Mulch delivery

"Wow, this sure beats my indoor litter box."

Brussels

After a day in Paris, the hostels Bryan wanted were booked so he took off for Brussels, a city he has never been to before. He spent last night there and is staying there tonight. Tomorrow he heads for Amsterdam for a few days. Here's an edited account and some photos of past two days:

"Ya Brussels is pretty awesome I really enjoyed the past two days here. The public transportation is really good. The whole city is extremely diverse.

Grand Place - Brussels

Grand Place - Brussels

It's almost midnight here so I'm going to bed, I'm catching a train to Amsterdam tomorrow. I'll be there for three night until Tuesday morning, but that may change if i like it there." 

And if he runs out of money, he can sleep on these cool park benches!

Great to hear from you Bry. Thanks for the photos.

Carolyn's internship

Carolyn's summer internship with Verizon started on Monday. Today began with an early breakfast and meeting for the interns. Verizon has done a great job so far of engaging all the students. The event was filmed with video and photos later appearing online, including this one:

Carolyn - Vz summer intern

Newark to mid-Atlantic to Halifax to Paris

We woke up this morning thinking maybe, possibly, hopefully we might have a text from Bryan indicating that he had landed in Paris. No text. Don had been tracking the flight through an app and saw that Bryan's plane was sitting in Halifax. Halifax!? There's no Pont Neuf in Halifax.

Later, while at work, Don sent me a link to the flight map/status. Notice the dipsy doodle back to Halifax:

Just before I was to head home from work, I got an email from Don that he and Bryan had facetimed and that all was well. He had finally landed, just a mere 8 hours late, and he was sitting in a pub near his hostel that had free wifi. Funny thing is that he had already checked into the hostel and found he will be rooming with 3 guys. Then he noticed all 3 had Canadian flag patches on their packs. Cool! The journey begins.

Oh yes, the reason that they doubled back to Halifax was that a woman on their flight was ill. We hope she is okay.

Toronto & Mississauga weekend

We spent the Memorial Day long weekend up north with family, friends, and Animae people. We stayed near the airport and there happened to be an Animae convention. We were surrounded by people dressed up as cartoon characters - actually pretty creative, but a tad odd too... okay, very odd. (To each his own.)

First stop, of course, was to see my Mom and Dad. We had a good visit and delicious dinner compliments of Chef Helen upon our arrival. It is always nice to see the amazing gardens all around my parent's condo. On our walk around the grounds we decided to help some unsuspecting golfer with his putt - I'm sure he appreciated the audience:

Mom & Dad

We were able to celebrate my mom's birthday a week early and help her to eat her dessert:

Birthday dinner with Mom and Billy Miner pie @ The Keg

When we weren't with H&B, we were tourists around Toronto, visiting the ACC, Yonge St., the old Maple Leaf Gardens (now a Loblaws), the Beach for breakfast and a boardwalk stroll, the Distillery and the Eaton Centre. Have to say that we missed a bit of excitement (thank goodness) with a flood in Union Station occurring a few days after we left, and a shooting in the Eaton Centre a week later exactly where we bought a few things at Sport Chek. Bryan and Carolyn watched a Toronto FC game at the BMO Field one night while Don and I visited with his ole Nestle gang at a backyard party in Oakville.

A few more photos:

Artsy photo of the ACC (current home of the Maple Leafs)
with CN Tower reflection

Red dot marks Maple Leaf Gardens centre ice in aisle 25 at Loblaws!
With lots of memorabilia they have done a great job of using the space.

More travel news: Just 1 hour ago Bryan boarded a plane bound for Paris, his first stop on a 7-week gadabout Europe armed with a EuroRail Pass and a hostel app. I'll post some of his news and photos as (if) they come in. We wish him a fun, safe, eye-opening adventure!

Bryan's graduation - BSc 2012

On May 5, 2012 Bryan graduated from Penn State University with a major in IST (Information Sciences and Technology) and a minor in Supply Chain Management. Yahooooo!

Bryan in front of his IST building

Bryan Gill, BSc

It was a very special weekend for so many reasons - being so proud of our son and celebrating his achievement with our family. Carolyn joined us, of course!, and Don's sisters, Kathy & Barb, with their families drove down from Ingersoll and Beeton, Ontario for the big event. We know H&B and John & Vicki were all with us in spirit.

Anticipation in the auditorium; the kids: Brandon, Bryan, Carolyn, Eric & Michael; posing with the Grad

Chillin' at Phi Kappa Tau 

Dinners with the Smit / Kowalinski / Gill gang

Bryan has yet to come home from State College, enjoying a little post-college freedom with his fellow seniors. Once home he will be planning his summer - traveling around Europe. In Sep he will start working for KPMG in NYC.

Bryan, we are excited for you and all the possibilities ahead of you. And we love you so very much.

Orchid paradise in the Bronx

Recently I attended the NY Botanical Gardens featuring the Orchid Show. I took many, many photos of these amazing fake-looking flowers - so many varieties, colors, features. Just one jaw-dropping beauty after another.

 

After the orchid exhibit we walked around the expansive grounds taking in all the in-season flora. Standing downwind from the peonies and lilacs was amazing. Then a stroll through the azaleas was like being back in Maryland in the spring - anywhere not overrun by deer like our neighborhood where azaleas are picked clean of buds before you can say "deer spray" (which doesn't work).