There were a couple of House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) around the backyard feeder this morning.
Happy New Year!
We headed into Scarborough to G-ma and G-pa’s for New Year’s Day dinner. It was a full house and that was without Sara, Brent, Shanna, David and Jesse. Although we did get a chance to FaceTime with Shanna, David and Jesse. Here is my selfie with Bear and Lori. For some reason Bear was allowing me into his space.
And one with Chloe.
Bear with his serious pose.
Asian looking Bear and Lily.
I actually held Bear for awhile, as Brad said, “maybe he thought you were me”.
Some photos of Grandma’s hard work.
As always the food was delicious and took far less time to consume than it took Grandma to prepare.
Uncle Tak’s 2017 Exhibition
Uncle Tak has an upcoming exhibition in 2017 at the Mira Godard Gallery. It runs from June 3 to July 1st. The website said it is “New Paintings”. At least it will be better weather to go see his show, usually his exhibitions are in January.
5th (almost) Annual Family Skating
We hosted our almost annual family and friends skating, this was the 5th year we have done it, we had a break last year. We rented the ice at Meadowvale 4 Rinks and had family and the girls friends out for a fun time.
Claudia and a few of her friends.
Alex and Danny.
Emi.
Gillian.
Claudia.
Gillian’s friends.
Angela and Dylan.
Gillian and her girlfriends.
Claudia and her friends from school.
Angela and a couple of friends from her residence floor.
Our new blog photo (thanks to Dylan).
We were the last group on Rink 4 for the night, so they didn’t kick us off right away.
It was a great evening, looking forward to the next one.
“I’m one with the Force. The Force is with me”
On the day Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) passed away we went to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We all enjoyed it, and it makes you want to watch episode IV. Here are the girls running from the AT-AT Walkers.
Christmas Day 2016!
The first one up was the dog, at 7:00AM she was ready to get up. It gave me some time to take some early photos of the tree and presents.
The girls made their way down around 8:00ish.
Chloe was right into opening presents this year.
Claudia in her bear onesie.
My selfie with Chloe.
A throwback to when they were younger and would get the same clothes.
We headed to Lori and Dale’s for dinner in the afternoon. Here are Angela and Gillian playing with one of Lily’s toys.
Bear had a piece of wrapping paper and tape stuck to his foot.
Kaiden throwing some wrapping paper.
Bear with some wrapping paper to throw.
Claudia protecting her head with a box.
The girls received onesies from Auntie Carolyn.
A squad photo in their onesies.
Chloe was good, she mostly ignored Todd and Marley.
Brad and Melissa got the kids the game Pie Face!. Here is the one time Kaiden played, after getting pied once, he had had enough.
Lily anticipating the pie.
Here it comes.
She was loving the game, especially when others got pied. She knew what was coming.
Auntie Melissa getting it.
Gillian took a turn.
Uncle Brad playing the game.
Claudia took her turn.
They had a great time playing the game.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends.
When we came home from Church we took our family photo, this year we did it in front of my green screen. It allows me to do the above and to put us in Eygpt.
Or in Jamaica with Chloe,
Here are the girls encountering a T-Rex.
White Christmas?
With only a week to go until Christmas, it’s looking good for a white Christmas (2 cm of snow on the ground). Environment and Climate Change Canada has a website Chance of White Christmas. Based on the records from the last 61 years, the Toronto GTA has a 51% chance of a white Christmas. The girls experienced a white Christmas 35% of the time from 1994-2015 (when they were/are kids) and Susan and I probably experienced a white Christmas 65% of the time between 1965-1984 (when we were kids).
Chloe the Snow Magnet
With all the snow we got this week, Chloe has become a magnet in the fresh snow.
Why are you looking at me like that?
The clumps of snow stuck to her fur.
A two person job to get all of the snow off of her paws.
Winter Commutes
On Thursday afternoon, it took 1.75 hours to get home from work. The snow had hit Toronto pretty hard in the afternoon before the commute. As soon as we passed under the 427, the 401 opened up, the pavement was clear of snow and the sun trying to pop out was blinding to the eyes. The snow did eventually come to Mississauga. It took a colleague 3 hours to get to Jane/Bloor and it took Claudia 2 hours on the bus from Humber College to City Centre, usually a 1 hour ride.
