50th Wedding Anniversary

Recently, we celebrated my wife's Aunt Jo & Uncle Ed's 50th wedding anniversary. We had an open house party in Maryhill Ontario for family and friends. We told them that the party was for my sister-in-law's 60th birthday. So they were really surprised.
Because they were the king and queen for the day,  made them crowns to wear.

And, of course I had to make some balloons for the kids as well.

Another Wedding

On August 31, my niece, Alexis, married a nice young man named Jeff in a beautiful ceremony in Ottawa, Ontario.
Jeff is a huge Toronto Blue Jays fan and his favorite player is Jose Bautista. Alexis is a teacher. So I made them a couple of balloon Lootles. My talented daughter, Sarah, did the art work on the balloons.
I think that the bride and groom were pleased.

My epic Ride to Conquer Cancer

This year I decided to go on "The Ride to Conquer Cancer" It is a 200 km bicycle ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls Ont to raise money to support the work of The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute at The Princess Margaret, one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world, and a leader in the discovery and delivery of personalized cancer medicine.
The ride was June 9 & 10. What an amazing journey!!! 4,852 people helped raise $18.1 for cancer research. On Saturday we rode through rain most of the day. But it didn't dampen the spirits of the riders. The rain cleared up late in the afternoon. The evening at the camp in Hamilton was a beautiful summer evening.
Sunday was hot and sunny all day. We rode through farm country and villages to Niagara Falls. It was wonderful seeing all the people along the way standing beside the road with signs of support cheering us on.
And at the end there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of people to see us cross the finish line.
I can't say enough about the support we received for the weekend. All the volunteers and crew were terrific. The police and motorcycle club members that blocked traffic and provided directions. The people who manned the pit stops to provide Gatorade, fruit, energy bars etc to keep our bodies fueled.
I was very proud to be able to help raise much needed funds for cancer research.
For more information about the ride go to:  conquercancer.ca

The Enbridge team

Getting ready to start the ride - only 200 km to go!!!

My personal support team - wife Maryann & daughter Sarah

On the road

I made it!! And didn't have to call for the Medic's even once.

Last hockey game

Last night was the last hockey game of the season for me. I was on the Sharks (San Jose Sharks logo).
So I made a shark to give us inspiration to win. And win we did. Unfortunately, it was to determine who ended up in last place. So with the win we were 2nd last. Woo Hoo!!!

After the game I took the shark to the bar for some liquid refreshments. He was a real hit with the ladies. I forgot to take my camera though.
By the way that's a hockey stick in his mouth, like on the logo. (People kept asking me. No imagination!!)

My vacation

A couple of weeks ago my wife & I went on vacation to a lovely small resort in Dominican Republic near Porta Plata. We had a wonderful time escaping the "harsh" Canadian winter. And of course, I had to take my balloons with me. The 1st night we met some newlyweds in the bar:

She was pleased with her hitch hiker balloon.
We went on an excursion to "Monkey Jungle and Zip Line Adventure" My little red dog thought the zip line was a hoot!!

And I made a monkey for the owner of "Monkey Jungle". He is a philanthropist who provides free dental work to the people of DR. There is a dental clinic on site. It is paid for by the admission fees to the "Monkey Jungle" & "Zip Line Adventure"

Our waiter asked for some balloons for his 3 kids. After I made them I asked how old the kids were. I expected he had young children, but he told me they were 17, 15 & 11 years old. Funny how people of all ages enjoy balloons.

We had a very relaxing week in the sun. Good fun, good food & good service. But finally it was time for my little red dog to say good bye to the wait staff.
Until next time....

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: