They Are Revolutionizing the Blanket Industry

Christmas Tree Pizza

A-mac and Lil' Lefty make a pepperoni Christmas Tree pizza for lunch.

Backyard Rink - Phase Two

Phase One was building the frame.

The frame has to be built before the ground freezes.

Phase Two is putting the tarp in the frame.

I am happy to report that Phase Two was successfully completed last night after work with the help of MacDaddy & Lil' Lefty.

Let the cold temps come!!!

Christmas Card Pictures - UNCUT

The cost to mail a Christmas Card to the US from Canada has continued to increase. We started a tradition three years ago to mail Christmas Cards from Cleveland while visiting for Thanksgiving. This means we have to have the pictures taken, cards made and envelopes addressed before we get to Cleveland so we can buy stamps at the US Post Office and mail them. Our tradition had been that our kids, our "presents", are our Christmas Card.

I heard MacMom say it takes 200 pictures to get one good picture. The weather was nice today so we went to the Credit River to take some pictures. I captured all the excitement of a professional photo shoot with by candid, behind-the-scenes, unauthorized pictures... you get the idea.

Visit to Chudleigh's

We spent the afternoon at Chudleigh's Apple Farm in Milton. We picked 2 1/2 bags of Empire and Jonagold apples (13 lbs).

Friday Night - Hockey Practice & Public Skate

MacDaddy had Friday night hockey practice, and the girls went to public skate at the other rink in the arena.

Volleyball Game A-Mac

"Money, it's the shoes"... is a famous quote from a 1980's (maybe early 1990's) Nike commercial. A-Mac is #33 with her school volleyball team. I snapped these quick pictures while standing on the stage watching the game. Back to the shoes... A-Mac is wearing, new from last year, Nike "Air Jordan" color court shoes. A great purchase at an outlet mall in the US, and a great retro look. They won their volleyball game.

A Great Way to Spend an Evening

The Major League Baseball regular season has come and gone without us attending one single game. I can not recall watching many games on TV. Most of the season came from Sports Centre (Canadian spelling) highlights and internet articles/stats. I guess this is the result of busy kids, a compromise I gladly embrace. Last night, however, we had a break in the kid's activities and were able to watch the one-game playoff for the AL Central championship. MacDaddy, laying on the couch, and I watched two hours of the game and enjoyed every minute. We were rooting for the Detroit Tigers. They lost in the bottom of the 12th inning after MacDddy had gone to sleep. I will have to let him know this morning when he wakes up. Lil Lefty watched a little. A-Mac tended to her homework. She has early volleyball this morning.

Ball Hockey

MacDaddy and Lil' Lefty playing ball hockey with COCO looking on.

Lil' Lefty chose to be in net.

Don't hit the dog!
Note to self regarding Ball Hockey....Make sure net is in the street or at bottom of driveway.
DO NOT PUT THE NET IN FRONT OF THE GARAGE DOORS!
or you will have broken glass panes to replace in garage doors.

Walk by Creek

A-mac and I took Coco for a walk by the creek. We had hoped to see jumping salmon. We saw a half dozen fishermen, two frogs and no fish. It was good exercise.

Celebrities at Optical Store in Sears

Look who we ran into in the Sear Optical store while getting glasses for A-Mac.


Harry Potter...

... and Ozzy Osbourne...

Media courtesy of new iPhone.

"Good Job Stepping On the French Dude!"

Big D was picked by a street performer in Old Monteal to help him out with his act. Way to go for stepping on a french guy on a bed of nails! Big D tried to pursuade the performer to have MacDaddy stand on him instead.

When heading back to our car, Big D stopped and asked for street name we parked on to see how much father we had to walk to get to the car. The weather was starting to feel like January instead of July and our hot cocoa's were empty. The 2 guys replied that they just passed it on there walk towards us and added , "Good Job stepping on the french dude!" Needless, to say the audience of the street performer was quite a large crowd.

You Gotta Eat!

While in Montreal, MacDaddy took his baseball coaches wife's advice and enjoyed a Steamie (hotdog) at La Belle Province. In fact, he probably enjoyed a few of them-ketchup only! The Mac family also ate dinner at another restaurant at her suggestion-Bar B Barn. There we ate some yummy barbeque ribs and chicken before heading down to Old Montreal. MacDaddy was going to go "HULK" on us. He didn't want to eat here. He would agree with Lil' Lefty now after giving the Bar B Barn a try that the ribs were Finger Lickin' Good!

We also went to Schwartz's for some Montreal smoked meat sandwiches. There was quite the line up to sample this Montreal delicacy. I believe they are corned beef. Big D favored these.

Unicycle

The Montreal Challenge theme was circus. On Thursday night before the All Star game, there were various circus skills stations set up. Among the stations was the uncicyle. Of course, Big D had to show both MacDaddy and Lil' Lefty that he still had it--the ability to ride one of his favorite toys of his childhood --the uncycle. Mac Daddy and Lil' Lefty gave it a spin. Mac Daddy ran back to the diabolo and sticks that he favored. Lil' Lefty spent a good 20 minutes or so with Big D learning to get on and balance on the unicycle. Dotted with fresh new bruises on both her shins, Lil' Lefty was able to ride the unicycle while holding onto the fence. She was quite determined to master the unicycle and now wants Big D to buy her a unicycle.

The Italian Section of Boston

Our last night in Boston, we ate at an Italian restaurant called La Francesca, and then got dessert at Mike's Pastries down the street. Both were very tasty.

Back from the Dead

We saw the flavor grave yard at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont. We stopped at a Ben & Jerry's in Old Montreal and unknowingly I ordered a dead flavor. Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz died in 1999, according to the corporate headquarters, but I was eating it in Old Montreal in 2009. What is the shelf life of ice cream?

Orioles Spring Training Game in Ft. Lauderdale

First off, the girl in the white hat is Lil' Lefty. She made her first spring training game appearance the last day of Spring Break. MacMom was yet to step foot in a ballpark. Her tan is better than mine.

We had two good seats at Ft. Lauderdale Stadium to watch the Mets play the Orioles. I let Lil Lefty sit with A-mac while MacDaddy and I sat several rows back.

Lil Lefty and A-mac sit in the "good seats". Look for A-mac's pink shirt and Lil Lefty's white hat. There were very few kids at the game. Lot's of older people.

This picture is from the ramp showing where A-mac was trying to get autographs. She is in the pink shirt.

Along with the tickets the day cost me four hot dogs ($4 each), three pretzels ($3.50 each), three large lemonades ($5 each), two ice creams in hats ($5 each), one pizza ($6), two snow cones ($4 each), a hamburger ($6) a diet coke ($5) and a cotton candy ($4).

A day at the ballpark with my kids - "PRICELESS"

New York Mets in Port St. Lucie

We drove 90 miles to Port St. Lucie to see the New York Mets play the Houston Astros. We had great seats to get autographs. I saw no Mets players signing autographs from 1 1/2 before the game to the end of the game. Both MacDaddy and A-mac got baseballs.

Former Milwaukee Brewer great Cecil Copper is the manager of the Houston Astros.

All tool - All Star Jose Reyes had two line drive doubles before being removed in the 4th inning. I especially liked the way it looked like he was having fun during his warm-ups.

See video below

Ice Hockey in South Florida - Are You Crazy!!!

MacDaddy and I got dropped off by the girls at the Bank Atlantic Center while the girls went across the street to Sawgrass Mills Mall.














That's me in the white sweatshirt taking our picture with my extended arm. (I just realized where MacDaddy gets his smile :-) )















NHL hockey is South Florida is a little different than in Hockey Crazy Canada. We paid less than 1/2 face price for two tickets three rows up and slightly over from the blue line.

The arena was 80-85% full at game time.

There were plenty of Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals #8) sightings throughout the game.











After the game was over we walked across the street to the girls waiting for us after their shopping fun.