Our 8 Year Old Grandson for a Week! Whew….

It’s Camp Nana once again – Nate, our 8 year old grandson is here for a visit and if you know Barb, we have plans! Barb learned how to make the towel critters when we were on our cruise this past January and she put her crafty ability to work again and made critters for Nate’s visit. Nate was all eager to learn and do.  We pick Nate up on Sunday and look forward to doing a number of things with him until his mom & dad pick him up on Saturday.

So,  Monday is a kick back day. We were not sure what his favourite foods were – besides cookies and other sweets so we decided to have a shopping spree that started at the Bulk Barn to give him his sugar fix! The 3 of us planned a loose menu and were off to fill the list of items. We know he likes to help out with the cooking so we planned a meal that we think is kid friendly, Chicken Supreme, one of Nana’s favourites. Back at the rig, Nate & I get started in the kitchen chopping vegetables, stirring sauce and rubbing lemon into the chicken. When we sat down for our excellent meal, we both had all our fingers so it was a good time. We finished off a nice day around Randy & Norma’s camp fire – our site is too small for a camp fire ring.

Nate has an uncanny ability to recognize most cars on the road – I say uncanny because his brother or mom & dad do not openly encourage any interest in car types or brands at home. While driving with Nate, he will call out the name of any car you point out to him. So, our friends Ron & Vicki have a small collection of classic cars that we thought would be of interest so we were off on Tuesday for a visit and to see Ron’s cars. Vicki had arranged a nice surprise by having her 8 year old grand daughter over to meet Nate. The 2 of them hit it off like they were old friends.

We took off for lunch in Ron’s ‘38 Pontiac – yes, a car that can fit all 6 of us comfortably. We went to one of Ron & Vicki’s favourite haunts and the staff treated the kids like royalty. After lunch, we took the kids to the local splash pad at Pinafore Park. After they clambered over the climbing amusements and came away from the splash pad looking like drowned rats, we returned to Ron & Vicki’s for a ride in his 1918 Chevy (490). Back in the day, the model T cost $509 while the Chev was $490 so it was nicknamed the 490.

On our way back to Ron & Vicki’s, we drove by Shaw’s and one can not just drive by Shaw’s without stopping in for a treat! Ron had to jockey some cars around to extricate his 490 out from the  garage. Life must be tough for him as he has to decide which car to drive for which occasion. With the top down, Kimberly and Nate climb into the back seat and Ron takes them for a tour around the yard then up and down the street. It was a great day for all of us.

The next day, we wake up to a gloomy start to the day so it’s a good day for an indoor craft and of course, some Mexican Train. Nate spied Nana’s fabric crayons that she uses for her quilt projects and wanted to ‘play’ with them. So, Barb, ever the planner, decided on a craft project for Nate to draw something on a ‘T’ shirt. Nate is into Skylander Giants video game so he chose one of the characters from the game and they had fun drawing and colouring. What would a trip to Nana’s be if we didn’t bake some cookies – it wouldn’t be right. Still looking like rain, we decided on a movie for the afternoon and saw Despicable Me 2.

Friday, we introduced Nate to Geocaching and he loved it. We gave him a small overview on how to follow the GPS unit and let him take us to a cache. We let him release our travel bug into the first cache we found. Since then, it has been picked up and moved on. We picked 5 caches to find and found all 5. We tried a couple of others that we could not find earlier and still could not find them – even with a little set of eyes that might see those caches that are lower down!

On Saturday, mom & dad came to pick him up, a week seems to go so fast when your having fun. We hope your having fun wherever you are…..

Wow, Where Does the Time Go?

In our last update, the week started on a Sunday wedding and got busier from there! We were able to take a breath on Monday but drove into Terri’s Monday evening so we could support her on her day in Family court on Tuesday. Her ex is asking for the moon and the stars in support payments and trying to take her to the cleaners. After waiting all day in the halls of justice, the judge assigned, ran out of time and Terri’s case was not heard and had to be re-scheduled for anther date. The halls make for a dry day so where do we go for a cool one? After having pizza and some more bubbly, we head home for another late evening.

Up and at’m on Wednesday to meet up with Bill & Ann in Lockport, NY for lunch and some geocaching. We made good time until we got to the border! It took us an hour to get through customs mid day and mid week - what’s that about? Anyway, once we were deemed safe to enter, we were on our way. We took our USA prepaid phone so Bill could contact us if we were unable to meet up so Barb tried to turn it on but alas, it was not charged so here’s hoping Bill & Ann wait as we are about an hour later than expected due to the border crossing.

Thankfully, Bill & Ann are patient folks, we met up with them at the Erie Canal Discovery Center in Lockport, NY. After huge hugs and a quick check of our geocache packs, we were on our way. We decided that the caches are fairly close together so way not walk. The co-ordinates took us along the Erie canal so the walk was beautiful. The day was perfect, lots of sunshine, a slight breeze to keep us from boiling over and of course, the company was the best!

We started out at the canal & lock museum, down the 10,000 steps (it seemed that many when we had to walk back up them at the end of our day) and eastward on the canal trail. Our first cache had Barb & I off on a red herring but Bill`s GPS took him right to it! Way to go Bill, Barb & I may not have found it if you had not brought your GPS too. These things are not infallible but we were 70 yards off! Anyway, found it and on to the next one. There are limited bridges to cross the canal and we were almost half way between bridges when the hint was to find a weeping pine tree and then we realized we were on the wrong side of the canal! Back track and up and over we go. Our GPSs took us right to the tree and the search begins. The trees planted here along the canal are memorials for past loved ones and we found the family tag and thought we had found the cache. It wasn’t until we moved a few more boughs that we saw something that didn’t belong – a pine cone in a weeping cedar tree!

Our next cache was to take us past an eatery and the thought of a burger and a beer was very appealing right now. But, as with all good plans, the joint was closed! Onward we trudged. Our strategy was to find the cache on this side of the canal and pick up the last one on the other side on our way back to the trucks. We made our way along a less than manicured portion of the trail – one that is used by dog walkers that did not stoop and scoop – what’s with that, just because it’s further out of Lockport, dog owners feel special and they don’t need to pick up after their pets? Ok, I’m off my soap box and a little calmer now, we are led to a wooded area right beside a golf course – the cache title was “Triple Boogie” so we knew we were close. A few circles and Barb found it. The cache was hidden in a notch of a tree behind a couple of pieces of bark. The last cache was in an area of poison ivy. We did our best to find it without going in too deep but could not so we abandoned the last one and headed back to the trucks to find a place to eat and drink!

Wow, the trek back was longer than we thought. The out and back walk appeared to be only a couple of kilometers long when we started out but Bill calculated it out to have been about 4 miles! The tough part was up the 10,000 steps at the end but the thought of lunch and a beverage kept me going – I don’t know what motivated the others but I’m sure it something similar. We all climbed into Bill and Ann’s truck and found The Shamus Restaurant and what luck, they had a patio for us on such a beautiful day. What to do after lunch – well, we did have a couple of quilters in the truck so maybe there is a quilt shop here!

We had a wonderful day with our good friends Bill & Ann but it was time to go. After warm hugs and farewells, Barb & I were back on the road to the border! Again, we had to wait and again, it was something going on on the USA side. The guards had a road block up and were checking all vehicles leaving the US. Not sure if they were looking for someone in particular, I didn’t stop to ask. Once through that gambit, we only had a short wait on the Canadian side and then onto our humble abode. We had a short turn around then off to St Thomas the next day for our regular truck service and visiting with friends Ron & Vicki and John & Di.

Ron & Vicki picked us up and headed over to Tim’s for breakfast. They stayed with us most of the day while the truck was being serviced. Ron was even kind enough to run us on an errand – I had to pick up a new anode for our water heater. The one I took out looked like it was on it’s last legs and needed replacing. The truck was finely done and after hugs and warm wishes with Ron & Vicki, we were headed to John & Di’s. They asked us to stay overnight so we wouldn’t be driving home in the wee hours – the four of us like to play Mexican Train and usually it goes on and on!

After dinner, Jack & Barb came around to say hello and visit – that was nice. When they left, the game was on, and on, and on. It went on until about 3:30AM! The next morning, we were up, all bright eyed and bushy tailed by 8ish. Late in the morning, Ray & Donna came around for coffee and a visit and that was nice too. Michele’s boyfriend Dave also stopped in to meet us. I’m sure we left him with a good impression! Soon, Barb & I were on our way home to recover from these fast and furious 3 days. We have to rest up as Nate, our 8 year old grandson is coming to visit for a few days.

Come back for more and we hope all is well where ever you are….

Hot August Nights

NOT,,,, it seems our summer has consisted of nice days during the 1st half of July and then more unpleasant weather since. The 1st half of August has not been really nice, we’ve had some nights down as low as 8 & 9C (40’s F). When we have been out geocaching lately, we have noticed the abundance of pine cones on the evergreens. I always thought that meant a cold winter coming but searching on line, Wiki Answers tells us that more pine cones this year was due to a stressed growing season last year. The only true long range forecaster is the Farmers Almanac and I’m sure you can bet heavily on that! Here is a link for 20 signs of a hard upcoming winter. I’m gonna start counting acorns! Anyway, I’ll move on with our latest adventures instead of grousing about the weather….

After we got back from our weekend at Terri & Mark’s cabin, we met up with a couple we knew in our previous working life – Bob & Sue, we used to golf and have dinners with them. It has only been 13 years since we last saw them. It was over a meal with them that we learned about the Escapees RV Club. Sue’s parent’s were members and Sue said they always had so much fun. Barb said that’s the club for us, we’re escaping with Escapees!

It was a tough afternoon, sitting under an umbrella on the patio at The Lake House, over looking the lake, catching up with friends and sipping some of Ontario’s finest. Finally the waitress suggested we order a meal before the dinner crowds push us out! What a great afternoon visiting with friends and enjoying the day.

Barb is back into the swing of sewing and working on some projects that she created during her video classes while parked at Terri’s. This 3D quilt block is quite striking. I’ve watched her create some pretty amazing stuff with her fabrics.

 

 

There is a couple that moved into a site across the street from us that we have become friends with – you probably have seen Randy & Norma in previous posts. We are a little more social since they arrived, happy hours, game nights and just kibitzing back and forth. They have introduced Barb & I to Fast Track, a card and board game similar to Pegs & Jokers. It is fun and as the name implies, fast!

 

We did some more geocaching and were more successful than in the past. Some cachers find some interesting and sneaky hiding places for their caches. Here, the instructions were to walk around the crops to the cache location but once we got there, we could not locate the dang gum thing. We left it unfound and went back to the truck. We arrived back, we decided to give it another try but this time, we walked up the gully instead of on top of the gully bank where the crops were and very soon, we found it, part way down the bank right where we were 20 minutes before on the top of the bank!

 

 

Our next fun event was Barb’s birthday. I played it low key all week so she wouldn’t think I had planned anything. We took a river cruise with lunch on the Grand River. When we arrived, we were entertained in their auditorium by the Blazing Fiddles, had refreshments and then escorted to our dining table onboard the Grand River Belle. Once underway, lunch and beverages were soon served. I can’t think of any other relaxing way to spend an afternoon with my best friend and lover! It was good value and I recommend it to anyone.

After, Terri wanted to meet us somewhere for dinner. They were at the cabin and as Barb & I were approaching the Gown and Gavel in Hess Village, we get a text saying they are delayed by 90 minutes at the border coming back into Canada. Oh what to do? Well, we are in Hamilton after all so why not go down to the Fabric & Textile district and browse through Barb’s latest favourite fabric shop? Ooppps, all the shops were closed so lets go back and wait.

By the time we make our way through the traffic and construction, we only arrived back at the restaurant only a few minutes before Terri & Mark. It was a wonderful evening, again on the patio (do you recognize a theme here) having refreshments and enjoying a meal with Terri & Mark, a nice end to a terrific day.  Barb just loved her trackable bugs that they gave for her birthday.  If you are a Geocacher watch for our truck if you are in the Halton area.

 

 

Have you ever been to a Sunday wedding? We have not, but one of Terri’s best friends invited us to hers. We have known Sam forever and felt honoured to share her special day. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding at Liuna Gardens. The wedding service was beautiful overlooking the lake. Sam, of course was stunning. The reception was also held there so no one had to drive. It was a nice day.

 

 

 

Well, that’s it for now, we hope all is good where ever you are…..