Ontario Place June 22, 2007

Here we go! This is going to be mostly pictures. I will tell what is what but suffice it to say that Fergus and Quinn had the time of their lives at Ontario Place and the fact that they were able to share it with their best friend was the cherry on the top!

Quinn felt too small to go bumper boating with Fergus and Adam. He knew he was tall enough (he just BARELY squeaks in at 48") but he was not certain enough of himself to feel safe so while they bumper boated, he drove a little blue car.






Once they had finished driving and boating we went to see the IMAX presentation of "Mysteries of Egypt." What a cool movie and it was Fergus and Quinn's first experience seeing that kind of IMAX movie. They saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in IMAX last year but it wasn't filmed the same, nauseating way. What glorious landscapes through Egypt though.

We stopped for a quick slide before grabbing our lunch. After lunch we decided to spend some time in the water park. At almost any other time in the recent past we would have been able to be at the water park and be adequately heated by the sun when coming out of the water. Not so on this day. The first full day of summer and we managed to FREEZE out in the wind when coming out of the water. It reached a high of 22 degrees Celsius while we were at the park and the breeze was blowing off Lake Ontario into the water area. Brrrr . . .

Fergus, Quinn, Adam and Stephanie (Adam's mom) first went to the VERY top and shared a large tube down. Once they had done that once though, Steph and Adam had had enough. Despite Quinn's lips being the same shade of blue as his sun suit his brother managed to convince him to try it again so the two of them rode the tube ride again. I must say, Fergus made every effort to keep Quinn near him all day. Both Fergus and Adam are extremely welcoming of Quinn with most everything they do.

Once we were finished with the water, everyone got their dry stuff back on and the boys head off for some climbing. Before climbing we played 9 holes of mini-golf and we spent as much time in the bushes trying to find balls as we spent on the course. It was fun none-the-less. This climbing structure is WAY up. It is difficult to get a true sense of how high they were. Let's just say that I used the full zoom feature on my camera. From left they are: Fergus, Quinn and Adam.

We finally managed to get them down from up there and convinced them that it was time to head back to the car to go home. Steph and I were zonked.

As we were heading out of the park we saw a perfect picture spot with the city of Toronto and the CN Tower in the background and stopped one last time to take a photo of the boys posing with their best "bad boy" poses.

Another crazy busy week and then . . .

the weekend will arrive. I have been out doing water-related activities with the boys every day this week. We started by going to a new splash pad Monday and then swimming and yesterday we were able to combine swimming with visiting some friends we haven't seen for a while.
Today we are off to celebrate the end-of-year with our friends from Shady Grove. Shady Grove is the name of the Homeschool Enrichment Program that Fergus has been a part of for the last two years. This year we are finishing off by going to a conservation area and playing in the water and just hanging out. Hopefully the teachers will be there too. I must remember to take my camera.
Tomorrow Steph and I are taking Adam, Fergus and Quinn to Ontario Place for the day. My boys haven't ever been and have just come to the age where they are learning about amusement parks and such. I must remember to measure Quinn today as I suspect he will be tall enough for most but not all of the rides that Fergus is able to go on.
Saturday we are having our annual pot-luck BBQ with some of our friends (the same group we go camping with every summer and such) here at our place -- our home is small enough that outdoor, summer activities suit it best.
And then . . . wait for it . . . Jennifer arrives on Sunday. We had become spoiled with her more frequent visits in the past few months and so it feels as though the 5 weeks since her last visit has been excessively long. The boys feel the need to see her as do Doug and I.
My children are SO blessed. They have FANTASTIC relatives who love them unconditionally and give them undivided attention. I just think it is so fabulous that they get to see their Aunt Jen as often as they do considering that she lives several hundred kilometres away. I love that they can see their Noni and their Chris as often as they do. Like always though, I wish that we could all live a little closer to make it that much easier to see one another. And don't get me started on Nathan. I miss him like crazy and miss the relationship that he hasn't (YET) been able to forge with the boys. It will come. Eventually Nath won't be living in Taiwan and the boys will have more opportunities to see both him and Aunt Chantel. Aunt Chantel (Nathan's partner) is coming back to Canada for a week or two at the beginning of July. We are definitely planning to make time to see her while she is here.
That's the week in a nutshell. Hope yours is as beautiful as ours!

Two of my gardens

Yesterday I posted that I have a plethora of lettuce that needs eating. In this first picture you can see my vegetable patch (on a weird angle, I know. I was trying to get more of it in that way). You can see the sunflowers all over the place and the purple is the lettuce coming up wherever. Last fall when my MIL pulled the seeding lettuce from the garden she placed it in the compost. A *great* idea for lettuce that is *not* seeding. She did the same with the sunflower seeds the she swept off the floor of the shed. When I pulled compost out of the bin and worked it into the soil the seeds self-propagated and now I have sunflowers and lettuce EVERYWHERE.

The tall poles out of the ground are for my pole beans. I have a fabulous pairing of both purple string beans and a spicy, long, skinny green bean. They grow beautifully together. In the picture there are also some yellow wax bean plants, some carrots, spinach, beet root, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, marigolds and basil. Most of that stuff you won't be able to see for the lettuce and sunflowers.

I have also posted a pair of pictures that Quinn and I took this morning of one of our perennial beds. (Again, sorry for the odd angles.) I love my flowers as much as I love my veggies. We are to get some rain today too.

Our Father's Day

The post below this one is a (poor) copy of the page we put together for the door of Henry's room at the Long-Term Care Facility (LTCF). The other people in Henry's room both have pages of information about themselves on their door and it is kind of neat. Doug and Christena asked if I would do something for Henry and it was fun to spend the time on it. Now, the page I did has the images centred better and the layout more aesthetically pleasing but this works to give you the idea that we were striving for.

I like the idea of this information being shared. Indeed much of it is what Henry remembers more clearly than the stuff that happens from day to day. It also helps the nurses have something to talk to Henry about when they know what his past was like.

We had a great Father's Day with Doug yesterday. The boys and I had been to Sears earlier in the week and picked up the pop-up dining tent that Doug really wanted. That was his gift and yesterday morning Quinn, who has been aching for Father's Day to hurry up and arrive, jumped out of bed at the crack of 9:00 am and immediately wanted to know when we could give daddy his present. I reminded him that it was Father's Day and that it would be nice if he let daddy lie-in for a while before dumping a gift in his lap. Doug got up a few minutes later with Fergus following closely behind.

Doug was excited about the tent. The other thing he wanted for "his day" was to go swimming. We thought and thought about where we could go and relax and have fun and the best place that came to mind was my aunt and uncle's place in Varney (about 75 minutes from here). We packed everyone, including Christena, into the car and set off. We had made arrangements with my own dad to meet in Varney (after having invited ourselves to my aunt and uncle's I also invited my MIL and my own parents, aren't I kind??) so that I would have a chance to see him for Father's Day.

We enjoyed the afternoon laughing and splashing in the water, visiting with family, and playing around out in the summer sun. It was a great day. We finished it off with a BBQ dinner and salad (we are trying desperately to eat all of the lettuce we have in the garden but there is no way it will happen -- if you live nearby and want lettuce PLEASE come get some) and then Fergus and I went to softball practice while Daddy and Quinn fought with the new tent. It was standing and in one piece when we got home so it would appear that Doug won the tent war.

We are off to a different splash/spray pad park this afternoon with friends. We have decided to try a new one every week all summer to see which ones are the best. It promises to be a hot and hazy afternoon with a maximum UV rating so the boys will be slathered with 50 SPF sunscreen AND sunsuits while playing in the water. I, on the other hand, will hide in the pavillion and visit with my friend.

Have a wonderful week!

Henry's note on his door

I hope this works out like we have it on the sheet:

Henry Gardiner

Henry was born, July 12, 1929 and was raised in Provan Mill, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. He was youngest son to John and Margaret Gardiner. His siblings included: Maizie, Jack, Robert, and Tillie. Maizie moved to Canada with her husband, David, and it was to them that Henry came when he migrated at age 29.

Henry’s first job was making and selling umbrella handles around age 14. He went on to spend time in the British Armed Forces and was placed in various countries around the world, including time spent in Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Upon returning from overseas he worked in various places of employment. While still in Scotland he worked in different vocations including time spent as a delivery truck driver. He was such a good driver that he took driving tests for a number of his friends, including one of his brothers!

He migrated to Canada in 1958 and began work at the Collingwood Shipyards in 1960. This was his place of employment until the Shipyards closed their doors and ceased operations in 1986. Henry worked with men like John LeGoaix and George Mittimier who became lifelong friends of Henry’s. In fact John LeGoiax stood as Best Man at Henry’s April 25, 1964 wedding to Christena Hoel of Stayner.

Henry met Christena through Herb Hudson, husband of Louise Hudson, Christena’s eldest sister. A year and five days after being wed in a small ceremony in Collingwood, Henry and Christena welcomed their first child, Jennifer Margaret Gardiner. Six years and three months later they had a son named, Douglas Henry Gardiner. Their family was complete with two beautiful children.

Henry and Christena lived a numerous residences over their years of residing in Collingwood. The found themselves at home on Pine Street, Fourth Street East, Spruce Street, Alice Street and Tenth Street in the growing town. They watched their children grow up and move out on their own.

Jennifer went to York University for a few years until she realised that what she was studying was not feeding her heart. She left York to pursue other interests and now resides in Calgary with her partner, Nino and is owner of her own successful company: Meet The CEO.

Douglas studied Photography at Fanshawe College and now owns DSF Imaging and put his digital imaging skills acquired at college to use for himself and his customers. He and his wife, Samantha, have two boys: Fergus (aged 9) and Quinn, (aged 6).

A lovely day in June

Wow! I hadn't realized that it had been a while since I last posted. In that time one of the things we have done is that we have watched Fergus' end of school year play. The two pictures I have attached are of Fergus drumming (the whole younger class was drumming while the older class danced - this picture is only of Fergus and his friend Ayla) and of Fergus as a streetkid in an abbreviated version of Oliver Twist. They did a GREAT job and it was really fun to watch them. Christena (my MIL) as well as my own parents made the trip to Eden Mills to see him perform with his peers.

That night, after racing from Eden Mills to Glen Williams, he got his first run ever in softball (he has only been playing for a few weeks). He hit himself to first base and then was hit and walked around to score a run. We were over the moon!! What a great day!!!

Friday we had a huge but FAST storm run through our neighbourhood. We were on our way to have dinner with friends in Burlington and saw the dark clouds. As we were getting into the Wagon Doug decided that the increase in wind was making him nervous about leaving the Rabbit under the tree in our front yard so he got out to move it. Since he was moving the car I decided to make sure things were tidy and tied down in the back garden. We told the boys to wait in the Wagon as we would be right back.

We went about our chores, Doug coming to help me once he had the Rabbit safely away from trees and no sooner had we finished when the big pellets of rain started hitting us and we ran for the Wagon. Once we got around the side of the house we were enveloped in a wall of wind and debris. We had dirt, grit, leaves, and bits of twigs all over us; in our hair, our mouths, on our clothes. The wind was so strong we followed our instincts which were to grab the boys from the car and take them into the house. We then watched the storm from the front porch. Within a few minutes we saw that about a third of the houses on our street had lost significant pieces (limbs, boughs, branches) from their trees. We never did end up with anything on either of our vehicles but I am still relieved that we took the boys inside.

And after all was said and done, I still needed to come home from dinner with friends and water my gardens because we didn't get enough rain to keep anything alive. All around town there were trees uprooted and power lines down.

Doug took Christena up to see Henry on Monday. He is doing well. His breathing is certainly much improved. They are very good to him there and allow him to function on his own schedule. That is to say that he is truly a "night owl" and daytimes are not when he is most active. Retrospectively I can see that that was a big part of the challenge Christena faced with him being at home. He wanted to be awake at night and she did not. He still isn't able to do things for himself at night any more than he can during the day, but that is why he kept waking her at night. His schedule was backwards.

He sleeps most of the day away with them only waking him for meals so that he doesn't go without. He is not conversant anymore although he will give one word answers to questions. As I have said before there is some grace in the fact that he is at least far enough into his disease that he doesn't seem to *see* the other individuals around him and how they are behaving. At least he isn't always pressing Doug and Christena to find out when they are going to take him home. He seems settled where he is.

This weekend is Father's Day and I hope Doug gets to go up to Mount Forest to see his own dad on Saturday so that Fergus and Quinn can have their dad on Sunday. I have managed to have the day off so I can be around too.

Fergus, Quinn and I went shopping for Doug's gift on Monday while he and Christena were in Mount Forest. We wrapped it as soon as we got home and hid it from view. Quinn is so excited about the fact that the gift is here, in the house, and ready for Doug to receive that he can hardly stand it. He is counting down the days to Father's Day and is checking regularly to make sure the gift is where I put it. It is very sweet. A cute reaction for a gift he is giving that he didn't actually donate any funds to. Ah well, the innocence of youth!

Have a glorious weekend!