School Fall Fair

Dylan's new school had a New Moon Fall Festival. As part of the festival, the school choir (including Dylan) sang some songs. I have to give his music teacher credit...he brings passion and enthusiasm to the group and the children love him. Dylan is in the front line, dancing. Press PLAY.

There was also a reptile exhibit and Dylan was able to handle an albino python.

Red Belt

Dylan started karate many months ago. He recently passed his Red Belt examination. He was so proud. I must admit we have been impressed with Dylan's focus and determination with these classes. His teacher came to me privately to comment on Dylan's excellent body movement and co-ordination. He asked me what sport activities Dylan had been doing to bring him to this level. I had to bite my tongue from telling him that three years of ballet lessons were were the root cause of his current success in this (macho) sport!

Mum and Dad Visit Toronto

I have been very fortunate to have mum come to Toronto two times within several weeks. The purpose of her trip was to help me with child care for Dylan as I have started a new job!

During their visit we went to Elora's Gorge on a beautiful sunny day.

Mum and Dylan

We also had the opportunity to go bicycle riding as a family.

Mum on my bicycle

Dad on his recumbent bike

Thanksgiving Dinner

We enjoyed a sumptious meal at my brother Victor's house. His wife Lidia prepared a smorgasbord of appetizers, entrees, desserts. Everything was delightful! My sister and her family were there as well and overall it was a very entertaining evening. Dylan loves being part of such a large group!

Reading on the Bicycle

Q: What kind of spectacle can cause a group of Asian tourists to stop, laugh, point and photograph?

A: Andrew and Dylan on one of their tandem bicycle rides while Dylan reads his book (while pedalling)!

Press PLAY for video.

Soccer Season is Over

Soccer season is over. Dylan's team played a final game and then lined up for popsicles and momentos of the season.

Hockey Night in Canada

Once again our new favourite neighbours handed us four tickets to a Maple Leafs hockey game ($600)! We took one of Dylan's friends who eats,breathes, and sleeps hockey. What a strange night it was...the Leafs were winning until the last 10 minutes of the game when the other team scored two goals to tie! This lead to overtime and the other team won....I hope this isn't indicative of another poor year for the Leafs.

I must admit, our family are not big hockey fans and, although we loved having the opportunity to see the game live, our favourite part of the night was the in-seat ordering of food and beverages....now this is the life!

You Too Can Be a Banker to the Poor

I don't usually share publically which charitable organizations receive our financial support. However, but I would like to share my experience with one organization which can cost you $0 and yet allow you do a world of good.

KIVA is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. It was founded in October 2005 by Matt and Jessica Flannery and is run by a team with experience in microfinance and technology. The founders came up with the idea for KIVA, which means “unity” in Swahili, after spending time in East Africa.

Small loans to entrepreneurs are now widely recognized as an important tool against poverty. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work with microfinance in Bangladesh.

Essentially, this is how KIVA works: Choose an entrepreneur, lend, get repaid.

1) Lenders view the profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of their microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

I chose a single mother in Peru who runs her own general store to support her son. Betti was described as a "determined woman and constant in what she does." The background descriptions of the various borrowers are fascinating.

My simple loan was paid on July 28th and she has already paid back 17%. With these funds I have already started to shop around for another borrower...its almost addictive. If you are interested in this concept you can obtain more information from their website: kiva.org.

Weekend in Ottawa - Park Omega

We spent the Labour Day Weekend in Ottawa visiting Grandma and Grandpa. We were blessed with quite nice weather and we made a day trip to Park Omega. This is a park where Canadian animals are able to roam freely. Visitors drive their cars through the park and feed the animals carrots.


A family of wild boar

There is a picnic area where you can eat and commune with deer (to the point where they become an annoyance).

Some areas are naturally fenced off due to the nature of the animals such as black bear, timber wolves etc..

We were treated to a show on birds of prey.

Peregrine Falcon

Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival

While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Ottawa, we went to the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Over 50 balloons took to the sky in the early evening.

During the daytime we were treated to a parachute demonstration (press PLAY).



We were able to view the hot air balloons (and their crews) at close range. This balloon was from Belgium and was in the shape of Darth Vader. The crew were dressed up as Star Wars characters.

We saw a very entertaining Magician act en francais.

Then, we were treated to a wonderfully intimate acrobat show in a small tent. These buskers were truly enjoyable. Their performances were sensual and graceful.

Press PLAY to see this trapeze act.

The Canadian National Exhibition (The EX)

You know that summer is coming to an end when Dylan and I visited the annual Canadian National Exhibition (now in its 129th year). We started off the day with a relaxing acupressure foot massage (Dylan LOVED it).

Then we went on almost every ride possible. Our favourite rides were centrifugal in nation whereby Dylan was thrown against me with a crushing force. Unfortunately, it was a little too crushing as my camera, which was in my purse, broke. No more photos of the day were taken after this sad event!

At the Cottage

We had a lovely weekend at the Nancy and James' cottage. They have a beautiful winterized cottage which allows them summer fun on a lake and winter downhill skiing nearby. They are marvelous hosts who completely spoiled us.


The weather was great (considering the wet weeks we have been seeing) and Dylan was fortunate to be able to go tubing.
Nancy, William and Dylan

Press PLAY for video

James took the boys out for a ride on the Seadoo.

Press PLAY for video

In the evening we sat on their beach and roasted s'mores. This was Dylan's first taste of a s'more and we will definately be back for "some more".

Grandma....Don't look at this one!

Kids...don't try this at home. Press PLAY for video.

Annual August Long Weekend Camp Trip

We went on our annual August Long Weekend Camp Trip. This year, my sister and her family joined us.

It was a very WET weekend. However, we were fortunate to have Derek join our group and he is an ex-boyscout, ex-junior ranger, ex-army guy and therefore he had EVERY camping provision known to mankind. Indeed, his kitchen set-up looked like a scene from RAMSEY'S HELL'S KITCHEN.

During the evening we were blessed with periods of clear skies (and stars) which allowed us to gather around the campfire for a rousing NEWLYWED GAME.

The children were all issued glow sticks and played our their own games.

The campground held a HISTORICAL weekend. During the afternoon they recreated a battle scene from the 1812 war.

We grabbed what sunshine we could find and played on the beach in between lightning storms.

The campground held a PARADE with the intent to make as much noise as possible. A prize was awarded to the NOISIEST participant which turned out to be Sarah and Dylan (they said they were a team). Press PLAY to hear their noise entry.

The campground has a nature centre and Sarah and Dylan were able to observe various indigenous creatures as well as hold a snake.

The Wigamog Inn

We recently returned from a relaxing family vacation at the WIGAMOG INN in Haliburton, ON. We chose this Inn because if is geared towards families and was crawling with children. Dylan had a great time with their all-day children's activities such as water trampoline, Capture the Flag, tie-dye shirts, etc... The activities even extended into the evening to include the whole family.

On this night a Cartoonist taught us how to draw a cartoon (actually quite easy!)

Dylan met many children during both indoor and outdoor activities.

We were delighted that Dylan was able to try a waterski lesson and got up without any difficulty (press PLAY).

Of course, there were rainy moments...but even these times were enjoyed with the ever present books.

We made a cool day-trip to the Wolf Centre. This is a wolf habitat where you could observe wolves from behind a two-way mirror in the visitors centre. Because it was a cloudy day, we were fortunate to witness several wolves during the daytime.

In fact, we were blessed to witness several animals at close range around our Inn including two baby fawns (GORGEOUS and just 3 metres away without us having our cameras), a doe, a skunk, several groundhogs, rabbits, hawks, and of course....wolves.

The Grand Canyon

From Sedona we travelled along a scenic road toward the Grand Canyon. This was a spectacular route to travel. Along the way we stopped at SUNSET CRATER Provincial Park to walk though a lava field from a volcanic eruption approximately 1000 years ago.

We arrived at Grand Canyon in the evening and witnessed the awe-inspiring view of a sunset.

The next day we took a plane ride over the canyon.

Followed by a float day trip on the Colorado River.

Along the river we stopped to see a series of petraglyphs on the canyon wall.

And floated by this beautiful bird of prey.

That night we stayed on a Navajo Indian Reservation in their motel. As you can see, this tribe certainly has money!

One of our trips was to Antelope Canyon....one of the most beautifully lit canyons in Arizona (and the subject of many photographic displays).

The highlight of the trip was hiking on the trails in Grand Canyon. We descended and ascended part of the Bright Angel trail. One has the option of journeying this trail by foot or by mule. This muletrain passed us, kicking a lot of dust.

This is a video of Andrew finishing our hike. Press PLAY

The only injury on the trip was a "twig" which was imbedded in Andrew's calf. Andrew didn't even know it was there (heat, dehydration). This twig was buried quite deep into Andrew's tissue and required the use of a Ranger's tweezers to extract it.