Sunday fun with the clan

We had a lovely (busy) week and a lovely (busy weekend). Happy Hour with neighbours on Friday night, Kid's Fishing Derby and family for dinner on Saturday, and then the Millbrook 3-Minute Film Festival on Saturday night. How wonderful to have such a great event taking place across the creek! (Literally). How unfortunate that many people would come away from such an event with a greater appreciation of short films, while I came away with the knowledge that I had one too many glasses of wine. Alas - some people are cultureless slobs.

Having too much glee on Saturday only moderately affected more fun on Sunday as we made the trek to the Stewart Hall community centre for an early birthday party for my granny. A good time was had by all, as seen by these pictures. Yes, Jim has a big orange hotdog on his head:

Baby Jack was there along with the other adorable nephews and Evy did enjoy playing with her boy cousins.

Maybe one of these days we'll have a good (lazy) weekend... Must go pencil that in the calendar now.

p.s. Thanks to Emily, my offical photographer!

You've gotta fight...

For your right...
To protect your water!

Yes, protesters took to the normally-quiet streets of Millbrook today. The issue is a ridiculous plan to divert water from Millbrook to supply a new development planned near the Peterborough airport. This would entail a pipeline that would cut through wetlands and tear up idyllic countryside and would also drain the aquifer that runs under Millbrook and part of the Oakridges Morraine. Oh, and it's going to cost approximately a bajillion dollars, so a stupid plan all round.

So, we took to the streets today in honour of Earth day and had a march up to the council offices. Then the heartier folk continued on and walked the 2 hour route of the the proposed pipeline. Evy and I didn't do the longer walk, instead we went to the Earth Day festivities in town where we bought some native wildflower seeds and a white pine and a sugar maple tree. We also marvelled at the giant earth-shaped cake and played with the local kiddies. Good times.

Here are some photos for your enjoyment. Evy was a pretty darn cute protester!

Evy and daddy man the picket line

Rob was the letter 'G' in the signs that spelled out,
"It's about respecting water"

Evy's sign says, "I think the pipeline sucks"

The family that fights the man together stays together

In and amongst all the serious protesting, there was some time to make new fuzzy friends. These two ABSOLUTELY gorgeous dogs are Scottish Deerhounds (not Irish Wolfhounds as I thought). The owner laughed because she said they had definitely never seen a human that small before, and I'm pretty sure Evy had never seen doggies that big, but they all seemed to get along just fine.

Daddy.... can I have these two please?

A friendly sniff

Checking the dental health

And then, after all the excitement, the protesting, the Earth Day festivities, and the sunshine and fresh air, miss E passed out in her stroller on the walk home. It's hard work exercising your democratic right to peaceful protest. It sometimes requires a peaceful nap afterwards!

All tuckered out

In other exciting news, Rob has officially announced he's running for Millbrook Councillor. The elections aren't until October but the campaign started on Friday with a lovely article in the Millbrook times and the launch of his great website: www.robjackson.ca. I'm very proud of him and am looking forward to the campaign trail over the next few months.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the weather that turned out to be pretty great considering the forecast. If you want to learn more about the Fraserville Water Diversion project, check out this website: www.socm.ca.

8 adults, 8 kids, what a day!

The T.O. gang descended on Millbrook yesterday for a little country fun. Maplefest is on, and so all 16 of us managed to fit in the pancake breakfast, a visit to the sugar bush, fun at the playground, dinner, and of course a walk over to the dam.

Let me tell you, 4 adults are not enough to watch 8 kids while crossing over the dam. Poor Spencer was almost lost to the icy waters:


We did manage to get some super-cute pictures though.

Bernie, Evy, Jarvis, Spencer, Dylan, Kaden, Saira, and Felicity

A very busy day! Thanks to all the lovely ladies and their broods for making the long drive to Millbrook. We love it when you guys come to visit!

VERY unhappy about the public swim with daddy

p.s.

In case anyone forgot to read the fine print, my April 1 post was an April Fools joke.

As much as we miss England every day, we're pretty happily settled back in Canada. But who knows what might happen in the future?..... I'll keep you posted!

Fun on the run

Here are a few pictures from our Saturday day night dinner chez the Higgys.

Mademoiselle was very busy and strutting around like a big girl. One of her new favourite things (other than the SWING at the park - she screams with a eardrum-piercing glee every time she sees it) is the hammock at Granny and Poppa's house. They babysat her on Thursday and coined the term hammockaze (like kamikaze) after the 16th time she demanded to be placed in it and pushed. (Nice to have an army of slaves, non?).

Little girl, big chair

Lookit meeeee, sitting like a big girl

Addicted to hammock

More swinging, mommy!

And me relaxing in the rope chair with baby Jack

Was VERY hard to go back to work today, but the miserable rain helped encourage me. And, hey, it's a short week, so that helps too.

Jack & Jack

If lightening struck where you were today, I apologize. It likely occured because I went to church this morning. Yes, I try to go a few times a decade, whether I need it or not.

The flowers in the church were in memory of my Grandpa Jack, who died 5 years ago. It seems hard to believe it's been half a decade. Rob and I had just moved to England 3 months before. The phone rang at 5am. (It's never good news when the phone rings at 5am, is it?). He was 92 and you'd think that I might have prepared myself for losing him. But I didn't and it took me a long time to stop mourning.

He was such a character and such a wonderful grandpa. He was abrasive, and opinionated and gruff. He was also funny, a passionate nature lover, handy, and a talented photographer. And he loved us so fiercely, though of course he never said so.

Jack reduced, re-used and recycled before it was cool. He could make useful tools and machinery from scraps. He was a talented woodworker who spent countless hours in his dark sawdust-filled cellar. He came from a different time and had amazing stories to share - even if we heard some of them 100 times.

So I spent a lot of today thinking about Jack. Thinking about how much he would have loved to see Evy running up the aisle at church today. Thinking about how he would have laughed to see us all gathered for dinner last night. And of course, thinking how honoured and delighted he would be to meet his namesake, my beautiful nephew Jack.

Here's G'pa Jack circa 2003 - never happier than when
he was surrounded by his grandkids

And here is baby Jack (now a big 4-month old boy!)
What a funny little (big) man!

Hunting season

What a fun morning! We hosted the first of what will become an annual event - the great Millbrook Easter Egg Hunt! I went slightly overboard and had almost 100 eggs for the 6 kids, but what is easter if not a time for excess? And eggs stuffed with fabulous dollar-store merchandise?

A great time was had by all. I made this baked french toast for brunch (thanks to Emer for the recipe) and it was really good.

The highlight, though, was seeing the kiddies run around searching for eggs:

Little miss with an empty basket to fill!

On the run to find more eggies

The elusive 'tree egg' is discovered

The even more-elusive woodpile-egg is spotted

And after a busy morning, Evy and (the love of her life) Maia, have a rest

Oh, and did I mention that the weather has been AMAZING? And that there's still two more days off this weekend? Woot woot!

I hope the bunny is good to everyone! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Back to England

Well, we suspected this news was coming, but we've finally had confirmation. It looks like we're moving back to England.

I'm horrified at the thought of leaving Millbrook. We're looking in to renting our house out because we don't want to sell it. And now, of course, with Evy, we've got a lot more details to worry about.

It's been a few years since we've moved home, but Rob and I have both missed living in the UK - and all the travel of course - so although we're sad to be leaving, we're excited to be going back. And it's only going to be for a few years.

I wonder if our house on Sopwell Lane will be available to rent? I wonder if Evy will get a wee accent? I wonder how I'll be able to handle the flights back and forth with a 2 year old.

So, no firm dates yet, but it should happen by the end of the summer. I'll keep you posted! And don't worry - you'll all be allowed to visit!

In the meantime, here's a pic from our time there:



p.s. Happy April Fools!