Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving - spending part of the weekend with my family and part of the weekend with Paul's. The weather was so beautiful we actually sat out on the deck for a few hours at Mom and Dad's and had a visit from a very friendly chipmunk. Heather, Jeff, Cabella, Paul and I went for a walk at the bird sanctuary -really scenic with all the changing leaves. Paul's mom had quite the crew with Ashley's boyfriend being home and Jeff's girlfriend being able to join us as well. Shadow Grace MacCallum had her first birthday and her mom gave her a fish cake made out of soft cat food - she loved that treat!!!!

Here are a few pics ...G

Fun in the Maritimes

It's been a while since I updated. Has been a fsocial packed fall so far with visitors, weddings, and of course Octoberfest.

Connie was down for a visit in September and we got all the gals together for a nite out which was great to catch up with everyone. Paul and I went to a co-workers wedding which was nice for me to catch up with the SMSS gang since I hadn't seen anyone since I left. Paul's Uncle Clar was over for a visit from Newfoundland so I got to meet him which was really nice since we haven't made it over to NFld yet. We had a big yard sale to clean out our garage. Kaeleigh and her friend Abby had a bake sale to raise money for the IWK and they made $19 - not to shabby. Here are some pics!!

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Get your own

OCTOBERFEST - what can I say - what a blast. Paul and I went with Jeff and Heather and 13 others over to Tatamagouche for Octoberfest. We went to the afternoon event and the weather was very cooperative. Paul proved he is a master tower builder wtih beer cups. We camped in the tent trailer and it was so warm that I slept on top of the sleeping bag. We had matching shirts and really had a party!!!! As the Germans would say Zicke-Zacke, Zicke-Zacke, Hoy! Hoy! Hoy! and then down a Beer stein!!! Fun was definitely had by all as can be seen by the pics!!!

Guysborough County

Paul and I went on a little road trip on the weekend. We went Thursday nite to my Aunt Joan and Uncle Len's place in Guysborough County. They have a beautiful spot on a lake. They have more hummingbirds than I have ever seen. We had a great visit.
On Friday we went onto Sherbrooke Village which was interesting but seemed to be very vacant. We stayed at Liscombe Lodge on Friday nite. What a great place - great food with lots to do. We wined and dined on Friday nite. Saturday we kayaked, hiked and played shuffleboard.
Back in the car we got taking the scenic way back - Highway 7. We golfed at Harbour Ridge golf course near Martinique Beach at suppertime. We landed back home about 9pm Saturday nite. Just in time for some laundry and packing before Paul flew out to Dallas at 6am (yes up at 4am) on Sunday morning.
Was a fantastic weekend.
Here are some pics of our travels. G

Fun in the Sun

We finally had a sunny day!!! and Paul and I were at his brother Wayne's cottage so it was really enjoyable. We had a great day relaxin on the deck and went for a spin in the boat. I wish I had brought my swimsuit - I would have gone for a dip.

Buskers

Last Thursday, August 14th, Jeff came in with the girls to see some of the Buskers. Mom was in town as well so we all went out for lunch. We just started watching a Busker Act, Aerial Angels, when the skies opened up and it poured. My niece, Sarah went up in a hoola hoop contest at the beginning of the act. Boy, the one gal could really manouever a hoola hoop. They also were fire eaters which was really cool. Unfortunately, it continued to rain so that was the end of the Buskers for us.

Here are some pics. G

England - Wedding

Saving the best bit of information for the last....

It is official - Paul and I will be married on July 11, 2009 at the Alverton Manor in Truro, England!!!

We had some serious red tape to get through to be married in England. Our trip this year was to enable us to meet the registrar and "give notice of our marriage" which gets posted at the registrar's office for 15 days before we are allowed to get married. We had to be physically in the county we are to be married in for 7 nights before we were allowed to notify. Once the notification process is done we have a year to get married!

There was much wedding planning activity on this trip.... Paul was involved in the venue piece but left the rest up to me with the muchly appreciated help of my sister. We booked the photographer, flowers, cake, found bridal party dresses, booked transportation for the rehearsal party and started planning the rehearsal party which my sister will host at her house in Helston.

I am so excited... the wedding is truly going to be very memorable...

Here is a pic of the bride and groom to be on the day we went to the Alverton to sample food and wine

England - Travels Cont...

On our way back home, we asked our cab driver in London how far we were from Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and he responded we were very close and would we like to take a little mini tour. He was fantastic and was a wealth of information. We had a mini tour of London for only 7 pounds!! We will be including London as part of our trip next year, Paul and I have both been before but Kaels hasn't. She was pretty impressed with the Royalty bit.

Here is our mini tour:

England -- Travels...

We tried to see as much as we could during our time there. We did a number of day trips and saw alot of the beautiful countryside.

After chilling out on our first day, Laura took us to Loebar pool which was just outside Porthleven. It was about a 15 minute drive from Helston. The walk to the beach gave us a beatiful view of the Coastline. The beach was nice but we could not go in the water due to the dangerous surf and currents.
Here are some Pics.



Gwithain Beach
When we got to England, Mark was very eager to take us Surfing. He is a member of a surfing club and was able to get us some wet suits and a couple of boards. We packed up the crew, strapped on the boards and headed off to Gwithain Beach, about 30 minutes away. (If you haven't realized yet Helston is 30 minutes away from everything).

The beach was awesome and there was a pretty good surf happening also.

We all had a great time "Surfing" and there were no serious incidents.

Here are some Pics:




St. Mawes
We loaded the car and went to St. Mawes Castle which was one of the venues we were considering to get married at. We made the trip to Falmouth and took a ferry to St. Mawes. It was an absolutely beutiful day and the scenery was equally beautiful.

St. Mawes is a quaint little village and it was a short walk (all uphill) to the castle. The pictures we saw on the web prior to visiting do not do it justice.
After our visit to the castle we finished the trip with some lunch at the Rising Sun Pub and an Ice cream.
Here are some pics of St. Mawes.



Paul and I went to a beautiful and unique castle - St. Michael's Mount. It was originally a military fort but was later sold to a family who still lives in it to this day. The family leased it to the National Trust which is a non-profit society that maintains all the historic properties in England. It depends on the tide how you get to St Michael's Mount. If the tide is out you can walk on the cobbled path but if the tide is in, you have to take a boat. The tide was in the day we went. There is also folklore (created for the children I am sure) that says there was once a giant on the island which a brave child slayed by setting up a trap for the giant to fall in. There is a heart shaped rock on the steep path up to the castle which is said to be the giant's heart where you can stand on it and feel his heart beat (cute eh??) The inside of the castle really gives an idea of the splendour of the day since it has original furniture from different inhabitants of the castle.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle, here are some pics of the outside.



Kaels, Paul and I went to a amusement park our last day in England. It is walking distance from my sister's house. It was mostly Kaels and I that went on the rides as anything that goes in a circular motion makes Paul sick.

Here are a few pics

England - Family

What can I say, my favorite part of the trip was seeing my nieces and nephew and their parents of course. It took the kids a day to warm up to us as is to be expected.

Lochlan, the oldest at 4 yrs has become quite the little Brit. He has a real English accent. He graduated from preschool while we were there and we start school next fall with his little uniform (part days until January.

Miah, the "ginger" (redhead in English terms) lives up to her hair color and has a unique husky voice. She is very independent and can "do it herself" as can be seen in a few pics below -feeding her sister and putting jam on her toast. She is very comical and very smart - has a large vocabulary for being just a little over 2. She became quite trusting of her older cousin Kaels.

Olivia, the babes is now crawling forward and is just a doll. Only cries when hungry or tired. She is very inquisitive as to her surroundings. Auntie Glenda really enjoyed cuddling the baby.

We will miss them and will find it quiet at home.

Here are some pics of the kids. G

England - our trip

Hi there,

Yes we are back - after a fantastic 2 weeks away. We have so much to blog about that we are splitting it up into a few different "England" blogs.

The travel itself is quite the journey - first a plane to London - we flew ZOOM and landed in Gatwick, then the Gatwick express train ( 30 minutes) to Victoria Station in downtown London, then a taxi to Paddington station where we got another train for 5 1/2 hours down to the lower southwest corner of England, the county of Cornwall. My sister picked us up at the Penzance Station. We left here at 9pm Saturday nite and got to Penzance at 4:30 pm England time on Sunday. Quite the journey (sleep deprivation big time) but all went well and it was Paul's first time on a train!!

We had a more restful journey on the way home. We took the overnight from Penzance to London and had sleeper cabins which were great!!!

Here are some pics!!

G

A Day at the Beach

Hello All.

This Saturday we decided to go to Rushtons Beach. On the way we picked up a couple more MacCallums, (Emily and Sarah). It was a beautiful day for the beach, hot and sunny.

At the beach the girls had a great time playing in the water. While the girls were in the water Glenda and I laid back and enjoyed the sun. Glenda got nicely tosted and I got.... a little crispy.

The water was so warm but felt great after laying in the sun most of the afternoon. After some lunch and some more swimming we loaded up the car and headed home. Emily and Sarah came to Bedford with us for the night.

We setup the tent for Emily, Sarah and Kaeleigh for the night, but in the end only Emily and Sarah stayed in the tent. After a week with Strep throat Kael's didn't feel up to it.

The Girls were up bright and early (even earlier than Glenda). It was a beautiful morning so we had breakfast outside. It was a great end to an awesome weekend. It doesn't get much better than this..... See below for some pics from the weekend.

Well that's all I have for now. Stay tuned for details on our trip across the pond to see Laura, Mark, Lochlan, Miah and Olivia. - P Daddy

Summer Happenings

This is an update of what we have been up to since summer has official hit.

Kaels is done Grade 5 as you see from her earlier post. Mom took the afternoon off and we went to Wall-e (cute movie). Then we went on a family visiting adventure - first off to the valley to see Mom and Dad MacCallum - we had a relaxing evening and then off to the bro's to see the new big deck!!!!! (a pic or 2 below) We had a fire in the pit in the back yard and were having so much fun that we stayed over Sunday nite too and drove back Monday am before work

Happy Canada Day. We had a few friends over for a bbque and then we all went down to see the fireworks which were spectacular I might add. (see pics below of Kaels & I and my friend Lisa and I)

Kaels got a new bike, she has definitely outgrown her old bike. (pic below) We decided as a family to get more active and enjoy biking.

Camping out in the backyard (July 4-6) - beats all the packing up of really going camping. With everything going on we won't get a chance to go before Kaels goes off to Toronto so we camped out in the backyard. Slept in the tent, cooked on the bbque, roasted marshmallows, make smores and spider dogs on the bbque, cooked breakfast on the coleman and literally spent the whole weekend out side. We went down to Point Pleasant Park on Saturday and had a picnic, played some frizbee and walked around -into a few forts. Was a fun family weekend that all three of us really enjoyed. (lots of pics below)

What's up next???? A trip to England to see my sister Laura and her family and take care of a few things while we are over there. We are soo excited and are counting down the days. G

School's Is Over

Howdy all! This is Kaeleigh typing(P.S first time:). I just wanted to tell you all how excited I am for school to finish but most of all what my report card is!!Also such a busy summer! But I know it will be FUN and tiring.

But i am kind of sad because today i had to leave my babysitters she was so geart and had wonderful children so there were some crying firewors LOL!! But I will always visit there house!! But I got through it with help from my mom! There so many things I want to talk about but to long to type!!Well that's all! Kaels

Wedding News

Soo....

We are not getting married in Cuba anymore...

We am reluctant to say where we are getting married until we are absolutely sure it is going to happen... we are currently jumping through red tape hoops to try to get it done...

So stay tuned...

Happy Dad's Day

We had an enjoyable father's day. Kaels treated P Daddy to breakfast in bed and a gift of monogrammed golf balls which she monogrammed herself with a kit.Dad and Mom, Jeff and Heather and the girls came in for a bbque in the afternoon. It was really nice to have Dad at the house and the weather actually was partially cooperative in that it didn't rain and was temperate.
Here are a few pics!

Another Year Closer

Well she is one year closer to the "big one"
Glenda still goes like the "Engergizer Bunny" but Kaels and I were able to slow her down a bit for some Sushi and Chocolate Cake to celebrate the day!!

On the weekend we gathered members of the clans together for a big celebration.

New Blog

Well, we thought it was only appropriate that we started a new blog now that there are 3 - one being a male, Paul of course. I am soooo excited because now it won't be only up to me to update this thing. Paul being the IT guy he is, I am sure will be more timely with his posts!!!!! Yes, I am setting some expectations up front- Good luck, honey!