Noo York, Noo York!!!!...

Pete and I flew from Toronto to New York City for three amazing days in The Big Apple.  Kathy and John (God Bless them) had the little apples at their house for three days and nights!

New York was all it should be, and more.  We stayed right near Times Square and hoofed it across most of Manhattan and back during our three days, with just 8.5 million of our closest friends!  We went to see Chicago on Broadway;  We took a Walking Tour with a great guide, Trey (an aspiring actor of course) who pointed out all the essentials, and a few less essential but fascinating stories about NYC.  We walked 42nd Street, saw where John Lennon lived and was shot, Central Park, Greenwich Village, Soho, The Plaza Hotel (where Eloise lives on the tippy top floor), Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Heath Ledger's apartment.  We saw the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre; We spent  a morning at the MET, Museum of Art and shopped at Macy's and we had an amazing dinner experience at La Esquina -the funkiest restaurant in SoHo with Pete's friend Paul - a NY local.  After a lot of rain and tired feet, our last morning was clear, cold and sunny so we went up the Empire State Building for the most amazing views over New York.

The Apartment where Heath Ledger died.

At the MET.

Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree

View of Manhattan from Empire State Building

And finally -it arrives!

That same tree from our back verandah -so green just a few months ago!

Down the side of our house -just enough slope for  an easy toboggan ride!

Last weekend in November -finally the first real dump of snow.  Excited kids!!!  And Pete and John go where??  Skiing -no, Skating, no...Camping and Canoeing...OF COURSE!!!

Wood stove heater in the tent -toasty warm!!

Yep -that's ice!!!

I'm a Lumberjack...and I'm....

Waiting desperately for snow

Well, here we are -it's almost December and still no decent snow storms!  All thoughts are turning to Tobogganing; Sledding; Skating; Skiing, Snow Forts -anything....we just need snow!!!
In the meantime -it's pretty chilly (often around 1 walking to school -Pete does that job!!) and here's some snaps of a couple of activities that have kept us busy while we await the snow!!  We have been watching quite a bit of ice hockey -a fabulous fast paced game of skill and pace and a fair bit of aggression!!
Here, Dan is with friends Ben, Jake, Trish and Rob -who will be visiting us in Australia in January.  They are watching a Guelph Storm game.

And a few more beautiful shots of late Fall...

The walk to school gets chillier each week!  Halloween night was about 1 degree celcius!  But, when the sun is out it is very pretty.  Leaves galore -almost all on the ground now.

Fall plants with a dusting of frost!!

The Elora Public School yard with the first light covering of (now melted) snow!

 One of the many churches in Downtown Elora with the last of the Fall colours.

Halloween!!

"SO.... let me just check that again -

We dress up as whatever characters we like, put hair and make up on and wait till it's dark.

We put candles inside the pumpkins we've carved and set them outside our house, so kids know we have candy for trick or treating.

Then, we gather some other kids in the street, and run from house to house.
We knock, say Trick or Treat (if we remember) and THEN neighbours and complete strangers give us TRUCKLOADS of candy and maybe even scare the living daylights out of us just for fun.
We only come home when the bag is overflowing, right????"

"SURE that sounds AWESOME!! Why doesn't this happen in Australia?  

Elora in Fall

The nights are cooling. The leaves are falling. The mitts are on for Tennis....

The Rockies

Before the total cold sets in, we wanted to fit in at least one more adventure and decided to combine Pete's visit to the Alberta Children's Hospital (Calgary) with a week touring in The Rockies. Our trip included a day in the Alberta 'badlands' -visiting the world's largest finds of complete dinosaur skeletons and a fantastic dinosaur museum and amazing landscapes a la Jurrasic Park.

We then spent two nights at the Columbia Icefields (Athabasca Glacier) travelling through amazing scenery up to Jasper and a great trip on to the Glacier itself -the pictures don't quite do justice to the intense icy wind and sleet - it was COLD! We finally had two nights in Banff - a trip down memory lane for me and a wonderful base for the Gondola ride and some walks in the Rockies. We all made it to the top of The Lake Agnes Trail -it was a 3.4km uphill hike with great views over Lake Louise. The kids were amazing -even when we got to the top and discovered that the Teahouse and all its promised and imagined goodies was closed and finished for the season!!

Oh! And we did see some wildlife as well!