Couple of rants and a rave or two

Well the Thanksgiving Holiday, or lack there of, came and went without any real consequence, the only  to note is that the Christmas Holiday Season is upon us. The exterior of the house is lit, simply because it has been rather warm and Tracy suggested that I get the lights up while the getting is good.

We have this light switch/ timer thing that is a royal pain in the ass. It seems that an electrical engineering degree is needed to operate the thing. The Christmas lights come on every morning promptly at 5:00 am and stay on until dusk at which time they no longer come on. Damn inconvenient if you want to  see the lights, I mean getting up at 5 am is for the birds. We have tried to disconnect the switch, reprogram it for different times all to no avail so if we want the lights on at night we have to manually use the switch that is on a timer, like I said PITA!

I have mentioned a couple of times about the driving situation here in Toronto. To prove my point I will paraphrase the local paper, if paraphrase doesn't work I will call it writers privilege:

A few weeks back it seems that a pedestrian was stuck by an unnamed vehicle, while the pedestrian, now at this point laying prone and unconscious, so technically no longer a pedestrian, was struck by another vehicle. The driver of the first vehicle left the scene while the driver of the second vehicle having noticed they  ran over " the pedestrian", remained at the scene, and called the police. The following statement is true, I mean you can't make stuff like this up: The police arriving on the scene ran over the " prone pedestrian", again, seriously.
 Wonder who they are going to charge and with what?


Kay was on a terror last week having to bake something nearly every waking moment. She was finally satiated when we made Pavlova, which is one of the hardest things to make specifically because you need patience, Kay is 9 need I say more. After having to restrain her I was able to get the egg whites to listen, God knows the kids don't! I will say that fortunately or unfortunately Kay has mastered the art of making homemade whipped cream. Which is a blessing I suppose because the cream doesn't last very long around here neither does the vanilla essence but who wants to be responsible for years of therapy because you denied the budding artist their medium, oops sorry I digress.

We are in the middle of labor disputes among the teachers union, the school board and the government of Ontario. The teachers are unhappy about a piece of legislation called Bill 115, which basically eliminates the teachers ability to negotiate, maybe Ontario legislators followed the case from Wisconsin a couple years back and figure hey why not! Well the kids in Jimmy's school seemingly have had enough of no extra circular activities and have decided to strike today. It appears they have launched a campaign via facebook, got to love social media and kids access to it, to  all meet by the 8 graders lunch area ( after lunch of course, who wants to strike on an empty stomach) and peacefully sit down to strike the lack of after school sports programs, and to be effective they have decided they will strike way after the bell rings!

Last piece of news to note our Mayor has been booted out of office because of a conflict of interest. He apparently used some city funds to pay for an event for his football team. Yep and when given the opportunity to repay the money and no harm no foul he said" It is the work of the left wing trying to get me out of office!" What? The ruling Judge had this to say about Mayor Ford :

“In my opinion, the respondent’s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amounting to willful blindness,”

 On the bright side there is a bake sale at school today!

Happy Gottcha Day Kay!

Wow hard to believe that it has been 9 years since we travelled to Korea to meet and bring home Kay Marie Jeon Murphy, aka: The Pook-a-Rook!

Kay has been a blessing and continues to make sure we know that! She is a very headstrong, loving, demanding, loyal and persistent, sister, daughter, and friend. She continues to love all things non-girl, well except makeup and lip gloss. She is in the kitchen constantly creating new food concepts many of which are actually edible!

She is heavily involved in Gymnastics training and her first competitive meet is coming up early next Spring, YIKES.  She is currently working on the uneven bars and the transition/movements from the lower bar to the upper bar "just like in the Olympics Mom!" She is strong, flexible and fearless, a perfect combination for a gymnist but a ulcer in the making for us as parents

She is doing great thus far in school and has new friends, while missing her old ones, howevcer she is the best in the family dealing with change. She's always excited for a new challenge, adventure, food, experiment (her 2nd favorite thing to do outside our cooking/baking).

A HUGE thank you and loving thoughts to ALL the people that made it possible for Kay to be a part of our family.
Her birthparents, in particular her birth mom - what an impossible decision, to let someone else raise your child. We are FOREVER grateful ,thank god and they have a special place in our thoughts and prayers.

Her foster family, they loved her unconditionally with humor, grace and steadfastness for the 1st 4 months of her life. We are so grateful they gave her such a strong beginning. We know they fell in love with her and again, they have a special place in our hearts/life.

All the social workers, here and in Korea, that came before us to help smooth the way and then also worked with us directly to insure Kay was healthy, well taken care of, loved and cherished. You are our heros!!

Here are some favorite photos of Kay, in no particular order, from over the last 4 years.

Big big hugs to ALL these people!  Be sure to hug your family, its a treasure!  We love you Kay!!       

Teacher Conferences

Its that time of year, the dreaded Teacher Conferences. I actually think Tom and I get more nervous about these than the kids do! This year was no exception. We were anxious and curious to hear how the kids were doing in school. We should have known....(cue menacing music)

Lets start at the top...

Jimmy - as you know, Jimmy needed to skip 5th grade, did not pass go, did not collect $200 and entered smack into grade 6 and middle school. Tom and I were worried about him academically but figured he'd be ok socially. Well, we were partly right. According to Mr Ianni (his homeroom and main teacher) Jimmy has easily slid into grade 6. He is very soical, friendly to everyone and has friends in every grade. This is (apparently) unusual as 6th graders are usually not confident enough to talk to the older students - not our Jimmy! He is keeping up well academically but is somewhat inconsistent. When he applies himself, he does really well (A's and B's) when he doesnt, well...he doesnt do well (go figure).  He talks non-stop and while he has curbed some of his interrupting in class, he asks a million questions and often gives the teacher advice. Mr Ianni had a hard talk with him about being distracting vs being a leader. Its up to Jimmy, he can go either way and now is the time to choose. He also needs to stop being so frustrated in gym class when other students arent as "committed" as he is. (put not so nicely, hes competitive and doesnt like it when people dont apply themselves whole heartedly to gym. Wait till he gets to high school!)

Mdme Doyle was up next, his French teacher. Given Jimmy declared at the beginning of the school year "I'm going to OWN French this year", it is his favorite class. His teacher raved about him, catching on quickly, helps others, has really creative ideas, is doing really well and excelling. She seems to love him. We had a long post conference talk about how does he act in her class vs Mr Ianni's ? can he apply some of that to his main classroom?  

After dinner he asked me, "how did you think that went?" I said, "it doesnt matter what I think, what do you think?"  J -  "Well...I think it went pretty good. There arent any new things I need to work on, no surprises and so I can just keep working on my behavior in class.  I might need to work harder at it but at least its not somehting new"  I think we are raising a perpetual optimist!

Kay - she also has adjusted really well to her new school. Her teacher says she's friends with everyone, doesnt have a "clique" but really plays with everyone. Ms Chung is somewhat surprised by this as most of these kids have been together since they were in pre-school and its a very tight knit community. She really eager and passionate to learn and isnt afraid of asking questions, getting up close and answering questions (even when she doesnt know the answer) Ms Chung loves that Kay isnt afraid of being wrong. She seems to be keeping pace with the ciriculum and is right in line with where she should be.  However, she is easily distracted and has a hard time staying focused. She needs to be redirected a number of times a day.  But, once reminded is (usually) pretty good.  You have seen in earlier posts that shes really active in class/school with reading at assembly and participating in the school songs and dances.

Billy - he's our Bill. He has some really good friends and loves everyone in class. He's a very good reader and good at math but has a hard time keeping his hands to himself. He likes to sit "right" next to people and hug them. He has an issue with personal space and is somewhat of a squirrel. Many times during a week she needs to move him to sit by himself or put him on a time out. Hes curious and loves what they are learning about (dinosaurs, math, reading, etc) Ms Cutz is VERY no nonsesnse and seems to be a really good teacher for Billy, structured and will push him hard.

So, overall, nothing we havent heard on each of them no matter the teacher or the school or the grade. I guess it just shows, we are who we are. I suspect that in their 1st job reviews they'll each get similar feedback. And, as our friends say ...Tom and I have the exact kids we should have. Nature vs Nuture, I ask you:)       

What I love is that they are curious, outgoing, agile, engaged and friendly to everyone. I wish they could monitor/pace out their behavior a bit more, but while it certainly drives me crazy (and their teacher too) I also think it'll serve them well as adults.


(Feel free to dig into the archives of this blog and read their former conferences, I think you'll find them erily similar)   

Veterans/Rememberance Day

Canada and the US share many holidays and one of them is remembering and recognizing our veterans. However, I would say, like Halloween, its a MUCH bigger deal up here. I have to wonder, in their role as peacekeepers and given their small armed forces, do they value it more than we do? Probably, which is sad but very telling of the culture of Canadians. Everyone buys and wears a red poppy of remembrance for the whole month of November.

At school, the kids were encouraged to bring in photos of family/friends that had served in the armed forces as well as donate to the poppy fund. Then, they had an all school assembly and the 4th and 5th grades were "in charge". They sang 2 songs (Free to be You and Me and Highway of Hero's). Each child wrote either a poem or a short essay on heroes.  They picked 3 kids from each grade (6 total) to read their work in front of the whole school. Kay's poem was chosen and I have to say...we are SO proud of her!  Her poem is beautiful, she practiced and did a great job reading it out loud.

The school has several parents that are in or part of the Canadian Armed Forces and one the Da\ds came dressed in his uniform and gave a very nice talk about remembrance and why it is important to remember. explaining tot he kids that sometimes remembering sometimes is painful but that should never stop us from remembering our Heroes.

To Veterans and those who have gone before us we say thank you!

Enjoy:)    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZchvXOSmUdE

Here is the written poem:

The 2012 Comfl Champs, North York Grizzlies!

While several hundreds thousand of our neighbors to the North and west of ( Minnesota) were taking to donning orange, trying to find their deer stand while remaining quiet, the Grizzlies were taking the field for the much anticipated final game.







The boys were only able to squeeze in one practice as the after effects of Sandy rained down here in Toronto causing cancellation of practice, basketball, Tae Kwon Do... However, surprisingly enough,  gymnastics took to the floor. Note to self, never mess with a gymnastic in inclement weather is on the line!

No matter practice or not, the Grizzly den was ready filled with a couple of dozen hyped up 10-12 year olds along with their parents and other fans. Tracy's co-workers made the journey to the game despite the $5.00 entry fee and the balmy 35 degree weather. The Canadian Anthem sung, the rosters read and each player acknowledged we were ready. The Grizzlies were the home team and Oshawa the visitors. The coin toss and customary hand shake between the Captains and the opposing coaching staff out pf the way it was time. The Grizzlies won the toss and elected to receive. The crowd was cheering on their perspective teams. The whistle blew and ball sailed all of about 35 yards, (mostly in the air) bounced into Maliks hands and he didn't stop until he crossed the goal line, Touchdown Grizzlies, the point's after were good! I say points after because in the Comfl they promote kicking and if you kick and make the kick you get 2 points, running or passing nets you 1.

The game progresses with the usual amount of drama. The people from Oshawa were upset by the enthusiasm our mascot showed and the left the stands to confront him, which ended peacefully but I will not say harmoniously.There were several objectionable calls from the officials on both sides, a couple of minor injuries and after the dust settle the Grizzlies lead 22 to 12 at the half.

The second half was more of the same. A couple of things to note, for the first time our mascot lost his voice, which was a shock and the game was postponed for almost 25 minutes while we waited for an ambulance. The ambulances here are dispatched in order of urgency and since one of the players on the Oshawa team had a minor neck injury the ambulance was sent out as a precaution, which means take your time, but don't use the siren or stop at Tim Horton's for coffee. That sort of took the wind out of the game. Oshawa scored a touchdown after the Grizzlies held them for 7 straight downs in a row on the Grizzlies one yard line (refer to the objectionable calls stated earlier as to why they had 7 tries to go 1 yard). End of three quarters Grizzlies 22 Oshawa 19.

The forth quarter was a defensive stand for the Grizzlies and the ball was turned over on downs with 3:35 to go. Three plays later Malick our fullback, busted up the middle then cut back to the outside and it was a race to the end zone, which he won. He attempted to kick his own points after and missed, his only real mistake of the game if you can even call it that. The Oshawa team was not to be denied. They had 2:29 in which to work and with no time on the clock scored however they missed their points after, Grizzlies 28 Oshawa 25.

The team went crazy, running all over high fives, hugs and then the line up for the presentation of the trophies. Each player on both team received a trophy and then the Grizzlies were awarded the overall Trophy! Each team had a player of the game and of course our's was Malick, with 3 of the 4 touchdowns, several sacks and his attempt to kick the points after, who else would it be?! Then the mad dash to the goal post for pictures and a chance to hold the trophy.




Well done Grizzlies!

(Jimmy asked "can I sleep with my trophy tonight?" Think the kids were excited?! :))

Happy Halloween!!!

"Sandy, the fireworks are hailing over little Eden tonight" ... Bruce S...but!  not enough to stop the innocence of youth and the trick or treaters.

The after affects of the storm have been going on all week here and at one point the city of Toronto was considering postponing or preponing, Halloween, depending on your point of reference. The weather held out (sort of) and Halloween went on as scheduled. Tracy was frantically trying to get home from a trip to Minneapolis in time to participate in the festivities, which she was able to do. A good thing too, she had the candy and final touches to Billys Ninja costume!

Things started out as they usually do with school schedule Halloween events. Jimmy was decked out as PSY and the whole Gangham Style craze. He had school as usual until 1:00 and the dance (mention in the previous blog) began, with him sneaking off to the office, so Dad could tie his bow tie. "Thanks Dad" and he was off. He has a tendency when he is nervous to talk non-stop and while I was tying his bow tie he never stopped talking, so ..... make your own judgement. A quick update on the dance. The boys danced with the boys and the girls danced with the girls and its nice to know that middle school dances havent changed in 1,000 years:)

Kay and Billy headed off to school "in"costume. Kay was )until that morning) going to be a nerd, then a zombie then decided to be a witch, women's prerogative I guess. Bill was a Ninja compete with hood and black sash. If I am to believe Kay they had two periods of school then pushed their desks against the wall and proceeded to watch movies and eat candy. Judging by her demeanor after school I tend to agree all she ate was sugar. Bill true to form was not quite sure what he had for lunch however he did have a big bag of candy and a super sized smile.

The time between school and the trick or treating hour was filled up with practicing piano & drums.  Then Kay (of course) changing her costume to be a nerd. Complete with a I love nerds t-shirt and a old pair of Jimmy's glasses with a bit of white surgical tape to round out the "look", God help us. Jimmy was off to a pizza party at his friend Brock's.  Kay and Billy of to the Dojo for a costume and pizza party of their own. The kids ran around the Dojo and poor Ted the Tae Kwan Do instructor was trying too play traffic cop, to no avail.

Back home to meet Tracy, a quick 'Hi' and Billy was out the door with his buddy Josh and Kay was off to Megan's. The light drizzle was just enough to bother the adults and barely even registered to the candy seekers. Billy called it quites around 7:30, Kay and Jimmy came back soaked, muddy with their friends, parents and everyone dripped water all over the inside of our house, did I mention it is a rental!?!






We sorted the candy while having pizza and seafood stew and clearly we have to much candy!


Happy Halloween to all!

Quick Update

Thought we'd do a quick update on life:0

Tom - chef school is going great and we love the food he brings home on Satruday nights after class. He's excitedly combing through the class lists and has at least 10 more classes he wants to take. Kay continues to be jealous.

Jimmy - He's practically inseparable with his new friend Eli. They started basketball on Monday nights and this weekend is the semifinals of football. Good money is on the Grizzlies and if they win, we have the championship next weekend. If they win THAT, then its an inter-providence game. Yikes! He's going as PSY (Gungyam style) for Halloween and just asked his 1st girl to the halloween dance. he is completely unfased by the whole thing.  He casually mentioned it at dinner one night. Her name is Sloan (thinking her parents are big Ferris Bueller fans) and as he said "she's not terrible at sports and isnt bad looking". I hope thats not how he approached her! She had to think about it and came back 2 days later with a "yes" but only as friends. His reaction? "well...yeah!"  When I asked him "were you nervous?" His response? "no! why would I be?" when asked "what if she says no?" He quickly said, "then I'll just ask someone else". Hes very practical about the whole thing. Given hes a rule follower and team player, we figure the rules are "take a girl to the dance", no questions asked. He is also encouraging all his friends to ask people too.  Too funny.

Kay - She has a posse of new friends and had to learn the Thriller dance for school. They got to dress up as Zombies and perform in front of the whole school. Now she wants to be a zombie witch for Halloween. She as also been asked to the dance by 2 boys and is presently keeping both of them waiting while she "thinks about it".  She's going to be a heartbreaker. 

Billy - Is a scheduling fiend and is constantly planning play dates with his friend William. William had a birthday on Friday and Billy told me "I'm going to ask if I can go to his party"  When I said that was a bit rude and what if he wasnt invited? He repied "but he's my friend and I like him!"  He's still so sweet and innocent. Good news, Williams parents are behind the 8 ball and the party is not until next week AND Billy is most certainly invited.  He's going as a black ninja for Halloween:)        

Tracy - Super busy at work (still) with 2 work trips in October. But, her team is awesome and she's having fun. She loves to be challenged and there are plenty of hard problems to solve right now. No lack of stimulation at work.

Nikki - still sweet and Tracy's daily walking companion. Its been raining all day so she's going a bit stir crazy but we are having people over for dinner so she'll get plenty of attention and love.

Thats it, the quick down and dirty on the LoudAmericans:) 

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Time marches on and I thought we better get this post out there before it is the American Thanksgiving! The interesting part of Canadian Thanksgiving is that they call it...Canadian Thanksgiving  "Happy Canadian Thanksgiving" "What are you doing for Canadian Thanksgiving?" "Will you celebrate US and Canadian Thanksgiving?"  Weird, we dont call it American Thanksgiving.  In any case, it did cause us to be home sick for The Only Place (see 2006-8 Thanksgivings in India - cornish turkeys)  

This past week has been somewhat of a blur of activity and downtime all rolled into one. Exactly what you'd expect for Thanksgiving! Lots of visiting and food and football!

Treena her daughter Madison were able to spend a couple of days with us and boy did Kay love that. Madison and Kay were all about make up, outfits and being divas. Oh and cotton candy too! Treena is a dear  friend of Tracy's and her husband Moyo, who was unable to join this time, is a very close friend of Tracy's boss, (following that?!) so in honor of celebrating nepotism day we had John along with his wife Priya, their daughter Sohanna and their son Kiron over for dinner. The adults found time to relax and catch up while the kids found time to burn off energy and be kids. We made a super yummy Portuguese Seafood dish for dinner and Kay has been on a Pavlova kick of late so we made that for dessert along with homemade whipped cream, yes both vanilla and chocolate, super good!

Sunday was a bye day for football however we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving.  John & Priya had us over to their house (seriously, the Loud Americans 2 days in a row, they are brave people! )along with another ex-pat couple (not from Target but from Chicago!) and their 3 kids. Once again it was Kid heaven. John along with Jimmy are huge football fans so the Vikings victory was twice as sweet! We had an awesome herb roasted turkey with all the fixing including Kay's new favorite sweet potato souffle, she is out there food wise. We watched Star Wars and the kids all cuddled into the couch for some serious food coma time. Sohanna was even tucked into Tom. Super cute. We had a great day and took the subway home full, tired and happy. Kay and Billy even had a midnight snack of stuffing, turkey and gravy all mixed together in a bowl. Then, they slept for 12 hours:)

Monday was a day off for Tracy but not Jimm...., football !!!  It was an away game against The Pickering Gators. Hard fought game, however the Grizzlies had a few too many penalties and lost by a touchdown. The last play off the game was a touchdown run by the Grizzlies so the game ended on a high note. Everyone was happy!

We had to hurry home as we (I mean Jimmy) has  wicked social calendar. As we begin to be assimilate (as you know resistance is futile) we let Jimmy (who is 11 along) with his new BFF Eli go the Argonauts CFL game without either of the parental units. Eli's Mom dropped the boys off downtown, at the stadium, about 25 minutes from home and then Tom drove down after the game to pick the lads up. We of coursed worried and texted them constantly. They ignore us for the most part and had a blast. (In case you worry and call social services, the game was an outing for Eli's football team. His coaches sat "near" them, but they didnt escort them to/from the game)  They are turning into "urban/city" kids. Its an interesting phenomom. Jimmy has taken the city bus to school and been to his 1st pro sports event with an immediate adult companion.  2 things neither Tom or Tracy did at the tender age of 11 (grade 6)

Or...is it that he's just growing up? Yikes!

The middle of October WOW, more to come....

Cousin Murray

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I am writing about the passing of our friend/cousin/brother Murray.

He has been battling cancer for several years and it was a hard fought battle. Throughout Murray was forever smiling and living life the way only Murray could. He had a great smile a huge heart and an unmatchable wit. He was always  telling great stores and sharing insights and bringing joy and happiness to all those around him.

Murray was full of life and when you would get a call from him he would say " Hey Tom, you wantta...?' and what ever it was you did because the Murman was that way. There are many stories and antidotes some appropriate and some not but no matter how you look at it, he will be missed.

Murray, I love you and will miss you and until we meet again I know God will hold you in the palm of his hand.

(Photo, from left to right - Murray, Tom, Mike (Murray's brother), Pat (Tom's brother) - ALL family:))

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?n=murray-james-condon&pid=160331251#fbLoggedOut

Its a small world...

One of the amazing things about Toronto is how many connections we have here back to India!

Tracy has 2 members of her team that were on her team in India. They both moved to Canada separately from Target for their spouses job and better opportunities.

A good portion of the visitors we have had while here are friends from Bangalore that have frequent travel to Toronto for work. They may not live in Bangalore anymore, but their current owrk brings them to Toronto frequently, giving us time to catch up and see each other (sometimes for the 1st time in 5+ years!)

Carol is one of our dear friends that was our 1st friend in Bangalore, baby sat our kids, threw wonderful parties, was a shoulder to cry on and a great example of  how to embrace India. She is from Montreal and was able to come for dinner. It was a gas and SO much fun to catch up in person and hear about her family and the friends we havent heard from lately around the world.

She also is a great networker and got us in touch with Claude. Now, Claude is originally from Mumbai, but will a long layover in Montreal (do you see where this is going) prior to landing in Bangalore for a short stint. He was one of the bachelors in Palm Meadows and was always great for an impromptu happy hour or Sunday night dinner (check our old blogs thats a VERY popular tradition for the expats).  The adorded him and would yell CLAUDE at the top of their lungs every morning as he was heading to work and they were heading to school.

Well, this blog is titled small world for a reason....
Claude lives in Toronto. WIth his wife and 2 kids (+ 1 on the way). His kids are the same ages our kids were when we were in India. AND, the best part?! They had us over for Sunday dinner.

It was SO great to reconnect and get caught up, meet his wife and kids and basically start up where we left off. We are all older (the wiser part is questionable) but essentially the same.  Here are some "snaps" of the evening, including an oldie from our 1st go round with Claude.


I LOVE that karma "works" - you get what you put out there, what goes around comes around, do unto others, etc. Its true. Its a small world so...put out love and you'll get love:)




      

Ah! Billy, Very Good!

Billy was all amped up and ready to go this past week as he stood ready to move up one belt in his Tae Kwon Do class. He was trying to go from a white belt to white belt with yellow stripe.It is a little known fact to those of us outside the Tae Kwon Do inner circle, but in the beginning, there was only one belt and it was white. Then over the years and battles and accomplishments and failures, grime and blood, the belt would turn black, and the second lessor know fact is that you Never wash a belt...



Billy has been is class for a little over a month and was very keen to pass this test. He went to class 4-5 times per week perfecting his craft all while creating a delicate work life balance, as balanced as a second grader can get, I mean he still is short term memory challenged and addicted to Lego's, but that aside he threw himself into his quest with the vigor of a true Warrior.






Bill arrived early and got a couple of last minute practice sessions in and then the clock struck 5:00 and the instructor called them to attention. Billy did three move sequences and 1 no contact sparring and rated 1 A+, 2 A's and 1 A-, outstanding. He was all smiles when his name was called, replied in a loud Billy voice " Yes Sir" strode to the front of the class bowed and received his new belt and certificate of achievement.




Mom and Dad along with Jimmy and Kay were there to cheer him on, some more happily than others,none the less 1 test 1 new belt, Very Good Billy, Very good!

 We love you and are very proud of you!

Happy Birthday TOM!!!

Yesterday was Tom's birthday and it was ALL ABOUT TOM:)

The universe collaborated to give Tom a great "me" day. after dropping the kids off at school, he was able to get in a good work out, 90 minute massage and even signed up for Chef School.

Yep, Tom is going back to school. We are really excited about this opportunity for him. Not only is he following his passion, but we get the benefits too:)  He'll start on Saturday. There is a 12 week compulsory course that he needs to take before he can get into his other courses. He visits the school today to pick up his books, chef outfit and cooking "tools". We are all thrilled for him!

Monday birthdays are hard with work, school, etc but we managed to make it a little special with fondue (steak, veggies, bread, fruit, cheese, chocolate) and even a "baby" cake. The cake here is SO GOOD. I cant believe it!

Then, it was presents:)  The kids got him the (typical) dad gift of new clothes/jacket. My sister gave him Costa Rican coffee, my parents took us out for dinner while they were here, I got him a wine making class that comes with a case of wine you make, but...the best gift of all was from the dog. The new Jack Reacher and Lee Child book. I cant wait until he finishes it:)

He had many many facebook greetings, phone calls, emails and virtual hugs. Thank you ALL for that. He loves hearing from all of you!

It was so fun to celebrate Tom and thank him for all he does for us. The kids said things like "I love Daddy because he's fun" "I love Daddy because hes nice to everyone" etc. Hope you know how much to love you Tom. You are really special and make our lives SO rich in experience, fun and thoughtfulness.

We love you!!



(I would be remiss if I didnt do a "shout out" to Wade and Rica - they all share the same day and we were able to Skype with Wade over the laptop. It was a gas. And, we facebooked with Rica, Happy Birthday and big hugs to you both!! )        

Grandma & Grandpa Bunny & Jim Visit

This past weekend was full fun and adventure with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Bunny stopping on their way back to South Carolina. The arrived on Friday afternoon just as the kids wandered home from school.

We spent Friday night catching up and hanging around the house as Tracy was in Minneapolis all week for work and we had a busy weekend planned. Challupas have become the dinner of choice and as always they did not let us down.! Saturday we have a  rather hectic default schedule, Jimmy has football from 10:00-12:00 which Grandpa went a long to watch and check out the stadium before the game. Meanwhile Billy has Tae kwon Do and Tracy and Bunny took Nikki for her daily walk then Jimmy has piano and drum lessons from 1:30-3:00, so before we can do anything it was 3:00. The group cleaned up and we headed downtown to the harbor front area for an Asian Festival and Fashion Show, exciting! we played on a huge chess board and were shocked that Billy knew how to play from watching a game on the iPhone, technology ain't it grand?!! It was a close match and Billy had Jimmy on the ropes however Jimmy was able to barely pull out the checkmate. The Blue Jay's had a home game and we got to see all the over served fans wandering around after the game. Jack Astor's is a local sports bar and the food they have is great. Dinner was a loud event being the Canadians seem to have a stereo system that goes to 11 and that is where they leave it, visiting during dinner was more like a yelling match, but fun!


Sunday, as usual, is all about football. We had a nice breakfast after we dropped Jimmy at the stadium and were able to have some down time. Grandpa Jim, Tom thing 1 and 2 headed over to the game early as Tracy and Grandma Bunny did the dog walk thing. We were a bit worried they were going to miss the game as the Grizzlies came out of the den roaring away and scored three touchdowns in their first three possessions! Yes the den was rocking and Tracy and Grandma Bunny were on time to watch the grizzlies get their 3rd win of the year! Jimmy was all smiles as he came over after the game and we were all smiles when we sat down at Wimpy's for lunch. Yes the saying " I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" was over used but why not?! the food was great. Grandma and Tracy took thing 1 and 2 off to the Zoo as Grandpa and Jimmy headed into the man cave for football on the big screen. They were very cute sitting on the couch commenting back and forth on football,, past, present and future, two peas in a pod! That night we had a fish fry and gave Jim and Bunny their Christmas/Birthday's present a bit early. They both turned 70 this year and we will all be getting together for Christmas so we gave them a signed flag from this years Masters signed by Bubba Watson, they were thrilled.

All good things must come to an end so on Monday Grandma and Grandpa walked the kids to school said their goodbyes and then headed off to South Carolina, it was great to see them and we look forward to Christmas.
Peace to all, more to come.....

Football Update

We are at the halfway point of the season and Jimmy and the North York Grizzlies are playing their hearts out, their current mid-season record is 3 wins and  2 losses.

The August games were all away games with us dropping Jimmy off at he home stadium, he catches the bus with his team, which is awesome, and we meet up at the game. The whole team then gets back on the bus and we pick him up back at the stadium. This is a great way for players of Jimmy's enthusiasm and all in personality to decompress before taking all the angst out of the innocent family members. The 1st  loss came in week three to Scarborough, which was a 14 to 12 loss with the Grizzlies missing the point after with 20 seconds to go. In this league to encourage point after kicking, the point after is worth 2,not 1 and if you run or pass the ball for the point after it is only 1 point, great idea.

Thank god the September gaems have all been at home! 

Jimmy has been playing both middle linebacker and tight end, which he really loves. He is playing against boys that are 11-12 and some of them are twice his size, to which he reports, " Dad they may be big but their not strong. or quick". He also has been playing on a full size field with all the NFL rules in place and there is no weight limit as far as carrying the ball, which means there are no black striped kids. The entire game plan is centered around the offence and the defense is second, however the defense has only given up  30 points and is pretty darn good.
Jimmy has a great attitude and shows up to practice and the games ready to give his all. His new motto " There is no free ride in football". The boys have been practicing three days a week and are in every game. This week Jimmy was completely amped up and the Grizzlies beat Hampton Hills 37 to 0. Now this is the first season for Hampton and the kids have been playing for only 6 weeks, however it is nice to see that the kids played to their ability and did not get to cocky. Next week be warned we play the dreaded  team from,Burlington, winner in the past three years in AAA football.

The season goes through mid  October with the play-offs run through the end of October and the championship game is November 3rd, more to come and Go Grizzlies!!!

1st week of school

As you can see, the Loud Americans were excited for the 1st day of school!

Jimmy is in Middle School at Willowdale and Grade 6. (long story about age cut offs by class which bascially puts him in 6th grade, skipping 5th grade. when we go back, he'll be go through 7th grade a 2nd time). its a small school of 450 kids and really small class sizes (16) LOVE IT! He's taking french and music/dance as well as singing.  All prerequisite  classes. We dropped him on the 1st day and all the grade 6 kids were in the cafeteria. He marched right in and sat down. Didnt seem bothered a bit that he didnt know a soul. He's made a few friends (Eli, Alexi and Joshua) that live in the neighborhood, but complains about recess at lunch "there is nothing to do". Cant say I blame him, I suspect its a bunch of kids trying to look cool while he just wants to play basketball or football. His other complain? "not enough toliet paper in the bathrooms". Other than that, we dont get much out of him other than he likes his school and is having a good time.

Kay and Billy are in Grade 4 & 2 respectively at Cameron. Another small school of K-5 3 blocks from our house. Class sizes are 18 to 20 and they have been riding their bikes to school every day. They think its SO COOL and it is:)  Kay has all the news/gossip of the school every night at dinner, who's a bully, who's in trouble, how lunch works, alloted playground time, etc. However, when we ask about friends, she says she doesnt have any (?!). Jimmy asked her, "well, does that bother you?" her reply? "not at all!" said with a smile on her face. Thats our Pook a rook.  I'm a little worried about her but she says she likes school and is actually getting more done since doesnt have anyone to chat with during class. Maybe its a blessing in disguise? So far, she loves science and math

Billy has 2-3 new friends; Lucas, Morgan and "I cant remember". He's having the time of his life and loves the reading time. Canada might be Billys time to shine:)

Friday night was their "reward" night for completing their math books over summer (yes, we make them do 5 pages of math every day in summer, brutal, I know). They chose dinner and a movie. The hard part? We made them agree on both.  Their choices? Korean Food and Napolean Dyanmite with tator tots instead of popcorn. It was a really fun night!

Our children are strange and we love it!

         

Labor Day Weekend

The final official weekend of the summer was off to a dismal start as we were stuck in traffic on our way to pick up Tracy at her office before heading west to the beautiful bedroom community of Port Huron,MI. We also encountered a accident which prohibited us from exiting the 401, prompting us to make a tour around the airport. I had to retreat to iphone/gps to reconfigure the route causing a breakdown from the number 2 child...

Once we were out of Toronto proper, it was clear sailing all the way to our next traffic delay in downtown Port Huron. It seems that there are several bridges that one can chose from to cross over the St. Clair river and reach the other side, however you have to wait until they can locate the "guy" that knows how to operate the lift. You see, Port Huron has waterway's similar to those found in south Florida, where people have homes on these waterways, gaining access to the main water and screwing up traffic for the land lubbers causing young children to become addicted to mobile electronic devices because the Internet has done away with personal communication, where was I?

We finally reached our destination which was not in Port Huron, which yours truly thought, but about 25 miles south west which caused a wee bit of friction in the vehicle, at a time where electronic devices were banned, Happy Hour yet?

The campground was very nice, our sites were right next to the showers and bathrooms, which were remarkably clean and overall the place was nice. Tammy and Jeff arrived, we got our sites arranged, our tents up and we were off the closest restaurant for dinner., Which...its Murphys law...  was closed when we got there, however 6 complaining kids open a lot 'o doors and in we went and dinner was served!

Saturday was sort of a lazy morning exploring the camp, meeting the other campers and just getting the lay of the land. We did venture out later in the day to the local pool for some exercise and fun in the sun. Georgia and Kay were one team Jimmy, Joey and Billy the other in a very one sided swimming contest with Georgia and Kay winning all 9 matches. The boys have some work to do!
Back at the campground the boys challenged the dads and the girls to a football game, first team to 35 wins. Half way through the boys tried to change the rules when they were down 28 to 7. Proposed new rules... you had to win by 2, no way! The boys took it hard but hey you make the rules, you live by the rules! We had chalupa's for dinner a great campfire and it was early to bed.

Sunday we headed down to the river and into the river we dived, well the kids did. There was a jump off area on the docks where the kids could jump over the side and down about 10 feet to the water and then a ladder to climb back out, they loved it.








Up the dock about 10 feet from us was this guy who looked very similar to Quint ,from the movie Jaws and he was reeling in what turned out to be a big ugly catfish which the kids immediately got down on the dock and began to pet, really.








 Sunday night was a pasta feast complete with real campground drama. Turns out, down the lane from us, one of our fellow campers was VERY over served, got all wound up and while trying to make some point actually stabbed himself in the side. The police, fire and rescue, paramedics and ambulance all roared into the campground, trying to be the first on the scene, meanwhile the kids were all over the place creating new urban myths about the guy who stabbed himself. On a serious note they took him to the hospital and we pray he was alright.



The weekend was a blast (as usual) the cousins had fun, we adults had some down time and planned our next family adventure...skiing in Northern Michigan at Christmas time. Sounds peaceful, right!?!

Happy Labor Day and enjoy the quiet that comes with back to school, more to come.

God Bless