TNDC Bonspiel

This week we hosted the 6th annual TNDC curling bonspiel. It's an event we look forward to every year, and raises some money for Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Kincardine.

Reluctant 10 month picture

On Friday, Jasper and I spent the day getting the food ready for the bonspiel. He also turned 10 months old on Friday, but he wasn't in much of a photo taking mood.

Lunch at the curling club

The bonspiel went really well. For the first time ever, all 64 people showed up and paid their registration fees! Everything ran smoothly with my parents, Pat's parents and some TNDC members there to help.

Early draw winners

Late draw winners

I liked not having to play on a team this year, because it makes it a lot less stressful to organize the food, but also it meant I got to hang out with with people from both draws.

TNDC fun between games

We raised about $1500 for BBBS of Kincardine, about the same as past years. It's great to be able to support an organization that has such an impact in the community. Unfortunately, I think they need volunteer mentors right now more than they need money. The bonspiel was full of young people in the target demographic for mentors, so maybe someone will decide to give it a try,

Big cheque for TNDC

Sunday was a recovery day to get cleaned up and visit with our out of town guests. It was awesome to have Britt and Vicki make the trip up from Toronto. We made another attempt at a 10 month Jasper photo, but he wasn't having it.

Unsuccessful 2nd attempt at Fred picture

North Bay

After the highways re-opened on Saturday, we hit the road to drive to North Bay. It's a long drive from Kincardine, so we didn't make it to Ryan's cottage until just before dinner time.

Jasper fueling up at Tim's on the long drive to North Bay

Reading with cousin Hailey

Pat, Ryan and Regan went out to set up some minnow traps and check out the ice shack, while Jasper, Hailey and I stayed cozy in the cottage. Ryan had the fire roaring so the temperature inside was quite tropical, despite the -30 C outside.

Lighting the Chinese lantern

No wind on a freezing cold night

We braved the freezing weather to set off a Chinese lantern from the ice in front of the cottage. It was a perfect night for it, no wind at all and not a cloud in the sky. We watched the lantern rise straight up towards the stars for about 3 minutes before the flame burned out and we ran inside to warm up.

Staying cozy by the fire

The next morning, Pat and Regan were back at the ice fishing. No one caught any fish, but they did catch a mud puppy. I would have been OK with never knowing that those creatures exist. I hope I forget about them before going swimming in the lake next summer.

Jasper in the ice shack

It was too cold for Jasper to be outside for long, but I bundled him up in the stroller and snowshoed  out to the ice shack. The stroller did surprisingly well on the snow, but I'd forgotten how tiring snowshoeing is.  After lunch, we went back to North Bay to see Shelly.

Not too happy at Greco's

We went for a valentines day dinner at North Bay's finest restaurant, Greco's pizza and pasta. We even got a special valentines day cookie for dessert. Regan hogged the whip cream :).

Bath time with cousin Regan

Back at the house, Regan helped give Jasper a bath and let him play with all her old bath toys. He had fun splashing around and trying to climb up the sides of the bath.

With Hailey on Harvey St

The next morning, we all went to the YMCA for a Family Day swim. There was a nice warm pool for little kids, so it was a much more successful swim than our attempts in Texas.  It was a great whirlwind visit with the Passmores in North Bay!

With Kass in Huntsville

On the way home, we stopped for lunch with our friend Kassandra at Farmer's Daughter in Huntsville. The food was delicious, and it was great to see Kass again and hear about her and Luke's house plans.

Back to winter

After a night in Detroit and more American sandwiches for Pat, we were back home in Kincardine. Pat had training at the Bruce Power training centre in town on Monday, so Jasper and I walked downtown to meet him for lunch.

Lunch with Dad

During the week we spent in Texas, Jasper got faster at crawling and better at standing up. He can now manage to stand while holding on with one hand and while holding something that is moving. He spent at least 20 minutes straight opening and closing the cupboard door in the picture below.

Standing at the cupboard

It took him a couple days, but eventually he figured out that there is something inside the cupboards. This particular one is our "all the miscellaneous Tupperware" cupboard. I ordered some childproof latches from Amazon on Thursday.

Figured out what's inside

Pat and I both play hockey on Thursday (the on ice and underwater kinds), so Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and to look after Jasper. As long as he's not too tired, he is really enjoying the bath now.

Bath time with Grandma and Grandpa

Bruce County winter weather prevented us from leaving for North Bay on Friday, so we went to Aunt Heather's for a pizza dinner instead. Jasper even has his own high chair over there now!

Week in Texas

I'm a bit behind in my blog posts, sorry about that. Not to make excuses, but Jasper actually ate a piece of the computer while I'm typing this. His ever-improving mobility makes everything a bit more challenging.

After everyone else went home, Jasper and I stayed in Dallas for the week to hang out with Aunt Kate and Uncle Andrew. It was great to spend lots of time with Kate and to get to know Andrew better. We saw lots of basketball games and ate lots of Tex-Mex food.

Jasper helping with house projects

Kate had a lot of stuff to move in and projects to get done around the house. Jasper and I weren't much help, and probably made more mess and prevented work from being done. But, he is a cute little handy person with his overalls on.

Silly at the basketball game

We spent a lot of the week going to basketball games to watch Andrew referee. Most of the games were at junior colleges around Dallas, but we even went to a game in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. I didn't think we'd really ever have another reason to go to Oklahoma, so why not check it out?

Ready for bed, watching basketball in Keene

Kate, Jasper and I went to a nice vegetarian restaurant Friday night and we got some very trendy Hypnotic doughnuts on Saturday.  We went for a couple of nice walks and got to explore the city of Dallas. The highways around the city and the Texan driving style take a bit of getting used to.

Keeping amused in Oklahoma

Hi Uncle Andrew

It was a fun week with the newlyweds, and Saturday we had to fly home. My first solo flight with Jasper went well, and Pat met us at the airport in Detroit. Thanks Andrew and Kate for hosting us for the week. Congratulations!

Selfie with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kate

Feb 2 Katy trail and bridge

Grandpa had to teleconference into a meeting all day, so we got out of the house to limit the Jasper distractions. Kate took us to where Andrew used to live in uptown Dallas to go for a walk on the Katy trail. The trail is a raised, paved multi-use trail with some restaurants and patios along the way. We walked most of the trail and then stopped for lunch at one of the patios. Pretty nice to eat outside in February!

Eating lunch on the patio

After lunch, we went downtown to the courthouse so that Kate could officially submit her marriage licence to the county. Hooray!

Pedestrian bridge

We then went over to Margaret Hunt bridge to get a nice view of the city skyline. The old car bridge has been made into an urban park with playgrounds, gardens and a splash pad. I would be nice if some of these ideas are used in Toronto if/ when the Gardiner comes down.

Basketball in Keene

The Grandparents left mid afternoon to drive back to Kincardine, and the rest of us went to watch Andrew referee a basketball game at a junior college in Keene, Texas. There was a perfect little spot for Jasper to crawl around and play while we watched. He seems to enjoy the action of the basketball games, but also needs to be able to burn some energy by crawling around.

Taking a little nap

Feb 1 Aquarium

On Monday, we decided to take in a tourist attraction in Dallas. There are 3 aquariums near the city, and we picked the closest one in Grapevine.

Like father, like son.

Jasper enjoyed looking at all the fish tanks, although I think his favourite part may have been the kids play area. The aquarium wasn't as good as the new one at the CN tower, but pretty impressive considering that it is in a shopping mall.

Watching a shark

Pat had to go to the airport before dinner to catch his flight back to Detroit. The rest of us went out for dinner to a nice Mexican restaurant walking distance from Kate and Andrew's house.

Having fun in the kids play area

Pirate baby

Jan 31 Recovery day

Selfie by Dallas' first house

The day after the wedding, it was another beautiful day in Dallas. I think most people we feeling a bit rough, but not Jasper, he was still up 5:45 am, ready to go.

In the afternoon, Andrew took us downtown Dallas for a tour. We drove down to midtown, then took the free tourist trolley back to Clyde Warren park. The trolley is very old fashioned, including an octogenarian trolley driver who had to walk back to manually open the doors at every stop. It was a slow way to travel, but a good way to get a feel for the city.

At the spot JFK was shot

From the park, we walked over to the grassy knoll where JFK was shot. I don't know much about the shooting, I will have to do some more reading.

We took the DART back to our parking space and then Kristin S. had to go to the airport to catch her flight, so the rest of went back to Andrew and Kate's in Irving.

Sunny day in Dallas

Jan 30 Wedding Day!

What a great day for a wedding! It felt like summer weather for those of us from Ontario, about 20 degrees and sunny all day. 

After some Texas-shaped waffles at our hotel, we gathered at Kate and Andrew's house for some last minute wedding preparations. Since Andrew is such a dedicated basketball referee, one of those preparations was refereeing a junior college basketball game. All the family piled into the cars to go and support him at the game. I think the ref had more fans in the crowd than most players. Jasper enjoyed watching the players run up and down the court and crawling around in the bleachers.

Watching the a Dallas Junior College basketball game

The wedding was at 6:00 in Clyde Warren park in downtown Dallas. Due to the unseasonably warm temperatures, there were thousands of people out enjoying the park on a Saturday evening. The park is built over top of a freeway and is really well designed.

Jasper and his Dad at Clyde Warren park

The wedding took place on one end of the park in a garden. Despite it being the middle of winter, there was still some flowers and greenery around.

Ready to get married

The bride and groom looked so happy! It must be such a relief for them to finally be done with all of the hurry-up-and-wait immigration hassles of the past year.

Hipster/ Amish Jasper with Aunt Kate

Jasper grew out of his collared "wedding" shirt, so he went more casual, lending his bow tie to Hugo the car. He kind of looked like an old Amish man, or perhaps an beardless urban hipster.

The bride and her Dad

The wedding ceremony started just as the sun was going down, and all the lights were turning on in the park. Even the headlights and tail lights from the cars on the freeway looked like they are a part of the park decorations.

Married under the lights at the park

Some of Andrew and Kate's friends decorated their car for the drive home. The car didn't get a parking ticket, despite forgetting to pay for parking. Maybe writing "Just Married" on your car is a good strategy for getting free parking!

Kate and Andrew's ride home

Back at the house, it was time to celebrate! Kristin S. (Kate's maid of honour) and Kate did such a great job planing a great party with a taco dinner, plenty of snacks and drinks.

Andrew's cousin who couldn't make it to the wedding sent an ice cream truck to the house. What a great idea that was! Kate was definitely thrilled (link to video on ice cream truck facebook page) about the addition of ice cream to the party.

Dapper cat

Dorcas carried 120 Timbits in her carry on luggage to make a very Canadian timbit wedding cake. Everyone had a great time at the wedding house party. Congratulations Andrew and Kate!

Tim Bit wedding cake

Jan 29 Arrival in Dallas

We arrived in the morning to summer-like weather in Dallas. Andrew came to pick us up at the airport and brought us back to their house. It's a really nice place in Irving, just outside of Dallas and quite close to both Dallas airports.

Another cat to torment!

On our first day we got to experience a Texas liquor store, and a moderately sketchy Mexican restaurant. No firearms or cowboys yet. Tomorrow is the big wedding day!

With (soon to be) uncle Andrew