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

Weekend Update

It was an amazing weekend! I even have the tan lines on my feet to prove it! (gotta love flip flop tan lines:))
















 Friday was a trip to the zoo, its huge and amazing! They have a polar bear cub (super cute gnawing on his foot), a kids park, a train and some really unique animals. We spent the day and only saw about 30% of the park. The best part? The HUGE splash park. The kids loved it and the weather was awesome!











Saturday was a morning of  football and tae kwon do practice (yep, Billy has found his niche - tae kwon do here we come!) Then, it was off to Center Island and the beach. We rode our bikes to the subway, took the subway to the ferry and the ferry to the Island.

 It also, just so happened, to be Bulls eye Beach weekend. It was a free public event sponsored by Target so the ferry ride was FREE (thank you Target!) and there were give aways, beach chairs, beach umbrellas, etc. Again, super fun. The only downside was an emergency evacuation while they formed a human chain to look for a missing child. The GREAT news was, he was just lost and wandering around the park. Disaster averted but good to know they have safety measures in place. 

We wore ourselves out and headed back into town for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory (remember, Sue's favorite). Its a really cool place to take hungry kids. The food was awesome as we all carbo loaded for the coming day! Then, off to the subway and home.
Sunday was football! Jimmy's game was in Clarington (an hour away) and they kicked butt!! 38-0 Grizzlies. Again, a perfectly cloudless sky and slight breeze. Kay and Billy made friends with other siblings and played a mean game of Octopus (think a cross between Hot Box and tag).  We did our traditional dinner of Chalupas (Tracy family tradition and favorite) followed by The Naked Brothers Band series.

All in all, a great weekend and we all fell into bed exhausted:) yeah summer!!!      

And...Sue's Birthday!

Aunt Sue's birthday is the day after Jimmys and its a family tradition to celebrate together so she is our 1st official visitor to Toronto.

We gave Sue the same options as Jimmy - she could do whatever she wanted on her birthday. So, we were off to Buskerfest!  Buskerfest is an outdoor street carnival with street performers and raises money for Epilepsy.

It was amazing! Jimmy was excited to see Snap Boogie (on Americans Got Talent). He jumped/flipped over 4 people and was pretty amazing. We also saw "mime's" that would perform for a loonie ($1). A skateboarding, juggling, fire guy (he also spit fire) and acrobats that juggled flames while on each others shoulders. Crazy stuff!

For dinner? Sue's favorite, spagetti and meat sauce. easy peasey.  Billy said it was the best meal he ever had!

And, wrapped up the day with cake:)

Thanks for coming to visit Sue, we love you!!




T.T.J.K.B.    

Now arriving on the number 11

Yep the old #11 has arrived and Jimmy is the conductor. The official 11th Birthday commenced with the usual fanfare of I don't know what I want to do....

Here is the birthday boy over the years and as you can see he is pretty cute!

We went through several options none of which involved heights or clowns (his 2 biggies fears) or (unfortunately) any professional sports event. He finally settled on bowling, go figure. His rational was that he wanted something that he could cheer at. And, cheer he did!

We headed off to the Toronto version of Bowl-A-Rama complete with crazy colored bowling balls and size 9-10 shoes for the lad. He seems to grow over night.

 Jimmy continues to be into sports and is now on the North York Grizzlies and is playing his heart out. His passion for music has not faded and he is playing drums and piano and hoping when school starts he can get a band together.

Tradition has Aunt Sue coming to co-celebrate her birthday along with Jimmy, their birthdays are a day apart, but more on that in the next blog. Jimmy is working hard at being a big brother and as in most of these cases it is a work in progress.

He loves all sports and can keep up with most adult conversation ont he subject thanks to his "research" on the net and ESPN.

He still talks non-stop, fromt he minute he wakes up until the the minute his head hits the pillow. He's and extremely loyal friend and enjoys the friends he has all over the world. Hes an amazing reader and talented in math (except for decimals). He just finished the Hunger Games and now we are in search of a book that will grab his attention to the same extent.

He is born negotiator and is a thinker. You have to watch out or you get talked into things you werent ready for.

We love him. For all that he is and all that he is going to be. Its fun watching him grow and bearing witness to his "Jimmy-ness".

We love you Jimmy!