TwoBlog

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve done this and my memory is fuzzy but….

- won our league ending golf tournament by shooting 1 over. Raked in some nice prizes including GPS, golf jacket and cash
- won the fantasy baseball league in a tight race.
- watched Olivia progress through her first few months of school. Wow
- watched Christien star walking waaaayyyy too early (11 months). That boy is a lean machine. And strong!
- moved my Mom out of my childhood home. Were some sad moments walking through it and around the property. Also sad at times throwing away memories – the new condo doesn’t have enough room for everything. Once settled into new place by the river, not sad anymore. Don’t have any desire to drive by the old place at all.
- went to a lot of Jays games with the kids. Once with Luc as well. Gotta love that Spaghetti Factory!
- basement finished and loving it! Got the dart board up last weekend. We spend most of our play time down there. Especially just before bed to get the yaya’s out.
- replaced old CR-V with new RAV-4. I miss the old girl. But not that much.
- swimming lessons, swimming lessons, swimming lessons. These kids will be fishies
- The annual cottage trip in Sept. Finally a warm weekend there. Also discovered the baseball pool website is accessible via mobile browser.
- Halloween: Christien in the same BumbleBee costume as OG was: they might as well be twins when you compare pictures. Had a blast watching Olivia go door-to-door with her friend Sydney.
- going through the first true round of both kids being sick and on antibiotics. Oh man, that was rough. 2 words: Chocolate sauce.
- trip to North Bay. Been a while
- Kaastra’s wedding
- did not play baseball for the first time. Helped my golf game reach new and improved heights. It’s all about putting in the time, really, it is.
- enjoyed summer mainly at home watching the kids grow. Got a climber in the backyard courtesy of Willie and Pam.
- garden wasn’t as bountiful this year thanks to cold and awkward weather. Tomatoes were a bust as were my scotch bonnet peppers. Some highlights were abundant leeks, onions and for some reason the green peppers. Zucchini was outrageous. I don’t think we should grow so many next year. Gotta rotate crops next year too.
- new bicycle for Olivia. she’s on trainers now. Also loves her little scooter. So does Christien. Funny to watch as he stands solidly on the scooter while I push him around. Gets very angry when it’s time to stop. He has a temper that one.

Sonia, anything else to mention?

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Yes, it’s been a long time. Life has passed by in a blur since September. With the addition of Christien, beyond the day-to-day efforts to give him a head start, it’s hard to do and see much beyond the joys of daily life.

So, 20 Words will pick up again as life gets just that little bit more flexible and provides us with more opportunities to do things outside the home. For now, here are some things I’ve recalled:

- Halloween 2008, Olivia’s 1st ‘true’ outing for candy. Mom went out, Dad stayed home to give out candy.
- November….can’t recall much there…Sonia, can you help? Other than OBAMA becoming the king of America.
- Christmas. See kids’ blogs for details. For me, I had some really nice gifts
- housecoat and slippers. The transition to Old Man Roach has begun. And lovin’ it! Slippers are so sweet on the feet
- guitar lessons. Yes my friends, it’s time to pick up a new hobby. One I have a good chance at succeeding
- no Wii Fit. But not for lack of trying by Sonia. By far the most popular game of xmas 2008
- gps. Garmin Nuvi 360w. It’s clear to me. This gift is the true indicator of the difference between men and women. Even though I know where I’m going 99.9% of the time, I still love seeing where I am! Sonia considers the toy to be simply static overhead.
- For new years ‘weekend’ we started off with a small party at home. Dave/Kirstin/Julien and Jay/Tina/Zach. Almost a cancellation when OG was showing signs of becoming sick. Lazy, quiet and with a slight fever. Her mood changed once she had friends to play with.
- followup skating on the river at Karla and Bill’s place Saturday. Olivia soon to upgrade fro bobskates to the real deal.
- our gift to ourselves – we took the parents’ gift money and bought ourselves a 15ft upright freezer. Time to dump the handout freezer donated by Chad those many years ago. Kijiji time!

Finally, on an ‘I told you so’ note, some entrepreneur stole my sure cash idea: open an ‘authentic’ mexican restaurant in the University Plaza. Now, their approach is more spartan ‘cafeteria/catering’ style, i.e. a mini-step up from fast food, but they certainly have the location down (across from the mongolian grill) to capture the students who walk by, the RIMerites and the various businesses in the area. The food is ‘average’ at best and the offerings are minimal as per their business plan I’m sure. Overhead is small. I hashed out the numbers that I think they’ll make and it would not have been enough for me to go this route…unless we had a couple of these operations.

Nope, the goal is still to open a mid-high scale authentic latino-mexican restaurant that goes above and beyond the taco/burrito level. And there’s still plenty of room for one of these in the area. Guacamole my friends, guacamole.

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Cottaging in Wiarton
Olivia’s 3rd!! Birthday
Garden has potatoes this year
Trip to NYC
Last year at Yankees stadium
Olivia into soccer class
1st blown transmission on vehicle
last year of baseball at NCR
summer with baby #2 on the way
odd weather – very cold and very warm – good for growing
biking into work the odd day
biggest wimbledon ever?
gas prices are up to 1.30/L and rising
food prices going up
see more windmills in the area
swimming classes on her own now

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• 2 day complete thaw of all snow. 10+ weather for 4-5 days started Jan 3rd
• Jan 22 – snow is back again. 4th time using the snowblower (remember my computer programmer = laziness?)
• Christmas #3 with OG. Lots of excitement. Typical perschooler exuberance. Major gift items: Black and Decker workbench (from sister), kitchen (pre-christmas from us), little people stuff (brother), wooden cradle for dolls (mom), old fashioned sled (grandma/nonno), hockey nets (Joey/Angel), and endless amounts of toys and books and puzzles. For me: books, wallet, tickets to the fateful Bills/Dolphins game, and a kitchen digital scale
• annual repainting of room in house. This time it’s a redo of the kitchen and living room which was done when we first moved in. It’s not as satisfying redoing your own work as it makes the previous efforts ’seem’ like a waste of time (although that’s not true)
• discussions over if/when/where to go for a winter getaway. with friends to Dominican? visit brother in Bermuda? Somewhere else?
• starting the next swimming session with OG. Is this session #5 or #6. Hardly have to hold her now. Won’t be long until she’s swimming on own with/without water wings. Loves to jump into water, float on back and do ‘dunk dunk’s.
• preparing for Wonderboy It’s a tough conditioning regimen
• debating whether should spend $20/hr to hit golf balls in the new dome (that was the old SPortsworld Dome) at closest driving range. Will the urge to golf outweigh the madness to pay $20?
• contemplation: new irons this year?
• Will the Wii invade my home? Looks possible but will never supplant the classic MAME. I would now consider myself the master of Robotron: 2084 and would challenge ANYONE on this earth to supplant my claim for dominance
• OG started ‘Yabba Dabba Dance’ with Grandma. Can’t wait for the dance recital in March.
• Pre-school transition went smoothly but can’t wait for summer: what an additional effort to suit up OG for outdoor play.
  Hindsight 20/20 – would have won the NFL pool if only had went with gut instinct. Lesson learned and am pleased about how soon I was able to recover and shake off the funk.
• Oh yeah, last thing: OG has a ‘Betta’ fish (a.k.a siamese fighting fish). Feed it every morning together. Swims in the tank, don’t have to regularly change the water. Nice and cheap. And in my opinion, just as good as a dog without the ‘joy’ of having to care for it.
• Sonia starts Yoga class. Ohm. Ohm. Ohm.
• 2008 – the year of the Democrats, $2.00 gas, power shortages in the summer, and time to renew the mortgage – should I opt out now or wait until the fall?

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• Bills game on snowy cold Dec 9
• End of swimming lessons
• More snow than ever seen in area before Xmas. 3 times with the blower already
• won the grand prize at work’s ‘holiday’ party: weekend for 2 in TO to see ‘Dirty Dancing’
• Fun at Wheel’s Inn with the Freak family. Lots of carnival rides
• Are we working on a trip to the Caribbean
• finally, a new washer/dryer
• confirmation: moving OG to pre-school room for Mon,Tues and Thurs. She’s certainly ready for it
• ‘most’ of my Xmas gifts arrived in mail. This year, am almost completely online dependant. 0 trips to the mall so far
• launched the Wonderboy website: Wonderboy Central
• Contemplation: is it time to invest in real estate back home?
• Tix to Mazola Pony this weekend. I haven’t seen them in years
• Cooking Class part 2 is a bust. So much so that I haven’t bothered to blog about it. Liaison School here I come
• Plans for an amatuer “Iron Chef” battle early next year

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• Very warm fall. Temperature tops 33C the day on Thanksgiving Monday (Oct 15). Still having 17-20 days. Temp finally dropped below 0 last night
• Big Girl Bed implemented – lots more sleep
• New washer/dryer. Who’d have thunk the technology got so much better over the past 20 yrs?
• Stratford fair – OG a ride-freak. Enjoyed the teenager fights that are part and parcel to a small town festival.
• Doe Lake family weekend replaced with Wiarton. The vote is in favour of a repeat. Personally I like the setup of Doe Lake (even if the golf course wasn’t there)
• Olivia dressed as a skunk?
• tickets to the Police (hmm — doesn’t this go against my theory about revived 70’s bands?)
• Mom back home after 5 1/2 months at Freeport with Gillian Barre. The house has been modified for ease of use and Raymond is helping over the next couple months. Things are starting to get back on track
• Estrangement? (We’ll see)
• Booking Automation Tool. Free golf in the future?
• Oh yeah, early exit in the NCR league playoffs. Finish 1st in the league and get ousted in the quarter-finals to the Dodgers (I blame it on the rain).
• Golf H.I. down to 6.5. Consistently shooting below 80 now. But this is not a good thing for the Hi-Tech league because of all the sandbaggers. Still, it was a good final tournament and worth the cash next year. (Get a players card, a reason to golf each Monday, and a seriously fine dinner at the end of the year)
• Can we go to Vegas again soon? I’m starting to get the itch again.
• Jury Duty (I’m still sad I wasn’t able to help the jury provide a guilty verdict)
• Finally, a snowblower. Anticipating a warm winter.
• OG can’t stop singing!  I can’t even count the # of songs she knows and can recall from memory without prompting.  Same with books.

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- Niagara falls two times:  once in July for the camping trip (Knight’s Beach in Dunville), once for the birthday trip to the Casino  (Oakes Inn with dinner at Canyon Creek – best steak ever?)

- 12 straight wins in baseball clinches top spot in the league.

- mid 70’s on the golf course, perhaps best season in a long time

- trip to cottage near Bobcaygeon with Tara and gang.  Led Zeppelin on the mp3 player

- vegetable garden looked rough in the beginning but late season rain saves the day.  Large quantities of Roma and garden tomatoes (including a gourmet Rutger’s bush), massive peppers (a 1st) and quantities of onions and jalapenos.

- swimming lessons, trips to the park, exploring the playgrounds.

- several Jays games with and without OG.

- a summer where OG enjoyed the backyard with the new slide, sandbox, bubbles, etc.  A mindboggling development of mental and physical skills.  Things are moving faster than I can absorb.  I wish we could slow down time….she’s already 2 and a month!

- Mom in Freeport recovering from GBS (Guillian Barre Syndrome).  What a difficult yet optimistic time that has been.  I’ve enjoyed the extra times spent with family I must admit.  Too bad it was for such a circumstance.

Things to look forward to:

- Joey’s wedding

- cottage time in Wiarton

- a new occupation?……

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• official promotion to development manager
• hot hot spring
• visiting mom at freeport
• watching her improvements
• father’s day at home with the family
• brother luc coming up for some visits
• nicole’s golf tournament at the fox
• dinner at Einstein’s just for fun (no OG)
• saw a movie in the theater (slim pickings:  Pirates of the Carribbean III)

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• Vegas in the Excalibur
• Tara and her friends
• $2500 on the craps table
• poker too serious these days in Vegas
• Guillain-Barre Syndrome (keep getting better Mom)
• trips to London Hospital
• vegetable garden planted 1 week after May 24
• 2nd annual scramble at The Fox (with Tim, Dave and Sonia)
• Global Warming = hot days in May and cold days in May not much in between
• Power outages
• OG playing on her new slide.  Loves the playground
• Sign up for the Butterfly Learning Center
• Sonia books the camper for another trip this July
• Al Gore who?  Could be an Inconvenient President perhaps?
• “The Mother’s Day trip to the Ball Game stuck on the 401 for 5 hrs because a truck full of school supplies exploded” fiasco.

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• Better Wonderboy
• Daycare transition a huge success
• Home sitting vs Institution
• Master Bedroom Reno’s completed on time (not)
• very good bonus at work
• more staff to manage
• No Wii’s anywhere (for Greg)
• 1st exposure to Wii via Sneebort and David
• cooking class a blast but don’t ever eat 6 full entrees in one class
• food hangover
• wonderboy hangover (2+ days)
• Jetta dead on the side in a blizzard
• unpleasant ‘tow’
• Chest infection puts me down for 2 weeks
• Casino Roach II
• Joseph and the Amazing…..Dreamcoat
• growing up way too fast. Huge vocabulary

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