Anne-Marie very nicely offered up to look after Sierra for a few hours in between feedings so that Vero and I could escape the house and go for a quick date. We thanked her profusely and ran out of the house towards Embrun where we went to the newly opened Etienne Brulé brewpub where I had already fallen in love with their beer. Would the food be another winner?
It’s a nice place and you can’t go wrong with a smoked meat panini and side salad for around $10. Plus the Citrale might be my new favourite beer but anything with a hint of citrus hops always wins my heart.
Date night with new parents is hilarious and we deservedly laughed at ourselves when we realized that the majority of our conversation revolved around the baby’s poop patterns!
Thanks for letting us out of the house Anne-Marie!
Man alive, it’s hot around Ottawa these days. It’s a good thing that a few years back my body finally acclimatized to living here and I don’t mind the heat one bit (except for sleeping in the heat…not a fan!)
When I arrived home from the wedding in Perth, we decided to hit the road to the nearest mini-putt course! Mini-putt is the cat’s meow and we had a great time playing. Anne-Marie, Evan and I actually ended up in a three way tie by the time we hit the 18th hole so it was down to the wire….and of course I managed to squeak by and win the game.
Vero had an interesting time trying to putt with Sierra strapped to her. Strapping a baby is quite useful for the most part, unless you have to bend over and pick up a golf ball.
Getting some Dad time with Sierra before leaving for the day.
The day after Canada Day is usually one reserved for nursing a hangover but this year it was a time for celebration…my cousin Shawn was celebrating his marriage to Erin up in Perth, ON.
After hanging out with Anne-Marie, Evan, Vero and Sierra for the morning, I packed up my gear and hit the road. I wasn’t sure what the dress code was for this particular event as it was a celebration after the wedding in Saskatchewan. I figured I would play it safe with shirt, no tie. That looks relaxed enough. Turns out it was full blown casual and I could have shown up in my bathing suit and people would have accepted me!
With my Pearl Jam Live at the Gorge box set in the car, I hit the road. It was a great afternoon for a drive to Perth and I have to say that the 2005/6 tour of Pearl Jam is one of my faves to listen to…probably because I really like their Avocado album.
The Perth Plaza was a great motel to stay at. A good indication of a great wedding is when the entire motel is booked by wedding guests! I met up with Uncle Johnny and Aunt Aggie, had a non-Keith’s beer (I still can’t believe my eyes when I see that Uncle Johnny has moved away from Keith’s!) hung around a bit more and then got a ride over to the curling club from Stephanie the Uber driver.
The curling club was a great spot for a celebration. They had the bar and music upstairs and they had an area downstairs for a photo booth and just a general area to escape the masses upstairs. I had a good chuckle when Shawn mentioned how hard it was to chat with everyone as Audrey was running around the place. It was a glimpse into my own future, no doubt!
I met a lot of Gaspesians that night, most of which I would need a family tree to figure out how they all fit into the picture…but one thing was for sure, we were there to celebrate the union of Shawn and Erin as well as a surprise 39th wedding celebration of Lynn and Sue. I would like to say that the Gaspe crowd cleared the bar out of all alcohol but someone must have tipped them off that there was going to be a big crowd coming so they had a well stocked fridge. However near the end of the night my common request was just ‘a cold beer’ because they couldn’t keep up with the demand of Keiths!
I was digging this little thing happening with Uncle Johnny’s hair. Reminded me of my own cowlick.
I met Jack and Nancy who were providing the musical entertainment for the night. Jack had a really interesting set up that I was chatting to him about later on in the night. He had the mic/PA/acoustic guitar, but he also had a backing track to play along to! This really intrigued me and I definitely could see the benefit of having something like this for a dance. Everyone likes a good rhythm section (drum and bass) for dancing, whereas the acoustic guitar really has to get going for people to get up and dance to. So he found karaoke tracks for tunes from the Beatles, CCR, The Stones, etc. and plays that while sings and strums over top of them. I also took a look at my own OnSong app (best app ever) on my iPad and sure enough, I can add a musical track to any song in my music library. I also found some websites that offer up backing tracks where people have recreated a Beatles tune using their own instruments. Perhaps this is a way around the musical copyright issues that would come if you actually used a karaoke version in a professional sense. Anyhow, I’m going to play around with this and maybe I will try it out at the next Ajax party. I’m not sure if backing tracks would be a hit or a miss. There’s something lovely about just three acoustics going at it, but when it’s just me playing, it would definitely be a bonus if there could be some lead guitar playing.
Winners of the good looking duo award at the wedding.
Definitely an end of the night picture!
I did manage to meet Erin who is a lovely person to chat with. I also witnessed a very smart girl named Audrey. She wanted to sit on a stool near the photo booth area so I followed her into another room and she must have seen a stool in there before so she dragged it out into the photo booth area. Amazing! I wouldn’t have even known there was a stool stored in this other room! It’s really interesting to see how smart kids can be.
Considering the party had started around 3PM, it wasn’t a surprise that the party started winding down around 10pm. Stephanie the Uber driver graciously drove us back to the Plaza where we immediately bee-lined it across the street to get some McDonald’s food in us and then we all hung out in the parking lot for a few hours. I took full advantage of having a hotel room to myself and slept in quite well the next morning!
As always, it’s great to get together with the family and it was a great celebration put together at the Perth Curling club. Special thanks to all who were involved in the logistics of putting it together!
We had a great time on Canada Day. We started off the day by heading over to the Vars Canada Day celebration where we stumbled into pretty well everyone we know in the community! It helps that Vero is on the community association.
There were a bunch of bouncy castles set up and a fire truck where Vero insisted that she get a picture. I convinced her that she should bring her daughter into the photo as well!
Future firewoman!
I also had my first ever Pogo. Yes, yes, I know…how could I not have a pogo until I was 37 years old? Hey, I’m in no rush to try out everything on this planet. I have to say it was pretty darn tasty.
Later in the afternoon, Mike, Melanie and Max showed up with Melanie’s parents and we walked around the park for a bit. The kids were gracious enough to allow Mike and I to have a beer as well! Although I have to say that Budweiser was an interesting choice of beer on Canada Day!
Best buds or mortal enemies? Only time will tell.
Anne-Marie and Evan showed up just in time for it to pour rain for pretty well the rest of the afternoon. At least they postponed the fireworks until the next day! That’s a smart move. We hung around inside for the evening and played some tunes. Vero and I also introduced Sierra to the neighbours which was a great opportunity to meet them all.
Only apple juice was drank for this photo.
Sierra belting out some CCR tunes.
With the fireworks cancelled for the night, we decided to put on the film Labyrinth as it one of Vero and her sister’s favourites. We did have a scare with Sierra that evening though when Vero spotted her flailing her arms and legs around. She went to check her out and her lips were blue and her face beet red! Vero went into instant first aid training mode, trying to figure out what was wrong. Luckily we figured out that she was severely blocked up with mucus and we got that out of her right quick and she was back to normal. Whew. Quite the scary experience when you notice your kid not breathing! We’re not sure why there was a massive amount of mucus built up like that…it could be something that built up over the weeks, or perhaps it was being outside for the most she has ever been in a day. I guess we’ll never know.
