Good luck, Chris...

topher!! ;) I am still the only aunt that calls him that!! I remember the day he was born (Christmas Day!) and my sister told me that they were going to call this wee lad Christopher. When she asked me what I thought, I told her I loved it, but I didn't like the diminutive, Chris. "Oh no!", she assured me. "We will always call him Christopher!"...

Fast forward seventeen years...

We helped my sister, Liz, and brother-in-law, Gino, celebrate the departure of their youngest son from the nest on Saturday! Chris (as he now prefers to be called! :)) leaves for his first year of post-secondary education at Fanshawe College. Gary and I both attended the college in the 1990's (Gosh, that was hard to admit!!)



The food was awesome, as always, and the company great. My brother-in-law, Bill, and Gary (but mostly, Bill!) rocked the barbecue. I forwarded this awesome black bean salsa recipe to Liz, which she made (and put alot more jalapenos in than I did - wow!). It's so darn yummy! Thanks to my friend, Gisele, for sending it to me!!

Sadly (and surprisingly!), I didn't get a whole lot of photos! Between keeping an eye on Connor in the pool, and chasing Aili around the deck, opportunities were few and far between! Thank goodness for my niece, Carly, who helped me watch Miss Ants-In-Her-Pants!! So I got to hang out and chat with my cousin, Margaret, which was nice - we don't see each other nearly enough!

I did manage to catch this awesome shot of the barbecue... if I do say so myself!! :)



This was our one saving Grace on Saturday... kept Aili busy for the most part of the day. She kept pushing it over the little bridge between the two decks!



And we couldn't keep the kids out of the pool, despite the cold temp...Brrr!!



Aili climbed up onto the diving board and started bouncing away!! She's going to make me completely grey yet!! I threw her inner tube shirt on her, just in case, and she stood on the board for about 10 minutes, working up her courage... Not this time, however!



Lastly, I want to take a moment to commend this woman:



Mary D., Gino's cousin, in three weeks, raised a whopping $40, 200 for Transition to Betterness, a local non-profit organization that helps provide a more comfortable and compassionate hospital setting for cancer patients and their families. She shaved her head on Friday night to raise the money!

Congratulations to Mary on her courage and perseverance. She even managed to get an additional $500 from her doctor in the audience, while she was making her speech about why she had wanted to do this!! She was hoping to raise $74,000, because, I believe, her dad died at age 74, and her mom, 74 now, is undergoing cancer treatments. Ironically, my mom was 74 when she succumbed to cancer...

Thanks for reading!!