Atlantic International Balloon Fiesta

This morning, thanks to Jesse, I had the opportunity to have a ride in a hot air balloon. He had won the ticket in a draw at the John Deere dealer, but seeing as he can't even walk...
This is the closest I've even been to one, so it was all new to me. Here is the basket, propane tanks, and 2 burners.

The envelope was all rolled up in a bag, and it rolled out nicely.

After blowing it up a bit with a big fan, he lit the burners and heated it up.

Then we all hopped aboard. There were 6 of us.

Up, Up, and Away.... sounds like it could be the start of of a song...

I think there were close to 30 balloons up.

We flew right over this one. Except when he was burning, it was very quiet and you could talk with the closer balloonists.

It was also a good way to keep an eye on Jesse. What's that stuff in the back of his truck?

Coming in for the landing. He really had to have quite a knowledge of the wind,to bring us in to where we wanted to land.

Roma was waiting for us.

Deflation.

And putting it away right must make it easier the next time. Quite the little ride. Thanks Jesse.

End of Summer Getaway

I know we have done lots of travelling so far this year, but we still felt we needed a road trip to Quebec before school started. Carrie had some winter things to pick up at Melissa's, and I needed some beer from Costco. So last Thursday, after morning chores, we packed up and got as far as Drummondville, where our platinum Best Western card allowed our room to be upgraded to a suite with a balcony. Well, part of a balcony. Carrie almost fit on it.

On Friday morning we headed to Mike's, after a quick stop at the Costco in Sherbrooke. Mike had a new toy for us to try. A jet ski. Carrie loved it, and I must admit I did too. I wonder if I could use one in the pond?

In the afternoon we had a great boat ride, from one end of Lake Magog to the other.

On Saturday we dropped Carrie off with Melissa. We spent a few minutes with her family.

Carrie stayed with Melissa and we headed into Quebec City. There we met up with Jim and Mary Ann. We had booked at the Holiday Inn with them, but when we saw that the Best Western was right next to it, we decided to stay there. We enjoyed a drink in their room, then one in ours, then one in theirs...

And then we went out to eat!

It all worked out as Melissa's mom was coming into Quebec City, and brought Carrie right to our motel. We had a nice drive home on Sunday, with a stop at the Cheese Shop for a large bag of poutine cheese curds.

Jesse happened to break his foot off just after we left, so Stacy and Gilbert covered for him, and we are grateful that they did. Awesome job, and Thank you!
And today Carrie started Grade 11. Wow...

Corn Boil

Everyone agrees wuth me that the corn this year is the best it has been in awhile. Not that it has been bad other years, but this year it seems just a little sweeter, and a little more tender. The family gathered at the farm this past Sunday for a corn boil. Not our first, but it was special because we were all together. We will always remember how much Grandpa enjoyed his "corn on the cob", so it was a fitting meal as we remembered the 4 year anniversary of his passing, on Monday.

The kids also got a chance to visit with Ginger, as we have decided that for his own sake, we shall have to have him put down. His arthritus in the front legs are making him too uncomfortable. We will miss you buddy.

New Field

It seems that a lot of my projects take a long while to come to a conclusion. The shed comes to mind, but we`ll leave that one for now. I remember Brent cutting alders back in this field back in 1991 or 1992, and Monica using the brush cutter after that. Richard spent lots of time with the excavator up there, and Tyler, Jason, Aaron, Geoff, Ryan, Kyle, another Jason, Percy, Darcy, and many others including myself and my family picked tons of rocks. We weren`t rock picking a field, we were building bridges! We land formed and tiled, then plowed and finally had a field that we could harrow.

We covered the field with shi...  manure and ash.

Jesse, Roma, and mainly Garrett picked another rock or 2... tons I mean, and then I was able to seed it down.

Here Garrett follows the Brillion seeder to make sure there are no rocks left sticking up. He cringed every time he saw me head up there with the harrows. And decided he would get a real job before I plowed this field again.

We all inspected the finished job today. Nadine says it is 12.3 acres

Happy Birthday T J and Charles

Another birthday. Or 2. T J and Charles both celebrate their birthdays today. And I believe they are the same age. Here is a picture of TJ with his lovely family on the occasion of his sister's wedding last Saturday. Tanya was a bridesmaid, and all 3 girls were flower girls.

Here is Tanya and Emma.

And here is a picture of the happy couple, Ben and Maria.

And with the 3 girls.

Following the wedding, there was a reception at the farm, in a potato house. You can really clean those up if you put enough time into it. It was very nice.

Tanya was caught stealing a cupcake.

The wine was enjoyed by all, including myself...I think Sarah and I looked after the 3 girls that night, but I know by the next morning little Sarah was looking after me!

Sheila is lucky to have all her boys home for a few days, so this Saturday we went up and had birthday cake for Charles. Here is a picture of them all, and Char, his fiance.

Art bought a boat for the occasion, and we all went for a cruise. Grandma was the most saftey concious.

Happy Birthday Tanya

Another week, another birthday... today our little Tan Tan turned another year older. We were fortunate to have her and Madilyn stop in for a cornboil. Stacy brought over a cake and the event was complete. Tanya had quite the job blowing out all the candles.

Jesse was too dirty to let in the house, but he still got in the picture!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma turns 82 today! We all hope you had a great day! And we now know she did. Sheila took her out to the Fundy Trail this afternoon, and then they met Sarah and I in Sussex for dinner at the Fairway. That's the place where you get to eat free on your birthday. Good plan, huh. Then we all went back to her house in Hampton for birthday cake.

This Past Weekend

I really have to keep up with this. Now that things  have slowed down a bit, I'll try to get caught up here. We had a really good weekend. Tanya brought her 3 little darlings down for the weekend, and on Saturday, Stacy brought her 3 over. Here is Sarah riding a cow, with Emma.

The first order of business was to finish bottleing wine for Maria's wedding, which is next weekend. Tanya worked away pretty hard washing bottles, and then after all was bottled, she tried her best to get the corks most of the way in.

Here are Madilyn and Kara before we walked over to Everett's for the field day.

Here is Tanya with Cecily.

Emma, Madilyn, and Sarah. Hard to get 3 kids to look at the camera all at the same time. But you get to see the matching pjs.

We had a nice bonfire, even though it was cool.

And here is Jesse, holding a gaggle of kids. This is his idea of training for a marathon.

And speaking of marathons, Marathon by the Sea was held in Saint John on Sunday. Jesse did us proud by completeing the half marathon (21k) in a time of at least 2:13. ( He lost his chip down a man hole) Tanya was only able to run in the 5 miler after carrying so many bottles of wine up the stairs, but she did well too, finishing 3rd in her class. We didn't make it in to see Tanya finish, but we found her on a street corner. Here is a pic of Jesse at the finish, but this picture doesn't quite capture the pain he was in.

And one of them both.