Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my dad's birthday! I know I sound like a broken record, but I am so thankful for the family that I have been blessed to have, and my dad is just another one of those blessings. He is so kind, generous of his resources and time, thoughtful of others and passionate about what he does. Thinking back on my childhood, some of the fondest memories I have are going out to the shop where he worked and he would let Jason and I ride the hoist in his work area, would let us go see the firetrucks in the other part of the building, and would always let us get a bottle of pop from the machine. Vacations were always so much fun. We would take a two week vacation during the summer and drive to wherever our destination was. We went to places like New York City, Missouri, Washington D.C., South Dakota, California and all the states in between. We learned all about reading maps, saw a bunch of historical sites and even when it was time to learn how to drive, dad taught us how even on the highway (and mom, you must have been VERY brave to let him do this!!!). He also taught us good life lessons that I cherish still today.

He has become a great grandfather to both Olivia and Kaley and they no doubt love him back just as much. Dad, we're so thankful that you are who you are. Thanks for everything and have a very happy birthday!!! We love you.

Proud grandpa with Baby Kaley


Grandpa listening intently to Olivia explaining something...no doubt a game they were going to play later:)


Dad and his historically great gifts (and always practical)


Grandpa and Kaley playing horsey!

Helping Hands

We've been participating in the Organics program in Barrie, which means that we put our food scraps into an organics bin and put it out on garbage day to be taken to be decomposed into soil! We thought that it would be a great way to help out the environment and do our part to become more "green." Unfortunately, sometimes being "green" isn't all sweet smelling roses, which led us to needing to find another alternative. The Organics program worked great in the fall, spring and winter, but the idea of (excuse the term) week old rotten food sitting in a warm garage produced an awful smell. I looked into this and the advice given was to put the food scraps in the freezer until garbage day..yeah, I DON"T think so, EEEEW!

So, we decided to get a garbage disposal to use for the worst of the food, and still use the Organics bin for the less offending odor foods. As most of you know, whenever daddy starts a project on the home, it is an automatic magnet for kids to want to watch and "help." Kaley was NO different. She got in there like a champ and even tried to offer some advice on the situation. We were able to get her "helping" on video and get a couple of pictures. What a great help she is!!!

Barrie Ribfest

On Friday night, we went down to Barrie's annual Ribfest with Phil and Anne, some friends of ours. Each year, Barrie has this event where a number of rib teams come in to compete against each other and cook all kinds of scrumptous bbq'd items. Along with that, there are fresh lemonade stands, blooming onions, french fries, ice cream and my all time favorite...grilled corn on the cob. So yummy!

This was the first year that Kaley actually took part in this event. She had corn on the cob for the first time and loved it. Poor Phil didn't stand a chance at eating his once Kaley got a taste of it. I think he had as much fun feeding her as he did eating some of it:) She also loved some of Mark's ribs and my pulled pork.

It was a perfect evening to be out. The place was packed with people, but we did manage to find a spot on the grass in the shade to enjoy our dinner.

Kaley enjoying her corn on the cob.

After that, we walked down to the waterfront and had some ice cream for dessert. It was a great evening spent with good friends.

Kaley enjoying Anne's ice cream.

Kaley decided that she liked the ice cream so much that she was holding firmly onto Anne's hand so that she wouldn't take the ice cream away. We all had a good laugh at that one:)

Ah, and yes, the sticky and gooey ice cream dripping down her chin. Even after a year, the stickiness STILL makes me shudder. I don't think I will ever change, but that is what wipes are for...YEAH!!!

Another Great Song

I love this song from Hillsong called "At the Cross". It is a great worship song that brings everything back the basics! This video has such great images, love it!

At the Cross

At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There's no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now

Oh Lord You've searched me
You know my way
Even when I fail You
I know You love me

Your holy presence
Surrounding me
In every season
I know You love me

You go before me
You shield my way
Your hand upholds me
I know You love me

You tore the veil
You made a way
When You said that
It is done

And when the earth fades
Falls from my eyes
And You stand before me
I know You love me

Our Night in Toronto

This past week we had Mark's mom come into town to spend a few days with us over the holiday. She very much enjoyed spending some time with Kaley and doing all of the things that grandmas enjoy the most. With Karen in town, Mark and I decided to have some "daddy and mommy time" with an evening in Toronto.

Before Kaley was born, many people gave us the advice to put a priority on spending time with one another and nurturing our relationship in the midst of caring for our baby. When we were planning on children, we thought about what we wanted our family to look like and what we wanted for our family as a whole. One of those things was taking time for Mark and I to spend together as a couple even if it was a couple of hours at a time. This has been a little easier said than done this past year, but we have managed to do exactly that. This past week we decided to take a bit more time and see the sights and sounds of Toronto.

Our time was first spent by taking a subway trip to the city. Mark has recently had a particular fascination with the subway since the last time he went to a baseball game with his brother. It is such a different experience from life here in Barrie, that is for sure. All I kept envisioning was Bruce Willis and Samuel Jackson sweeping in and saving the day from a bomb threat (yes, I know, too many movies!) Needless to say, none of that happened, it was quite uneventful in that respect.

Mark and I on the subway.




When we got into Toronto, we checked into our hotel and headed out to the Blue Jays game. We were able to get tickets in the VIP section on the second deck between home plate and the dugout. It was fantastic! There were padded seats, shade from the sun AND waitresses that brought us a menu and took our order! We never had to leave our seats. Now THAT is the way to see a baseball game. The best part was that they won and it was a great game.

The V.I.P. entrance!




That night we went out for dinner at a lovely restaurant. Here I thought being down in Toronto for Canada Day would lend itself to some spectacular fireworks for which we could go and see because we didn't have a little one that needed to be in bed. Then we found out that because the city workers were on strike (ugggh), there was NOTHING planned. It was so disappointing. So, we had to settle for hearing fireworks in the distance.

The next morning we got up and headed to lunch and then went to a matinee for The Sound of Music. I hadn't seen the movie for ages, so it was like seeing it for the first time. The musical was amazing! We had great seats and the music was incredible. Mark had never seen it before and he was a great sport about it. I think it helped that during the intermission they came around with Coke and treats much like the baseball game:) After that, we got our bags from the hotel and headed back home.



It was great being able to spend time together, although I must admit, most of our talk was about Kaley:) I was reminded AGAIN just how thankful I am to have a wonderful husband and family. Thanks honey for our evening out, it was great!

Our latest projects

Mark and I always have projects that we are working on around the house. Ever since the good weather has been here, Mark has enjoyed working outside on a few projects. The first one that he tackled was putting in a rain barrel in our back yard. We have always wanted to get one, but the price was always too high. Then Barrie had a special on rain barrels and backyard compost containers. Neither of us were really keen on the idea of having rotting food in our backyard, especially because we are STILL waiting on the city to decide what they are going to do about the piece of land beyond the "creek" in our backyard, and if we did get one, that is where we would put it. Anyways, the other part that doesn't sit well with me is the idea of bugs and yes, worms, that would come along with doing our own composting. Anyways, we did get the rain barrel, and surprisingly, it works great!



Baracus checking out the new contraption!


The next project was this watering system that Mark originally saw on an episode of "This Old House". To make a long story short, he finally found a place where he could order one for our home, and it ended up being from Mark's favourite place...the Home Shopping Channel:) Yes, another infomercial, but oddly enough, it ended up working great. It is a system called Watering Made Easy, and it is a great alternative to an underground sprinkling system (and a WHOLE lot cheaper).

One of the things that I really didn't enjoy about watering the lawn was finding the "perfect" placement of the sprinkler, the "perfect" water pressure, and the MOST frustrating part was whether to choose to have it water just the left side, the right side or the full lawn! Now, I don't have to worry about a thing. You place this system in a strategic place in your lawn, (they even included a diagram on how to do it!!) connect the hose, and voila, your lawn is perfectly watered! No more frustration. Can you tell that I love it? The best part was that it really was a great deal and it was really cheap. Mark is a genius.

Our new watering system! It is as easy as 1...


...2...


...3!


Kaley and Baracus playing together on our "hill" as Mark works.

Our trip to the zoo

On Monday, Kaley and I met up with Wendy, her boys and her two nieces (which are also Mark's cousin's daughters) and we went to the Elmvale Zoo. As far as zoos go, this one is pretty unique. It is quite rugged and you can get really close to the animals, and it is close to Barrie which makes for a nice afternoon. This was Kaley's first trip to the zoo and it was really cute watching her interact with the animals. She was quite enthralled with the goats and tried to hug them like she does Baracus, sooo cute:) I think she was confused with the horns though, she kept trying to touch them and pull at them. Her next favourite animals were the monkeys. I think this was in part because she was trying to figure out how they climbed up things so easily. I just hope that goes right out of her memory! Westin took a stab at reading the signs and did a great job at letting us know what animal we were looking at. Mackenzie had a wealth of knowledge about a lot of the animals, so we all learned something that we didn't know:) The kids enjoyed themselves and had fun seeing the animals.



Kaley checking out the horns!








Looking on with wonder...




A couple pictures of the animals, I couldn't believe how close we could get to them!