It's fall...and this is what has been happening.

It is fall, and after an adventurous summer, with more activity than we had intended on having, we were just settling down when circumstances led us to make a quick trip east.  We were privileged to be there as the Armstrong family said farewell to Bill.  His fight was valiant, his courage was immense, but in the end he had no fight left.  Farewell friend.  We will miss you.

The bonus in making this trip was that we were able to be there to celebrate the double digit birthday for this young lady.  How can she be ten years old already?  Seems impossible.

To celebrate, and to give everyone a change of scenery, we headed off to Legoland in Toronto.  This is probably one of the smaller Legolands in the world, but it is still quite amazing, especially the room with all the models.  Everything you see is made of Lego, millions of pieces of Lego.

Yes, Niagara Falls in Lego, complete with running water!

One evening we ended up having dinner out.  The restaurant had this vehicle couch at the entrance.  Does this look familiar Neil Gibbs?   We thought of you immediately.

Off to a corn maze, bouncing, pumpkin farm for an afternoon.  We did almost get lost!  Thank goodness Grandpa and Daddy are tall so they could see the direction we should go.

Back home and off to another Corn Maze / petting zoo, this time with different families.

Everyone is enjoying beautiful fall weather.  The colours on the drive home from the east were spectacular, much more brilliant than we get here in the middle of the country.

The next update will be on the big birthday just celebrated around here.  I leave you with the next star - the karaoke queen! (another Legoland attraction)

Enjoy the weather.  Aren't we lucky to live where there are seasons?

Canadian,eh?

There have been a few times in my life that I have been exceptionally proud to be a Canadian and more specifically, to be from Winnipeg.  Today is one of those times.

I have the good fortune to have been selected to be one of the 300+volunteers for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (museumforhumanrights.ca). Today I was privileged to be there for the Opening Ceremonies, and to get my first glimpse of four of the eleven galleries.  My task today was easy-"Hello, Bonjour, welcome to level three, gallery four".  The visitors today were guests invited to attend the opening, primarily those who had contributed to make the museum a reality, so there were few criticisms.  Tomorrow and Sunday those attending will be those fortunate enough to have obtained the free tickets advertised a few weeks ago.  Their tours will be short, so my expectation is that the grandeur of the structure will be the topic of any comments.  It will be interesting to see, once the regular hours begin on the 27th, what the reactions will be.  It is a building and a subject meant to inspire both conversation and discussion. Already there are those who are critical and angry.  To me it would make sense to see what's there first and then comment, but there are always those who jump the gun.  In the end, does it really matter if what is depicted is what you think is most important? What's important is that the topic of human rights is being put on the table for discussion.  The discussion, and the actions arising from those discussions are what are important.

I am thrilled to have been there today, and to contribute in a very small way to the success of this project.  I have to believe that the structure itself will put Winnipeg on the map as a destination.  I believe that the fact that it exists will facilitate important conversations, and will bring about positive change in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and the world. How can that be bad?

Introducing....

Yay! She's finally here!  Aubrey Norma Jean took her own sweet time joining the family, but when she decided to arrive, she did so in a rush on July 10, 2012.  She weighed in at 7 lb. 13 oz. and definitely belongs to this family, as she looks exactly like Colin and Addy did at that age.

But first...let's back up.  While we were all anxiously waiting out the ten days, the whole family did some exciting things to make the time pass (and hopefully to bring on labour!).  I was lucky enough to join them at Tinkertown on a glorious day.  The only complaint came from Addy, who loved each ride so much she didn't want to leave it to go to the next one.  Tinkertown is the perfect place for this age group.

And then, the big day came.  No one was sure it was the big day at all as Aubrey had teased before.  But after a quick trip to the hospital, she arrived in time for dinner.  Colin and Addy were delighted to meet her the next day, and have been loving older siblings ever since.  Aubrey has had many visitors, including her local cousins.  I am sure she will have many more!

Once again, we realize how blessed we are, and what a miracle we hold in our arms.  Welcome Aubrey.

We're movin' on

Yes, it is true.  We are moving.  After 33 happy years at this address, we are sorting, packing, and moving on to a bungalow condominium.

Reaction to our decision has been mixed.  Why are you doing this?  What are the advantages?  Don't you like your house any more?  There is no simple answer, other than to say that it is time to move on.  We both remember very well the day we moved into this house.  It was the perfect place for that time in our lives. Jeffrey was 4, Heather was 1 1/2, and Lee had yet to appear on the scene.  A four bedrooms on the main floor bungalow gave us the luxury of space, space which we have filled and refilled over the last 33 years.

This house has been absolutely perfect for us.  It has been the setting for countless celebrations, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, good health events, and sadly, even a couple of gatherings before and after funerals.  It always seemed to expand to fit the number of people attending.  If we were starting again in this house, we might have liked to pop out the back to provide even more space, but that didn't happen and won't happen as long as we are the owners. Who knows what the next owners will do?  I hope they will do whatever they need to do to accomodate their celebrations.

It has been a joy to watch the evergreens in the backyard grow, to witness countless soccer games and tournaments, to visit the original playground with our children (and to picnic there with the Carrettes), and now to visit the new playground with our grandchildren.  We will probably come back to do that on occasion, if only to sneak over and take a peek at what was our backyard.  John's tree will continue to grow in the front yard, and may once again become the backdrop for first day of school pictures.  The rhubarb will flourish on the side of the house (I challenge anyone to try to get rid of it - not possible!), and will live on at our daughters' houses even if it disappears from the east side here.  We will come back and visit neighbours, or maybe they will come and visit us or join us eventually!

While some of our grandchildren are worried that some of the things they have come to associate with Grandma and Grandpa's house will make the move to the new place, we are not too worried about much. Yes, it is unsettling, especially until we find a buyer, and yes, it is a lot of work to move, but we both feel that having the freedom to travel without worrying about snow clearing, grass cutting,

etc is worth it at this moment.  There will be lots of room for our visitors, whether it is for overnight or longer, and we will even have a bathroom that can be dedicated just to them!  I will get an ensuite and a walkin closet, things that have been on my list for a while.

So today we put one last coat of paint on the siding, took the basketball hoop down (it will stay in the family), cut the grass, and generally tidied.  My wish is that there is a family out there who will love this house as much as we have, and will have as many occasions to hold celebrations here as has our family.  Family is not a place, it is the people, but having had a home like this one made everything concerning family just a little bit easier.

Snow, snow and more snow

Last night we moved our clocks one hour forward for Daylight Savings Time, a move which generally signals the beginning of Spring (spring forward, right?). However, as you will see from these pictures, spring has not quite arrived yet.

We have had a ton of snow this year, so much that we were concerned about the weight on our roof.  So, when an enterprising young man appeared on our doorstep offering to shovel the snow off the roof, we were willing to pay the price.  However, a clear roof means piles of snow a bit too close to the house for comfort, so today we went out and attempted to move some of it.  At least now we can get the doors open.  It is melting, and hopefully with the bit we moved it won't melt into the basement!

                                                Grandpa is king of the castle.

Some of us know how to enjoy the snow.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Birthdays

In this family, you are the odd person if your birthday does not fall in the time span from August to December.  Beginning with Hannah's birthday on August 9th and Nola's on August 25th, we seem to go from party to party, with a special concentration in October.  Just this week we found out that we have yet another October birthday to celebrate - Sarah's on October 3rd.  It is getting so we live on cake and ice cream for the whole month.

This weekend was extra special.  We celebrated Cole's 6th birthday on Saturday (unfortunately we didn't get to shoot off the giant Angry Birds Star Wars sling shot as the kid guests had in the afternoon), and then on Sunday we went off to Deer Lodge Centre to help my Auntie Clare celebrate her 100th birthday.  Quite the span of time!  Even though she didn't get any Lego, I think that Auntie Clare realized that this was a special day, and she certainly enjoyed the cake, chocolates, and Coca Cola she consumed.  What a milestone!

We have celebrated with Julien at the beginning of September, attended Colin's Buzz/Woody/ Queen/Mader party, had dinner after Cole's Angry Birds/ Star Wars party, and tomorrow we cheer on Lily as she turns 4

(and has a Rainbow Party on Saturday), and Adam and Sean as they turn (shhhhh) 40! Caitlyn will turn 9 on Wednesday (which means that Grandma and Grandpa are really getting old), Sarah's birthday is on the 3rd, Ingrid celebrates (along with the basketball community at the Hall of Fame dinner) on Saturday the 5th, my birthday is on the 17th (and yes, I am 60 years older than is Lily), Emma is an official babysitter on the 18th, Cathy on October 29th, Lee on November 10th, Heather on December 5th, Amanda on the 14th.  Sheesh!  Thank goodness for Ross, Bill, Mary, Al, Jeffrey and Addy who have spring birthdays.  I haven't even included many of the extended family and friends who also have several fall birthday celebrations.

All this got me thinking about past birthdays, and how we celebrated over the years.  I have many fond memories of Carousel Cakes, money in cakes, craft ideas, birthdays in snowstorms.  Our children were so fortunate - all four of their grandparents attended each and every event (except for Jeffrey's birth, but that's another story.  Grandma Wedlake still feels guilty for missing that one I am sure!).  I haven't scanned the old pictures so they won't make it on this page, but here are a few from the last ten or so years. Happy memories.

The last few qualify as birthday pictures since we celebrated lots of birthdays in August, while our Eastern Wedlake family was visiting!

So we wish one and all the happiest of birthdays, and we are so grateful to be able to share in so many of them.  Here's to many many more!