A Day Trip

When our little boys had gone back home, and were off to school, Poppa decided we should go for a drive.  So....

....... we hopped in the car and headed north.  As you can see there were no fall colours yet.

We stopped at the marine railway just in time to see a boat entering the rail.  The marine railway is a structure like a huge railway car.  The boats drive into it while it is in the water....

............with the hopes of getting to the waterway on the other side of this gorge - which as you can see is quite a lot lower.  I took this photo from the bridge which traffic uses to cross the gorge.

Once the moving cart is full (or all the waiting boats are loaded), a powerful motorized pulley system starts raising the cart up and out of the water.

.The boats are directed in by staff so that when the cart rises out of the water, each boat is positioned in a sling which holds it in place while being transported across the road on a set of tracks - very like railroad tracks.  The captains and passengers in each boat get to stay in the boats, but as you can imagine - must remain seated at all times.

Once the cart is across the road, it begins the steep downward descent to the lake on the other side.  You can see the rails heading down the hill.

It actually moves surprisingly quickly for such a large vehicle...I had to almost run down all these steps to follow it!

Here it is at the top of the slope...

........ and this is where it will be travelling........

........... down to this level, where the rails once again enter the water .........

.......... where it slowly goes lower and lower........

..... until the boats can start their motors and drive out into the lake...

...... as you can see - there were quite a few of them - and other waiting to cross to the high side.

Some of the boats are fairly large.

Soon it was full again and began the journey up the hill again in the opposite direction.

Over the crest of the hill.....

....... across the road and once again, into the water....

....... and we watched the boats follow the channel to the lake on the high side of the gorge..........

....... I couldn't resist getting another picture - it's a long way to the bottom!  Anyway...........

.......... this time we headed south on the highway...........

........ and drove past Uncle Ernie's house on our way home....it didn't look like anybody was home.  It was an interesting and fun day - hope you enjoyed the tour!

Munchie - Last Chapter of 2017

I just have to share this blurry photo as we move ahead.....

... it is hard to hide from Nanna when this is the only spot available!  What a little rascal!  But that was the last shot at our house, the next one....

...... was at the Bass Pro Shop where we dropped him off with Mommy, and he headed back home to get ready for school days!  Then I finished up a knitting project .......

........ I had been working on for a staff member at Aunt Jeannie's residence who is awaiting the arrival of a little girl in October.  While Squeegie....

.............. in his favourite outfit (he named the little bear "Bubba"),

......... perched on one of the shelves - he is in the orange oval on the left.............

........ supervising while Poppa cleaned up the garage.....

.......... and Taffy had a bath and a tumble dry - she loves it -see the smile on her face??

Munchie - Chapter 3

Okay - the best day for Munchie (and maybe Poppa too!), was the day we took him to this place....

.......... what were Poppa and Munchie buying tickets for?  Well here is your clue....

Yep - Poppa took him to the Go-Kart place........Munchie wasn't tall enough to ride the big Karts by himself, even though he met the age criteria!  So, first....

... he had to ride in a dual controlled kart with Poppa - that's them in the white helmets......

... the attendant made sure they were all buckled in properly and gave them some brief instructions.......

....... and declared them ready to go.........

... and next thing I knew they were drifting around the corner and disappearing from view.  After a while, they came back and then it was time..........

for Munchie to climb into one of the little karts and show off the skills he had acquired with Poppa!

And with that, he put the pedal to the metal and off he went.........

...... around the bend and up the far side of the track like a pro.........

.......around the bend at the other end - keeping to the outside lane  to allow a wider turning radius......

....... giving us a "thumbs up" on his way by.   The little guy enjoyed that trip and declared it to be well worth the 25 minute drive to get there! Oh yes - one more thing....

... Munchie took this picture of Happy with Blackie's new pet - Stripes, the tiger - yes, he is handknit, and yes I knit him - I'll post another picture from a better angle soon!

Munchie - Chapter 2

Since Munchie stayed for a whole week, we had time for more activities - except....

.... why does this picture make me think of the movie called ET?  This happened on Wednesday - the day that Poppa golfs in the morning and again in the afternoon... I think Munchie was bored staying with me...but managed to find something to do.  And I think it all started with....

..... these three friends sitting together and looking cute, while they caught up on all that had happened since they had last been together... Taffy, Blackie and Squeegie...friends forever! However, the next day when Poppa was home in the afternoon....

.... we headed down to the park to see what was there.  Poppa and Munchie had been there before, so they knew exactly what they wanted to do....

....... they started at the slide...........

..... then moved on to explore the climbing apparatus.....

.... and then onwards to the saucer swing.  Munchie has improved his skills since last year - he could manage to get all the way across the monkey bars!  He seemed to like this swing a lot.  They went back again and played some more another day, which also included the beach - I didn't go that time.  

Another Bunch of Munchie!

Before I get to the Munchie visit, I wanted to share this pic.....

.... of the day Taffy, myself, and Auntie Denise went to visit Aunt Jeannie in her new place.  Soon after that.....

....... Munchie arrived for his annual visit with us.  McDonald's was near the top of his wish list - and here we are!  The week he was at our place was quite busy.  I think Poppa was more worn out than Munchie was!  But I'll share some of the highlights....

..... at Burger King he was presented with a picture to colour.....

.......... which he added some details to, and then coloured, and then presented to Poppa for a keepsake.

When we got home, he showed Poppa how to play a game on his i-Pad........needless to say, the young person was much better at that than his Poppa!

But, it kept them both busy so I could get some chores done.

Of course, eventually Poppa could not resist the urge to go out and do some more work in the garage.  Here he is adding a small piece of drywall to the bottom of the wall near the door...........

... and here is Munchie putting the drywall screws in place.  The drill is nearly as big as his whole arm, but he did a great job after watching |Poppa do the first one!

Then Poppa showed him how to put the drywall compound on the screw heads..........

... and he did the ones near the floor, so Poppa didn't have to bend so far.  What a great little Munchie!

Of course, we had walked up to the grocery store and purchased some snacks, but first..........

......... while I prepared lunch for three of us....

........  Munchie created some artwork for Poppa - of the big clock we had at our old place - a grandfather clock with a large gold pendulum.  And there was so much more!

In Between

Or course, Munchie was due to come for a visit too - but.....

....... first the boys went for a vacation in Niagara Falls with Gramma Linda.  L to R: Reese (their cousin), Munchie, Curtie.  Cute kids aren't they!  I think............

....... they had a good time.  They are all smiling and it looks like they enjoyed the hotel room with bunk beds that Gramma got so they could all stay together!  This break also..........

...... gave Poppa a chance to get some drywall put up in the garage.  He rented a special hoist intended for drywall and I gave him a hand - so no pictures of the process!  But you can see it is coming along nicely, and........

.... I think Poppa is looking forward to getting it all finished - he looks a little worn out!