Wow!  It has been while since I have had a chance to update this blog.  We have just left Ottawa, heading for Trois Rivieres, QB.  Time to brush up on our French!
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Toronto, visiting and touring.  Our last weekend was a busy one - golf and lunch with Walt and Ingrid on the Friday morning then lunch and overnight with my cousins in Etobicoke, just west of Toronto.  So good to see them and catch up on family stories from my mom's side. 
On the Saturday, we caught a Farmer's Market in Etobicoke and wished we were closer to our trailer - so much awesome produce in season now!! Enjoying fresh corn and peaches from roadside stands.  Later on Sat, we met up with Chris, Shon's son, and he showed us the lab where he is doing robotics programming - cool stuff which I am may never totally understand!  Still,  I am impressed!  We then went with Chris to the Ontario Science Center - fully worth the visit but 2 hours just scratched the surface!  We then watched an Omnimax film about polar bears - some amazing footage of a mom and two cubs in their natural setting.  By that time, we were hungry so drove to Little India for an Indian food buffet before dropping into the free Beaches Jazz Festival at Woodbine Park.  We caught a Chicago tribute band - sounded just like the 70s band, Chicago - wonderful!  We finished off a very satisfying day with a gelato in a litle neighbourhood place near Chris'

Great people watching

Sunday, we drove north to Stouffville for a pleasant lunch and visit with Shon's cousins, Jeanette and Andy - thanks again, you two!  That about concludes our visiting for this holiday - we will be on our own from now on. Thanks to everyone who has hosted us - you have all been wonderful to us!!!
Monday was a regrouping day around Walt and Ingrid's with laundry, grocery shopping, repacking the trailer, etc.  Once we were all hot and yucky from that, we drove over to Walt and Ingrid's daughter's where they were doing daycare for the grandsons - and jumped thankfully into their lovely back yard pool (-:  That evening, we ordered in Chinese food at W and I's while the four of us old folk were babysitting their other grandson, 5 month old Luke.  Luke and his parents had arrived from Edmonton on Sat - Ingrid was running a hotel for all of us. 
Tuesday, we pulled out of Toronto and drove to Peterborough where we watched boats being moved up and down a 19.8 m hydraulic lift lock, part of the Trent-Severn waterway.

Shon as a judge in the Federal Appeals Court in the Supreme Court building, Ottawa. 

 We then spent a couple of hours in the beautiful, interesting Canadian Canoe Museum - well worth the stop as it is like learning Canadian history through canoes and kayaks.  We stayed that night in Perth, Ontario, one of the prettiest towns we have seen so far - felt like some of the towns in Europe with its canals. LIstened to some great music in a little pub there, too - a duo named Beau Lawrenson, I think.

evening light in Perth, Ontario

Now we have just spent a couple of days in Ottawa - always a beautiful city.  We drove out to Gatineau Park one afternoon, toured the Supreme Court and spent a morning at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, another place where we left whole galleries unexplored after 3 hours. 
We hope everyone's summer is going well (winter for you Aussies reading this) and send hugs to everyone!  We love to get emails and hear what you are doing.  Joan, we have watched many boats going through locks in many places - if you enjoy your experience in France this fall, you would probably love to do the same in Ontario - beautiful scenery!