It's Time

Guess it is time to post another blog. A lot has been happening since our last blog which left us visiting with family in Toronto.

We headed out west after that. Some of the highlights of the five weeks we spent there:

- meeting our newest granddaughter. We spent a week at her new home with proud (and rightfully so!) parents. It was amazing to watch them as parents rather than as my child. Not being biased, but She is a fantastic, beautiful little girl.

- watching Jason doing improv with a group he had been attending improv classes with. Not being biased (Griff here), Jason was an absolute natural up there (although it of course requires a lot of work to get to that place) and it was quite obvious that he was comfortable and quite at home on stage. He filled in a lot of holes in the beginning that might otherwise have appeared as blank (unfunny) spots.

- we got a chance to do an overnight with the Sparks family. It was astounding how much the kids have grown in the seemingly short time we have been away sailing. Of course they hadn't grown so much that they wouldn't play at the playground with Grampa Griff. Unfortunately we were not able to bring our golf clubs this trip so couldn't go out with Zac to enjoy the links (and get our tales dusted by the Cochrane Golf Club Junior Net Champ). Joey swore that he was going to wear the shirt we brought back "every day" and I guess he did for a while!!

- we managed to fit in a golf game at Boulder Creek - results as expected - good thing we didn't play with Zac

I think that wraps up the first week in Alberta although there was a lot more running around than we will relate here, including driving down to Lethbridge and back so we could pick up our car.

So - off to Lethbridge and the following highlights: if we missed anyonoe or anything when doing this list, please don't be offended. As expected we had an absolute whirlwind time while we were home with visiting. working on the acreage, catching up our shopping etc etc etc::

Some of the highlights:

-first weekend was spent with Cheryl's family. A barbecue at her brother's house on Saturday and then a baptism on Sunday

-The next week was spent pulling and spraying weeds at the acreage; seeing doctors and dentists; golfing a couple of games, we finally found our clubs; and catching up with friends by phone. The week ended with a barbeque with our irreplaceable friends Randy and Aleitha. Not only is their friendship and love so supportive but without them we likely wouldn't be able to do what we are doing (they look after our "home" stuff like the acreage). It was a long weekend so lots of people were away but it was really good to feel welcomed by those who were able to come and as usual we had a great time.

-The second week saw us doing more work at the acreage, more golfing and visiting with friends. Cheryl headed to Vancouver Island for her 40th Nursing Reunion which she thoroughly enjoyed. Jason came down and spent the weekend with Griff while Cheryl was gone.
-Our last week in Lethbridge was a whirlwind trying to get final visits in with everyone and settling things at the acreage with our new renters. We managed to get some golfing in with the Ward's, a visit
 with the Gunn's, a birthday celebration for Cheryl and her brother with her family, dinner with
Laraine and the Fast's and Cheryl had a dessert night with her lady friends.
-Back to Calgary for another week with Cheryl's kids. Also managed a dinner with the Hick's, a barbecue with Cheryl's kids and her sister and a lunch with Jason. We did spend more time with the Sparks' family and gave Zac the opportunity to beat both of us at golf.
Then it was back to Toronto on September 28th. First night we were back Rob hosted us and the Perry's with a great East Indian menu. The Perry's provided a birthday cake for Cheryl's birthday. The next day we re-packed our clothes into the hockey bags and later in the day took the subway to meet Rob and Jennifer for Japanese food and then took in the musical "Jersey Boys", the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Great music, great company and a great day.
On the Wednesday, Maurice and Sue (S/V Strider), who we became good friends with in Grenada, came down from Caledon, where they are home visiting and we had lunch on the waterfront. Again, great company and good fun.
That evening, Graham and Julie brought the kids over again and Graham sprang for the Chinese food. The evening went by far too quickly but it was just as well as Cheryl and I had to get up at 4:00 to catch the Express to the airport. Jennifer had borrowed Rob's car as her neighbour had beaten hers up. Rob had said he could go and get it to drive us to the airport but as we discovered this time when we got to Toronto, that Express bus is just so handy that getting Rob up at a ridiculous hour to drive us to the airport just didn't make sense. I think we will continue to avoid traffic whenever we come to Toronto by using it. Rob - we really do appreciate the many many many times you have driven us there and back.
Watch for the next blog installment - Back in Grenada