Toe

That is Max's toe after he dropped a pie baking dish on it. I think this is the day after it happened. 

If you are wondering, yes the toenail did fall off.

A Knight and a Princess

 That would be a Jedi Knight and Princess Leia.

What better costumes could there be better for a brother and sister.

Max was supposed to be Luke but he kept saying he was Obi

He is telling his sister that everything will be okay. She was not so happy to be getting into her costume.

Little snot nose Ev as Princess Leia

Once we got outside Ev did not want to be up in anyones arms. She wanted to run with everyone else. She even had a minor freakout when we told her we had to go back inside. They both came back with a full bag of candy. (I'm still working on eating all the goodies they brought back)

Oh by the way, both costumes were home made by Carrie. Evelyn's costume was such a hit that she had people taking photos of her and one old lady that just needed to show her to her husband because she was sooooooo cute.

Doohickey

I finally replaced the balancer chain adjuster lever aka doohickey on my KLR. I'm told that aside from this Achilles heel of the bike, it is otherwise bulletproof.

The task required several tools to get the job done, including specialized wrenches and springs. However the most useful tool of all was my iPhone and YouTube.

Specifically this video. An absolutely essential tool for doing the upgrade.

This is my bike with the new doohickey installed

It was a bit unnerving doing 120 down the highway when only minutes earlier it was in pieces on the shop floor.

Apple Picking

We go back to October and Brooks Farm for this post. 

There at the farm they have a monster/zombie/alien theme. They really go all out there. We had no idea they had this set up until we arrived, but it was a lot of fun.

We were there for apple picking, and had read online that they open at 9am. When we got there they politely informed us that they didn't open until 10am. Then gave us a bag for the apples and said go ahead and start picking. It was great, we had the place to ourselves.

Well except for some hungry natives.

Ev, seems to be telling us that it's the red apple she prefers.

Max wishing, perhaps, that he was a bit taller.

Me and my mini peeps

Mother and Son

Mother and Daughter

The boy heading for the dirt

Max, going to get lost

A quick family photo

And of course what trip to an alien/monster/zombie farm would be complete without trying to shoot those alien/monster/zombies with a pumpkin from a cannon? Unlike them, I hit the target with my Canon. :)

Thanksgiving

This is actually a dessert we made for Thanksgiving dinner. There was this whole thing with emails and things progressed, and well, out of that came the idea to make a dessert that looked like shi… crap.

That's melted tootsie rolls on a cake, cookie and pudding bed. It tasted better then it looks, which is good since it looks like poo.

Max getting into the meatballs.

At the Park

Just another day out at the park. 

Ev wearing her hand me down fluffy jacket and loving it.

Max going through a tube

It's a bird. It a… bird.

Carrie and the kids

Storm

A storm blew in and the light show was crazy awesome. So out came the camera and…

Canoe

For our 10 year wedding anniversary we decided to go out, and I mean all out, for a nice dinner. So we went to Oliver and Bonacini's Canoe Restaurant in downtown Toronto. We did the Taste Campfire. It was a five course meal which included:

Amuse Bouche

Cold Poached Rock Hen
Woodland Mushroom Salad
Chestnuts and Bacon Gellée

Fire Roasted Lobster
Summer Sweet Corn And Daikon Ribbons
Pickled Cattails and Watercress

Intermezzo (no photo)

St-Canut Suckling Pig
Smoked Blue Cheese and Wild Rice Spaetzle
Caramelized Holland Marsh Onion

and of course no campfire is complete with out,
S'mores
White Chocolate Marshmallow
Graham Cracker Cup
Spiced Chocolate Sauce

Dessert was my favourite, nope strike that, the company was my favourite. Thanks for a great night out Carrie.

At the Ex

At the Ex this summer we stuffed our faces with some really good food. I wanted to try more of the stuff they had there but my wallet said no. They had everything there including deep fried butter. Next year I'm bringing more money. :)

What we did eat was a Burrito 

        

 a quesadilla

and I had the crispy cream hamburger. Thats two doughnuts for buns plus bacon and an egg. I don't remember the calorie count but it was a lot. like a lot, a lot. Hate to admit it but I could have eaten a second one. 

Who wants to come with us next year?

Toronto Island

Thought it would be fun to take the bike down to the island and walk around with the camera. There was a little light, very light drizzle, but Carrie assured me it would be okay. So off I went. Well it wasn't so okay. After arriving at the docks and seeing all the people getting off the ferry were soaking wet, I thought I had missed the worst of it and I decided to go ahead and get on the boat to the island. Walked around a bit then thought it was time to start heading back. Just switched from the 70-200 over to the 8-16mm and that must have been the cue for the heavens to open, cause ten minutes after I did the rain started. I went running for shelter and quickly got the camera in the bag. Then threw my jacket over the backpack to help keep the rain off my gear. In the end I was soaked, completely soaked. The camera however was dry. Two minutes after I was on my bike headed home the rain stopped. By the time I was home I was nearly dry.

City

 

Family Reunion

Had a little Family Reunion this summer.

Yup, it was a good time :)

summer wrap up

With summer over, even though it doesn't feel like it since the temperatures this week have been in the 20s. I figure it's time for a Summer wrap up of sorts. This summer was busy, but then again so is every other part of the year.

However, we did make sure we took some time to stop and smell the flowers.

We tried riding bikes, but haven't quite figured it out yet.

Did a little bug watching

Of course we hit up the splash park to help stay cool.

Max learned how to operate the camera and even managed to take a few photos where his finger wasn't covering the lens.

and on rainy days we hung out with our good buddy TV.