Author: richardt

Canada Day Picnic

July 1, 2018
Rainwater

We had a great time at the picnic this year. Although the overall turnout of the picnic was down, we had good representation and did well at bingo and fukubiki. Here is Bear running in the races.

Getting congrats from Lily.


Kaiden.


Lily.


Gillian and Angela in the 3-legged race.


Mark and Gaila.


Julie and Carey.


Danny and Carolyn.

Angela, Gillian, Emi and Dylan in the Geta race.

It was then time for the shoe kick.


The Saikora game.


Everyone who was out of the Saikoro game.


The candy toss box, there was so much candy and so few kids they stopped tossing before they reached the end of box.


Kaiden with his haul of candy.


Angela and Dylan won the water balloon toss.


As always the best part of the day was lunch and dinner.


Claudia with Lily and Kaiden ready for bingo.


Mark with his winning card. As usual Carey won a set of chairs.


Both Angela and Gillian won Tim Horton coffee makers at Bingo.


There was no rain this year, but it was hot!


Gillian, Farriyan, and Kaiden.


The group photo from this years picnic, hope to see you next year.

Claudia’s Grade 12 Graduation

June 28, 2018
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Claudia had her grade 12 graduation on June 28th at the Hershey Centre (three days later it became the Paramount Fine Foods Centre).


Gillian and Claudia. Angela had to work, so she missed the festivities.


Susan and I with the last one through high school!


Heading up to the stage for her diploma.




To our surprise, when it came time for the special awards, Claudia’s name was called for The Crusader Award. The Crusader award is presented to a graduating female student who is pursuing college or university education, is a leader or contributor in the school community, and is involved in community events outside of school.



The Crusader Award is donated by the 800 Black Forest Squadron, and it came with a $300 monetary award.


Congratulations Claudia!


The traditional tossing of the caps.


All of the special award recipients.


Claudia with Mr Quinn and Daniel.


Claudia with Mrs St Louis, the head secretary at Mt Carmel (and Mr Quinn photobombing). She was the secretary at St Richard when Gillian started in JK, she moved on to the high school shortly after. Only fitting that she would be part of our closing chapter of Dufferin-Peel education.


Claudia with Mr Carney and Mrs Faria.




Claudia is off to Humber College for Television Broadcasting.

 

Claudia’s Graduation Mass

June 28, 2018
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The Grade 12 Graduation Mass and Subject Awards was held in the morning at the church. Claudia was the recipient of a couple of awards. The first one was the Dramatic Arts Academic Excellence Award.


She received the ICT SHSM (Information Communication Technology Specialist High Skills Major) Award. Here she is with all of the recipients.


She also received the Communication Technology Video Productions Award.


Claudia with Mr Carney (her Dramatic Arts teacher) and Mr Quinn (her ICT teacher).


Claudia with her ICT SHSM award.

Come From Away

June 23, 2018
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We went to the Royal Alexander Theatre to see the musical Come From Away. We had bought the girls tickets last Christmas.


We saw a protest marching down the street.


The girls out front of the Royal Alex.


It was a great show and we had front row seats in the balcony.

Gillian’s Convocation

June 14, 2018
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Gillian graduated from McMaster University with her Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in Molecular Biology & Genetics Co-op. Convocation was held at First Ontario Concert Hall (formerly Hamilton Place) in Hamilton, Ontario on June 14th, 2018. I was unable to attend, but they live stream and record the convocation on the web. Here is a snippet from the ceremony.

I borrowed these from Gillian’s Instagram post.


Angela and Gillian with William McMaster.


Pozu!

If you want to watch the entire proceedings, it is on YouTube.

Claudia’s Pre-Prom

May 25, 2018
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Two days after getting back from Japan, it was Claudia’s grade 12 Prom. She had the pre-prom in our backyard before they headed to the Prom. Here she is with her friends.


Andrew and Daniel.


Mason, Claudia, and Kristen.


Claudia and Daniel.


Claudia with her parents who look pretty good after a 21 hour journey home from Japan 48 hours earlier.


Claudia and Chloe.

Japan 2018 Day 21: Travel

May 23, 2018
Japan2018

Today we were leaving Japan. We had an amazing trip, enjoyed the sights, trains, but especially the food.


Having breakfast at Haneda Airport.


One of the offerings at a kiosk, Shrimp & Broccoli sandwich.


I opted for breakfast ramen.


Gillian atop of Mt Fuji.


Gillian with her stuffed Totoro in her knapsack.


Our trip home was through Beijing.


Boarding our plane in Beijing.


We said our goodbyes to Shanna who was heading to Kelowna and then home. Gillian and Susan still in good travel spirits.


Waiting for Angela and Claudia to pick us up at Pearson.

Japan 2018 Day 20: Tokyo – Shinjuku

May 22, 2018
Japan2018

Today was our last full day in Japan. We started the day walking around Shinjuku. This was a fish market unloading styrofoam containers.


A delivery truck with some beer kegs.


This was Godzilla hanging out atop a cinema.


We also made a stop at the National Bank of Japan so Gillian could exchange a really old 10,000 YEN bill that G0ma and G-pa had given to her for the trip.


It was like walking into a movie scene, the bank was empty of any other customers, but the security was intense.


There was a Japanese Boy Band performing in a mall.


Our last dinner in Japan was at another conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Tokyo station.


Gillian and I went to the subway station near our hotel to return our Pasmo cards and get a refund on our deposits.


We stayed at the same hotel as our first night. It was close to Haneda Airport.

Japan 2018 Day 19: Tokyo – Harajuku/Shibuya

May 21, 2018
Japan2018

Today we were exploring the Harajuku and Shibuya areas of the city.


We started by going to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck.


A circular traffic light in Shinjuku.


We made another stop at a location in the movie Your Name.


Heading to Meiji Shrine.


Sake barrel wall in Yoyogi park.


Ordering our ramen lunch from a machine.


A Richards in Harajuku.


Then it was on to Shibuya to see the crazy crosswalk.


Shanna with the Hachiko statue.

The Shibuya Crossing.


In typical tourist fashion we crossed a few times.


Mario kart racers.


This group of people ran out as soon as the light changed to take a group photo.


Susan on the crossing.


My camera got a workout on this trip.


No eating sign with an onigiri.


A gas station in Tokyo. The hoses hang from the roof.

Japan 2018 Day 18: Kanazawa to Tokyo

May 20, 2018
Japan2018

We made our way back to Tokyo today. It was our last ride on the bullet train. We really enjoyed our travel by rail using the JR rail pass.


The scenery on the way back was nice, especially with the sunny weather after a couple of overcast days in Kanazawa.


We were able to see Mt Fuji off in the distance.


After dropping off our bags at our hotel we made our way to the Tokyo Dome.


The lineup to get into the store to get our Giants gear.


We had tickets to the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs the Yokohama DeNa Baystars.


The beers girls have a keg on their back and they pour draft beer at your seat.


They had four mascots.


The sections are based on the team you are rooting for. Except for the one guy in orange.


Enjoying a onigiri at the game.


The Giants ended up on the wrong side of a 10-2 final score.


Gillian checking out the capsule toy vending machines.


A shelf of onigiri in a Lawsons.


We finally got to experience a packed subway train in Tokyo.


The Studio Ghibli store on Charater Street under the Tokyo train station.


A lineup for a restaurant in Tokyo Station.


We Skyped with Angela and Claudia a few times throughout our trip.