A Family Thanksgiving

The best part of celebrating the special events and occasions in our lives is that you get to spend time with family. I spend all day Sunday getting the house and turkey ready. I loved decorating the house with the fall decorations. There is something magical about the fall colours. I am so blessed to be living in Canada and in a place where the fall colours show with such vibrancy. God is good!

Now that Joanne is back in Ontario she was able to spend Thanksgiving Day with us for the first time in three or four years. It was a special day since Jennifer was there as well with her twins, Ethan and Owen. Jennifer opened presents for the babies. I had a ball buying the outfits. We couldn't get enough of taking pictures of different people holding the babies.

It was also so warm again this year that we ate out on the deck. Unfortunately there must be a next of wasps. Cameron to the rescue! Cameron trapped six of the wasps under goblets to we could eat in relative peace. He was so proud of his efforts.

After dinner we had our usual family photo and then played a game of spoons. Spencer became our first casualty with getting a cut on his finger when fighting for a spoon with Uncle Don.

The four generations - Great-Grandparents, Grandparent, Parent and children

Great Uncle Rick.

It's hard to believe Joanne is a grandmother!

The proud great-grandparents.

To those family members who live far away and were not able to be with us this day, we wish you the best. We missed you and look forward to a time when we can all be together again. Ontario is waiting!

Autumn at a Cottage

Don and I were able to spend a week away at a cottage on Round Lake near Killaloe. For the first time we packed up Yoda, the cat, and brought him with us. We put him in a carrying crate but he kept banging the lid and the bars to get out. Once we were on our way and outside of the GTA I let him out of the crate. He laid right down on the blanket and went to sleep. We thought the ride would be a traumatic for him but Yoda was a trooper and actually settled well in the car.

The first night there Jason stayed with us. Don and Jason got up early the following morning and went fishing. They did not catch anything and Don was very stiff for a day or so. They also played the board game - Axis and Allies. It was great to see the two of them having their male bonding moments.

While the males had their testosterone time I just enjoyed relaxing in the cottage, reading and taking pictures of autumn. The cottage faces west so I thrilled to see a sunset each night we were there. So glorious!

Don and I spent time driving the back roads around the lake to Round Lake Centre, Bonnesure Provincial Park and into Barry's Bay. Don's idea of looking at and appreciating nature is from the front seat of the car!

On Tuesday we went to Petawawa to have dinner with Alyson and Jason. Jason and Alyson took us on a brief tour of the town and base. It is a lovely community with a lot happening to support the families that live there. We had a lovely time.

As the week went on Don and I spent much of our time relaxing around the cottage. Do you see a pattern in the pictures? Don and Yoda loved relaxing together. Yoda was such a sucky baby the whole week. He was content just to lay on the couch with us and we cuddled every day. Yoda tends to be a very independent cat, so the cuddling was a real treat.

Later in the week Don adn I went hiking in Algonquin Park. We went on the lookout trail. It felt like we would never get there but the wait was worth it. We also went on a bog trail. We came upon a group of people just standing and sitting looking toward teh woods. There was a moose cow and baby in the woods. I couldn't see a thing - so disappointing! The last trail we went on was the beaver pnd trail. It also had a small lookout over a pond with a few lodges. We had previously gone past the creek that had been damned by the beavers to create the pond.