Rainwater Rambling Archive

Pool, pool, bridge, beach...

We continued our mini outing on Monday morning starting off with a swim in the indoor pool, followed by the outdoor pool.

The girls thought it was too shallow, only 4'3" in the deep end, so we ended back in the indoor pool. The indoor pool is actually on the second floor. You can see the windows in the above picture (top left).

Angela and Claudia synchro jumping.

A flash video (1.5mb) of the girls doing their synchro act.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

A view of the border crossing from the hotel parking lot.

The Bluewater Bridge from Sarnia to Port Huron, Michigan.

Looking north to Lake Huron.

Along the St Clair River.

Under the bridge.

I suppose this is to scare off the terrorists.

Susan and I.

We headed back to the Pinery for some more surf and sand. However, the surf didn't co-operate, it was very calm compared to yesterday. The girls were quite disappointed.

Claudia trying to stand on her surf board.

The girls decided they were going to build a teepee.

A little miscalculation by Gillian.

Not bad considering they only used driftwood and sand.

Summer's almost over.

It was a long day, but very enjoyable, we ended the day with dinner in London and then back home.

CNE video

Some flash videos of our day at the CNE. The first is of Angela and the turkey (1 mb).

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

This Claudia pretending to be the chicks mother (1 mb).

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The last video is Claudia dancing on the midway. I said she should put a hat down and maybe people will throw money in it (2 mb).

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Full Weekend Ahead

We have a full weekend coming up. On Saturday night we are going down to the Rogers Centre for the 2007 Police Games. We received some complimentary tickets from Ken, our sitter's husband. This year they have the Top 10 Canadian Idol finalists performing in between events. The girls should enjoy that.

Then on Sunday we are going to the Science Centre to hear Meagan McGrath give a presentation and Q&A session on her ascent of Mount Everest this past spring. Before that we are going to watch the IMAX film Everest. Susan and I saw it years ago when it first came out. This lady is from Sudbury and she has climbed the Seven Summits (Tallest mountains on each continent).

125th Police Games

Our final destination for the evening was Rogers Centre to take in the Police Games. We got there around 5:45pm and the door didn't open until 6:30. We were close to the front of the line. There were a number of emergency vehicles parked outside that the kids could sit in. Here are Angela and Claudia sitting in a Parking Enforcement Smart Car.

Angela and Claudia on a sea-doo.

Sitting on an ATV.

The host for the evening was CFTO's Ken Shaw.

There was a March Past, here comes the Mounted Unit followed by the pooper scoopers.

Everyone passed the Chief of Police and some Brigidier General.

Here were the pooper scooper guys busy trying to get things cleaned up before the marching band slipped in it.

The Commemorative Guard.

There were a lot of groups in the March Past.

We thought this guy was going to stand there the whole night, but it was only for the March Past.

The national anthem was sung while two guys came down from the ceiling with the flag.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

As part of the entertainment they had the Top 10 finalists from Canadian Idol to perform.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

They did some group numbers and the Top 3 did individual performances.

The Candian Idol winner Brian Melo from Hamilton.

The Idols sang in between events of the Police Games, they had Tug of War, Obstacle Course, and relays. This was the Peel Police Tug of War team digging in.

Then the other team let go.

Actually it was Peel winning the Tug of War, they would meet Toronto in the finals, who they beat in the Tug of War, but ended up losing the event to. The winning team is the team with the lowest time to win, so even though Peel won both pulls, it took them longer to beat their first opponent. Some Peel supporters.

Everyone was suppose to wear red to show their support for the troops serving overseas. This guy went all out.

The CN Tower at night.

On Top of The World

We went to the Science Centre today to see the Omnimax film Everest. The girls enjoyed the movie, Gillian wondered what it would be like to play Wii on the Omnimax screen. We had some time to kill before the movie, so we went down to the ball exhibit.

It wasn't that busy so the girls were able to send the balls around from all directions.

Susan and Gillian heading to space.

Angela and Claudia in space.

After the Everest movie, we went to the talk given by Meagan McGrath. She was sitting in our row during the movie. She gave an excellent talk about her experiences climbing the Seven Summits, capping it off with Everest this past spring. Susan and I have read a lot of books and seen movies about Everest, but it doesn't compare to listening to someone who has summited talk about their experience firsthand. There were only about 50 people in attendance.

After her presentation she did a Question and Answer session. Gillian and Angela enjoyed her talk.

The girls in front of the poster of Meagan McGrath, it turns out the photo is of her summit of Mt Vinson in the Antarctica, not Everest.

The girls fooling around in the sound wave tunnel out front.

Only a month to go...

Today was the Mississauga Santa Claus parade in Streetsville. It was a beautiful day, sunny, clear and about 5°C. Claudia and Gillian were in the parade with their respective Brownie and Pathfinder groups. We had to drop the girls off at the Streetsville Go Station at 11:30 am, from there they were bussed up to the start of the parade. Here is Claudia ready to go.

We headed over to Queen St. to find a spot, even an hour before it was busy, mainly on the east side (sunny side) of the street. We were suppose to go and pick up Claudia when she was done, so we found a spot on the west side. Angela in her chair. By the time the parade was in full swing, they were lined up four deep behind us.

Hazel was leading the parade.

There was no shortage of marching bands. Check out the lead guy.

Here is a close up.

Gillian was holding the Guide banner as they marched.

Claudia was in good spirits, she said she carried the flag for a bit at the beginning.

The guy in the wgite was tossing his dough around as he walked down the street.

This was a cool float, it was a mini-train.

There was a walking green bin.

Another marching band.

A couple of Clydesdale horses.

This beaver was on a Canadian National Exhibition truck.

The last marching band.

Finally the guy we came to see.

I took some video of Santa because I figured Gillian and Claudia wouldn't have gotten to see him.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

He's no JC Petite

Angela, Claudia and I headed into Scarborough to watch Alex's hockey game. It was his turn to play goalie.

Making a save. This one stayed out of the net.

He is well positioned.

It's not quite the Ken Dryden pose, but it seem to be his favourite position when the play was down at the other end.

Angela and Claudia taking in the action. The game was at Heron Park where I use to play my games, they have renovated the lobby area, but the arena looks the same.

Not sure where the rest of his team was, looks like a 4 on none for the other team.

Here is some game action video.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

He did pretty good, although he was no JC Petite from the McDonald's commercial.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Angela's Speech

The mother of one of Angela's friends had video taped part of Angela's speech. She dropped off a copy for us. Thanks Sandra!

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Wii Fit

Today was the official launch of Wii Fit in Canada. It worked out well since I was taking some time off in the morning to see Gillian off to Ottawa, I headed over to Wal-mart when it opened at 7:00am. There were about 7 people already in line at the cash in the electronics section, they had four people working in there, two were opening the shipping boxes, one was doing cash and the other was bagging them. There were still three left after me and only one guy in line, but I think I heard them say they had more in back.

The activities are grouped as Yoga, Strength, Aerobics and Balance Games. Most use the balance/scale board. Last night with Gillian in Ottawa and Angela at Guides, Claudia and I got to try all the games. It recognized that it was my birthday.

Claudia did some of the Yoga, but mostly we played with the games. One of them is soccer, you have to move your body to head the soccer ball or avoid getting hit by the soccer shoe. Here is a video of Claudia playing.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Another game is ski jumping. Here she is at the top of the ski jump.

A video of Claudia doing the ski jump balance game.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Another one is the Hula hoop, you have to do the hulahoop motion as many times as you can, every so often they throw another ring and you have to catch it with your body.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

They have a jogging game where you stick the wii remote in your pocket or hold it and you jog through a town. You just run on the spot or you can run in circles, this is one of the games where the balance board is not required. If you run too fast bad things will happen to you.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Butterfly

This butterfly was hanging around our lilac bush.

A flash movie of the butterfly (1.7 mb).

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

September Activities

Gillian and Angela started their Pathfinders and Guides this week, we're still waiting for Claudia's Brownie group to start. Angela meeting was only an hour this week so Claudia and I rode our bikes over with Angela to the school. From there we rode down to Lake Aquitane.

The camera was attached to my handlebars, that's why it is a little crooked.

Claudia riding through one of the tunnels along the bike path that goes under a major road.

Here is a flash video of Claudia riding her bike ahead of me.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Claudia looking older.

More cake

Gillian had a party with a few of her girlfriends, they went to see the movie Twilight and then they came back to the house for some pizza and cupcakes.

A Muppet Christmas

There was a new Muppet Christmas Special on television tonight. I'm glad to see they are still developing Muppet specials. This one was called "A Muppet Christmas - Letters to Santa", there was a good mix of original Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight characters.

A photo of the puppeteers bringing the rats to life.

A screenshot from the show.

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

We headed out to Hamilton today to see the new Harry Potter movie. We went to see it with Melissa. It was good and the girls gave it two thumbs up. It was long, almost two and a half hours, but not long enough to go through a large bag of popcorn. Of the four bags we bought, I was was the only one who finished it during the movie, actually most of mine was gone before the commercials and trailers were done.

Afterwards it was back to Lori and Dale's for a swim.

This is Lisa's puppy, Kiely (sp?) is a cross between a Jack Russell Terrier and a Chihuahua. It likes to bother Nike and Mickey.

Angela blowing up the raft.

Angela floating on a package of weiners.

Nike.

Storm Video

Here is a flash video of the lightning storm on Sunday August 9th, it was looking out at the backyard.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Outdoor Movie Night

What was planned for a few weeks ago as a back to school/end of summer event , finally came together. Our next door neighbour Lars and I wanted to put together a barbeque and movie night for the girls. We started with a barbeque in Lars and Julie's backyard. That is Lily in the middle, looking for a handout.

Here are the girls with Mady and Sarah.

A little bit of excitment after Chloe fell through a hole in their deck. They have cutouts in the deck for a cedar tree and when she was playing with Bella she fell through and disappeared.

Once it got dark, we moved to the front and set-up the projector and screen that I had borrowed from one of the guys at work.

We watched "17 Again". It turned out well, other than the odd plane going overhead. By the end of the movie, the temperature had dipped, it would have been a lot warmer back in August. The kids all had blankets. There were about 20 of us there for the movie. If we get an Indian Summer, we'll try and do another one.

Uncle Tak on Television

An episode of Landscape As Muse was on the Knowledge network. It was episode 49 from Season 5 called "The West Coast with Takao Tanabe" the following is the description of the show.

" A critic once remarked that if you've seen one Tanabe, you've seen them all. Revered painter Takao Tanabe doesn't disagree with this statement, yet it hasn't stopped him from painting landscapes for the past thirty-five years.A close examination of his canvasses reveals subtle changes in atmosphere, colour, tone and a lack of visible brush strokes.

Camera and sketchbook in hand, Tanabe travels on land and sea in the North Vancouver Island area, bringing six decades of painting history to bear on the vistas and horizon line of the sea and islands."

This file is 61MB, it is the episode converted to flash video.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Did you see the Tanabe's? Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art,

We all watched Uncle Tak's special on Bravo TV tonight. The girls like his special location for all his awards and degrees. We were able to see them this past summer when we were at his place on Vancouver Island. They also liked seeing themselves in the show. If you watch closely at the end you'll see us at the McMichael Art Gallery with Uncle Tak.

If you missed it there is an encore presentation Friday, February 5 at 7e/4p. Download the show by clicking on the link Takao Tanabe: A Work of Art. You can watch the show by clicking on the image below. (114 MB) If you need a Flv standalone player try the FREE Wimpy Desktop FLV Player (for both Windows and Mac).

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Do Good Things Happen in Three's?

We all know that bad things happen in three's, what about good things? This week we went to our local Swiss Chalet on Thursday night for dinner. The host dude sat us in our usual big circular booth, and by usual, I mean we always ask for one if they are available. Most of the tables and booths are made for families of four, not five. We sat there with our menus, and we sat, and we sat, it had to be at least five minutes. I counted 6 staff milling around the bar area and not one seemed in too much of a hurry to come and take our order. Finally when one girl did come, she asked how we were doing, and we mentioned that nobody had come over since we sat down, even though there were so many just standing around. She apologized and took our order, when she came back with our drinks, she said she talked to the manager and that we could have free dessert. We ended up with two pieces of lemon meringue pie for free, we took it home with us because we were stuffed (all the fries you can eat special is still on). Plus the last time we were there they gave us a Customer Appreciation card good for 15% off, we saved an additional $7.00 on this meal.

Today, Claudia, Angela an I went to Future Shop, we bought the new Alvin and the Chipmunks DVD. The shelf price said $18.99, when we checked-out it scanned in at $23.99. After paying for it I went back to the shelf just to double check, sure enough it was $18.99, I went back to the cash and told her and she directed me to customer service. The girl there was going to give it to me for the shelf price, but she took awhile and in that time I was reading the Scanning Code of Practice sticker on the side of the cash register. If a product scans in at the checkout at a price higher than the shelf price, or any other displayed price; the product is free - up to $10, or $10 off if the item is more than $10. When I asked about it she asked another guy and he said yes the price should be $8.99 instead of $18.99.

Just waiting for our third deal. Unless you count the Beer Store special, I bought a 24 of Molson Canadian/Coors Light for $29.95. The guy in front of me bought a 12 pack for $20.05, the Beer Store guy told him for another $9.90 he could get 12 more beers. The guy didn't go for it.

Back to Blogging

I am finally getting around to updating the blog for this summer, it's not that we haven't been doing things, if anything, we have been doing too much. It will take a while to get this complete, I've taken close to 2000 photos since the last post back in May. Last night we watched "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" outside in the backyard with the Carr's. This has been our 4th or 5th movie this summer that we have done outside. Last Sunday we watched "Get Smart". I've gotten the set-up to the point where it only takes 10-15 minutes and we now have four locations we can mount or makeshift screen between our house and our neighbours.

On Friday morning, Angela, Claudia, Chloe and I were up early to head over to the Leash-free dog park. It is about five minutes from the house. Claudia and I went last Saturday morning, but it was after 9:00 am when we got there and there had to be over 30 dogs at the park. Chloe has quite figured out what she is suppose to do. She barks at the big dogs, sometimes running towards them, but as soon as they turn, she high tails it back to us. Friday she would run under one of the picnic tables. Here is Angela doing some scooping after Chloe did her business.

The girls managed to find a caterpillar while they were in the woods with Chloe.

The girls have been looking after Lily and Loki, the two pugs that live next door, for the past couple of weeks. They have been feeding, playing and walking them while our neighbours are away. Their oldest is home, but not always around. They have been watering the plants and veggies as well. Here is Lily trying to get in our house.

Chloe has been playing with the pugs everyday, her and Loki run laps around the backyards. By the evening she is pooped. Here she is kind of in and out of her bed.