Halloween is around the corner - look out !!!!

Erin" friend from high school is here for tea. Julia likes te letter O and chocolate chip cookies.

2 Feet, 8 Feet Up

Julia has taken apple-picking climbin' to new heights. We're gonna have to edit the video of "Monkey-Child" climbing one of those pyramid-style orchard ladders as itis currently too large. The climb was unassisted up but, we sure assisted her from quickly coming down.

High 5 to Fall

Good to see that you're still checking the blog because, we have been delinquent - ever since Julia got bi-pedal. The three of us are enjoying the Fall colours. We have been out geo-caching a few times and (well) today we simply went for a walk at local O'Dell Park.

Ghoulia 2010

Sailing East Wednesday AM to our Treehouse

Yup it's true, our time visiting Erin's mother pre and post op is over. We have been so blessed to have our Ontario Family open their arms to us for such a lengthy visit. Julia rests as I type and we pack our bags. Hmm, what will I forget?????

Ridin the Slides at Wild Kingdom Waterslides and Cuttin a Rug at Caribanna

It's been hot in the GTA. Time to chill out.

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Last weekend, we packed up the car full of the peeps (Erin, Meghan and Julia) and rode the wave of positive vibrations all the way downtown to Lakeshore Boulevard which is the terminus of the Biggest Caribbean Parade in the world. Let's go !!!!!!!!

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North up HWY 400 to my cousin Martin's place

On Saturday July 24th, we headed North to visit my first-cousin Martin who lives near Coldwater.

It's playtime at the ultimate playland with the kids Leila and Tara.

Come with me, we're going to the treehouse.

No this is not "Back to the Future" vintage, its a BRICKLIN, and daddy drove it's 351 down the highway.
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Boating (WICKED !!) on the Severn Sound with my first-cousin Martin and his family. We also went wake-boarding.

Let's go boating with 750 HP under our feet.

More Toronto ACTION !!!!!!

Bloor and Dundas with Erin's dad and Erin's siblings after a sleepover in Bolton.

A proud Grandpa strolling down Bloor St. in the Annex.

A visit to the Whittamore Farm u-pick with Erin's cousin Amanda. They had a wicked-awesome plau area.

Giddiyup!!

Big family reunion of Erin's family at her aunt and uncle's house in Oakville.

Swimming, swimming in the swimming pool.

Syncronissed swimming basics.

Erin's first counsin 's child Oscar is Julia's new play buddy.

Summer Dayzzz hanging with Erin's Family

Here you can see Julia enjoying a cool sip for refreshment from the hot summer dayz in Toronto.

Some photos from an Indian Dhosa restaurant in Eastern Toronto on East Gerrard Street which is the location of Little India. In the following photos, you will see Erin's siblings Ariel and Aidan who are reunited with Julia.

This is a super-fancy cycle-rickshaw in Little India.

One evening this week, Julia thought it would be cute to climb inside -and it was.

Here is a very captive audience. You decide who is entertaining who in this photo? (This photo was taken secretly through the patio sliding door. )

This beautiful smocked-dress was made by Julia's grandmother Julia. This week, Grandma Julia was affectionately and respectfully given the nickname "Gigi". In this photo Julia is being trained for the Toronto Jazz Festival being held at The Beaches in Toronto's East-end.

"Dina won't you blow? Dina won't you blow? Dina .....

You go girl !!

Splish, splash! Swimming at Gigi's condo.

Dressed for the summer heat.

More photos to follow about a trip downtown to meet up with her Aunt Marnie and cousins Lars and Noah, whon are visiting from Fredericton.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE !!!!!

We miss you.

July 20th is Julia's cousin Charlotte's birthday. We hope that this is your best year ever.

Hot Fun in the GTA

Julia has been spending lots of time in the pool with Grandma and Zak and kd. Playing is serious business for Miss Julia. She gets so focused when she's stirring water in a bucket.

The swealtering heat continues on. We keep hearing that there's going to be thunder storms but they have yet to really arrive. Julia seems to manage pretty well in the humidity. She found some Mardi Gras necklaces and was thrilled with her new look. I finally made her take them off when I realized that the back of her neck was turning red and green.

We played in the playground at Great Grandma Julia's:

Julia had a wonderful time putting pennies back in the glass container.

We are just about to head out the door to Great Grandma Julia's. We made a blueberry coffee cake with blueberries from the St. Jacob's market. Take care and stay cool!

A Few More Road Pics...

The heat is on! Holy moly it's warm in the big smoke. While I have been loving the hot hot heat, I think it takes its toll on Mark. Today we went to St. Jacob's. The weather was 28C but with the humidity it felt like 37C. I guess that really is on the hot side...
I was downloading some pictures from today and came across a few from our days driving through the USA and decided to post a few more.
Julia loved playing on the luggage carrier at the hotel. Here she is ready to go swimming but in no mood to leave her new discovery:

I love this picture of Mark and Julia in Montpelier most especially because Julia was dancing in his arms when I took it:

Here is our tuckered out little travel buddy. She was so so good in the car considering she was immobilized for the better part of three days.

Next we have Mark and Julia at the former hotel at the top of Mt. Washington. No altitude sickness for my babes. We were super keen to keep Julia's head covered up from the sun's strong rays though.

Finally we arrived on Marchington Circle and waited for Grandma Margaret to come home from work so we could surprise her a day early!

Cross-country to Toronto

We departed from Fredericton by Thursday July 8. We were only 30 hours behind our estimated time of departure. Heck, whaddasitmatter? we're on summer vacation.

On the first day, we sped our way along the road in our favourite car "Pepin" to the United States border and onwards past Skowheggan, Mexico, Peru on Route 2. We drove to outlying Rumford, Maine where we stayed at a classic New England motorlodge in the mountains that was in need of a reno twenty years ago. On our first day, we really only stopped once. Julia was a super-star traveller. I would say that her highlight was the coin-op children's carousel ride at the Bangor Mall, which she never even found out could move since we didn't put any coins in. Her second favourite highlight was probably getting out of her car-seat at the motor-lodge where she ran around in the parking lot for about a half-hour before she discovered the telephone with a cord in our room.

On the second day, we went through some beautiful small towns named Gorham and Gilead.

At Gorham, New Hampshire, we decided to head into the White Mountains to climb up Mount Washington in the Presidential Range with Julia - in our car! The peak was in the clouds which made for a thrilling ascent and summit of the mountain. Before reaching the summit, we drove above the clouds. Too kool. I was impressed by the road and surprised by the fact that narrow winding dirt roads with deathly drop-offs are still kosher in the U.S.A. - land of the infamous abusers of the personal claims law-suit. Anyway, we loved it and recommend it to all but those who are afraid of heights and for those I recommend the cog-railroad or the coachride.

Mount Washington Summit 6288 ft - We enjoyed a picnic lunch ABOVE the clouds!

In this next photo, those are clouds that you see, not exhaust from the train:

After the mountain, we drove to Littleton, Vermont where stopped to stretch our legs and to get a break from our roasting-car. We parked by an independant movie theatre and walked down the street, visiting shops that Julia would love such as a head shop/spirituality-type shop where Julia loved the chimes, hacky-sacs and escpecially the magnetite rocks. We also took a major pit-stop at the children's section of the Village Book Store. Finally, we stopped in a beautifully restored cafe for a soft-serve ice cream and a ginger-ale before loading up on crappy American joe at Dunkin Donuts. We continued on to Montpelier for another leg-stretcher where we ate at the Samosa Man restaurant across from the historic opera house and fire station. Some Quebec'ers kindly informed us about a toystore around the corner where we spent the last part of our visit before hitting the highway in search of a motel. We drove half-way to Waterbury-Stowe before we found a four-star Best Western nestled in the Vermont hills. We were ready to call it quits and lucked out by getting the last room available in the hotel. The three of us went for a swim before calling it a night.

Littleton, Vermont

Montpelier, Vermont's most excellent toy store:

Ben and Jerry's Ice cream Factory Tour in Watyerbury, Vermont:

On Saturday morning, we gorged on the TRUE all-u-can-eat continental breakfast before going to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory before heading toward Burlington and beyond to Lake Champlain as Julia slept peacefully.

The entire route was beautiful, as was the weather. We crossed the border at Saint-Bernard, QC and drove off Montreal Island before stopping to eat at Subway and then visit the exotic petshop next door. Julia loved the fish and the kitties. After that, it was non-stop to Toronto with one gas-stop and no naps for Julia and lots of co-activity rotation with a parent (first Dad, then Mom) in the backseat. We arrived at Erin's Mom's house to surprise her but, unfortunately, no one was home....... By ten o'clock, we were in the house but our bodies felt like they were still on the road from the hours of vibration and road-noise from the day. It was good to stop......

videos tomorrow .......