5 years and counting

Wow. Time sure flies. Where has it gone?
It's been half a decade today for me and Tresa.
Today is our 5 year anniversary. What is that - the nickel anniversary?
That was our wedding day.
Can you say "Where's Waldo".

The weeks seem to go really fast let alone the years.
It's already almost the end of summer and I can hardly tell where the time has gone.

But we have lots of pictures of things we've done together. From my marathons, to cross country skiing, house parties, get togethers, dragonboating and especially our travels in the last 5 years. Everything!

Thanks to the digital age and the fact that I have adhered to the stereotype that since I'm asian so I must have a camera.

So I carry my camera with me almost everywhere. The camera is my friend.
At least this way I've captured many moments to remember. And there have been many memorable moments. Mostly at outlets and shopping areas. What I remembered about this moment was that we got there after it was closed. But that didn't change things, we came there another day.

I can tell you that it hasn't exactly been a 5 year honeymoon. But people who think that marriage is like that can be in for a rude awakening. It takes effort and work to make a marriage successful. And it takes time. Tresa and I have grown quite a bit in the 5 years we've been married. And each day that goes by makes me more grateful for the decision I made 5 years ago.

You know, it hasn't been all bad either. And that's where it gets better. The rough times are few and far between. And we don't dread them anymore when it happens. We get through them together, as a family.

And of course we enjoy the good times together as a family too. And it just makes it all that much better.
We've seen many places together, made lots of friends all over the world.


We'll continue to explore the world and enjoy doing everything together as a family, even with a little monkey on my back.



It's a shiny, happy Suka-day for the family unit.

Plus it's Friday. WOO HOO!

P P

For the first time Kieran's used his potty to pee instead of his diaper.
And just the other day, he's let us know twice that he had to go pee.
And today he's gone 6 times, in the toilet.

So this is a big step forward in his young development. He's growing and learning everyday and it just seems like yesterday he was just turning a year and learning to walk and just going to daycare.

He's telling us what he wants and more importantly why he wants something. He also tells us some interesting reasons on why we shouldn't go upstairs to his bedroom and do storytime and go to sleep.

Now all we gotta get past is the other 'P' (#2) in the diaper.
For some reason it doesn't register in his brain yet. But the urge to pee registers really well. He could be busy playing with his trains when all of a sudden...Gotta GO!

We've been trying for a while, but really it was up to him to let us know when he was ready to make the step forward. So now he's letting us know.

Phase 3 Summer BBQ

We were phase 3 of the summer BBQ rollout.
I'm just glad we made it into a phase. Actually I'm glad we were able to make it to a BBQ. The timing has always not been good.

The food was fantastic. Michael and Frida are awesome cooks.
Even the wasps came out in droves.

I got bit by one on my way to the Don Valley trails near their house. I felt something sharp.
I grabbed my chin and there was a %#$#@@$ wasp in my hand. So I crushed the living #%#%# out of the bugger. Pissed me off. I've never been bit by a bee or wasp before so I wasn't sure if I would go into some severe allergic reaction. But I kept on riding. An ambulance is 50 bucks. Anyways nothing happened except the soft spot just behind my chin hurt like heck.

I've been going to the Don Valley trails pretty often. It's been a lot of fun. I love it. Ever since I went there with Antonio and finally got myself a used mtb with front shocks I've been really enjoying it. Mostly because the shocks are absorbing all the bumps and not my shoulders. I'm always sort of scared of flying off of my bike or hitting my chest against my handlebars. Actually I've flipped over my bike once. But was okay. I wasn't going that fast.

Anyways after the ride, I met mama and Kieran at Michael and Frida's. Lance, Brenda and the new kid on the block (Ryan) was there too. We hadn't seen him yet in person. Only about 2000 images on Brenda's digital camera.

Mike & Frida put out an awesome spread. Plus I was starving. It was a great day for a BBQ. Notice that my hair is shaped to the inside of my bike helmet, showing where all the vents are. Not sure if you can tell but my helmet has 3 big vents.

We also did a stroll through the neighbourhood looking at people's homes and what windows they have and the colour. And we also stopped by Etsuko and Craig's store. But it was closed.

Anyways...we checked out the new Gelati place up the road. The guy who opened it with his sister has 2 stores in Rome, Italy. So once he's got his sister up and running he's going back to the motherland.

Interesting flavours. The medium was huge.
We weren't crazy about the yoghurt-coffee flavoured one. That's what I have. It didn't stop me from eating it though. It just wasn't what I expected.

Oh ya. Happy birthday to my brother Lou.

Hello more fotos...

Coming OUT Closet

That's right. The walls of the closet were coming out. Our house was built in 1956 and in that era, insulation was like - "What are you trying to say?"

You know - "insinuation". Get it? It's a joke.

Anyways it was also an afterthought.
The houses of the day were double brick. That is. Cinderblock and then regular brick on the outside.

There's 1x2 slats to make a 3/4 inch air gap. That was our insulation. Thin air + gyprock and plaster. I found out later that lathe is the metal mesh strips they use to bind where the walls and ceilings butt together. Things you learn when you got dust up your nose and debris in your mouth.

We've been thinking about doing this for some time because the closet has two walls that are on the exterior of the house. And in the winter time we were getting condensation since warm air was hitting a cold wall and there was no circulation in the closet. Also we've got enough coats and jackets and shoes to outfit a medium sized Croatian village (from babies to adults).

The problem: we were getting mould in our closet. From the condensation on the walls. We threw out some jackets because they were ruined.

So with hammer and crowbar and a beer in hand. And no kids or mamma's in the house for a week. I began to tackle the job. Never having done anything like this before I asked a lot of questions to the folks at Rona, my brother Mel (I even asked if he wanted to stay at the house for week to help me, but he refused - DAMIT) and my neighbour Joe.



So they told me do things like put up a plastic sheet to limit the dust from the demo. But my old shop-vac got around it by spewing like Mt. Pinatubo. I was vacuuming some of the little debris and noticed behind me that the shop-vac was spewing out dust in 4 different directions for complete coverage. DAMIT!

So much for trying to keep the rest of the house relatively clean.



I have to say I have a new found respect for drywallers and bricklayers. They make it look so easy and then when you actually get around to trying it. It takes a lot of skill. No wonder they call it 'skilled trades'. DUH.

So putting up drywall was a lot tougher than I thought. Having a lathe and plaster house where the walls aren't always square really makes it even more funner (as the kiddies would say it).
Good thing there were no kiddies were in the house cuz I was cursing like a construction worker.

Anyways, I'm done. Feel pretty good. Even Tresa was surprised that I knew what to do.
I didn't, I just went slow and asked people what I was trying to do and what I should do, and whether what I was doing was right, and I also visited Rona 3 times a day.

I made some mistakes but this is a closet so it's a great place to learn.
I didn't realize taking out the closet was so tough.

Now the bathroom.

Three cheers for Gordo

We tip our glasses of pop, wine and water to Gordo and Yvonne.
Hip hip hooray!







And to Brenda for noticing my goatee after 6 years.
Hip hip hoooray!








Plus I get to eat seafood. Hooray.
Cuz Tresa hates seafood. boooo.
I get to eat Tresa's portion of the seafood. Hooray!





Others at the table were finding other things that were yummy. Perhaps he couldn't wait for dessert?

But I don't want to be selfish and eat all the extras. So I share with others at the table.
Plus I had eaten 3/4 of a pizza just a few hours earlier. So I was getting stuffed.




Then there is the bottomless pit. While eating he's always looking at the center of the table at the food and planning out what he's going to eat next.





And then there's green mango bubble tea.
Hey I think I see a ...

More reception Fotos
Brenda's pics

A cottage life for me

Back in 1875 or something. I heard the history behind the August long weekend on my drive home on Monday. Politicians wanted a holiday in the summer and named it after John Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. Hooray for Simcoe Day!

This politician did some good things like abolish slavery, created Yonge Street, and even inspired the agricultural fair tradition that would give rise to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.


It even inspired Ray to do sudoko with his eyes closed. I could have sworn I saw that third eye blink.

Not sure what's up with that amputated doll with no hair. Must be a voo doo doll.

It was a clear night not a cloud in the sky, except for the one around the Baconator (STINKS!), and Jaedin was talking to aliens from outer space. Hoping to get a sign.

He got a sign later that weekend. His sister beating him up and snatching all the graham crackers from his hands.


I want S'mores, and probably some carcinogenic char with it. It was yummy though.




Swimming was good. Everyone was out in the middle of the lake.

I measured it before I went home. I used the paddle boat and my Timex GPS watch.
It's 100m to the other side.
Looks longer than that, especially if you keep thinking there's something at the bottom of the lake and your heart rate jumps up to 200bpm thinking of the top 10 worst ways to drown.

Good thing I didn't swim across with it on, or else I'd be online looking for a replacement. Well at least we know and it's not 150m. Looks farther than it is. Probably because it's water and you can't see the bottom.

Hello Cottage Fotos....


Waiting for the fire to go out...