Frozen Beach

First, a belated Happy Birthday to Avery who turned 2 on January 10, 2016.

Aimee and Mike took him to Galaxyland. I have no idea what that is but I gather he enjoyed it. On the run all the time. Photo by Aimee

Asleep on the Nemo he got for his birthday. He actually wore himself out!

 Photo by Aimee

Maya, also got a stuffed toy, Dorey, but she just doesn't seem to need sleep. Photo by Aimee.

Meanwhile, back at Long Point, cold and VERY WINDY days built up the ice mountains on the edge of the lake and then two days of rain shrunk them. When there was finally a nice day I walked the beach and took some pictures.

Frozen driftwood

with icicle teeth.

One area, out on the frozen part of the lake developed sand/ice boulders????

I always find the buildup of these ice ridges fascinating and,

this year, the freeze and thaw cycles have created some beautiful patterns in the ice.

It is currently bucketing with rain and the forecast is for above freezing temperatures for days so I don't know if any of this ice buildup will last.

The bare sand has its own patterns though and

the ceramic highland dancers, that Heather planted in the sand years ago, really don't care one way or another.

Happy New Year

Between Christmas and New Year, Chris and Jason were here too. An already busy household was even busier.

Photo by Aimee. Maya trying out the new sled in her new snowsuit. Looks like a little pink caterpillar cocoon.

Looking adorable in the Christmas hat.

Avery decided to try out the sled inside.

Lots of new books to read.

We can usually get Avery to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 but Maya is a night owl.

It became a game of Settlers and Pass the Baby.

"I think the rule says ......"

Mike had to work New Years Eve, so it was just Aimee, I and the kids.

Maya in her Happy New Year headband.

Avery couldn't quite get the hang of blowing in the noise maker.

I stayed home with Maya and Aimee took Avery to a community centre children's party.

He went straight to the colouring table. Photo by Aimee.

Photo by Aimee. Had some hot chocolate and

hung out with Mum. Photo by Aimee.

Sparklers before bed.

Aimee, Maya and I made it to 11pm (well it was 1am in Ontario!)
New Years Day its back to the "same old.."

Avery dumps all the toys out of the bin and

they both have lots to do. (Including cleaning up at the end)

Christmas 2016

It is now Boxing Day and Mike, Aimee and Maya are out shopping, Chris and Jason are loafing, Avery is napping and I have a chance to blog.

The Christmas tree was up when I arrived. I gather Avery helped decorate it and he has been very good about not touching it. He bought the long snowman home from his last day at daycare with "I did, I did" which meant he coloured it.

In Aimee's family, Christmas gifts are unwrapped on Christmas Eve so the kids were allowed to unwrap one present before they went to bed. We had our introduction to Avery's unwrapping technique. He frantically tears off small pieces of paper. His partner in crime, Maya, then puts them in her mouth.

Avery got Car slippers (they go so well with the skull and cross bone pajamas)

Maya's were pink with little claws.

Chris and Jason flew in at about 11am and still had wrapping to do so we really didn't get started on Christmas until about 2:30pm.

Avery in his elf hat with a mouth absolutely full of clementine pieces

First it was Christmas stockings (as if it was Christmas morning instead of afternoon). We each got a kitkat and Avery immediately identified it as something edible, biting right through the wrapping with no problem and then proceeding to eat mine as well.

Avery was the elf and started out very well, handing each gift to the person he was told to and then helping them unwrap it. After a while he just got very impatient with the process and developed a number of unique "Avery Elfing Techniques":

1. Air mailings (throwing gifts at people)

2. Multi tasking ( how many wrapped and unwrapped gifts could he carry at one time)

and finally

3. Cut to the chase: lets skip the step that's taking too long and I'll just unwrap them all!

Avery was very generous with helping everyone unwrap. Yes, that is a cupcake onesy Mike is wearing. A gift from Aimee. Going one better than Christine's gift a number of years ago; My Little Pony pajama pants.

Avery immediately understood how to use the ride on Jeep I gave him. Aimee and Mike were not happy he got a Jeep before they did.

We had an excellent Lasagna for dinner, turkey is on Boxing Day, and the kids didn't get to bed 'til late. Too much excitement. So much fun.

Edmonton - pre-christmas 2016

After numerous gate changes and delays I finally left Toronto and landed in Edmonton's wonderful -20 weather. Since then it has warmed up. Days have been spent shopping and running after grandkids.

Meal times, one of Maya's favorites. Though she's pretty happy most of the time.

Supper at Daddy's work meant some pretty intense colouring,

coaster chewing,

trombone listening

and chopstick wielding.

Followed by bath time and

story time.

 Meanwhile Rasta is having so much fun at Si and Dan's .......

Pets

I am leaving for Edmonton this week so, I'm sure, the blog will feature grandchildren over Christmas. As a bridge to that here are some pet pictures.
I visited a fellow "hooker" in Cambridge last week and she had some wonderful pets; parrots, a tortoise, a lizard, a very friendly, very furry cat and dogs.

His colours were just beautiful. Photo by Jennifer Budd.

I was in Toronto last weekend as Chris had surgery. Two, as always, was in the thick of things.

Cuddling with Chris while she grumped about her liquid diet.

Checking out the snow fall.

 Back at home now and doing some last minute Christmas stuff before leaving. I am making Jason a stocking to match the rest of the Sweeton stockings (a tradition begun by George's Mum when she made appliqued stockings for Christine and Michael). My needlework is nowhere near as neat and tidy as hers, but the stockings are being made bigger as Santa now tends to deliver magazines as well as small things.

Rasta decided that the red felt on the table looked like a good place to lie. He knows he's not supposed to be up there but I had to take a picture before chasing him off, it was such a lovely contrast with his black and white fur.

Note the artfully placed paws. This picture is primarily for Chris because she gets freaked out by his paws.

Baja California - La Paz to Toronto

My final day in Mexico was spent mostly in traveling. Up early and did final cleaning and then started the drive to La Paz. Took me a couple of tries to find a gas station that would take my credit card (2 of them mysteriously had defective machines??). Stopped off at the grocery store to buy some coffee. I really liked the Mexican coffee.
The drive back took nearly 3 hours as I was carefully staying well under the speed limit. I passed the scene of my "traffic infraction" and there was a cop car sitting at that 4 way stop. I watched everyone roll through it but I came to a full, solid, long, stop before proceeding.
Because I had to get the car back by 3, I was rather early for my 7:30 flight but I just hung out at the airport bar/restaurant and it was quite entertaining.

There was a constant stream of flights coming in and its amazing to me how many people want a beer before they even get on the shuttle that will transport them to their resort (even though the Mexican greeter has told them there is beer on the bus). There were also a huge number of destination weddings (you can tell from the groups of young people with many of them carrying clothing bags) and for some reason destination wedding guests do a lot of squealing and hugging. It was a great place to people watch.

 The tables get pretty full at peak arrival times so I shared my table a number of times with some interesting people from Canada and the States.

Time for my last glass of Mexican Cabernet Sauvignon .I don't think I've seen any kind of Mexican wine in the LCBO (I just looked it up, they stock one Petite Sirah in Vintages). Time for my last beautiful Mexican avocado (though I can get them at home but they wont ripen as beautifully) this one with fresh crab salad on it.

Sun going down behind the Sierra de Laguna. It was the cloudiest and coolest day so far.

An uneventful flight home, got into Toronto at 2am, overnight in a hotel, picked up my car and drove home (gas, groceries and cat on the way).