-ness) followed by dessert with a friend from Hong Kong.  I love my new friends but it is also wonderful to spend time with those friends who  have seen you through stuff and just get you.

This will be a photo post.