Hurricane Sandy

We have been very busy with preparing ourselves and our home and making sure that the people we love are safe too in case Hurricane Sandy was more than we could handle. Fortunately we were very lucky and are grateful that the worst did not come to pass for all of us in this area of Toronto and the world. We are also very fortunate that Auntie Dee is back at home after two emergency visits to the hospital after her operation. At times like these, nothing else in the world matters...safety and health tied for first place.

We are looking forward to nonna and nonno's return from Europe tonight and wonder if their flight has been delayed like many others because of Hurricane Sandy.

We do not know yet. But one thing I do know: my two little boys are the two biggest helpers any mom could ever hope for...they helped with an emergency plan, made a kit with all the food and safety items we might need for 72 hours and more in case we were housebound, and even aided me in carrying load after load from the shops to the car to our home. We were ready. I know that whether Frunty and Pit were in Boy Scouts or not, they would help me no matter what and I appreciate this immensely. For them, it was a bit exciting and an adventure even though it was a bit scarey. And as I type tonight and they are snuggling warm with their polar bear blankets, I am sure that I conveyed my appreciation. Well done, Frunty and Pit, because education is also about how to take care of yourself and others! I love you both more than words can say! Through your actions and because of the boys that you are...words echoed by Grampa today after he babysat you while Gramma and I did errands.

During the stormy bits of life, I am happy to be with you guys! During last night's hurricane, Frunty eventually fell asleep exhausted after all his slogging and Pit, at 2 am, woke up and looked out the window to check on the winds and rain, had a sip of water, and fell back asleep. Really impressive!
And when I asked Frunty whom we should invite to sleepover in case the whether got too bad, he said, "Auntie Dee, because she is alone and not so well and we have a fireplace and she does not." Talk about the power of observation and thoughtfulness. Well, time for bed now and let's hope the weather can improve so we all can enjoy a fun Halloween.

One last word: we are sorry for those who lost their lives during Hurricane Sandy and for those who suffer and lose their loved ones all over the world during natural disasters and for other reasons. These are also hard but important lessons for our boys to learn about too. Good night.

Our Home on Willow

Papa and I purchased our home on Willow in 1999 and a few years later walked through the front door with our first newborn. Our last few visits to Toronto, we have been very lucky to be able to stay in our home as we timed our tenants just right. Gramma and Grampa always stuff all our favourite items in the shed Papa built so that when we get home, it feels like it right away!

We always love hiking through the ravine to get from Willow to Queen Street. When we bought this house, we had no idea there was a perfect play spot for our dog Mowgli and that at the end of our street, there existed not only the lake, boardwalk, children's playground but also a leash-free zone. Perfect spot for years of fun and how grateful we are that now we can be here for Halloween and Christmas this year!

 Lick's is an institution in the Beaches and I first started coming here when it opened in 1980 with my cousin, Kirsten. Throughout the years, I have been coming with my friends and now my children. We just learned today that it will close this location for good on Halloween. 25 cent hamburgers all day to mark the sad occasion and free icecream if you are wearing a costume. It is closing because condos will be built.

One door closes...we are here for a new tradition which is the first pumpkin walk on the boardwalk. With all the leaves changing by the boardwalk and pumpkins aglow, it will be magic. Time to get ready for our Scout meeting...our first in the Beaches which is over at Balmy Beach Community School at 6pm. Fun and photos to follow...

The Corn Maze near Brighton, Ontario

 Gramma and Grampa ended our long distance journey with a perfect day of picking apples together and then by treating us to a 6 acre Corn Maze to help raise money for Endangered Badgers.

We spent almost two hours in the corn maze, not lost but looking for the answers to crossword puzzles, fill in the blank worksheets and more. It was a learning journey that we all enjoyed and even though we could not find all the answers, we did not give up easily, as Sensei Cindy, our karate teacher in Singapore would say!

When we got back to the car, there were pumpkins waiting for us on the seats! Yesterday we bought one more pumpkin at Metro to carve for Papa so in front of our home on Halloween, we will have 4 jack-o-lanterns!

Just when we thought the fun was over...

Gramma and Grampa threw in some apple picking and a corn maze adventure and surprised us with pumpkins on our seats of the car thus ending a marvelous two weeks together from Prince Edward Island to Toronto! Thanks so much for an incredible time together with many highlights and precious moments as Frunty and Pit discovered Canada with you!

 We love this picture of Gramma! She is so beautiful and in her element! Frunty, having climbed a tree, is doing almost the same pose and so happy to be in nature too!

 Pit was thrilled to find the biggest apple! How's he going to eat it with those missing front teeth? He managed!!

A beautiful cottage visit

Frunty climbed Gramma and Grampa's maple tree to take this picture!

Our cottage at Presqu'ile which is very quiet off-season.

 The bush I am standing in front of is normally green!

The changing leaves of Northumberland County behind our light house made for great scenery!

Baking in Belleville with Uncle Rob

In the summer, Uncle Rob told us about his cake business in Belleville and his stories stuck in the minds of Frunty and Pit. For months afterwards they would ask me, "when we get to Canada, could we bake a cake with Uncle Rob?!" We were very fortunate to realize this mini-dream on our way back to Toronto from our long distance trip from Prince Edward Island. We stayed two nights at Grampa and Gramma's cottage which is a stone's throw from Uncle Rob's and depite very short notice, we were warmly welcomed! So last Saturday we made a "free from" cake together and it was a lot of fun. It is hard to see in the photo but Frunty is putting the finishing touches on his igloo cake. Pit was in another room playing trains with Hannah Rose and Grace and Gramma and Grampa had a nice hike. Cousin Kai was on his roller blades delivering Halloween invitations one minute and banging on his drums in the livingroom the next. The dogs were trying to get a lick of the cake when Uncle Rob was not looking. It would have been a perfect day except for one thing: Auntie Anne was not there but on a course in Brockville. We missed you, Auntie Anne! Hopefully we can bake another cake again with our impressive uncle in Belleville! Thanks so much! It was delicious!

Our Nation's Capital: Ottawa

Frunty came to Ottawa during the tulip festival in the spring of 2003 before we moved to Belgium but this was Pit's first ever visit to our nation's capital. Frunty's first was with Nonna and Nonno and Pit's was with Gramma and Grampa!

 Ottawa's Parliament with Gramma and Grampa.

 Sharing Beaver Tails after an Irish pub lunch. These deletable treats are shaped like beaver tails and covered with different toppings like sugar and cinnamon or maple syrup and icing sugar. Very sweet!

 We wish Papa could have been here for Pit's first visit but maybe another time! We hope to come back and skate on this river when it is frozen....and eat some more beaver tails!

Laughing their heads off at night in while reading Canadian history together in their room at Albert On the Bay apartments in Gatineau. Funny stories of unique Canadian figures made them giggle!

Canadian Museum of Civilization

 Practising corsivo at the museum in Ottawa. From 4-8pm on Thursdays, entrance is free to all! Great timing by chance! We enjoyed many hours of fun and it was a great learning journey as we start to explore the history of our native Canadians.

 Practising native symbols was one of the favourite interactive displays at the museum.

Playing Provincial Games...photo!

Running from flag to flag as I yelled out the Provinces' names on a beautiful, sunny day in Ottawa!

Provincial Games

I still unable to download photos even with good connectivity. I don't understand but in any case, we had such a great time yesterday but I forgot to mention that we played a Provincial Game. Near the museum of Civilization there is a platform with information about the 10 provinces and 2 territories along with their flags. I stood roughly in the middle of this area and yelled out the provinces. The boys had to run to each flag so pretty soon, they learned all 12 flags. It was a lot of fun. I hope to post photos so you can see what I am talking about.

In the museum, 4 hours were barely enough. From 4-8pm on Thursdays, the museum is free so we took advantage of those hours but we barely scratched the surface. What I like about Frunty and Pit is how self-directed they are and how much time they spend reading and listening to information with ear phones and without me saying, come and learn this or that. They are just very curious and interested in museums and I think that this is wonderful. At the very end, they received a passport and visited the Children's museum where they needed to get stamps at each station. It was super fun! As they travelled around the world collecting their stamps, they learned about some new places and Gramma noticed that they have already been to several of the countries. There were lots of games to play as well. It was truly wonderful.

Our Nation's Capital

We left beautiful Quebec City yesterday in the sunshine and made it as far as a small town called Montebello about one hour from Ottawa for the night. Once again I made them rice in our little kitchenette so the rice cooker has come in handy several times on this trip. We woke up this morning and left right away for Ottawa and made it to our apartment so early that we left the car, went for lunch in Byward Market at an Irish pub called the Aude Dubliner and visited the Museum of Civilization which was excellent. We hiked by the Parliament too and the weather was gorgeous all day. I will post photos later as they are unfortunately not downloading at this time!

Singapore Winter

Singapore is situated 1 degree and 17 minutes north of the equator so technically this is the northern hemisphere. Winter in the tropics  means cooler days and nights, typically around 25 degrees Celsius. But probably what's most interesting about winter is the rain. It will flash lightning and thunder and the downpour will rush for 20 minutes maybe 30 and then it's over. In a couple of hours, it goes back to normal overcast or partly sunny with the streets looking dry.

The Plains of Abraham: History for Homeschoolers!

Today we hiked from our hotel to the Plains of Abraham for a history lesson from Grampa. We came across some primary school students who were re-enacting the battle between the British and the French. It was really interesting. After a poutine snack (see photo below!) we went to the museum to learn more during a short movie. For more information, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraham

 Poutine for the first time! Fries, gravy and cheese curds...and lots of Lacteeze! At Cafe du Paris!

 Hallowe'en is coming up and we are getting ideas for pumpkin faces!

Without my encouragement, the boys relax in a zen pose before bed. Look at those twisty legs!

Quebec City: views from our hotel

We have an incredible studio at the Chateau with views from our bedroom window that are stunnning. We are on the sixth floor where the pool/spa are also located and the views are lovely from there too! Wish you could join us for this once-in-lifetime opportunity!

The Bello boys snuggling after the pool and before going out for dinner! Always adorable!

Welcome to Quebec City

 Frunty programmed the GPS so that we would take a ferry over to our hotel, Fairmont's Chateau Frontenac which we booked from New Brunswick last night! Always phone and ask as they gave us a special jazz festival price, by the way! So we drove through the rain and saw a truck with a huge, dead moose in the back, to arrive in the sun in Quebec City! Well done, Gramps, for the driving and to Gramma, Frunty and Pit in sharing the navigational job!

 We were lucky to get early check in and went straight to the pool to unwind! The views of the city were incredible from the pool and from our sixth floor studio. After we walked around the beautiful old city to get to an Irish pub where Gramma and Grampa had earlier visited and booked us a table by the fire. After dinner we looked through some Christmas stores and in the windows of some art shops. I liked the painting of the children playing hockey as seen in the photo below. Quebec City, at least the old part, is really beautiful and we will explore more tomorrow!

Frunty's video of his Zip Zag adventure by Mommy

Hartland's Covered Bridge and Glen Falls' Adventure

 Gramma and the boys pose by the longest covered bridge in the world at 1292 feet long!

Frunty made it just in time to join a group of Zig Zaggers who flew above the Grand Falls in New Brunswick! The last trip of the season! Bravo, Frunts! Your timing is impeccable!