Low-speed March Break

Kieran's first March Break ever. We were trying to plan out what we were going to do for 2 weeks. At first we were going to go away.
But going away in March is twice as costly as if you were to go between Jan to end of Feb.
I ended up getting scheduled on a course during the first week of Kieran's march break.
So we decided to just head up to the cottage for the second week.


It seemed really long. Mostly because I had to use dial-up. There is no high speed internet service in the highlands. But what it did was disable me from connecting to work. I was disconnected. It was a bit stressful, but was probably a good thing. How can you take time off from work when you're still trying to work.

But we had lots of things going on.

We had a celebrity desperate housewife birthday.
Can you guess who it was by reading the cake?
It was Gwen Stefani Kranjec.

Yep...another year gone by.




There was ice fishing.
But none were biting. I think they went south for the winter.






There was skating. The ice had been softened by the sun in recent days, but it was still skateable.
So we practiced with a puck and stick.







We visited Santa's reindeer compound.
How did we know? We found land mines.
Every day we found more.





We tobagganed, and boarded down Sir Sinclairs.
Trying to avoid some tree stumps and reindeer poop. Don't wanna catch lime disease you know.

It was tiring walking up. The snow was getting slower by the day because of the rise in temperature. It was just above freezing.
It was pretty challenging going down too. The driveway was narrow and towards the end I'd cross over int



And we had Pocoyo picnics outside. Out in the back, on the doc, wherever it was convenient and not melting, and no poop.





And then there was the eating of leftovers every meal of every single day. And since we weren't going to be up at the cottage for several weeks, we had to try to eat anything that wasn't frozen, or had an expiry date in May. How can milk last over 2 months?





What we didn't finish we took to the dump to feed to the bomber hawks.

Going to the dump makes you want to not waste so much.
Everyone should do it. Especially on a nice hot and humid summer day and there's bears out.




Click me for more March Break photos

Spring around the corner?

It was a warm and sunny day.
Spring was near, cause there were a ton of open houses this weekend.
In and around our area the houses are going for over 500G's.
I forget how much this house was. But it had an above ground pool at the back and it's own driveway and even a garage.
How you get into the garage with a car. I'm not sure, but the real estate agent says the owner has. How?



And check what I found. This was our old desk from 30+ years ago.

You should see this house. The old lady who's selling it. Who also happens to be selling her car that is missing a side view mirror and scratched up on one side. She grew up in the house and never left. I think the contractor who built her garage didn't read the plan right.




Anyways, we also saw some new builds too. These town homes in this old building on Annette, that we were always curious about. 2700 sqft. $599,000. Hmmm...Pretty nice, but seems awfully high for a skinny house.

The end unit that's right on Annette. Is going for get this. $799,000. Ho boy.

Man that's a lot of coin. Albeit, nice place, with level floors, and pretty nice upgrades. But still.

Check this out. We went by Old mill and walked around. We actually had to drive to another location to get down to the paths along the Humber. This happens every spring. First time I've ever seen it.
I thought it was the next Ice Age.



All the ice that was on the river, had been pushed up on shore. Here the parking lot is completely covered in ice. It'll melt eventually, but what a mess, trees uprooted, dirt and rocks everywhere. Imagine it a million years ago when all of this was covered in ice kilometers thick.

It's more shocking than the fact that Derrick still wears clothes from 1987.

Spring forward...and hurl

Man...it's evenings like these that make you realize that the part of your brain that receives the signal that tells you to stop drinking cause you've just gone over the edge into oblivion is genetically flawed. Whenever I look at these photos my brain, kidney and liver hurt all over again.
But we do it because we are all brothers and sisters united in support of one cause.


After all these years Hong is finally getting hitched. As we get older recovery after these evenings is longer and more painful. Thank God he's the last. I can't do this again without suffering permanent damage.

So this is what sent me to the time out room.





This game that Antonio and Anne came up with. For each thing that you did you got a star. Not everything was an alcoholic drink, there's tasks and stuff. That's how you get suckered in. You think...hey fun.
Right then, you've committed yourself down a road that few people come back in one piece. Most are spewing pieces all over the highway. Pretending to be like dogs and feeling the rush of cool air on their face. Ahhhh.


In a matter of hours you end up wearing clothes from 1987.
Like the Lillywhite Harry Potter dude.
It's nice that you can still fit into them, but you should donate them to Goodwill.






Click me for more Captain Morgan photos (rated PG)


A special big thanks to Tresa for getting me home safe and sound. I know I was irritable, incoherent and stinky at the end of the night, but I was going downhill fast.

She shoots, she scores!

Indy was playing in an all girl hockey tournament at the George Bell arena. So I went to cheer on my niece and see if she's any good.

The arena was nice, never been in it. And it's so close to our house.
It was great. The skill level was all over the map. It was nice to see girls come out and just play.

There was some hitting, although accidental, and the players hugged each other after, I think they knew each other. Although they were from different schools.

There were some really skilled skaters on Indy's team. But the other team had some big skilled girls and some really quick tiny girls. It was like the swedish elite team vs team ecuador.

But it was all for fun.
Here they are thanking the other team for not running the score into 2 or 3 digits. The final score...5 to nuthin.

Click for more photos of Indy getting beat to the puck

Who's on first and who's on 48th?

How come everyone is looking in different directions?
The camera is this way.

Well it's Samatva's 1st birthday celebration. If he was allowed, he'd devour that whole cake. If Kieran were allowed, the only thing left would be cake. He'd lick off all the icing.

Click here for more Grenadier cafe photos




And here's the big fat greek buffet 48th celebration.
It took him 48+9months to look this good you know.

Didn't anyone tell him that he has to bring his plate and that he can't just eat at the buffet table? There's no discount for not using a plate.
Man, at least use a fork. Like most Filipinos he needs to use his hands.