August, in a Nutshell

Italian Festival, North End, Boston
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

It seems being caught up here isn't our fate for the last month of summer. We've said adeiu to our plants, which do not respond well to the combination of August heat and the absense of watering. We've made peace with our home office, which did not get cleaned up and out before school starts. We've created new playlists for our ipods to make the flights shorter (Jason's ipod now contains the new David Crowder Band song, yay.). And we've decided that traveling is fun...and so is being home on weekends.

But that will be an adventure reserved for September.

I digress. You have read about Canada, in all it's over-detailed glory. The rest of the month has consisted of the following:

* A lovely little weekend jaunt up to Boston to surprise Kim (who just finished her PhD) and Patrick (who is celebrating an important anniversary of his 29th birthday). On Saturday night we took the T downtown into the North End, where the Italian festival was alive and well. Delicious Italian food, street fair fun, and, of course, a stop in at Mike's Pastry made for a really fun night. But Marbs, we missed you!

* A quick flight to Ohio for Jason, who visited with his grandfather (who recently moved to Mount Vernon) and celebrated his mom's birthday.

* Two glorious weeks in Idaho for me, first to work in Eastern Idaho and then to hang out at home. Jason will fly out tomorrow, and we will spend Labor Day weekend with the fam at the cabin.

* Lots and lots of time spent watching Cole take off like a track star. Time to baby proof, Granny!

So, it's been a while...

If you've been checking, you'll notice we've been silent for a few weeks. Okay, so we had company, made some toasts, ran for the border, sat on top of the world, and had a little third honeymoon moment. All without much internet access. To catch up, scroll down to the entry called "The Mom Factor" and work your way back up. Happy reading, and we'll try to do a better job staying within internet reach.

Oh, and there are pictures.

Halfway to Fifty-Six

Happy Birthday, Jason! Yesterday. I know I'm a bit late, but I'm glad we got to celebrate over pirate food and fireworks. And happy me, getting to spend year 28 with you. Now you really ARE pushing thirty...

The Honeymoon Capital of the World

Us at The Falls
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Friday, August 10: Perhaps we should have called this our third honeymoon, then we could have joined the international trend of the past century or so. (Although I'm not entirely convinced that I would want a honeymoon site with so many crying children!)

We had a fantastic time at Niagara Falls. We actually arrived in Niagara on Thursday, and even though it was drizzling and grey we hiked down to the walkway and took our (okay, my) first view of the falls. They really are amazing. And I have no desire to take a barrel ride down them.

On Friday afternoon we "journeyed behind the falls," donning plastic yellow rain shields to see the Horseshoe Falls from behind. It was pretty powerful to watch the water thundering down right in front of us. Then we got to step out onto a ledge about halfway down the falls to get a spectacular view of the rainbow across the falls.

Throughout the day we celebrated Jason's 28th birthday, and for dinner we drove to a little place called Murphy's in St. Catherine's for great steak and fish. The food was delicious, and the underwater pirate ambience was really fun. We strolled along the harbor eating birthday ice cream (are we noticing a trend?) before heading back to the hotel to watch the Friday night fireworks show--which, fantastically, we could see from our pretty awesomely sweet hotel room. Happy birthday to Jason, courtesy of Niagara Falls!

An Evening With the Bard

Stratford on Avon...in Canada
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Wednesday, August 8: A few years ago, my parents, Aunt RaVae and Uncle Don, and my grandparents took a cruise to Alaska. My Gramps referred to it as "my wife's trip." (His trip would, of course, have included a fishing pole and a campfire.) I think that this fun little day in Stratford qualified as "my wife's trip" for Jason. Though I know he enjoyed our time there, the side trip to Stratford was definitely for me.

We started the day by having breakfast with the Dookherans, good friends of Jason (and now me!). We had a delightful time catching up, and we particularly enjoyed quizzing Narish, Nicholas, Ariel, and Alanna about their recent visit to Nazarene Youth Congress in St. Louis (remember NYC '95?).

Then on to Stratford. Stratford is a cute little town. I've been to Stratford, England, to see the William Shakespeare's home, grave, etc., and this little "hometown across the pond" was quaint and delightful as well. I like the British tradition of naming towns in new territories after towns in England. It must have made them feel more at home in, say, London, Ontario. Stratford is also home to the Stratfort Festival of Canada, and throughout the summery months musicals, concerts, and (of course) Shakespearean plays are constantly running.

We got great tickets to see "The Merchant of Venice." As you might expect, this prompted a long diatribe by Missy about the different themes of the play, whether Shakespeare was as anti-Semitic as his culture or commenting on it and how we in our post-20th century world will never know what it was like to see the play as his contemporaries saw it. It was like a tiny little flashback to Oxford common room conversations. Of course, as Jason hadn't ever studied "Merchant," so he was only marginally interested in my monologue and mostly just wanted a summary. The play was great. They did a fantastic job pulling out the themes of conflict and hypocrisy while keeping us laughing.

And now YOU have heard the Missy diatribe, too.

The play was certainly the thing, but we also enjoyed walking around the town, popping into the little shops, and eating ice cream as we walked along the Avon River. This was a trip of self-portraits, so enjoy our arms-length pics of Canada...

Two Twoonies and a Loony

Jason and the CN
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Tuesday, August 7: Okay, so I laughed when Jason asked the cashier for "two twoonies and a loony" as we drove through Tim Horton's (apparently the Canadian Dunkin' Donuts, and home of really amazing hot chocolate), but neither Jason nor the cashier thought anything was out of the ordinary. After all, we needed $3 in change to park at the TTC (subway), so the two dollar coin and one dollar coin were necessary.

We hopped on the TTC and made our way to the CN tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the world. We hitched a ride on the elevator to the viewing platform, where it took me a few minutes to get up the nerve to step out onto the glass floor and look down at Toronto way, waaaaaay below.

After spending a little time on top of the world, we went to Eaton Center, where we met Jason's high school Sunday school teacher, Diana Clark, for lunch at Mr. Greenjeans. We had a wonderful time catching up, and I really appreciated the opportunity to meet this great lady! We spent part of the afternoon tooling around the Distillery District, which was once very industrial but has recently been brought back to life with new shops and restaurants. Then we went to St. Lawrence Market and looked at all the delicious food stands...until we finally gave in and shared a chocolate-filled crepe!

We met up with Deb and Clayton after they got off work and had a delicious Italian dinner downtown. Toronto is a really cool city, but I think both of us would agree that the highlights of our visit always involved spending time with old friends (for Jason) and getting to know new friends (for Missy). We loved dinner with Deb and Clayton. We also loved watching the British version of "Beauty and the Geek" until too late that night. Ah, for BBC.

Scarborough

Reunion
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Monday, August 6: A few months ago, we found a little Barenaked Ladies diddy called "Scarborough" on Youtube, and in its honor we listened to BNL on our drive through Jason's old neighborhood. Scarborough is not only the home town BNL's Eddie, but it is also where Jason spent junior high and high school. As we listened to "Grade Nine," we drove by Woburn CI, where Jason spent his own Grade Nine, as well as his family's old home and the church his dad pastored there. It was a drive full of memories, and I have heard so much about all these places. After our trip down memory lane, we took to the Scarborough Bluffs, where we ate a little picnic and I touched the Great Lakes for the first time.

After our bout on the Bluffs, we headed to Deb and Clayton's house for a little Woburn reunion. Many of Jason's high school friends who are in the area joined us for an evening full of "remember whens." We bbq'd and played some games, and by the end of the night the old yearbooks had come out. My favorite moment was when someone started reading the "senior quotes" that each of them had put in their yearbooks. As one of them said, "Ah, we were so wise then." Makes me a bit nervous about pulling out my own old yearbook...

So, Canada, Eh?

Family Camp
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Sunday, August 5: We pulled into camp on Saturday afternoon, full of tales of camps gone by, courtesy of Jason. These are tales I've heard told for, what, five years? and it was pretty great to finally visit the mythical Cedardale Nazarene Camp. The Smalls owned a "cottage" on the camp for 17 straight summers, until they sold it last year. We joined Jason's parents for the weekend, settling into a little rented cottage and visiting with old friends at "Tuck"--the post-chapel food-fest at the dining hall.

Jason hadn't been to camp for about four years, so we got a lot of "congratulations on your marriage, we saw wedding pictures, it's nice to finally meet you" from all the camp-friends. There was even a nice rehash of the karaoke night from four years ago that I've been hearing about every time "Long December" plays on the ipod.

One of the nicest parts of the weekend was spending a bit of time sitting on the porch with Jason's parents, visiting with people as they passed by. We hadn't seen Jason's folks since Mother's Day, so it was especially nice to have time to hang out and talk in the evenings. I'm so glad I've finally been able to experience this piece of Jason's life. Now I can nod and wink knowingly when camp tales come up again.

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Bunn

Party Goers
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Saturday, August 4: Yesterday we packed up the car and drove...drove...drove to Pittsburgh, where my cousin Mike married Heather. Thanks to some nasty traffic, we rolled in about 45 minutes before the wedding started, just in time to change into proper clothes and get down to the chapel.

"Chapel" is a bit of an understatement--the Heinz Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh is more like a small cathedral. It was gorgeous. And hot. Despite the lack of air conditioning, the wedding was beautiful, personal, and lovely. And we really enjoyed the party--it was fun to hang with some Bunn cousins and aunts and uncles, and on Saturday morning we all walked down the street to Pamela's Diner for the best hotcakes in Pittsburgh...or the world, actually. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and got on the road. Canada, here we come!

The Mom Factor

Mom and I in the New Living Room!
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Friday, August 3: Okay, I'm so far behind in blogging, but this is the first of many "catch-ups." Mom and my Aunt Kathy have been here for the week, and under Mom's touch our little house has blossomed into a thing of cuteness and beauty. Our painters just finished the inside of the place, and I felt a bit like it was a blank slate waiting for a master's touch. Enter Mom. We spent our evenings putting things on the walls, picking out carpets, and unpacking. Mom is a master unpacker.

We also just had a downright good time. I adore my mom, and now I think she needs to come back just to watch movies, go shopping, and relax! We finally have real pics of our house online here, now, so go ahead and check them out...if you can find them between all the vacation pics!