So I’ve noticed that people still come to the site, even though I haven’t been updating on a regular basis, good to know. Last Thursday I drove up to Thunder Bay for the funeral of my last remaining grandfather, I made the 1400KM+ trip in one day, I have done it once before but last time I did it I was heading back south the next day (remind me not to be a nice guy), this time I was able to staying for awhile and I ended up leaving on Monday.

The trip up was nice and calm and good weather till Nipigon, when this lake dropped from the sky. If you guys don’t know, I have a white car, and the bumper was pretty close to black, when I filled up about an hour before, rain was coming down so hard it cleaned the collection of splattered bugs off.

The greatest thing about going home is mom’s cooking, within an hour there was a steak sitting in front of me waiting to be devoured. I always have a problem with eating when I go home, there’s so much and it’s all so good. All that means is I have no self control, but this time I managed to contain myself for the most part, bit off to much at the Greek restaurant, but it was worth it. (I’ll get back to that)

Friday was the funeral, everything was smooth, lots of friends and family showed up, including my goddaughter (Jeff & Nicole’s daughter) who managed to put a smile on everyones face with her chubby checks on this hard day. Out of the family Kevin was chosen to do the eulogy, and was nice enough to include my last post along with his tribute to how grandpa cared for his children, grandchildren, and others around him. After the service there was a small lunch downstairs in the church to remember him and tell stories, there was laugher and smiling faces, as it should be, grandpa had a way of doing that to a room. From there the family went to the cemetery to put grandpa in his final resting place, it was nice there.

Moving on… (might want to get a drink… bit more to go)

Kevin wanted to take everyone to his one of his old co-worker/employer’s restaurant to support them… they really didn’t need it, environment was good, food was amazing (we had samples of lots), staff knew there roles and looked happy to be there, and (never hear the end of this) Penny was cute… I would go back in a heartbeat.

Do have a question, if you order a Greek salad in a Greek restaurant, aren’t you just ordering a salad?

After that I went out to visit Jeff and Nicole, wasn’t there soon enough to see Logan, since it was past his bed time, but Leah was snoozing on a pillow calm as ever. Funny… I’d thought she was going to be a fussy one the way Nicole was in pain from the kicking, but she’s a little angel, and I’m honored to be the godfather, then again I don’t have to deal with all the poop…

Saturday was a big day, waking up and going to aunt’s place to solve some issues with there computer and have a bit of a visit. From there I went to see Shrek the Third with Jeff and Logan, movie was pretty good, but I wouldn’t consider it a kids film. I hope I can see the end soon, Logan liked the automatic water taps at the sink, so found if he goes pee, he gets to play with them, so we left early.

I was able to go home for a few hours and have a nap (much needed), as I was pulling up I noticed my dad cutting the lawn with his brand new mower that mom picked up for him this morning, so I gave him a smile and a wave and I sort of got the wave back, but looked grumpy. Now I remember mom telling me that she wasn’t able to get the mower dad wanted because Sears sold out of the model so she got a better one for a bit more; so dad must be ticked about that.

So inside I go to talk to mom, and from her I learned that dad was happy as a fat kid in a candy store with the mower until a survey spike got in the way… needless to say dad was almost in tears, brand new out of the box mower less then an hour old and fucked up, really hope the guys at work can get it going for him, because my dad takes a lot of pride in his lawn, and wasting money on an another mower would suck.
Stupid frost must have pushed the spike up. 🙁

After the nap we all headed to Aunt and Uncle’s place to spend time and have pizza, everyone had a good visit and enjoyed themselves. When everyone started to break away to go home, the cousins wanted to go for a drink, so we ended up going to Kevin’s friend’s bar. WELL… after having a lot of drinks and getting royaly smashed we headed to another bar with a live band to drink some more, we all had a great time and vow to do it again every time we meet. After all they are the only real family I have on my mom’s side, and we live everywhere but close so we have to start making an effort to see each other…

Sunday was lazy day… ya that’s it.

Monday was the drive home, and Jeff was kind enough to make half the trip with me to Sault Ste Marie, where he would hop on a flight back to T.Bay… flying for free – perks of working for an airline, along the way we stopped to look at some minivans in some of the dealerships for Jeff, after all there are 2 little ones to look out for now. Stopping cut into the time, but the company was well worth it, the only time things got hard was the last 3 hours… 11pm-2am, I was dead, I started the drive at 9:30am so take a guess how I felt.

Well I’m home safe and sound, and here to spin a tale or two for your amusement… but this one might have stretched things a little long, so…

-Ian out-