Monday, December 14, 2015

It`s Christmas 2015!!!

 Well it`s Christmas time, I`m still riding outside and I did not freeze my twig n` berries putting up the lights. Sara got into the outside decorating this year - here she is sporting the traditional Hammer outfit of a lumberjacket to get things going.

 We always pride ourselves on being `loud` in the neighbourhood for the holidays. We definitely do not focus on coordination - instead we try to use everything we have. I`m not sure why but there aren`t a lot of homes with lights up this year - maybe people feel out of sorts because of the mild weather. We`ve not done any shopping to date and Christmas has come up rapidly.

 This puts things into perspective with regards to the weather. This past week I was in Thunder Bay for a couple of days. The pic above was taken at 9:00am and it was 4C.

 Whenever in Thunder Bay I try to visit the Terry Fox Memorial - it`s always inspiring. Beautiful shot with the sun coming through the trees.

 The memorial is really well done and a fitting tribute.

 The Thunder Bay area from the air.

 Heading towards Toronto this is cool shot of the clouds below. Equally fun was flying through them - a bit of a rollercoaster!

 Friday nights we go to a special needs soccer program with Logan. There are several levels of needs and the kids are amazing. I can`t say enough of Coach Frank and Coach Joe - truly amazing human beings. We go to Players Paradise for the session and parents and kids do drills and horse around the field for an hour. It`s always a great start to our weekend.

 Post soccer Logan and I watching some Star Wars - bliss!
 
Finally some crude humour with a Christmas theme - my kind of funny:








 
Have a great holiday - Cheers!

Monday, November 23, 2015

Boo Hoo - I'm Sick!!

 This is honour of Sara who's had the great pleasure of listening to me whine over the past 48 hours while she does the Christmas baking and keeps the household running!








Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Fall Fun

 We've been having some beautiful weather this fall. We've been trying to do active family things as well. For Logan we do different activities so that he is exposed to as many things as possible. We bike, swim, he does gymnastics (more like trampoline), occasional hike.

 We went for a walk by the rail trail and tried steps with him. He did surprisingly well. We make sure not to go overboard but it was good for him.

 In other Logan news his Mosasaur statue arrived from the U.S. He used his birthday money to purchase it. It actually is very detailed and quite heavy. He proudly has it on his computer desk.

 Yet more Logan stuff. As you can guess from the pic Logan went out for Halloween. Not sure how many more he'll do but he just turned 12 so he's into it. He went as Indomitus Rex from Jurassic World. Arrghh!!

 Sara and I got out for a "date" aka a workout together. We went for a beauty run in King's Forest. The fall is amazing here and trails and hills here are awesome.


 The Hammer from atop the escarpement.

 Sara post run. She decided to bring out the neon for the run. Pink, orange, lime green, purple - I think she pretty much got it covered. And no Sara, I will not be removing this pic!

 Took some customers out to the Red Wings game - Tampa vs Detroit. Always a good time.
 
 Finally - watched the NBC coverage of the Hawaii Ironman. It was well done as usual. I especially was floored by this man Derek Fitzgerald. Derek battled cancer for almost 10 years and also had a heart transplant!! He finished Hawaii in 16:36 to become the first heart transplant athlete to finish. That is absolutely freakin' amazing!! He said on the broadcast that the biggest honour he can give to his donor and donated heart is to use it. The journey this dude's been on is incredible. As I write this I have a bit of a cold - perhaps I need to HTFU! I'm sure Derek would laugh at my whining!!
 
Cheers!
 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

October - What A Month!!!

 
 
 First off there's Thanksgiving - which in my house means many hours watching the Hawaii Ironman on my TV via the computer. For trigeeks this is a must - 17 hours of live coverage.

Although I do not have pics a huge shout out must also go to my TCoB teammates Helene Desrosiers and Chris Jocelyn who both raced Kona after qualifying in Mont Tremblant in August - quick turnaround by the way!!
Helene finished in 12:41.44 and Chris did his first Kona in 10:47.31 - outstanding efforts by both and I can't wait to pick their brains!
 

 On the training front I've been enjoying the fall weather. Some days have been absolutely spectacular.



 Picked up some new shoes - the Hoka One One. I got 2 pair for $84 US including taxes. I like them so far. I usually prefer a little more cushioning in the winter when the ground gets hard. My Kinvaras provide less.
 
 Finally the REALLY BIG NEWS - Sara and I, after 18 years together, are engaged!!! Yes, we do everything ass-backwards. I like to remind Sara that I was about to buy her a ring many years ago and she wanted a bike instead at that time. What a woman! Technically we were supposed to get engaged a couple of days after this but I launched a preemptive strike. Sara RARELY gets surprised. I had wine and cheese, got dressed up, made a photo album of our history together - all the mushy stuff!

 When we were MUCH younger.


 Celebrating with the favourite daughter (and only daughter) Emily.

 Enough of the the mushy stuff. How about this for a pic. I stopped to answer the phone on my ride and this fella came over to see what I was up to. What a beauty!

 Stunning colours

 Ok back to mushy stuff. For our engagement weekend we did the MEC 10K at Confederation Park. This is the before pic with our new TCoB hats.

 Post race where we switched up the sunglass wearing. We ran 50 minutes for the 10K and all of it together - how ro-mantic!

 Back home, quick shower and on to the wineries. First stop Foreign Affair. Great little winery near Beamsville.

 I was the driver so I didn't drink but sampled a little to get the taste. Great wines.

 Next up - Megalomaniac. It was very busy so we weren't there long. After that we were Niagara-on-the-Lake bound to Colineri Winery. Colineri is quite good and we enjoyed their wines. After a way overpriced meal at Ruth Chris and a sleep at the Sheraton we got up Sunday to do a little shop at the outlet mall before heading for home.

 While shopping we ran into the Great One Wayne Gretzky who congratulated us on our engagement and toasted us. Full disclosure it's not really Wayne but a cardboard Wayne - we still were excited though. Full disclosure - I was really excited; Sara was trying not to know me at this time.

Finally our youngest, Logan, turned twelve-teen on the 25th!! I think we should call it twelve-teen because, by age twelve, most kids are already behaving like teens. The voice change, the height gained, the size 10 feet - holy cow!

 For the birthday we had this dangerous crew out for some serious Go-Kart action. It had been raining so the track was a little slick but it was a blast fishtailing.

 Once done racing the kids took the paintball guns and shot 100 shots at a bunch of targets. They all got their call-of-duty on.

 Back to the house for some pizza and cake and all was good. Logan had a fabulous time and has some really great friends - we're very proud!

 
Now it's time to prepare for the long winter ahead....BOO!!
 
 
Cheers!