Bingemans

The long awaited "family day" was on Saturday and this year we went to Bingemans which is an hour north west of Toronto. This is the same place Norm and Francis went when they were kids so really I think they were the most excited out of the bunch. They started with some batting cages and then cleaned off their sweat in the pool. Gross. The kids had a lot of fun up and down the water slide. There were about 3 different types of water slides but Rayanne and Seyla preferred the more simple, smaller one. On to the wave pool, a smaller version of what they have at Wonderland but the kids didn't seem to notice the difference. For lunch we went all out and had BBQ, rice, salad, veggies and fruit while onlookers watched as they ate sandwiches. When it comes to food, there's no other way but to do it filipino style. It's also a lot cheaper with 5 kids. To end our day we went to A&W where Norm and Francis enjoyed a 10 piece chicken bucket with the left over rice from lunch. Luckily we found a seat outside. How embarassing.

Happy Birthday Di!!!

Happy Birthday DeeLee-cious!

Congrats to Norm

Just wanted to say Congrats to Norm for wowing the people at the Toronto CCAC who interviewed him for the home care Pharmacist position. He was offered the job yesterday so we celebrated with Chinese food and wine!

Cottage Country

Early Saturday morning at 6 am we picked up Sally, Di and Gerwyn and headed up to the cottage. It was rainy and muggy in T.O. but the further north we drove, the sky cleared and the sun was hot! Later on that morning Mae, Glenn, Jared and Huddy joined us. It was a full house! As usual, Wendel and Mom enjoyed the company of us young'ns. Here are a few highlights: Glenn was the first to step up to the plate when it came time for water skiing. His confidence made it seem like he had done it before but once the boat tugged on the rope, he fell face first into the water. Norm was next...but not successful. Huddy followed suit and after the third try, he succeeded...for maybe 5 seconds. To us, that was a big deal! Then there was the double dog. Di and Gerwyn got on and immediately fell off. They tried again and they were doing so well until Wendel started picking up speed and on a tight turn, there was a huge wipeout. At night we had a nice bon fire where we toasted up marshmellows and Di made smores with graham crackers. The stars were so beautiful and the lake so calm. Best part of all...I didn't get one bite! The next morning we were all awaken by the fire alarm. No one knew why it went off until Gerwyn confessed that it was him...boiling water. Who does that?! He couldn't work the water cooler because it was child proof. Who are you?!

All in all, it was a great weekend with great friends and of course, great food!

Maybe we'll have to make this a yearly thing. Until next year ...

Carlos 1

Carlos 1 (aka "Carlos Premiero") is a brandy that Uncle Vic got from the Philippines. Norm and him decided to drink a little while eating fried pork fat with a vinegar concoction (ew). It apparently goes down smooth but what Norm failed to realize is that it was 80 proof. Luckily we caught Timmy before he escaped for the night. His girlfriend Louise came in to say Hi and before we knew it, she was sipping a glass of Carlos Premiero. Francis Baguio also stopped by to drop off cherries from his cherry tree but soon he, too, had pulled up a chair with drink in hand. Tita came home shortly after and was happy that the gang was still around so she ordered pizza. It was a really fun night with lots of laughing and talking and of course, drinking. This is a perfect case of "the best plan is no plan". Norm and I just came to visit and all of a sudden it's a party...with Uncle! But none of this would have happened had it not been for Mr. Carlos 1.

I love weekends

What's great about this week is that it was short so the weekend came pretty darn fast. The sucky thing about it is that I have a lot of work to come back to but who can think about work when the sun is shining outside and it's 30 degrees! It's Saturday morning and Norm is on his way to the market to grab us some chicken & eggplant sandwiches as well as some Empire apples. Today we plan on driving an hour northwest to Elora Gorge and having a little picnic. In Nanaimo, we always explored different areas of the island and it was always a lot of fun, not to mention cheap. So why not do it in Ontario? It's just as beautiful. We will probably stop along the way because Norm is always adventurous, or shall I say, nosey. I hope we come across some cherry picking, not that I'll pick because Lord help me if I see a caterpiller, but I'll just buy the ones already in a basket. I love cherries, especially with salt. But most of all, I love weekends!

Epic

First off I would like to say that I love long weekends! The heat and the humidity is a true sign that summer is here baby! The highlight of the weekend was Sunday buffet brunch as Epic. Epic is located at Royal York hotel and if it looks poshy at first...that's because it is. We enjoyed the usual breakfast items as well as sushi (real sushi, not just california rolls), lobster, crab, shrimp, oysters, chicken, pasta, an assortment of salads but the kicker was the chocolate fondue. Everything tastes better with chocolate...especially marshmellows. As most of you know, I suck at buffets but this time I ate everything! But don't worry, that was the start of my one month diet. My cousin's wedding is a month from tomorrow and I plan on toning and losing 3-4 lbs? Is it doable? I don't know...I love food but most of all, I love going out to dinner with Norm. Last night we had salmon and salad and for lunch I have packed the salmon and veggies. That's a good start.