The count for the Christmas 2008 cookies is 1,019. Margie spent the last 2 days making, baking, and decorating our Christmas cookies! Way to go Margie!!!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Bike ride on Labor Day
I have to brag! And I have to brag now that my legs still hurt going down and up the stairs!
We just completed – the entire family – ~12 miles of bike ride.
We took the new bike path from our home, across Northern Lights and in front of the Epic farm (yes, the bull was out) down to the Military Ridge trail; took a left turn towards Verona downtown and made it to McDonalds were we had lunch. Then we started heading back. We had one more stop at the Chocolate Shop where everyone was rewarded with ice cream and then we continued towards home. When we reached the right turn after the tunnel that would bring us up the hill at the Epic farm, we continued for ~2 more miles west till we hit PD. Then, we turned right back, followed the trail to the Epic farm hill, up the hill – not a small feat I tell you – and back home.
Sophia was behind Margie in the extension bike and Maria behind me in the Burley; Maria fell asleep a little after the stop at the Chocolate Shop! Before that she was all fun and singing, and talking to me (a change from the last time I had Sophia in there a couple of years back where she was just ordering me to go faster and faster J). We started at around 11am and we just came back… I am writing this email while the memories are still vivid and a lot of things hurt… really hurt… but it was fun! We plan to do it again!
We just completed – the entire family – ~12 miles of bike ride.
We took the new bike path from our home, across Northern Lights and in front of the Epic farm (yes, the bull was out) down to the Military Ridge trail; took a left turn towards Verona downtown and made it to McDonalds were we had lunch. Then we started heading back. We had one more stop at the Chocolate Shop where everyone was rewarded with ice cream and then we continued towards home. When we reached the right turn after the tunnel that would bring us up the hill at the Epic farm, we continued for ~2 more miles west till we hit PD. Then, we turned right back, followed the trail to the Epic farm hill, up the hill – not a small feat I tell you – and back home.
Sophia was behind Margie in the extension bike and Maria behind me in the Burley; Maria fell asleep a little after the stop at the Chocolate Shop! Before that she was all fun and singing, and talking to me (a change from the last time I had Sophia in there a couple of years back where she was just ordering me to go faster and faster J). We started at around 11am and we just came back… I am writing this email while the memories are still vivid and a lot of things hurt… really hurt… but it was fun! We plan to do it again!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Photos from the Canada trip have been uploaded...
It was yesterday that I finished uploading all the pictures from the Canada trip to Picasa online.
Many of these pictures were taken by Costas. He did an excellent job with his small camera.
Here are the albums in chronological order:
Many of these pictures were taken by Costas. He did an excellent job with his small camera.
Here are the albums in chronological order:
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| Canada - Lansing to Toronto |
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| Canada - Niagara Falls |
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| Canada - Casa Loma |
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| Canada - Royal Ontario Museum |
 |
| Canada - Toronto to Montreal |
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| Canada - Olympic Park and Biodome |
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| Canada - Old Montreal |
 |
| Canada - Montreal to Ottawa |
 |
| Canada - Ottawa - Parliament Hill |
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| Canada - Ottawa - Science and Technology Museum |
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| Canada - Ottawa to Toronto |
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| Canada - Toronto Zoo |
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| Canada - Toronto - CN Tower |
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| Canada - Toronto to Lansing |
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 15 - Lansing, MI to Verona, WI
We are back at home!
We started the longest, but last, leg of our trip early this morning. We were on the road at 9am EDT. We stopped for iced coffee at Burger King this time and I have to admit that Margie was right! Their iced coffee is the best. Better than McDonalds and even better than Tim Horton's that was up to this point my favorite - Starbucks is in a category of their own; I am not going to compare their coffee with fast food chains, it will not be fair...
We reached Chicago at around 11:30am CDT and literally zoomed through it at no less than 50 mph. We were all very impressed as this is the fastest that we have traveled trough Chicago.
We were actually caught a bit by surprise as we were planning to stop before going through Chicago, grab lunch, and have the kids watching movies as we were driving through Chicago. It ended up that we did not need to worry about delays. We stopped at the Oasis outside Chicago and got lunch to go.
We were at home at 2:30pm. Margie started laundry right away and after a couple of loads were done we drove back to the airport to return the rental car. As I turned it in, the receipt registered that we drove 2,567 miles. Margie drove all of them - I just drove the car to return it to the airport.
We are all tired, but happy to be home. I am still off for a couple of weeks and looking forward to spending some time with our family at home and catch up on some house projects that have been postponed for ever.
And this concludes the Tsiolis's family Canada vacation 2008!
We started the longest, but last, leg of our trip early this morning. We were on the road at 9am EDT. We stopped for iced coffee at Burger King this time and I have to admit that Margie was right! Their iced coffee is the best. Better than McDonalds and even better than Tim Horton's that was up to this point my favorite - Starbucks is in a category of their own; I am not going to compare their coffee with fast food chains, it will not be fair...
We reached Chicago at around 11:30am CDT and literally zoomed through it at no less than 50 mph. We were all very impressed as this is the fastest that we have traveled trough Chicago.
We were actually caught a bit by surprise as we were planning to stop before going through Chicago, grab lunch, and have the kids watching movies as we were driving through Chicago. It ended up that we did not need to worry about delays. We stopped at the Oasis outside Chicago and got lunch to go.
We were at home at 2:30pm. Margie started laundry right away and after a couple of loads were done we drove back to the airport to return the rental car. As I turned it in, the receipt registered that we drove 2,567 miles. Margie drove all of them - I just drove the car to return it to the airport.
We are all tired, but happy to be home. I am still off for a couple of weeks and looking forward to spending some time with our family at home and catch up on some house projects that have been postponed for ever.
And this concludes the Tsiolis's family Canada vacation 2008!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Day 14 - Toronto to Lansing, MI
Today we went on leg two out of three of our trip back home; around 300 miles from Toronto to Lansing, MI.
We left the hotel in Toronto around 11am. We stopped twice, once for diapers and once for a large chocolate brownie iced coffee from Tim Horton's.
We continued till around 2pm where we stopped before we crossed the border for lunch; Burger King this time...
This random photo is the place where we hit 2,000 miles in our trip; it is just before Sarnia, in the Canadian side, a few miles before we cross the border with the US.
The crossing was fast and uneventful; many trucks with a long line, but the car/RV lines moved fast without any backups. The US guard asked about our Florida plates and when we told him that the car was a rental and we were from Verona, WI, he asked about the floods in our area. We responded and realized how lucky we have been to have floods and damages to our north, to our west, to our south, to our east, but nothing too bad in our area.
We were all sure happy to be back in the states. Distance was measured once more in miles and not in these "random units of measurement" as Margie was calling kilometers.
We hot Flint and then very soon we were in Lansing. We checked in our hotel close to 5pm and after a short visit to a US Wal-Mart for milk and bread (with reasonable prices, still more expensive than WI, but quite reasonable) we had dinner and visited the pool. Kids have been asking about the pool for a couple of days now. This hotel (the same as the one we stopped on our way to Canada) had the coldest pool of all. Even though we were alone there again, we did not stay longer than 15 minutes - this is how cold it was.
We are all in our room now, kids are watching Mulan 2 and we plan for an early turn in so that we can hit the road early tomorrow morning. God willing we will sleep in our beds tomorrow night.
We left the hotel in Toronto around 11am. We stopped twice, once for diapers and once for a large chocolate brownie iced coffee from Tim Horton's.
We continued till around 2pm where we stopped before we crossed the border for lunch; Burger King this time...
This random photo is the place where we hit 2,000 miles in our trip; it is just before Sarnia, in the Canadian side, a few miles before we cross the border with the US.The crossing was fast and uneventful; many trucks with a long line, but the car/RV lines moved fast without any backups. The US guard asked about our Florida plates and when we told him that the car was a rental and we were from Verona, WI, he asked about the floods in our area. We responded and realized how lucky we have been to have floods and damages to our north, to our west, to our south, to our east, but nothing too bad in our area.
We were all sure happy to be back in the states. Distance was measured once more in miles and not in these "random units of measurement" as Margie was calling kilometers.We hot Flint and then very soon we were in Lansing. We checked in our hotel close to 5pm and after a short visit to a US Wal-Mart for milk and bread (with reasonable prices, still more expensive than WI, but quite reasonable) we had dinner and visited the pool. Kids have been asking about the pool for a couple of days now. This hotel (the same as the one we stopped on our way to Canada) had the coldest pool of all. Even though we were alone there again, we did not stay longer than 15 minutes - this is how cold it was.
We are all in our room now, kids are watching Mulan 2 and we plan for an early turn in so that we can hit the road early tomorrow morning. God willing we will sleep in our beds tomorrow night.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 13 - Back to Toronto
Day 13 today and what a day it was!
We started relatively early and were at the Toronto Zoo by 10:30am. The zoo is great. A lot of exhibits to see, many animals and species I have not seen before and the kid's attention was held well. Maria was her usual explorer following her own will and having endless energy and ideas!
Margie had the kids in their "Thing 1", "Thing 2", and "Thing 3" red t-shirts. Besides being very cute, it is easy to spot the kids in them in a crowd and God-forbid, if we get separated, we can describe the missing child very well: the kid in the red "Thing 2" t-shirt. We got a lot of compliments on the t-shirts - people just walking by and realizing what the kids were wearing were reacting in a very friendly and amused way - and a couple of parents just stopped us and asked where we got them! Well, we show them in the Universal shop in the Orlando Florida Airport, but yours truly being afraid that we were late for our flight that day did not get them then. It took Margie to look at the Universal Studios Web site and notice a line at the bottom of the page saying that you can order merchandise over the phone; she called and had the t-shirts delivered at our house for our trip!
We finished the day in the zoo by petting the sting-rays. We have done this before in a couple of places - Sea World in Orlando, and recently during a visit to the Milwaukee zoo - but it was a lot easier to pet them in the Toronto Zoo. They were just coming up to you as if they liked to be petted. Well, the personnel there told us that they indeed seem to enjoy the contact and seek it.
It was 4:30pm when we were eventually all beat by the heat and exhaustion that we decided to leave. I omitted to say that this was maybe the warmest day we have so far experienced in Canada - the temperature was close to 29 Celsius, thus 84.2 Fahrenheit today.
We did not encounter the traffic we saw yesterday as we came to Toronto from Ottawa. We managed to be in our hotel before 5:10pm and both adults had the chance for a quick shower. We had more plans for today. I had reserved over the internet about a week ago dinner for all of us at the 360 restaurant on the top of Toronto's CN tower.
The reservations were at 6:45pm and we left the hotel at 6:00pm. Delilah gave us once more great directions and we made it to our destination, parked and checked in by 7pm. Our table was ready and sat down as soon we made it to the top of the CN tower.
The experience was very similar to what we had seen at the Seattle Needle. The kids had never seen something like this before and they had fun. The restaurant rotates slowly (a full rotation in 71 minutes) and you get to see the entire city-scape this way.
The dinner was very good, we went down to the observation floor - the view was better from the restaurant - and then the glass floor. This was an interesting experience. They have several glass panels - OK, OK, this is not regular glass that we are talking about - that you could stand on and see all the way to the bottom of the tower. Margie did not come close. The kids had fun for a few minutes, but we cut it short to stop terrorizing our unfortunate mother, dedicated driver, trip organizer, etc, etc.
Unfortunately, today being the 13th day of the trip indeed, we had our first little scare. When we left the parking garage, the gas empty light of the van turned on. I had hoped to find a gas station before that, but I was wrong. By that time it was 9:30pm and it was dark. We asked Delilah for help, but she sent us to a couple of convenience stores first that we found, but they did not have any gas... We started to feel a little uncomfortable in a city we did not know having a van full of kids and stalled in the middle of a street - we exited the expressway promptly to not have to deal with a stalled car in the middle of the expressway at least!
Eventually, we targeted an Esso station (Mobil in canadian :-)) that we found... What a relief! We have never been happier to pay 134.9 cents a liter for gas!
The rest is history. We followed Delilah back to the hotel - it was 10:00pm by then - and the kids fell asleep almost instantly...
Tomorrow, we hit the road for home!
We started relatively early and were at the Toronto Zoo by 10:30am. The zoo is great. A lot of exhibits to see, many animals and species I have not seen before and the kid's attention was held well. Maria was her usual explorer following her own will and having endless energy and ideas!
Margie had the kids in their "Thing 1", "Thing 2", and "Thing 3" red t-shirts. Besides being very cute, it is easy to spot the kids in them in a crowd and God-forbid, if we get separated, we can describe the missing child very well: the kid in the red "Thing 2" t-shirt. We got a lot of compliments on the t-shirts - people just walking by and realizing what the kids were wearing were reacting in a very friendly and amused way - and a couple of parents just stopped us and asked where we got them! Well, we show them in the Universal shop in the Orlando Florida Airport, but yours truly being afraid that we were late for our flight that day did not get them then. It took Margie to look at the Universal Studios Web site and notice a line at the bottom of the page saying that you can order merchandise over the phone; she called and had the t-shirts delivered at our house for our trip!We finished the day in the zoo by petting the sting-rays. We have done this before in a couple of places - Sea World in Orlando, and recently during a visit to the Milwaukee zoo - but it was a lot easier to pet them in the Toronto Zoo. They were just coming up to you as if they liked to be petted. Well, the personnel there told us that they indeed seem to enjoy the contact and seek it.
It was 4:30pm when we were eventually all beat by the heat and exhaustion that we decided to leave. I omitted to say that this was maybe the warmest day we have so far experienced in Canada - the temperature was close to 29 Celsius, thus 84.2 Fahrenheit today.We did not encounter the traffic we saw yesterday as we came to Toronto from Ottawa. We managed to be in our hotel before 5:10pm and both adults had the chance for a quick shower. We had more plans for today. I had reserved over the internet about a week ago dinner for all of us at the 360 restaurant on the top of Toronto's CN tower.
The reservations were at 6:45pm and we left the hotel at 6:00pm. Delilah gave us once more great directions and we made it to our destination, parked and checked in by 7pm. Our table was ready and sat down as soon we made it to the top of the CN tower.
The experience was very similar to what we had seen at the Seattle Needle. The kids had never seen something like this before and they had fun. The restaurant rotates slowly (a full rotation in 71 minutes) and you get to see the entire city-scape this way.
The dinner was very good, we went down to the observation floor - the view was better from the restaurant - and then the glass floor. This was an interesting experience. They have several glass panels - OK, OK, this is not regular glass that we are talking about - that you could stand on and see all the way to the bottom of the tower. Margie did not come close. The kids had fun for a few minutes, but we cut it short to stop terrorizing our unfortunate mother, dedicated driver, trip organizer, etc, etc.Unfortunately, today being the 13th day of the trip indeed, we had our first little scare. When we left the parking garage, the gas empty light of the van turned on. I had hoped to find a gas station before that, but I was wrong. By that time it was 9:30pm and it was dark. We asked Delilah for help, but she sent us to a couple of convenience stores first that we found, but they did not have any gas... We started to feel a little uncomfortable in a city we did not know having a van full of kids and stalled in the middle of a street - we exited the expressway promptly to not have to deal with a stalled car in the middle of the expressway at least!
Eventually, we targeted an Esso station (Mobil in canadian :-)) that we found... What a relief! We have never been happier to pay 134.9 cents a liter for gas!
The rest is history. We followed Delilah back to the hotel - it was 10:00pm by then - and the kids fell asleep almost instantly...
Tomorrow, we hit the road for home!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Day 12 - Ottawa to Toronto
Today we started the first of three long legs of the return trip - Ottawa to Toronto, Toronto to Lansing, MI, and finally Lansing to Madison. Today's leg was around 300 miles.
We said goodbye to Ottawa - Margie's and my favorite city so far - and after replenishing our water and gas supplies we hit the road around 10:30am.
The weather was nice and made good progress shaving time off Delilah's estimated arrival time to Toronto. I have not driven the rental car once so far... Margie has been the sole driver on this trip!
We passed, in the order listed, Athens, Spencerville, and Shannonville on the way to Toronto. We also saw a coyote crossing the road in front of us and race the train for a few miles - the train won this one...
We stopped for lunch at a Flying-J's station with their restaurant called Country Market. Don't ever eat there! We did and that's why we warn you. We had the buffet and let the children ran a bit - literally ran around - on the grassy area outside the restaurant to burn some energy. When we got back into the car, it was time for movies. Sophia and Maria were watching Atlantis - Sophia's favorite movie of the time - and Costas saw Cars.
We made another brief stop right before Shannonville at the local McDonalds for some coffee for the dedicated driver. We had to use Delilah to find a McDonalds at this stretch of the road as we managed to drive several miles without seeing one! Strange!
We hit Toronto around 4:30pm, right on traffic time. We did not do too bad and we were at the hotel around 5:15pm. The room is bigger than before and everyone is resting now getting ready for tomorrow's big day at the zoo.
We said goodbye to Ottawa - Margie's and my favorite city so far - and after replenishing our water and gas supplies we hit the road around 10:30am.The weather was nice and made good progress shaving time off Delilah's estimated arrival time to Toronto. I have not driven the rental car once so far... Margie has been the sole driver on this trip!
We passed, in the order listed, Athens, Spencerville, and Shannonville on the way to Toronto. We also saw a coyote crossing the road in front of us and race the train for a few miles - the train won this one...We stopped for lunch at a Flying-J's station with their restaurant called Country Market. Don't ever eat there! We did and that's why we warn you. We had the buffet and let the children ran a bit - literally ran around - on the grassy area outside the restaurant to burn some energy. When we got back into the car, it was time for movies. Sophia and Maria were watching Atlantis - Sophia's favorite movie of the time - and Costas saw Cars.
We made another brief stop right before Shannonville at the local McDonalds for some coffee for the dedicated driver. We had to use Delilah to find a McDonalds at this stretch of the road as we managed to drive several miles without seeing one! Strange!
We hit Toronto around 4:30pm, right on traffic time. We did not do too bad and we were at the hotel around 5:15pm. The room is bigger than before and everyone is resting now getting ready for tomorrow's big day at the zoo.
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