Dickson Hill, Dorothy, and Daylilies

The house I grew up in, from my birth in '79 until I got married in summer '03. When my family moved to Western Canada in fall '03, it was a rental property until they sold it in '11. There is a post with better pictures of the house/property here:-) It happily housed all 13 Kennedy's (and is bigger than it looks from these angles!)

 

A quick trip in to visit "Grandma" Dorothy - she has been a family friend for over 35 years, and is a treasure for sure. We surprised her, and she said of our visit "I'll remember this forever".

My Aunt Lois passed away in Feb 2006 of cancer. She was a wonderful, beautiful woman, and since her passing, some family members had a daylily hybridized in her honour, and it's named the Lois Mary Exquisite. It has now grown enough to be split and shared, and pretty much all her family has planted the Lois Mary. I got my bulb planted as soon as we got home, and I hope it survives its journey well, and blooms each year here in Virginia. A beautiful tribute.

Auntie Lois (in yellow) and Auntie Donna (in blue), two of my Dad's sisters, in 1990

Downtown

We took an afternoon and went into the heart of Toronto to show the kids some of the sights. There is a LOT to see, and we barely scratched the surface, but we hit some of the highlights. When the kids are older, we'll do more (like go see a game, and take a tour of something)

When Brian comes with us sometime, we'll go inside. I've been, but Brian and the kids never have - it's the Hockey Hall of Fame!

Look what we see! It's the CN Tower!

We walked through the lobby of the Royal York - (a little history. Way back in the day, like, the Upper Canada days, Toronto was named York. The district is still called York Region, and there are a lot of historical things with York in the name. When the kids are a bit older, we'll take them to Fort York, which was a pivotal place in the war of 1812)

The Royal York hotel - Brian and I honeymooned here

The kids in the Royal York

Guess where the Queen stays when she comes to town? They have a special suite on the 2nd floor for her

Gorgeous and ornate

Lobby

Brooks loved this little display of the English Civil War in 1644 this is the Parliamentarians against the Royalists

The girls loved this display of crystal everything!

There is a "mall" attached to the hotel, and underneath it (underground mall connects to subway system)

A bit of history about the hotel, and the land it's on. "...The Royal York has upheld the finest traditions of a grand hotel and remains the largest in the commonwealth"

There are doormen, all dressed up, as "old fashioned doormen" would be (with white gloves and everything:-). They saw us looking around with the kids, and brought us colouring books and crayons to take home.

A double decker bus:-)

Reflections

It is exceedingly difficult to get the whole thing in one camera angle. Here I am basically laying on the ground. It is 1815 feet tall, and from it's completion in 1975, until recently (2009) it was the tallest freestanding structure in the world. It remains the tallest in the western hemisphere, but China and Japan have built competing and taller structures in 2009 & 2012. When the kids are older, we'll take them up to stand on the spooky glass floors.

Looking up!

It's very very tall!

The Rogers Centre, formerly the Sky Dome. I still call it the Sky Dome, because I hate that stadiums don't have names anymore, just sponsors :-( It has a retractable roof, and is where the Blue Jays play, and the Argonauts -Canadian Football League. I've seen many a game there (the Raptors played there briefly too, before the Air Canada Centre was completed . But they now share the ACC with the Maple Leafs hockey team). The Maple Leaf Gardens was replaced with a brand new ACC when I was a teenager. Boo for corporate "takeovers".

My *favourite* part of city life. Pesky pigeons

The Royal York, from "down the street" It has the green copper roof

Karate - Video

I saw this door on 4th of July weekend at Walmart. I almost bought it, but then thought "ahhh, does it really work?".

Well, Auntie Collette had one at the cottage. Not only does it work, but it's super fun. For Grey anyway. And yesterday, for 14.99, I bought my own for the screened in porch, since the kids struggle to keep the door closed while running in and out. 

Check out Grey's hilarious moves:-)

Cottage Life

Post will be very heavy on pictures, so I'll go light on words. Our cottage experience was AWESOME. It was the kids first time in fresh water (a lake), first time tubing...first time at a cottage, in fact:-) My Aunt Collette and Uncle Mike (My mom's sister), have this nifty cottage in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. So we spent a day with my mom's siblings, and their descendants. Sooo fun!

Uncle Mike, Teegan & Tatum (my cousins)

The cottage. A view from the dock

Fire pit area

Me, before I got changed:-)...on the dock, while all my cousins soak in the sun

Mattea & Kayla (my sisters girls)

tubing fun

Kenna tubing for the first time ever!

Uncle Mike and Teegan gave people rides on the Sea Doo

Cousins: Kenna and Kayla

Grey, a bit of a loner as always, mostly played by himself

Decks and docks. The perfect outdoor space

My mom's younger brother, my Uncle Trevor

My Grandpa Shantz (my moms' father)

Me, talking to my Aunt Caralyn (married to my Uncle)...looks like my cousin Teegan is eavesdropping? :-)

Uncle Trevor teaching Brooks how to fish

Brooks caught 4 fish. Bass, and sunfish

Another one Brooks caught

Trevor was like the Pied Piper...all the kids had to come and see all the fish!

My Cousin Tatum with her 1st cousins once removed, Grey (orange shirt) and Canaan (lifevest)

Cousins Kenna, Mattea and Grey

Going on my boat ride with my uncle Mike, my sister Lauryn and my brother in law Mark

We are on the "X Qs Me"

Mattea and her Great Uncle Trevor, fishing

Kayla eating ice cream

fish touching

Auntie Collette hung the pirate flag, ripped up an old pillowcase (to facilitate proper headgear), and declared a water war! Brooks, Kayla & Kenna, with their 2nd cousin Aaron.

Nicole (my cousin), and Katie (my cousin Jordan's wife) floating away

The "bridge" leads over to the 2 car garage, which is also completely surrounded by decks:-)

Aaron, Jackson (Collette's grandsons) with their second cousins, Mattea & Brooks, and their 1st cousin once removed, Holden

Tatum, creating a shield

Such fun

Grey. Playing from the side lines.

Jackson, Brooks & Holden - all cousin-ish. Holden is my first cousin, and Jackson is my cousin's son (so Brooks' 2nd cousin)

Kenna after her first tube ride. It was "so fun" but the water was "too cold" :-)

Family fun times

My Aunts, Caralyn & Collette, inside

The basement

The bar area

Water wars with Grey and Uncle Mark

Bridge to the garage

cottage

garage

My first cousin Tatum, and Brooks. Toes in the water

 

My first cousins Jordan and Holden, with my nephew Canaan in the foreground

Brooks was very brave to try tubing! When he saw Kenna take off, he yelled from the safety of the deck "I'm gonna sit here an watch you die!" I guess he decided it wasn't all that hazardous!

My niece, Kayla Grace

Toes in the water.

Thumbs up, after an awesome tube ride!

Boating around Pigeon Lake, good bye all!

Lauryn, boating

Uncle Mike

Selfie on a boat

It was gorgeous! I love feeling the water as the boat speeds along

The kids found some shells. Kenna assured the kids that they could hear the ocean in these shell. That would be quite magical, indeed:-)

My cousin's son, Jackson

Brooks and Holden. Trouble.

A loon, flying over the water

The cottage. A fun time for one and all! Grateful to my Aunt and Uncle for hosting us all!