Memory Lane

 A few pics of things in and around town, in the Greater Toronto Area...

It's Sam's! On the corner of Woodbine and Stouffville Sideroad in Gormley...the place where a very nervous Brian talked with my Dad about his future with me:-)

It's Kennedy Road! That one is for Kenna

You know the bridge in Anne of Green Gables? The "I'm fishing for lake trout" bridge when Gilbert Blythe comes to Anne Shirley's rescue? Well, this is THAT bridge. In the early 00's they replaced the handrails as the former ones were rotting, so it no longer looks exactly the same as it did in the movie. Anne of Green Gables was filmed in Markham, Stouffville, Uxbridge and surrounding areas...not in Prince Edward Island. My parents and several of my cousins had their wedding pics taken here (when the handrails were original), but it didn't work out for me to do it, regrettably. I tried, but it was too far from the location of the church I wanted to use.

Toronto has EXPANDED out into Markham and Stouffville like you wouldn't believe! I found it hard to drive by memory in places, as everything is so new and built up, I didn't recognize a single thing! But in some places, it looks just like it always did. This spot off Hey 48 still looks as it always has. I wouldn't give it much longer before the city overtakes it though.

Almost home! Until I got married, I lived in only one house...66 Dickson Hill Rd. 24 1/2 good years there

This is the house I grew up in. Here are more pics from a previous post. Oh the memories!

My parents moved out to Alberta in 2003, they kept the house for a few years as a rental and sold it in 2011.

The new owners keep it up well in the front yard, I thought

The backyard was a little jumble-y. I don't know why they put the trampoline and the above ground swimming pool all smooshed up against the play structure & ferris wheel.

The siding on the back side of the addition looks like it either needs to be powerwashed or painted. Hard to tell which, but it was looking a little worn. The trees are so big now that it was hard to get a good picture of the deck and stuff from the cemetery.

I love these little flowers. They are tiny, pretty and smell great. They grow in the cemetery and in our yard - I don't know what they are. I have not seen them in VA.

Our home in Dickson Hill was purchased by my parents in 1977, and had formerly been the parsonage to the church that was next door. So yes, we grew up next to a cemetery:-) We never thought about it twice. My Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy are buried there. I always thought we'd all end up there too, but I guess life sadly has a way of moving us on. It would seem now that none of us will end up there...anyway, as we were trekking over to find their grave, Kenna made a few "ew yuck" comments about trying to avoid stepping on the dead bodies:-) I guess those would be normal reactions to visiting a cemetery, especially for the first time, and it was their first time.

The grave of my Grandparents Harold & Mary Kennedy - Papie died when I was 3, and Grandma just recently in '07

Have you heard the story of how someone once stole all the ooooold headstones and used them to build a patio?! Well yes, that really happened - Years later when the patio was ripped up by new home owners (a house down by the creek on Dickson Hill Rd), the headstones were discovered but they were too broken to be put back up, and they were so old, that they weren't even sure where to place them all, exactly anyway, so they did this to display them.

When we were kids, there was no convincing us that this was not the actual graves of THE Acquila and Priscilla - you know, the ones in the Bible. We were quite positive God struck them dead and buried them right here. I guess we weren't really into reading dates back then;-)

They put up this memorial plaque in 2012, to commemorate the cemetery's 200th year.

The school on the corner of Hwy 48 and Dickson Hill Rd. It used to be my French Immersion Public School (l'ecole Dickson Hill), now it's a Montessori school

My very first paying job. Well, almost. When I was about 10 years old, I was paid to water the flowers on Danny Grove's grave all summer, and used my money to purchase a Care Bear (the purple one with the milkshake on it). But my first job requiring a SIN was at Scholastic, and I was 14 years old. My Dad worked here for 20+ years, before he moved on to Gage/Canada Publishing. I worked in the warehouse here, and basically made boxes, all day, everyday for the summer:-)

 

Spotting the CN Tower on our drive by tour of downtown Toronto

It's hard to take pics while driving! I was telling the kids that the CN Tower used to be the tallest building in the world, but recently another building in Dubai has taken over that title, so now it's the second tallest building in the world. Brooks, using that new found knowledge, upon catching a peek of it says "Oh that is the second tallest building in the world? Yeah, it does look pretty small" Haha! I had to explain that it was still veeerry tall:-)

There is the Royal York off in the background there (green copper top), we spent the first night of our honeymoon here. And it's the most beautiful place ever!

We tried to look up and see the top of it, from the bottom as we went past, and we could not see the top! So tall!!

Well, in the Kitchener area, Grandpa Shantz took us on a little tour showing us our family history and our Mennonite roots. (He is the first generation to not raise his family (my mom) as Mennonites - in fact, his parents were shunned, long story!)

My Great Great Great Grandfather came to Upper Canada in 1866, from Prussia (before Prussia combined with Germany), with his wife and children. He wanted to settle in Berlin (now Kitchener) because he had heard it was a German speaking area. His first job was working on this farm. That building looks like it may have been pretty original to that era.

The building from the other side.

Corn, drying out. It's still obviously a Mennonite farm, with no electricity to it at all.

 

It was Sunday, and by all the Sunday buggies we saw out, it seemed that everyone was home from church. We did catch a Sunday late-home-goer driving down the road, I was glad the kids got to see that. They are mystified as to why you would choose a horse and cart over a car or truck:-) They also observed how slow it would be to travel that way.

The Kissing Bridge, is one of only 2 covered Bridges (other one in Nova Scotia), and apparently there are only 4 in the world!

Kennedy Family Potluck

The Kennedy family get together this summer was in honour of little baby Drew. He is the son of my cousin Rich, and his wife Amy - he was born at 23 weeks old, I believe! He is now 6 months, and home from the hospital (although not at party - can't do crowds yet!), so everyone that was able to attend got together - this is for decedents of my Dad & his siblings (he the 4th of 6 kids)

*for ease of knowing who's who - "real" family members are in bold, and people that married into the Kennedy family are in italics type

Ever wonder about the "once removed" thing? I'll help you out in case you are confused about how it works - you know what your first cousin is - example Darla and Jeff are first cousins. So Darla's children and Jeff's children are second cousins. So what is Darla to Jeff's children? That is a first cousin with 1 generation "missing" or removed, so any "step down" in the lineage like that is a "once removed" cousin. Hope that makes sense to you!

(Here is a tricky one for you. My brothers Brent & Logan married first cousins Chantelle & Kari. So their children will be to each other, fully first cousins by their dads and fully second cousins by their moms. Weird right?!)


Uncle Cliff (my Dad's brother), holding his great-nephew Canaan.
In the background, is Wendy, Auntie Donna (Dad's sister), Lauryn (my sis) and Cathryn

Cousins and second cousins horsing around in the pool

My kids and Lauryn's kids (first cousins), playing with their second cousin Hayden

First cousins Jonas and Nolan (Scott's son and Shelley's son). Since Scott and Shelley are my first cousins, these boys are my 1st cousins once removed



Mattea and Kayla playing with the football on the ropes. Their 2nd cuzzies Avalyn & CJ playing right behind them. In the background you can see my cousins Scott, Shelley & Auntie Elva 

Brooks & Hayden playing with the hose, while Jeremy, CJ & Tessa look on

Jeff, helping the kids do something, Dale in the background

Grey is borrowing his 2nd cuzzie CJ's hat

Uncle Don did not fail us! A very long standing tradition of him giving us (Dave's kids) licorice every time he sees us:-)

I think, other than my immediate family (who don't live there anymore), every one was in attendance, with the exception of Uncle Howie & Myrna, and Chris & Ryan and their families.

It was a very fun day catching up with everyone. I personally have not been to a yearly Kennedy shindig since 2004! My kids had a blast connecting with their extended family!

Kitchen Progress

The day before I left for Ontario, Brian completely demo'd the kitchen. Everything was 100% packed up and here we go...! (Here are some before pics)

Header, coming out!

Everything is gone, except for the area holding up the sink & plumbing.

Our house was built in 1952, and the kitchen was original to the house...so 61 years old!! As you might imagine, when we tore everything out, we found some treasures from loooong ago behind the backsplash area. I adore finding old crap like this, I just find it so interesting!

 

1. A business card for a realtor, from back when phone numbers were only 5 digits.
2. Wylers lemonade. Based on the packaging, it was from about  1981, as the expiration date on it was 2/28/82 - you have no idea how tempted I was to mix it up and see if it was still good! Haha!! I didn't though:-D
3 & 4. Front and back of coupons. The wording is hilarious - "Mr Grocer, we will redeem..." "Take this to your Grocer". We don't have Grocer's anymore. The world is so much less personal these days, even with connectivity online and everything. Apparently caffeine was spelled caffein in the 70's. These coupons expired on 2/1/71. (8yrs and 1day before I was born!)

While I was in ON, things got REALLY busy for Brian. He ended up having to tend to quite a bit of our personal paperwork, and work with Woodard was pouring in, so he's been swamped, day in and out!

Our kitchen ideas - we have a limited budget, so Brian will make the cabinets himself. However, solid, nice wood is pretty expensive...a high end kitchen these days is made of the same wood that the doors are made from...

But we are not high people:-) Additionally, we would like to never sell this house, even if we move out of it - it will become a rental. For a rental, you want nice and functional and indestructible, not really "high end" - at least not in our neighbourhood/price point.

So we decided to do a white melamine inside, with wood "ends" on all visible edges, and wood doors made in a missionary style, if you are familiar with that look. Doing the white on the inside saves tons of money, while, when all the doors are closed, it will have a high end appearance. So we will enjoy the kitchen as long as we live here, and then it will become a very functional rental.

So despite being super busy while we were gone, he got the cabinets built (boxes only, not the door fronts - that will come later), and got all the top ones installed!

This is what I came home to...

LOVE it!!

 You can see the plan perhaps now...it will be a 3 sided kitchen, instead of just across the back wall with makeshift stuff on the other 2 walls.

He has the fridge pulled out right now. He's building it in with pantry cupboards on either side, and a cabinet above

Upper cabinets on the "stove's wall" Never before seen!! We will do a microwave range above the stove, which will be the only new appliance our budget will support at this time (we don't already own one, so it's necessary). As appliances need replacing, we will get something more on trend and matching. We currently have a mishmash of everything:-)

The front edges of the melamine are trimmed with this pale/natural wood. This will be the colour of the doors - pale maple. We decided to go with a pale wood, as we didn't want to darken or shrink our space too much, and felt like we weren't good enough at painting to get a professional looking job on a painted cabinet (we do like the "mushroom" colour that is available these days at cabinet stores). I think the natural wood will be good for our space, and have a look of good quality about them.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love that hardworking man of mine?! I asked him who helped him install the uppers - he gives me a "duh" tone of voice and says "no one. I know how to hang cabinets" haha!! Well of course he does. He's amazing! So grateful for his mad skills. He's going to save us a bundle of money (like 5 to 7 thousand dollars!!!) and it's going to look great!

Quick Stop in NY

On our way to Ontario, we stopped by Brian's parents house. It's been a looooong time since we've been to NY, and the kids loved it! They were in awe of the beautiful mountains, and country living

A mountain view from their back deck

The kids love this feature of their post and beam home...2nd & 3rd floor balconies!

Gorgeous, but very hot weather

Bears are the theme in Cairo, NY.

We visited the town offices to see where Grandma works!

Grandpa took them out exploring, and they ate huckleberries in the wild:-)

 

We stayed only 1 day, and then we were off to the Toronto area.