Toronto Zoo

I wanted to take a walk in the woods to see the fall leaves a few weeks ago and couldn't quite figure out which forest to go too, in the end I drove to the Toronto zoo with a dear friend and we had a great time.

Second Life Photo

I just had to take a shot of me sitting in the lap of a giant bunny.

What I did for Summer Vacation.

I took a couple of weeks this summer which I haven't done for a while now. This year I did a little camping earlier in the summer and then in August I took a week as well. Some how I managed to schedule this August week just before my sister's Jack and Jill party. So my week off turned into me working at my mom's house 7:30am until 9pm almost every day.

I went back to work for a break from it all.

I did manage however, to get a few walks in on my own. I took a trip around the downtown park one morning and had a lovely walk around there. The town has really taken some pride into creating and making this park accessible to all.

I also found a new friend on the path at the park that has been following me on my journies and loves to have his picture taken.

I then took one day to myself where I went and visited the Wye Marsh near Midland. It's a very pretty place with lots of paths to walk around, bike trails, and many education programs. The weather was wonderful and the day turned out to be just that little bit of relaxation I needed. Little did I know my family was praying the whole time that I didnt' fall off my bike during the trip and break an arm before the wedding.

Labour Day - Last Long Weekend for the Summer

I was so happy when I came home on Wednesday last week to be asked if I wanted to go camping on the long weekend. Without a moment's hesitation - YES! What a great weekend it was too. The weather was incredible and this was one of the few hot, sunny weekends we've had all summer. It's been incredibly wet and a little colder than the last few summers.

After a mad week of being busy and scrambling to get packed, we loaded the truck with bikes, hitched the trailer on and off we went north. The traffic was incredible for a long weekend and a Friday night to boot. After a short 2.5 hour ride we were in north country. In the middle of the bush and loving it. The mornings were full of mosquitos (and the dusk was too), the days were hot and sunny (and full of naps and reading) and the nights were filled with more stars than I have seen in a long time and several shooting starts.

A perfect end to a pretty great summer over all.

Why I Love My Brother

Need I say any more. He's just got such a great sense of humour and will let his big sisters do just about anything to him. Here he is at his sister's wedding shower. He just had to be part of the festivities too.

Vacation with the Girls

This is one of the first summers in a very long time that I've taken a week vacation each month throughout the summer. The first week was to move into my new house. The second, which was 2 weeks ago I took my boyfriend's daughter camping along with a highschool friend and her 2 daughters. We had a great time camping and enjoying the outdoors.

Amazingly enough we managed not to get rained on during this incredibly wet summer here in Ontario. We got set up during what looked to be a really bad downpour. Instead it rained in the towns all around us. Then we packed up just in time before it rained to drive home.


We took a hike and found baby toads, salamanders, and really stunning dragon flies. There were beautiful mushrooms everywhere as well. We spent hours and hours at the beach swimming. It was everything we could do to get the kids out of the water.



We had such a great time we plan to do it again, but can't wait to give the kids the experience of backpacking and canoeing up into Algonquin. I haven't done that in years and really want to once again. I'm not as young as I once was, but I'm willing to go.

Saturday Night and Wandering Around Second Life

Well I had tonight to myself and played around in Second Life for a while. Tonight I saw came across some really neat stuff.

I sat went up a chairlift in The Weather Network sim. Wandered around a gorgeous park where I took a midnight photo by a waterfall. I watch a bit of an old Vincent Price movie in a theatre. Then I found a drive-in theatre and was able to see Vantage Point (unfortunately I did just rent it the other night).

How cool is it to be able to do all this?

I did have a car at the drive in, but the owner asked for unnecessary scripts to be dropped and I assumed she meant the extra cars. At one point I actually drove my car into the water behind the drivein. LOL. Sitting on the wall seemed safter.

Of course this all would have been more fun had I been wandering with a friend...lol. Let me know if you're in Second Life too and we can meet up for a chat.

My Drive Home

One thing I really like about my new home location is the drive home just as the sun is setting. I live just past a large flat where several sod farms are located. What's really nice are the gorgeous and SPECTACULAR (this is a "joke" for mom) sunsets that appear. Last night was an extremely pink sky. It was beautiful. I treasure these as I won't have many more, at least from the view of my dining table. The new houses going in behind me will take care of that picture. I liked this shot because the sun was just hidden behind the clouds but not down quite yet. They seemed to glow just a little more then normal. I've got several shots (all from my car as I park at the side of the road.)

Canada Day 2008

A little late on the posting here, but my family (brother Scott, sister Amy, and brother-in-law Steve) did our traditional excursion to watch the fireworks again this year. Our secret spot isn't so secret anymore, but the view is great, the parking is perfect, and the fireworks are SPECTACULAR.

Ooh Tea Cosies!!!

My sister and I took a recent trip to Kingston for the afternoon to pick up some lovely vases for her upcoming wedding. After a trip down the 401 that Noah probably would have avoided, a transfer of a unmarked box from one trunk to another in an underground garage, and a lovely lunch, we headed downtown Kingston for further fun.

My bestest friend from high school and his wife joined us (in fact chauffeured us) around the town. We did a small drive by tour of Fort Henry. Saw the incredible leaning trees and an empty field that we just had to get out and read the place marker. Turned out the empty field use to be a hospital. Back into the car and down to the shopping area where we found a lovely craft market displayed. There were a lot of artisans here and a few I have seen sell their wears at other markets. The best from this small excursion was my buddy James re-enacting an event that happened several years ago when I was visiting him.....

(cue dream sequence) I couldn't believe it when I was walking with James through a Christmas craft show that quite some time of passing booth after booth James squeals with delight....(yes squeals!!!) "Oooh Tea Cosies". Look at this guy. 6 ' 4", big, burly and is excited about tea cosies. He told me at the time...."this is what buying a new home does to you". I of course never believed his story. However, it's still a great tale in both of our minds and one we'll probably laugh another 25 years about.

First House is Only a Week Away

Well by Friday of this week I will be a happy new home owner. Not only that, but it will be a brand new home. Extremely exciting, scaring, and overwhelming all at the same time. Here's hoping they get all the stuff they need to get done to hand it over to use by then.

Blue Jays Vs. Kanas City Royals

I treated hubby to a Jays game last week. I knew the weekend was going to be super hot for a change and that we both had the day off. So on I went to the Jays' site to see what special event may be going on to get tickets too. They Jays are great in that they have many special events that then have a few tickets cheaper then normal. The 25th of May happened to be Greek Heritage Day. So off went to sit beside Zorba and had a great day in the sun, watching the Jays kick butt and best of all was the location of the seats. We got to sit first row just past the 3rd baseline. How could I pass up tickets like that?!?

Flowers in Epcot

During my recent trip to Orlando for the eLearning Guild Annual Gathering I took some time out for myself and wandered around Epcot for thier Flower & Garden festival. It was really beautiful to see the whole place in such gorgeous bloom. Here are a few of the shots I took while walking around the special gardens and regular ones as well.













Another afternoon of wandering around Animal Kingdom allowed me a few more hours of doing one of my favourite things; taking more photos.

Niagara Trip With My Brother

Scott and I went away over night to Niagara Falls this weekend. As always, we had a great time together. The lady at the desk at the hotel was kind enough to let us know that if we upgraded for $50 we could have better view, a coupon for dinner and breakfast. Well dinner and breakfast was already planned for and we were on a limited budget so we stuck with the room we were assigned.

I think we ended up with a pretty good view. I'm not sure what the extra money would have had us see.We rode the shuttle far too many times, but it was a convient way for us to get down to Cliffton Hill. Ice cream and the midway were a must here.

A brief (and I mean very brief) time at the casino proved unfruitful so we ventured off to the hotel pool instead. Can't lose money there.

My New Stairs

We're playing the waiting game right now waiting for our new house to be built. It's our first home for both of us, so naturally we are extremely excited. We had a move in date of January, which got bumped to April, which has now been bumped to June. Well at least the move-in temperature is getting better and better all the time.

Toronto Loves Bon Jovi

Well haven't had a photo up here in a long time. Mostly because I've been a little consumed with my crashed computer and the potential lost of my photos. Note to self, back up or up load photos more often.

Here are some pictures I took on my camera phone. It doesn't take great pictures usually, but these ones turned out not too badly. These are shot during Bon Jovi's 4th concert (March 10, 2008) in Toronto in the last several months. What an amazing show. Jon Bon Jovi is a class act and seemed genuinely excited and humbled by the out pouring of love and devotion from the Toronto Fans. I certainly hope they will continue to visit and entertain us for years to come.

My first ATV experience

At the beginning of the month I went with my fiance down to Huatulco, Mexico. My first trip ever to Mexico. My first experience with sun stroke, my first jetski trip, my first time snorkeling in the ocean, my first time seeing a wild sting rays, sea urchins, and an eel, my first swim in the ocean waves, my first time seeing a beach wedding, my first time seeing a realy mariachi bankd, and my first time on the back of an ATV.