The Prettiest Town in Canada

Niagara-on-the-Lake: "The Prettiest Town in Canada". Add to that the Queen Mother, on one of her many visits to the town, describing her drive along the Niagara Parkway as the 'prettiest drive' she had ever taken when she drove from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Niagara Falls, and you can see why we brag about 'our town'. And we can hardly disagree with her about the drive, even after having taken it dozens of times ouselves in the 7 years we have lived here.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year, and most spend their time walking up and down Queen Street. Nothing wrong in that. Flowers line both sides of the street. Most of the buildings reflect the heritage of the town as one of the oldest in Canada. It is definitely a very pretty main street. But it is more than the. The town was originally settled in 1782; in 1792 (when it was still called Newark) it was the first capital of Upper Canada and served so for 5 years; by 1812 the town had roughly 100 homes, all but one of which was burned to the ground by the Americans as they left in defeat in 1814 at the end of the war. So what most people miss are the many century homes rebuilt after that war. Take a stroll along any of the several streets above and below Queen Street and you will see why it is more than just Queen Street. And don't...definitely don't...miss visiting The Angel Inn, the oldest operating Inn in Canada. We had been coming to Niagara-on-the-Lake for many, many years before we moved here, and I doubt we ever visited without a trip to The Angel for a pint and a pub lunch.

But....see for yourself. Here are a few photos to show you what we mean when we say 'We love this town!'

Kristen and Steve get married

July 27, 2002: A very special day for our Kristen! She met this guy boppin' and groovin' to Livin' la Vie de Loca at an all night Aerobathon at the Chris Gibson Recreation Centre. He waited more than a week to call her and then dazzled her with a hot chocolate at the local Tim Hortons, and started yawning at 9:00 o'clock. Sounds like this relationship is doomed....right? Wrong!! She was smart enough to see that this guy was the real thing. So on July 27th, 2002 (World Youth Day in Toronto no less - traffic and hotel nightmare) they made it official. And what a party it was. They have now been married for 6 years, and have two absolutely wonderful little boys - Matthew (almost 3 and born the same date as his Uncle Mike), and Jack Ryan, newly arrived this August. Here are a few photos from the wedding. (Pictures from Jack's recent arrival are on a separate post.)

Look who's getting married!

08:08 on 08-08-08: it's not just the date and time the Chinese chose for the Olympic opening ceremonies, it was also the date and time Mike chose to propose to his absolutely lovely girlfriend Robin! It was a wonderful surprise for us, and, we hope, no less so for Robin. Mike is a great guy! but he has always been a bit of a nerd/jock, and frankly we wondered if we would ever see the day when he would find the girl that would finally make him put down his video game controller long enough to see there was something more in life. Well.....he did, sort of. Robin is also a gamer! They met in the Computer Science program which Mike decided to go into after 10 years as a competitive swim coach. The program and the girl seem to be a match made in heaven. Mike has now graduated (in the top 2% we can proudly say), and Robin will do so early next year. In June they hope to marry and are seriously considering a move to Australia to take up careers in the computer gaming industry. Now that would be fun! Hmmmmm......!

Our 40th Wedding Anniversary

Last November Norah and I went on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Now.....I had never been a fan of cruising. What the heck do you do with yourself trapped for 10 days on a ship filled with wrinklies? Well...as it turns out... a lot! We had a fantastic time. A good deal of that was due to the good company. We went with neighbours who have been cruising for years and were celebrating 40 years in Canada. To make it especially 'special' they brought with them a $600 bottle of wine for our anniversary dinner! Nice!!!! Here are a few photos from the trip.

The kids gave us a lovely gift for our anniversay. Two in fact. One you can see in the first photo. Most of you will know the significance of the nor(ah)way(ne)(19)67 license plate. And for those who don't....we know you will figure it out. It was a lovely surprise! And the second...an even lovelier surprise....was the news that we would soon be grandparents again for the second time. Needless to say that was the best gift we could have gotten.

Ahhhh....grandchildren

Our daughter and son-in-law have blessed us with two grandsons - Matthew Jake (born Oct 27/2005), and Jack Ryan (August 20/2008) Neither of us ever thought that having grandchildren would be more special than having children, but it seems it is! I know I love my children, but I don't know that I fell so totally in love with them, when I first saw them, as I did when I saw my first grandchild. And when you have the first one you can't imagine being able to love a second, or third or however many as may come along, as much as you do the first. But, fortunately, love is not a finite thing. There is no limit to it. You don't have to divide it to share it. It is just there to give and you can keep giving it and it doesn't run out.


Here are a few photos from these two very special times in our life - the births of Matthew and Jack.