Posted 12:46 AM by Ted
On Sunday morning, the kids helped pick cherry tomatoes from my mother's garden while I climbed a ladder to harvest bunches of juicy grapes from the vines snaking their way up the side of the house. Then we said our goodbyes and headed out for a day of fun in the sun at Canada's Wonderland; yet the sun, as we would soon learn, had other plans.

Arriving in the late morning, we quickly found our way to a booth where Sears was giving away company caps and snap watches to all employees and their families. Moreover, there was to be a raffle in just under an hour. That gave us barely enough time for Ian and Ally to take "The Great Whale of China" for a spin and then join Amy and I on a nearby merry-go-round. We arrived at the amphitheatre a tad too late to grab seating under the tent ceiling, so we baked under the hot sun for the better part of an hour as they kept handing out prize after prize. After not winning anything, we decided to buy a pizza for lunch and find someplace to cool off.

As we ate, dark clouds began to drift in over Wonder Mountain and the wind started to pick up. We headed over to Hanna-Barbera Land and the rain began in earnest as we were cruising around slowly in a swan boat. In a panic, we bought four disposable waterproof ponchos from a nearby gift shop just as the rain died off. The weather spared us for awhile after that, and we tried out some of the kiddie rides and even took in a Scooby-Doo stage show (which both kids enjoyed immensely) before the clouds opened up once more.



This time, it came down in a torrent. The ponchos kept us mostly dry except for our lower extremities. It seemed like a river was starting to form at our feet. When the rain finally started to let up a little, people began leaving the park in droves. On the positive side, this meant there were no more lines at most of the rides, and the operators even encouraged us to stay on as long as we liked. Ian and Ally went for the "Silver Streak", which is advertised as "Canada’s first junior inverted coaster with a helix."

Meanwhile, I took Amy over to a balloon ride she had been eyeing during the storm. She was delighted that a young boy with curly red hair was sitting across from her in her basket, and she started chatting him up as the balloon took off. The music was too loud for me to hear what she was saying, but she was smiling and talking animatedly. At one point, she even slapped her knee as she laughed, but the whole time, the boy only stared at her as if mesmerized. Eventually, she decided it was more interesting to pick her nose, at which point the boy seemed to snap out of it and look around as if trying to find a way out.

Then Ian came back ecstatic about his ride on the Silver Streak. Before I knew it, he had dragged me onto it for a second run. Generally, I hate roller coasters, and this one had us suspended under the track the whole time which to me seems frankly unnatural. I got my revenge, however, when I took Ian up to "White Water Canyon" for a ride down the tumbling rapids in a circular raft. He didn't have the presence of mind to put up his poncho hood when we passed under a waterfall. Sure, I had to stand him under a bathroom blow dryer for half an hour, but it was a fun ride all the same.

Posted 12:55 AM by Ted
Ally had bought some discounted tickets to Paramount Canada's Wonderland through her employer, and at long last it was time to go last Sunday. As usual, we snuck into Toronto late Friday night to stay at my parents'. My mother decided she wanted to take Ian out for lunch the following day with her luncheon buddies, and he was whisked away to a Harbourfront Italian restaurant called Il Fornello.

That left the rest of us wondering what to do with the day. Ally, Amy, and I went for a stroll along The Danforth -- in part, to locate the Pantheon Restaurant where we were all supposed to meet up later for dinner with my aunts. We stopped at a small Japanese/Korean restaurant and ate box lunches before hopping on the subway to head for the Eaton Centre.

I had it mind to see if I could finally find Ian a Beyblade. It's the latest Japanese toy invasion, and naive North American children have yet again proven defenseless vis-à-vis the masterful multi-level marketing. Ian had been pressuring me ever since school started to get him this top with a ripcord, or he could never be cool with his friends. Sigh. Beyblade tournaments run throughout every recess, and "stadium time" is so precious kids actually have to sign in for it ahead of time. Naturally, every store in Kingston was sold out, which brought us to Toronto. Okay, that didn't come out the way I had intended it. We came to Toronto to see family and visit Wonderland -- not to get a Beyblade...surely! (Any fellow parent would recognize the strange sinking feeling I'm getting in the pit of my stomach at this moment.)

My brother had indicated in a prior e-mail that there was a large Toys R Us across from the mall. It turned out to be a two-storey outlet in a beautifully restored old building. We turned the place upside down looking for a Beyblade, but it was all in vain. I was just beginning to turn my attention towards visiting those enormous record stores north of Dundas when Ally spotted another small toy store -- this time in the mall proper -- called "Beyblade Scalpers R Us" or something to that effect I'm sure. So I dutifully got in line with all the other beleaguered parents and spent $25 for a top.

Posted 11:13 PM by Ted
"Hey, isn't that your jacket, Ian?" I asked, pointing out the solitary garment hanging from one of many hooks lining the winding hallways. It was an open house day at Ian's new school last week, and he was proudly showing me the way to the bathrooms.

"It can't be...that's not my hook!" he insisted.

It all began with a gathering in the gym, where students, parents, and teachers mingled whilst sampling the various baked goods people had brought in. Our own contribution turned out to be store-bought cookies, thanks to a rare mishap in the kitchen. (Ally is an accomplished baker whose creations almost never flop, as my waistline can attest.) For those who think that's cheating, let me assure you it wasn't easy buying those cookies! Almost every brand bore that exasperating warning label: "May contain traces of peanuts." Ian's school has a zero-tolerance policy on peanuts on the premises, due to their allergenic qualities.

I met Ian's first grade teacher, who turned out to be a pleasant lady who assured us everyone loves Ian, and he is doing fine. Then I ran into the French teacher -- or more accurately, was shoved into her by Ian, who was determined that I meet her. Ally had told me earlier that she had reminded her of the actress Cameron Diaz, and I could now see why. Not as tall, perhaps, but there was definitely a resemblance. As it turned out, she even had that bubbly, somewhat goofy persona. "Hey, I got a new one for you, Ian: Ça va très bien!" she chimed, drawing a wide smile across her face with her fingers. Ian immediately followed suit.

Later, we got to tour the school and see Ian's classroom. "Hi Ian!" a girl said. I asked him if that was the same girl he was playing with the other day at recess, bashing chestnuts with rocks. (Note to self: teach Ian the proper way to play with chestnuts: Conkers!)

"No, she has fat cheeks," he replied. As the girl who passed us was fairly skinny, I assume he was referring to his friend. Takes one to know one, I suppose.

"So that's where you left your coat all these days!" Ally barked suddenly. "Take it down this instant!"

Posted 3:27 PM by Ted
Hmm...looking back, I realize I never chronicled the tail-end of our vacation. Allow me to go over a few of the highlights. We all drove over to Bruce and Judy's one evening for glumkies, which are a type of cabbage roll. Bruce produced two large pots and set them side by side on the dining room table.

"Vinegar or no vinegar?" he asked, his eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

"Um...maybe I'll try both?" I answered diplomatically.

"But which do you you want first?" pressed Bruce.

"Okay...how about the vinegar ones," I conceded.

Shocked silence fell over the room, but Bruce beamed, "Now there's a fella who knows his glumkies!"

I do like cabbage rolls. They were one of the few items on the Syd Smith cafeteria menu that were actually palatable, and I grew fond of them over the years. Adding vinegar to the recipe is reputedly Bruce's proud innovation; yet his family, for the most part, abhors this departure from the proper. I get the impression the Great Vinegar Debate has raged on for years, threatening to rip the family apart, which is why it was such heresy when I sided with Bruce. I don't know if they'll ever look on me the same way again! :-)

Okay, enough of cabbage rolls. The culmination of our stay in Maine was Kateri's birthday party on Saturday. My favourite part was the scavenger hunt. Ally was heavily involved in the planning, and must have invested two or three hours on the ten-minute event. She photographed objects around the yard with her digital camera. Then she edited them on her computer, adjusting colours and cropping them to remove the unnecessary backgrounds and keep just the bare essentials (the chair, table, gazebo, etc.). Next, she had us compose witty poems like "Don't fret and pull out your hair, you'll find your next egg by the white chair." She inserted the poems around the photos and printed them out on Rick's photo printer. Finally, she stuffed the pictures into colour-coded Easter eggs and carefully sorted them into numbered bags.

As the kids were distracted making bead jewelry, she snuck around the yard deploying the eggs. Then she divided the kids into six teams and gave each a colour to search for. Every team had a different path to follow, but the whole event was carefully orchestrated to eventually bring them all back to a designated location where they would pick up their loot bags. Soon the kids were off, and it was frantic. I tried to follow some of the teams with my camcorder without tripping over others. The amazing thing was that in the end, it actually all worked as planned!

The next day we had to leave, and this time, I was able to get a hold of Asa and we agreed to have dinner at an Indian restaurant in Lee, which was conveniently closer to the Mass. Pike than Great Barrington. We made one mandatory stop along the way in Springfield, as it is the home of Dr. Seuss. (It is also the birthplace of basketball, but the kids were less impressed by this.) We did get to see Asa's whole family (wife Penny and baby son Winter), and it was a very nice dinner. I think Penny and Ally sort of hit it off.

On the final day of our vacation, we made our way to the New York State Fair in Syracuse. Amy spent a lot of time ogling the rotating life-size statues of people carved out of butter and watching the prize pigs and goats, while Ian seemed to be more interested in the kiddie rides. In the evening, Ally was thrilled to discover the Oak Ridge Boys were giving a free concert, as it was the last day of the Fair. We hung around until they sung their old hit "Elvira" before heading home.

Posted 1:50 PM by Ted
Ah...a moment's peace and quiet to update the blog. At the moment, Amy is sick in bed, while Ally and Ian are attending a special mass with his new school mates as September 11 draws near. That's right...Ian is now enrolled in the district Catholic school. Ironically, it turns out the principal was once one of Ally's students, back when she was teaching Macintosh applications over at Loyola. (The public school system here uses PCs while the apparently more enlightened Catholics use Macs. ;-) I have a feeling this means she is going to get suckered into volunteering at the school computer lab, but time will tell.

Ian is enjoying his new school so far. He hasn't quite figured out that praying thing yet, but was thrilled to find kindred spirits who share his love for the Yu-gi-oh Trading Card Game. He is not too impressed by the "silly math" they're teaching him...I guess he finds it too easy, but he's practicing his reading more now. He has also had some trouble buying milk from the school "Hive" (I don't know why they call it that...perhaps this warrants some research) at lunch. The line is very long, and he claims he never has time to finish his lunch after buying milk. Ally is now giving him shelf stable milk in tetra-packs to take with him to school, but of course, they're not as cold and refreshing (please feel free to roll your eyes!). Also, one time he accidentally bought himself a bag of chips (or was it snack mix?) with his milk money. Ally and I are still trying to figure that one out.

Amy is also starting at a new school...her first school, in fact. She spends two mornings a week at the same nursery school that Ian used to attend. Her first day turned out not to be the traumatic affair most parents brace themselves for. We didn't even have to rub Vaseline over our trousers to help us slip away from the expected ankle grabbing. In fact, she loved nursery school right from Day One. "I play house with my new friend! I pee-pee in toilet!" Yes, the two wonderful teachers -- bless their souls -- finally got Amy over her fear of using real toilets. I think that was worth the cost of one semester right there!

Posted 11:32 AM by Ted
Amy's first impression of Disney's Tarzan (on DVD):

Aw...baby Tarzan.

*pause*

Aw...baby monkey.

*pause*

Tiger eat monkey.

*long pause*

Dat not nice!

Doing my best Monty Python impression, I must respond: "A tiger...in Africa?"