A birthday Meal

For my birthday we decided to check out the Firehall!
They had firehouse decor all over.



We were very excited about the menu because it included some of our favorites!

BBQ Ribs for Tim

Delicious fajitas for Jenn. And they even managed to find me some guacamole, a true rarity in Canadian resterants. They don't know what they are missing.

A true classic, which didn't last long, the spinach and artichoke dip! Mmmm!
It was a great meal, but the best part was that my dinner was free because it was my birthday!
YaY! Now we know where we're eating on Tim's b-day.

Jenn's Birthday!

Birthday wishes for Jenn!

Well, a few weeks later and it was back down to the states
for my birthday and another wedding!
It was a good time!

Birthday hat's and all!

Silly times with the fam!!! Got to love it.

We had a really nice time with a great dinner and time together.

By the way, my parents got an awesome new garage built over the summer.
They even have garage door openers on two of them now and an upstairs
workshop/storage area.
So, after the birthday celebrations it was onto the wedding celebrations.


My cousin Amy got married in Tennesse to Travis a couple months ago.
They had another reception in CT so that the rest of the family could celebrate with them.


And celebrate we did! Emilie even caught the bouquet!
The orange and white were remenicent of the TN spirit!
After a beautiful dance with her dad (my uncle) Eddie
It was time for us to head back to the border.
See you all again soon.

Mom and Dad's visit

You are now entering Canada!!!

Next big event was that my Mom and Dad came to visit!

We had a nice visit and went to the Royal Botannical Gardens!

It was a chilly day and we all enjoyed a warm drink and beautiful scenery.

These gardens were truly amazing! There were tons of great garden sculptures too!
I'd love to have this one in my back yard.

We also found a cool interactive sculpture. Who's head fits in the crown?
Mine was a bit skinny for it.

It fit a little bit better on Tim.
The Helicopter...
And the zipper!
The next day was beautiful so we thought we'd check out downtown Toronto!
We found more gardens! My parents really love gardens...
The waterfront area is filled with luxury condos and well, gardens.
We also checked out the CN Tower. From a distance.
I was not ready to go up it yet. I hear it has a glass elevator...uuuhhhggg.
So after the city gardens had to come a touch of antiquing. Yes my parents can sniff
out an antique shop even in Toronto!

Tim couldn't help his curiosity...it worked! And it was loud!!!
All in all it was a great visit with my parents.

They are welcome to come back anytime. Thanks for a nice time.

A christening...and kayaks!

Our next stop on the Tour de Familia was a cristening.
Above is (L-R) Cousin Kim, Priest, Jacob, Dad James, Mom Kelly, and Godfather.
My cousin Kelly had a baby while I was in SF. I had yet to meet him.
Jacob (the baby) is quite a cutie.

Four generations.
Grandma Gryken, Aunti Bev, Cousin Kelly, and baby Jacob
Well, The hello's and goodbye's have been said so it's back on the road.

We came across this friendly fellow on the NY thruway. Tim liked the sign.
I guess someone finally took him because we have yet to see him again in our
MANY trips through NY.
After a long drive back Tim and I took a break from the hustle and bustle
to enjoy the lake.

AAAAHHHHHH....

And Poof it's July 30th!
Happy 3 year anniversary to us!

We had a great day.
Thank you mom and dad for the flowers.

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Now, if you live in Canada you love Hockey. But what about in the summer? Yes, there is summer up here. In the summer Canadians turn to the water and cheer for their awesome Canoe and Kayak teams.
Especially for those teams originating from the Burloak Canoe and Kayak Club which so happens to be located in Oakville! This club also happens to be the place where Tim and his brothers spent a good deal of their early adolecence.
I had to check this out!
We had great timing and were able to attend the send off party for the 2008 summer olympic team. The man on the Left is the Mayor of Oakville. The "cool" guy on the right is
Adam VanKooverdan: He won gold in the last summer olympics.
They named a road after him! This club is located on 16 mile creek and has produced many Gold medal athletes. Including This guy.

I think he won gold in the 80's sometime. But look at those arms!

Nice boats! Tim was thrilled to be at the club again and reunite with a few old friends.
We both had high hopes for him being able to join up for the summer but it was a bit too late in the season. Maybe this coming summer!

Welcome to Martha's Vineyard!

The next phase of our transition to Canada was a family vacation to Martha's Vineyard.
A truly beautiful place to spend some quality time with the fam.

We checked out a lot of beaches.

Celebrated a couple birthdays with cake, candles, and...
FIREWORKS!!!

And then there were more beaches!

Puzzles...Puzzles...Puzzles...and more puzzles!
We actually did, I believe, FIVE different puzzles.

This one was fun but tougher. It was 1000 pieces. Mom and Erica worked very hard on it.
So after the puzzle there was...
More BEACHES!!!
And after the beach we went out for a special dinner at The Black Dog Tavern, an Original M.V. pub that has become an EMPIRE!


They not only have food but a bakery, and two stores that sell
basically everything with the black dog logo on it. The food was amazing and Tim loves the double layer heavy-weight hoodie that we got him. It's great for working out in the garage in the cold Canadian winter.
But here on the island it is still summer. So, we're off to the Field Gallery,
an outdoor sculpture and painting gallery that is another essential MV moment.
Oh YEAH! What a stud!
And a sister picture of course.
And then it's back to the beach. Aaawwww.
I love you too Tim!
And with all that beach hopping we even went actually swimming in the ocean.
One funny story at the beach was that Emilie and I were paddling together on the boogie board
and chatting. We kept paddling and chatting and looking out at the ocean.
Then all of the sudden my Dad called us from the shore, we turned around and realized we were WAY FAR OUT! Yikes! We quickly paddled back towards the shore and took a nice safe break on the sand.
A bit more about the beauty of MV: Hydrangeas, WoW they are everywhere and gorgeous!
A few scenes from our walks and bike rides around the island.
More beauty :-)
And Mr. Tim the photographer.

Big beautiful boats everywhere!
And cute little cottages everywhere too!

And Mr. Tim the photographer on our long bike trip.
I'm not much of a rider so the 7 mile bike trip we took around the island was a
BIG accomplishment for me. I really enjoyed it too.
With scenery like this how can you go wrong.

We went out to the island on the island Chappaquitic. This area of MV used to be connected to the main island but after storms and erosion it became disconnected. It now can only be accessed via a shuttle boat that runs back and forth across the 300 yd. distance.
I believe this is a sandpiper.
At the end of a long day in the sun we went to watch the sunset over the boats.
If you look carefully at my leg you can see it's quite pink. That was the beginning of
a journey back to Canada with a BAD sunburn. Both Tim and I got very burned that day.
It was a great day at the beach though and an
Awesome time on the island and with family.

Thank you Mom and Dad for a great vacation.