Auntie Sher, Phin and McKenna.


All this visiting is so tiring.


Hang on tight!


McKenna and her uncle Cort.

Oh the gifts!


Very cute outfit.

HAdley loves to have her picture taken.

Leanne, Hadley and McKenna.


Uncle Simon, looking very impressed.


Auntie Beth .......I think she is in love.

t Pops getting more comfortable with our little girl!


Mexi checking out the baby.


On Friday McKenna got to meet her uncle Cort. I think the two of them will get along just fine. She grabbed onto his finger and at that point I believe she wrapped yet another family member around her finger. Cort did however have a problem with the crying baby through the night.....that's just something he will have to learn about.

Saturday morning A family friend Leanne Verkley and Hadley came to meet Mckenna. She was on her way to Listowel and asked to stop in for a quick visit. She brought Shelly two really sweet outfits for when McKenna gets a little older. Her little girl Hadley was very entertaining and a very cute little girl. I have followed her progress since birth and suddenly she seemed so grown up next to McKenna.

In the afternoon Simon and Beth, Luke's brother and sister. arrived to meet their new little niece. I do believe both were very taken with our new little girl. They brought Shelly and Luke a very nice carry sling for once she gets a little older. While they got in their snuggle time Colin and I took the opportunity to go out and do a little shopping. (I remember now why I don't want to live here)

Mexi is starting to get used to the baby and will actually sit beside her and sniff her......Big Step!

McKenna is 4 days old today and I can't even imagine our lives without her.

Auntie Sher gave me my first manicure.


And sorted out some of my clothes.

And taught my Mommy how to bath me.


This is the hat my mommy came home from the hospital in.


Mommy and Daddy lve me soooo much.

This is my Grandma Booker.


Susan was my moms Baby Sitter when she was little.




I have 5 fingers on each hand WOW!

Chris and Natallie love me too!

Auntie Sher had a nap with me.



This is me in my boy sleepers.......but I am still cute

Amazing how one little 7 pound baby can make so much laundry and make new rules for 5 people. Everything has been revolving around the baby. But she is so sweet and cute that no one seems to mind.

Sherri-Lyn has been an amazing help to Shelly and has so many answers to all the new mommy questions. She also told Shelly how to bath the baby.

There have been visits from Luke's parents, Mike and Tammy, Susan and some of the neighbors.

WOW......that was a real trip.....but look here I am!

Mommy is in Love.


Proud Mom and Dad!


Daddy is dressing me!


Mmmmm Daddy's finger is so good!


Okay, I have Daddy around one Pinky.


I've sneaked into my Oma's heart.


Pops is all smiles


Auntie Sher is Over the Moon!!

Shelly nd her midwives, Remi and Jackie getting ready to leave the hospital.



Daddy bringing his precious little bundle into the house .



We were at the hospital just after 8:30. They strapped Shelly into the monitors and after about an hour decided that the baby's heart rate was a little fast and they should induce her. Once they did that the contractions came on fast and furious to the point that Shelly was able to relax at all. In short She was not able to cope. Time for some drugs. By this time it was about 3:30. They administered the epidural and within about 20 minutes she went from 5-6 cm to fully dilated and ready to push. At 7:02 PM McKenna Ann entered the world very quietly with the most beautiful face I had ever seen. She was perfect in every way. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Shelly and Luke were astonished at what they had done. Auntie Sher and Oma wer glad they were able to help and witness the amazing event and Pops was a little nervous but obviously very proud!

Our little family has grown by "1" She has two pinky fingers and takes turns wrapping us around them.

So Shelly knocked on my door at 7:10 this morning........it took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that someone was actually knocking on my door but finally figured out that I had to open it up. It was Shelly and she informed me that her water just broke but no serious labor pains yet.

Unfortunately, I had 2 doctors appointments in Fergus today and I could not cancel .........yikkes......I need to be in two places at the same time!!!

Long story short by the time we got back to Mississauga Sherri-Lyn had arrived and she and Shelly were on the couch watching a movie. Daddy in waiting was running around cleaning everything in site. Shelly was uncomfortable but not in serious pain. Hopefully we will make it to the morning and her Midwife appointment at the hospital.

The Boers Siblings..........who'd a thunk it!


Olga, Ries and Shelly in the midst of a heavy discussion.

My nephew Ron


We started out the morning with a nice relaxing sit with a coffee in the hot tub. It turned out to be another gorgeous fall day. We had a late breakfast /early lunch and Shelly and I headed for Milton to celebrate my niece Teala's, 40th birthday. We were a bit late getting there bu in time to catch the speech the Mayor gave and the presentation. "Nice Touch" It was good to see the whole family again. In fact it was a rather spacial occasion with both my brothers and myself there together......definitely a "Photo OP"!! Unfortunately the pictures of my niece did not turn out. She did however look stunning in her Birthday Tierra.

There was plenty of food and everyone had a good time.

We got back to Mississauga in time for Shelly to have a late afternoon nap. I made dinner for us all and before we turned in for the night we had another hot tub.......ahhhh so relaxing.

The deck and ramp all water sealed and ready to leave for the winter.


The dogs taking one last romp down to the water.


Our Generator all tucked in for the winter.


Locking up the shed one last time.



Even though we were up early it still took us till noon to get away. One last trip down to the dock to make sure everything was in place and put the final stuff in the shed. Next we hooked up the trailer and finally we were ready to leave. We usually pull out of our driveway and go to the turn around at the end of the road to go out. With no cars there it is just big enough to turn the trailer.......uh oh! There was a big backhoe float, a truck and trailer and another car parked there so I had to ask our neighbour if they could move them so we could get turned around. It took a while for them to realise that we were not going to get out unless some of the vehicles were moved but eventually they figured it out. Our neighbour at the end of the road said we could use the top part of his drive way to pull up and then back around.

Finally on the way our ETA at Shelly’s is 6:00. We stopped and had lunch in Parry Sound and then had to dump our black tank in Barrie at the Petro Canada Station.

It took some fiddling around to get into Shelly’s driveway but we were all parked by dark......now the waiting game starts.......Come on Baby Booker!!

Mr. Scary chainsaw guy!




One of the trees that needed to come down for the house.




All the branches cleaned up and burned.



The four trees that needed to come down for the Work Shop.


Today is our last day up here and we need to get everything done. What seemed like it should only take about an hour to do managed to take us the whole day. We piled all the left over lumber into one spot and covered it with a tarp for the winter. Everything is in the shed except for the phones which will go in, in the morning. We finished off the day by taking down 4 trees that will have to come down for the Work shop to be built. Although we didn’t get them all cut up, having them cut down will allow them to dry over the winter and hopefully they won’t be as heavy in the Spring. The one huge pine we cut down will give us some nice pieces of wood to make some things out of.

When we both got back I finished screwing down the boards on the deck and applying Water seal to all the wood and Colin closed in the Generator house for the winter.

We decided to head up to the trailer and get washed up and go for wings at the Tavern......good idea!! I did not feel like cooking dinner. We were both almost falling asleep at the table but the wings and fries were good as usual.

We have been hoping every night when we go to bed that the phone does not ring with the news that Shelly has gone into labor. Tonight we went to bed with a good feeling that if we had to leave through the night we were in good shape to leave everything. We have one job left to do and that is, pile all the remaining lumber into a pile and cover it for the winter. There is about an hours worth of work left. We will head for Mississauga on Saturday morning.

We got an earlier start this morning in hopes of getting all our jobs done. Colin worked at getting the floating dock ready to move into place for the winter. I busied myself cleaning up wood scraps and moving things into the shed for the winter. We launched the boat and got ready to tow the dock into the tiny indent on our lot’s shore line. This should save it from ice movement in the spring. Some people leave their floating docks “free floating” on their anchors but we were too worried about losing our anchors and chains. When we were finished with that I took the boat down to the launch ramp and Colin brought the truck and trailer down to load it up for the last time this year. Another job done.

When we first got up it was dry outside but before long it started to rain. We tried to do a little bit of work down on the dock but it just was not possible to work in rain. I needed to do some laundry so we decided to drive into town and get that done. Colin had some bits and pieces to pick up so while I was at the Laundromat, he did his running around. We managed to finish our jobs at about the same time

It was really windy throughout the night and by noon the temperature started to drop. The sun is still shining though so that is good.
Since the stores are open again today I went into town to pick up some lumber and supplies for the dock. It seems like the work on this dock is endless. The last part to do is build a ramp that will go between the part of the dock that is on land and the floating part. The power went out this morning so when I got to the lumber yard I was not able to pay. The gas station had a generator so he was able to pump gas and put my Visa through. When I went to get water naturally the pump was not working either. When I got back I managed to get the floating section of the dock coated with water sealant and I also got one of the 3 deck section done. At about 6:00 the power came back on so I went to get water.

We had a relaxing morning in the trailer and then headed down to the water to finish some more work. I had about 4 rows of shingles to put on the last side of the roof and then the cap on the ridge. I have a few bruises from sliding over the edge of the roof to the ladder but the roof looks great.
Colin worked all day on installing the hardware on the dock to attach the chains and ramp. I took a short break and headed up to put on a large pan of stuffed green peppers for dinner and then went back down and worked for a while on screwing down the deck boards.
We had cocktails on the dock and then came up for dinner. (Pictures to follow)

The dogs checking out the completed deck.



Splash looking for Fishies.

Mexi being very brave and helping on the fish hunt.





Although we did not have the traditional turkey for Thanksgiving, we did have a really good prime rib roast. The weather up here is beautiful, warm and bright sunshine. I think the leaves have seen their best colours but it is still pretty.

Colin was a little under the weather with a cold but he managed to do what he had to for me to start shingling the back part of the shed. I got about 3/4 of it done and then had to go up to cook the roast. The dogs were very happy to be up here and have had a good run around. Splash managed to get herself wet at the waterfront. They really do love it up here.

There was a lot of running around today as we are leaving the Gorge Park for thelast time this year. Because of this everything had to be cleaned up and some of the stuff had to be put into storage. After we left we stopped in Arthur to pick up mail and some last minute rent collections. Next stop was the No Frills in Shelburn for groceries. We were very late arriving at the lot but it was a full moon so parking the trailer was not too hard. It was a long day but so worth it once we were finally here again.

Naturally as it is the beginning of the month it was time to pick up rents, and with that comes the never ending list of things that need to be repaired.

On Friday we went up to Arthur so I could hunt down some paper work the bank needs to see and then we tore down the back deck on 106 Charles St. It was hanging by one bolt....a new development. We managed to salvage some nice 4 x 6 x12 posts and a bunch of decking boards, all useful at the lot for building walkways and what not.

Saturday was my sewing day at home. I made fitted sheets and flat sheets for the mini crib that Shelly will be using for the baby. I also washed and ironed all the linen I already had and the skirt and canopy for the crib. Now that it is all done Shelly has my permission to go ahead and have the baby......if only it were that simple.

I have also started to go through all the compartments in the trailer removing unnecessary items. It is amazing how much stuff we tend to accumulate. The good news is I now have a lot more space under my bed and can actually put things away under there without having to re stack everything. A great improvement.

We got started early and by lunch time were just about done all the sewing on the curtains. I also repaired a purse for Frances.

We decided to take the dogs for a walk and just as we got outside it started to rain. We decided to go anyway. The dogs were not bothered by the rain......just Frances and I.

When we arrived back Colin and Ed were just getting back from town so I started to get the trailer ready to go home.

We got to Arthur just in time to pick up the mail and Colin just in time to show one of our rental units.

We left Arthur and knew we had to get fuel but didn't think we were that close to being empty......well yes we were. The lucky thing was we ran out right in front of a big Tractor and Farm machinery place. They were very helpful and gave us some diesel fuel and after a few minutes we were back on our way........right to the gas station just 1/2 a mile away.

We got to the park, parked the trailer and made some dinner. It's good to have power and water on demand again.