May long weekend

For the long weekend we paid a little visit to the land o' grapes. We left on time Friday to miss traffic in Ottawa on one end and in the GTA on the other. Towards the end we made the assumption that the highway past Hamilton was going to be busy with US-bound traffic so we took some back roads. It ended up making the trip longer, but at least we saw something new.

Lily wanted to drive for a while but we forgot to bring the phone book(s).


We arrived well in time for a big party obviously held in our honour; who knew we were that special? I'm sure the festivities had nothing to do with a purported 40-something birthday bash for my big sister.

This particular sister introduced me to something I'd only heard of a time or two: geocaching! This game involves traipsing around the world and using your GPS to find hidden caches, where you can sign your name and take/leave a trinket. Or you can just traipse around your neighbourhood; their abundance in the developed world means there's no need to travel far, unless you live out in Timbuktu. Although if you literally do... a quick check on the cache map at GeoCaching.com shows that there's a geocache even in Timbuktu! Fancy that.

"The cache is right about that way..."


A month or two ago I listed our Senseo coffee maker on Kijiji since we never use it. A lady from the Niagara region responded, asking whether I would ship it out her way. Hoping for a more convenient local buyer, I didn't respond. Well, fast forward to the weekend. We're hanging out at the beach, and I hear my sister's friends introduce her to their other friends. I overhear a not-so-common last name mentioned, and something clicks. I think, "Hey... that Kijiji buyer had that last name..." So I saunter over and oh-so-politely ask "So, who's Jannie?" "Oh, that's my mom", says the guy I've never met. Sure enough, his mother was the potential buyer I so rudely left hanging. I felt bad of course, but my meeting her son so randomly was a fun coincidence.

A sun-free, sand-free beach experience.


First four-wheeler ride.


Princess tells me she'd like her own 5-acre lawn, please.


Too cool for school.


Besides a few nice walks and some beach time (with geocaching side trips of course), we didn't do much worth mentioning. Except pick up some dog ticks. Fortunately most of them were found on the dog...