Christmas is for Kids

Christmas is over for another year. Just think only 360 more shopping days until Christmas 2012!!!
We had a good Christmas this year. We went to my brother in law's place for Christmas Eve. All of my wife's family was there. Including 3 kids under 5 years old. They had a great time. Christmas really is for the kids. As usual, we ate & drank too much. We were at home for Christmas morning with our own kids. We opened our presents & stockings.My daughter gave me this adorable balloon doggie salt & pepper shaker set.

Then we drove 5 hours to my family Christmas. There were 26 of us for dinner at my sister's place. All of the kids on my side of the family are over 21. But we have one lady who is expecting and another nephew just got married so maybe in a couple of years there will be some babies.

My buddies daughter is a huge Mario fan so I made her a balloon Mario. I'll have to work on Yoshi.

She loved it. Unfortunately, she said that one of his eyes broke later in the day. But she got some good pictures before it broke.
I also dropped by another buddy's place. His 3 grandkids were there so, of course, I had to make them some balloons. Princess's for the girls and a dragon and sword for the very active little boy. I haven't seen them for a couple of years, so they were excited to get their balloon creations.

Employee Charitable Fund

Every year my company raises money for their Employee Charitable Fund. Employees can direct money to their favorite charity through payroll deductions. There are also events to raise more money for charities. We held a kickoff breakfast, sold Tim Horton's coffee, held a market of used books & DVD's with games of chance and a silent auction. We also had a raffle with prizes like indoor parking for a month, Toronto Maple Leafs tickets, movie passes and gift cards for The Keg, The Bay and Tim Horton's.

I made balloons for donations at the Marketplace. Here are a couple of pictures:

Cooperative Church Camp

This year at CCC at Sharon-Hope United Church the theme "Son Surf", a beach background.
So, I made some beach creatures. There is a different animal each day with a message for the kids.

 I also made a life guard chair.

 I enjoy the challenge of creating new things each year fir the kids. The kids really like them as well. There is always a discussion about who gets to take the balloons home at the end of the week.

Time to get up to date!!

Well, summer is over. Time to update the old blog!!
Look what I found!!

Aren't they cute? Doggy chew toys that look like balloon animals. I found them at Pet Value pet food store. And they were on sale so I just had to buy a couple. They had a Doggy, A pig, a cow and I think the other on was a sheep. I didn't get the sheep.
Now I have to figure what to do with them. I do not have a dog. I'm trying to figure out how to use them in my act some how. Maybe throw an uninflated balloon into a bag and pull out one of these toys.
I like to find oddities like this.

Old friends ... and new ones, too!!

For over 20 years we rented a cottage a Balsam Resort. Over the years we met some characters from Sarnia & Ottawa who have become good friends. We haven't been to Balsam Resort for a couple of years so we decided to have a reunion weekend of sorts.

That's me, my lovely wife Maryann, Pete,Terri, Ron, Debbie, Judy & Gord.
Although Balsam Resort is a great family resort near Coboconk, Ont operated by John & Judy Beall, we had a lovely weekend hanging out with no kids this time.Swimming, eating, fishing and reminiscing while enjoying a few cold bevvies around the campfire at night.

We also met some new friends:

Of course, I had to share my love of balloons with these 3 lovely young girls from Buffalo NY. I also made some balloon sculptures for their boy cousins who were out fishing. Their mother told me that they went to see a clown at their local library. The clown said "I only make dogs. Don't even think of asking for something else" Sad, isn't it. That someone would make balloon sculptures and not want to improve their repertoire.
I really like the look on their face when they get a balloon creation unexpectedly. These girls had fun with their balloons. And the grown ups enjoyed watching as well. That's the cool thing about balloons ... there is no age limit.

Balloon Moose ... Not!!

I know! This is not a balloon. But I thought it was really cool so I had to share it.
On the weekend we went to an artisan's festival at Fairy Lake in Newmarket. One of the thing that we saw was this cool moose ottoman. It was made in Waterloo. They also had elephants, bears, hippos and bull dogs. They come in various patterns or solid colors. I fell in love with this fellow so had to give it a good home. We call him "Mumford".

Thenin the afternoon we went to "Polo for Heart". It is a polo tournament to raise money for the "Heart & Stroke Foundation". My credit union, Pace Credit Union, was a major sponsor so I got free tickets. I thought that they would be just general admission. But when we arrived, we found out that they were for the VIP tent. The tickets include lunch and open bar. We had a great time rubbing shoulders with the mucky mucks.
Mercedes-Benz was another sponsor so we went car shopping.

This car has gull wing doors and is a mere $214,000.00.
We even saw a couple of polo matches. All in all, a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

My nephews wedding

This past weekend I attended my nephews wedding. This is the first wedding of one of my niece's or nephews.  The ceremony was held in a beautiful garden setting in the country north of Napanee Ontario. Then off to the reception in Tweed. I was asked to be the MC at the wedding reception.
I made a bride & groom for the happy couple.

A couple of little girls seemed fascinated with my handy work.

There were about a dozen kids there so I was kept busy making balloon creations for them.

Holy Humor Sunday

Holy Humor Sunday is traditionally the Sunday after Easter, because it is said that God had played the ultimate joke on death by raising Jesus from the grave. Because of other commitments we had it May 15 instead.  We had lots of fun & humor. The choir dressed in bathrobes instead of choir gowns. The choral introit was "Ode to Joy" played on kazoos. We used "Knock-knock" jokes to introduce the various parts of the service. For example:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Lettuce
Lettuce who?
Let us pray
Yes, it's corny. But that's what Holy Humor is all about.
We had a couple of humorous skits. In the last skit I got to show off some of my balloon skills.
I was trying to get to heaven. First by flying with my balloon wings

 Then I tried to climb a ladder to heaven

Then I tried using a jet pack

And finally my nuclear powered helicopter. (I got a great reaction from the congregation when I came out with my helicopter.)

But Cymbalina reminded me that none of these things will get me to heaven. In order to get to heaven "This is what the LORD requires from you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to live humbly with your God."

Dreams Take Flight

"Dreams Take Flight" is a Canadian national non-profit organization dedicated to providing unforgettable memories to children who may be faced with life threatening illnesses, coming from disadvantaged situations, and those that are physically and mentally challenged. They take these children to the happiest place on earth – Disney.
The flight from Toronto this year was on Wed May 11. My daughter Sarah (aka Ruby the Clown) and Rusty the Clown (that's me) went to Pearson Airport in Toronto at 4:30 am - yes, in the morning - to entertain the kids as they arrived. We made balloon hats, penguin bracelets, fishing rods and much more.
Also at the hanger were RCMP, ambulance, firefighters & the OPP Golden Helmets motorcycle police.

What a wonderful group of children. We met some kids as faraway as Coboconk. The kids from out of town stay in a hotel near the airport so they would not have to get up too early. There were more than 200 children.
We met Susan Hay from Global News. She has been a big supporter for many years.

Loonette the Clown was also there. Ruby was so-o-o-o-o excited. She used to watch Loonette on the Big Comfy Couch on TV when she was little.

An added bonus - when we arrived, we were told that every volunteer would receive a pair of Crocs shoes.

I've already signed up to volunteer next year.

Walking fo MS

On April 17, I was invited to make balloons for the people participating in the walk for Multiple Sclerosis. This is a 10 km walk/run to raise money for  MS research.
I have volunteered my time for about 10 years. I make balloons for about an hour before the walk starts as people are registering. This is a well organized event. They provide snacks and beverages before the walk starts and a barbeque when they get back.
This year my daughter, Sarah, came with me to make balloon hats. This is the first time that she has been able to participate with me. We had a wonderful time talking to the kids and their parents. I saw many people that I know.
Here are a couple of pictures:

The kids are always polite and patient as they wait for their balloon hats. I enjoy coming to this event every year.

Holy Cow!! Is it April already??

Wow! Where has the time gone. I guess It's time to update my blog. I have a few things that I want to add. I'll do a couple of entries to get caught up.

Before Christmas my friend "Bellybutton the Clown" asked if I would help her make a balloon car for the Santa Claus parade in her small town. Seems that every year she puts together a great float for the parade, but has never been able to get her picture in the local paper. So she saw a picture of a balloon car that she can wear. She figured that it is pretty unique and if that did not get her in the paper it was a lost cause.

So here is a picture of the car we built and a picture of her wearing it in the parade.

It looks ok, but if we had more time I'm sure that we could have made it look better. The wheels could be bigger for example.
Oh! She got her picture in the paper.