Posted 3:23 PM by Ted
Midway through our summer vacation, we have all spontaneously decided to take it easy today. Ally is sleeping on the couch, I just woke up from a nap, and even the kids are engaged in quiet pursuits for a change. We are staying in the lovely home of our good friends Rick and Cindy and their daughter Kateri. They live in the woods near North Berwick ME, barely outside of cell phone range, yet within broadband cable Internet coverage. Talk about the perfect place for a vacation!

We set out on Saturday and had a largely uneventful drive down to Albany NY: a city which never held any particular attraction to us until they recently opened an Apple Store. It was a fun place to hang out. Ian and Amy played with the other kids in the kiddie area while I matched wits with the guy manning the "Genius Bar". I was hoping to get him to resort to that red hotline phone to Apple I know he has hidden behind the counter, but he seemed weary and disinterested in any of my arguments. Oh well...maybe I'll have another crack at him on the way home. :-)

The next day, we stopped once in Great Barrington MA to visit my friends Asa and Dave. They are fellow Mac geeks I met at the Apple WWDC in San Jose CA. I could not reach Asa (a shame, as I had hoped to see the new baby), but Dave and family had lunch with us and we got the VIP tour of their company: Zenn New Media. A pretty sweet setup they've got there, with all the Macs and T3 lines and everything...I'll spare everyone the techno details, however.

Arriving in Maine that evening, Ian and Kateri had an ecstatic reunion. There was much hugging, and they even reminisced about "old times", like when Ian woke them both up in the middle of the night that one time. It took forever to get those two to sleep; every time I opened the door, they were playing in the corner with flashlights again. Amy, meanwhile, discovered she really enjoys Kateri's hobby horse, and kept galloping up and down the hall on it.

On Monday, Kateri's parents both had to work, so we took all the kids to the zoo. Ian and Kateri were constantly giggling in the back seat, and on several occasions, Kateri brought up the subject of marriage, though Ian was largely indifferent to the concept. (We later compared notes with Cindy. It seems Ian is not the first boy Kateri has been interested in marrying, while Kateri is not the first girl Ian has hugged and held hands with. They're both worldlier than we give them credit for.)

We only got lost once in the endless winding roads of backwoods Maine, which is pretty good for us. The kids liked feeding the animals in the many petting areas, and we even rode around in a paddle boat at one point. Ian says he loved the food (he and Kateri had pizza and clam chowder). Amy was impressed by the Babars. I liked watching the prairie dogs myself, while Ally spent a long time fawning over the capybaras.

In the evening, we went out the see the movie Spy Kids II at a most unusual theatre. We sat along long tables in plush recliners as waitresses came by with food. The kids had a great time. They loved the movie, and Amy got so excited she started dancing in her chair.

On Tuesday, Cindy drove us down to Boston to visit the children's museum near the waterfront. It was extensive enough to keep everyone busy all day. A number of the exhibits involved life in Japan, as Kyoto is Boston's sister city. There was a mock city street with a traditional Japanese house painstakingly shipped from overseas and reassembled. It looked a bit like my grandmother's house, but I had to admit it was larger, much to the shock of everyone else, who couldn't believe five adults and two children could have lived in a space smaller than where we were standing.

On leaving the museum, we walked all the way to Faneuil Hall for dinner. Amy and Kateri ate corn dogs, but Ian seemed more interested in the sushi. For myself, I had this plan that I would buy some fish chowder in a bread bowl and eat some sushi on the side. It didn't quite work out that way. Amy ate her corn dog quickly and immediately dug into my sushi, while Ian ate much of my soup, bowl and all, so I was still a little hungry by the time I/they finished. We all had some gelato for desert except for Ally, who bought some kind of pastry horn, which she ate very slowly and methodically with a wistful look on her face.

After dinner, we wandered over to a nearby toy store, but it was getting late, and Kateri got tired and had this little fit, running to a corner outside. Then Ian walked over, gave her a hug, and spoke to her quietly for a few minutes. She seemed to cheer up and we were on our way again. There's something about those two.

Posted 10:32 PM by Ted
Ally met up with friends from work and elsewhere today to set the kids loose in an awesome playground full of watery amusements. We had never known about this place until now, as it is tucked away in the military housing district at the far end of town beyond Fort Henry. The kids literally had a blast, as they fired off water cannons on swivelling mounts to beat back the oppressive heat.



For more photos, visit Ally's newly created web site!

Posted 10:59 PM by Ted
The circus came to town last weekend, and Ally took Kevin and Sawako in addition to Ian and Amy. I decided to sit this one out, but I did solicit comments from the kids when they got home.

Ian: "They had these motorbikes spinning around in a cage, and then a human was standing inside. A human!"

Amy: "I saw doggie! Doggie likes me!"

Ted: "Did you see anyone swinging on the trapeze?"

Amy: "No, she go down."

Ian: "These three guys pulled a girl up a curtain and she did jumps and flips and she flew away like a butterfly! That was cool."

Amy: "I saw Babar! Babar pretty."

Ian: "Yeah, one elephant sat on the other!"

Amy: "I got can'y!"

Ian: "Cotton candy and popcorn!"

Amy: "Mimi ride horsie!"

Ian: "I rode a pony all by myself!"

Posted 10:20 PM by Ted
Phew! I'm back with a new hard drive and most of my data. Most important, my Diablo II: Lord of Destruction characters appear to have survived the transition.

Posted 12:55 AM by Ted
Mayday! Mayday! My hard drive is going wonky. I'm having serious corruption problems! Ahm doin' all ah can, Cap'n, but she canna take much mora this! She's breakin' up! S#e's br$a%in' u@! *&~+"!=^~-@^(*$^#@ :-(

Posted 10:38 PM by Ted
Last weekend saw us "camping" out near Marmora, if you can call it that. We were staying at a KOA campground, true enough, but we spent our two nights in an air-conditioned rental trailer complete with bathroom and kitchenette. It even had a good-sized wooden porch built around it with a picnic table and a really nice gas barbecue. Having our own indoor bathroom was particularly welcome during the night when the mosquitoes set in with a vengeance. I think I could camp like that again!

We had set out for Marmora after I'd got off work on Friday, and stopped for dinner at the Flying J Country Market Restaurant in Napanee. It's sort of a truck stop deluxe, and we partook of their buffet. Ian was fascinated by the credit card telephone consoles built into every booth. The food was generally decent and wholesome fare, and after gorging ourselves, we wandered around the premises. Adjoining the restaurant were Chinese and Italian take-out counters and a gift shop. Beyond these were an arcade and trucker's lounge. The arcade featured an interesting selection of games: mostly big game hunting simulators and car racing, with a pinball machine tossed in for good measure.

Although there had been a fierce thunderstorm Friday afternoon, things had cleared up by the time we arrived at camp, and Saturday started out a beautiful day, though it quickly grew hot. We sought refuge in the indoor pool. Ian, in his ultra-buoyant swimsuit, discovered he could propel himself through the water ever so slowly using an improvised dog-paddle. Amy, for the most part, clung to one parent or the other in abject terror.

Cool and refreshed, we then headed into Marmora for some groceries. After passing a drugstore, I had this odd premonition and insisted we go back and check the hours. As Ally stepped out of the car, the traffic suddenly died down and this big horse came clopping along, staring about blandly. Behind it appeared a buggy with a happy newlywed couple beaming at everyone. Maybe it was the heat, but there was something rather surreal about the moment.

We had to rush home and eat a quick lunch, lest Ian miss the kiddie olympic games at 1:30. As we approached the venue, they were already into the opening ceremonies which involved a large release of helium balloons with notes attached. Gaping up into the sky, Ian was too distracted to notice the rock jutting out of the road and in an instant, he was kissing the dirt with cuts all over him. Ally had a few bandages on her, but it became clear we would have to revisit that drugstore before the day was out. Hmm....

The olympic games were fun to watch. They divided the kids into squads of half a dozen or so, and they moved from event to event until a horn blew. Events ranged from maneuvering balls through a slalom course to balancing little tubs of water on your head as you climb uphill. One event, which involved putting at a golf ball with your hands tied behind your back, proved so difficult that Ian didn't even get a turn before the time was up. Nevertheless, his team won third place and he got a ribbon to show for it, along with some snacks.

The games came to a close with a visit by the zookeeper of a nearby reptile zoo. He produced all manner of creatures and fielded lots of questions. As he took out a smallish snake, one little girl warned in all earnestness not to bring that by their trailer or her grandma would cut its head off. For the finale, he uncovered the show stopper: a big python that four children had to lift together as everyone petted it.

Posted 6:12 PM by ally_in_canada
Oh, one more thing for today...I want to wish my big brother Alphie a great big "Happy Birthday!" and hope he has a marvelous day and a fantastic year!

Posted 6:11 PM by ally_in_canada
Hey All! Ted’s been pushing at me to blog...so I will. Right now the fish pie is in the oven baking away, and it’s as good a time as any!

Lots of catching up to do, I’ll start with the trip to the Yarker Tea Room with my mother-in-law and the kids on July 15th. As Ted wrote, a workmate of mine told me that her old friend Darlene has been recently hired to bake the fresh pies during the week. So of course, we had to go. Yarker is about a 15 minute drive north of Kingston on County Road 6. When we got there, it wasn’t too busy, being a Thursday, and we got a window seat, with a lovely view of the waterfall! The menu is vegetarian. I had the Vegetable Pie, Ian and Amy shared the baked beans and cornbread, and Hisae had the Vegetable Curry. We all shared a pot of Mango tea. After the entrees were done (and they were all excellent!), it was time for pie. Amy had a slice of apple-cinnamon pie, Ian had coconut cream pie, and I had a slice of mango-nectarine pie. Lovely. A great place for lunch! We have to take Ted one of these days.

Next big day I need to catch you all up with was my 36th birthday on July 24th. I wasn’t expecting much a of birthday, being old and all that, and it being a day of work for me. But it was great! Woke up to some awesome presents, Ted got me a dress I really liked and the kids got me a Barenaked Ladies CD. The day before, I had got a card from my mom and dad with a large amount of money in it which was totally surprising and very very nice. And Hisae & Jack had given me a necklace and earring from Mexico that matched my new dress perfectly! Otherwise, quiet day...went out, got my favourite stuff for dinner, we had chicken wings, rice, mexican salad and veggies & dip. Then I went to work. One of the ladies said that she would make a coconut cream pie for my birthday. Yummy. And I said that I would bring the sparkling grape juice! So when I first got there, we all ate and drank. Then around 8ish there was the sound of children in the air...someone even mentioned they heard children, but I didn’t clue in, and then, Ted and the children were there, with a birthday cake, hats, plates and cutlery! Well, we all dove in, and it was a marvelous surprise, and very sweet. I think the children enjoyed seeing my workplace too!

Well, it smells like the pie is done, so I better stop. I’ll write more soon!