Joshua is 16!!!

Happy #16 Joshua!!! His birthday started super early with his annual doctors checkup...no rest for the 16 year old!!

We did quick birthday donuts and then it was off for the day. 

 

This will be the year where I officially retire from my taxi driver job. I'm handing over the 

keys to the last driver!!

The baby is officially 16...it doesn't seem possible. It was just the other day that I sent Jake and Sophia off to preschool...did a million "mom" things....and then went into labor the next day. Arriving 4 weeks early, you've done things on your own time frame!! You are the perfect funny,

 quick witted caboose for our family. This is going to be a great year!!! 

College Inn...

Move in day!!! I had heard the stories....we were as prepared as possible. Two cars FULL of stuff. One  "extra" car so the boys could drive home after they were done helping. 

We had all the right hang tags, we were in line at the right times....it was quite the process!!! It took about an hour from getting into line to pulling up at her dorm. 

 When we rolled up to College Inn, we had 15 min to unload. With 5 of us shuttling items up to the her room and large rolling bins to help...we got it all upstairs to the 4th floor pretty quickly. Only one roommate was there so the room wasn't too crowded. She took the room she thought was hers and we started moving things around and unpacking. 

The boys tackled the common area....setting up the futon and moving furniture around. 

Gifts for the roomies...

Finally done for the day...we went back to get Sophia's car from Tractor Supply where we left it earlier. 

We said our goodbyes and headed home....with a few tears!

Turns out...she was in the wrong room and had to flip to the other bedroom. I went back up on Monday. I brought a few extras items and made sure she was totally settled. 

Graduation gift coming in handy!!

And her finished side of the room....so cute!! A home away from home!!

                                                   

First Day....

And then there was one left. Joshua gets 2 years of being the only kid in the first day pic. First day of sophomore year. He has 2 weeks before he gets his license and drive himself to school! 

 

Dinner with Opa...

Katherine was home for a month or so. They were in town to see Julie's mom so we met them for dinner at La Fonda. 

Opa with the kids and grandkids! 

 

Toronto Trip...Part 3....

After 3 nights in Toronto, we moved to Hamilton. It's between Toronto and Niagara Falls so we thought it was the perfect in between place to stay. We rented a big house right on the lake. 

                                                  

                                                   

The next day we drove to Niagara Falls. Again...the flowers are all around!!! 

We did the Niagara on the Lake boat tour...they pack so many people onto the boat and everyone has red poncho! 

It was amazing!!! We all got soaked...they bring you so close to the falls!!

I had been to Niagara a million years ago when we lived in Canada. You forget how "wow" it is. And the Canadian side is much prettier because you have a better view of all the falls. We walked over 2 miles along the water and heard so many different languages! There were people from all over! We had so much fun that day! 

The next day we drove to London to see where we lived while I was there. I remembered so much of it! This is University of London where Dad was teaching. 

There were geese everywhere! 

The neighborhood school that Mary and I went to. It's just a few blocks from our old house. 

Old house looked just like I remembered!!

After we toured around, we went to Aggie and Don's for lunch. They have a beautiful house and even prettier backyard! Even though it's been years since we have seen them, we picked up like little time had passed! Aggie cooked an amazing lunch. We talked a lot! Don had lots of things for the boys to look at/talk about. It's amazing to think that I first met them 40 years ago!! 

                                                  
 

Hamilton is known for all the waterfalls in the area. The last full day we were there, we drove around to see some. A lot of them were in regular neighborhoods!

Jake was climbing down to get closer. 

We went to this smaller market in Hamilton...similar to the St. Lawrence Market but much smaller. No clue why they had these polar bears!!! We ate lunch and went back to our beautiful lake house. 

The Toronto was so much fun. We were able to do so many different things. I'm glad we decided to stay in two very different places. We made so many fun family memories and saw some amazing sights! 

Toronto Trip...Part 2...

Our last full day in Toronto we went to visit Casa Loma...this old historical castle. So many rooms and so much history!! 

The gardens outside....

We had lunch at the St. Lawrence Market. It's this huge indoor market with tons of fresh fruit, veggies, prepared food and so much more. We ate outside and this was our view....