tourist in your home town

With mum's visit here we decided to explore some of the downtown neighbourhoods. There is such old architecture here, and we wanted to see urban Columbus life....THe suburbs are always the same........
This neighbourhood is called the German Village, and was built by German settlers in the late 1800's. Now it is truly for the yuppies. The houses are all brick, and on cobblestone streets. So beautiful...Wonder how much they cost to buy???? hmmmm.

October in Dublin

So, this weekend saw many outdoor fall/family events in our adopted city. We have this fantastic park down the road from us, called Homestead park, and that's exactly what it looks like. It has rolling hills, a farmhouse or two, a lake with bullrushes,, acres of white picket fence and of course an old parked caboose for the children to play in....(not to mention of course the cool wooden fort complete with water pitols and huge toddler play area).
This weekend they had a fall homecoming, with pumpkin patch and decorations for them, mini train rides (the biggest hit with Olive) , hotwheels to ride, tatoos to get and lots of fun with a hay ride.
So nice to be out in the middle of October in a t-shirt and sandals as it is still 82degrees (about 26 celcius).............just incase anyone in Victoria thinks it jsut snows back east...........

How is the rain and frost by the way???!

playing tourist

This past week we decided to go and see some old friends in Toronto, and also take Olivier to see Niagara Falls. Of course it rained in Toronto the whole time we were there, but we saw parts of Ontario we had never been to, and managed to squeeze in a trip to Ikea! By the time we went on the Maid of the Mist the weather was much better. We got wet from the spray, and had a great time playing tourist.... If you have never been back east to see the fall colours, it really is stunningly beautiful. We then went on to Buffalo NY, where we spent the night ..... I think I have now ventured to at least 23-24 states, which is actually more than I have seen of my own country. Mrs.Hall would be impressed!

Three

Who remembers how great it was to be 3?? You can go to Target, pick out a halloween cozzy and then wear it everywhere (even to bed) every day . Olivier has a favourite tv show with a little boy named Caillou, and he was having a show about the costumes. Olivier has now since been obsessed with Halloween. He even somehow knows you can give him candy to fill his jack o lantern!!

adventures in Columbus

Last monday we headed out to run some errands and then to take O to the zoo. We were about 1/2 a mile from the zoo when we heard this loud whoosh sound. I didn't make the connection as fast as Richard did.... We had driven over something sharp and the back tire deflated in about 20 seconds to the rim. We lucked out in the sense that there was a tire shop about 500 feet from us.........We had to tow the truck that distance for a measley sum of $55!!!! They found we had a full size spare and put it on for us for no $$$.........Very kind Americans indeed:) (kind of made up for the fact the guy running the shop didn't have a clue where BC was, let alone that it was in Canada "between Seattle and Alaska" He just couldn't comprehend it) Oh man it just hurt!!! I told him his homework for the night was to go and check it on the computer!!

east coast colours

Fall is thinking about coming to settle in. We spent lots of time outdoors with O this week . The weather is just at the right temperature to watch him play for what seems like hours, and enjoy the first of the falling leaves. I am told that the autumns "back here" are really beautiful, and there are so many colours to see.

new babies

No............I am not with child or do I intend to be. My sis has a new baby, and is very proud of him. His name is Rocky, and he weighs 3 pounds and is 4 months old. He is a cutie, but also a face a mother and father could only love!! No, I am kidding. He is a sweetie, and O loves him and that's all that matters!

go buckeyes!

Can I just say...........I know Americans love their football and watch alot of the pros and college teams on tv, but this is football mania. Columbus has Ohio state uni in their town, and hence the football team the buckeyes. Apparently today was the start of the season, and you had to have just fallen off the turnip truck to not know. Every man, woman, child and dog I saw today, whether it be at the mall, the grocery store, or the park was wearing a ohio state red t shirt. I am not kidding....Even the grocery store cashiers.........It is beyond insane. I can't imagine what people thought seeing us in "regular" garb!! Only in Amerrrricah.

falling leaves, swimming pools and sand in the dump trucks

Well, definately something you just don't do in Victoria come september, is go swimming in an outdoor pool. Yesterday, Richard finally came home after a week away and we headed to the pool that also has a sandy volleyball court that doubles as a "beach" for Olivier. It was great, and the crazy humid 90 degree weather hadn't kicked in for the day yet. Believe it or not, we were the onlyones there for the 2 hours....Fantastic. Olivier had just a great time, and after the initial chill of the pool(had to jump in all at once) it was lovely. We played with trucks in the sand, threw a ball around and even got O dancing to the music coming from the outdoor speakers. So pretty also, to see the leaves on the ground starting to fall, and the beautiful brick colonial house that must be over 100 years old next door. The architecture is so different from the west, and so beautiful with all the brick. Ii would be so great to live in one of these old houses and restore it....

sticks and dirt

Three year old boys are funny, and if you get the opportunity to hang out with one, you should. (not to say 3 year old girls aren't fun..........I am just writing this from experience)!
Olivier is having just a blast exploring the outside world. We have a backyard here, and he would gladly spend hours picking up and rearranging rocks and twigs . He likes to pour water on just about anything that is standing still, and he can't believe what a great invention the hose is..... to think water can come out non stop is incredible!! I let him have some "jobs" to do outside, to have him learn to help me and also to feel like he is important for doing these jobs.. He planted all of my pots with flowers, and it's his job to water them.........I think he also waters the lawn chairs, the table, the bbq, etc. All in a days work though, right?

GUSTAV

Well, if there is one thing to be said on a positive note about Gustav and all his fury, it's that it will totally throw off the whole republican convention this week...Unfortunately though, Richard is left down in the deep south to do the flying that the main line carrier won't do. They don't seem to mind "throwing" the smaller, regional jets into the eye of the storm. FIngers crossed it blows away from the south and towards the twin cities.

Weather

It's such a strange thing......Back home in Vic, it's already becoming fall, with clouds and rain and cooler temperatures. It's not even september. Here, we had rain last week, and it was great!! I even went out on that very day and bough O some cords.........haha. As much as I hate the greyness that is Victoria, it is so much of what I am used to.... In Dublin, it is sunday evening about 7:45, and just now cool enough to comfortably sit outside and let O play....Two hours ago was much too warm. We went to the grocery store last night at 9, and had all 4 car windows open to enjoy the late summer air.............funny isn't it? We were just picking up the first few brown crunchy leaves that were on the ground, and having quite a laugh throwing them at each other....Thank god O's aim is off, because he had quite the chunk of dirt and rocks mixed into his!
Richard is home tuesday eve and promises to help with personalizing the blog a little more. I want to be able to add some pictures and personal touches that go along with the "subject" of the day.
Go outside and throw some leaves!

revamping the title

I was told the title of the blog had negative connotations, and so I changed it.....(can't anyone see I was only being silly!!! ) Anyhow, our life is definately an adventure of sorts. Unknown to me, Barrack Obama and Joe Biden were in my little town of Dublin last night, starting the campaign trail together .........Wish I had known. I would love to get in the middle of all this craziness and hoopla the Americans surround themselves with for their elections. Besides, I think Barrack is the man who can truly make a change for the better in this country...Hopefully start it back on the road to it's recovery...I won't chat anymore about politics. I just threw in my 2 cents worth seeing as I am immersed in it every day "down here".

Let's see how this goes....

So this is my first attempt at blogging. I figured seeing as everyone else is doing it, I may as well give it a try. Be patient, as I have much to learn and not alot of time to sit down and figure it out. I will learn as I go, and that could prove to be interesting!! We have a new computer without any pictures saved, so I will not have too many to share until I take some new ones. More later.......