Victoria Day Greetings from the country north of the border! I'm now on vacation in good ole' Canada! Been here since Thursday May 18 even though I set foot on Eastern soil for the first time in 2 1/2 years on Wednesday May 17, but this was in Buffalo where my flight took me. Since it was so late at night when I arrived, we stayed the night at my Uncle's (me Mom's brother).

It was less than 24 hours before I realized I already missed Sioux Falls. I'm definitely a Midwestern girl. The reasons why I know I'm a Midwestern girl at heart now: 1 - Within the first 24 hours of being here, I had already witnessed two "almost accidents"; 2 - Traffic (the highway lanes are 5-6 lanes WIDE going in each direction - so would total about 10-12 lanes for the entire highway!); 3 - Pace of life is too fast here, everyone's almost always on the go, while I'm used to a slower pace of life; 4 - Going shopping is a hassle, parking is a hassle. I'm definitely spoiled by living in a small town, even though it's the biggest in the state with only 140,000 people.

The highlight of the vacation SO far has been Friday the 19th. It was when my parents and I went up to Barrie to visit with family friends. Our families have been friends for years, starting with Dad and Cecil going to school together while growing up. Then Cecil got married, had his first two children, then my parents got married and had me. Cecil and his wife, Lynn had their son, Jason 11 months after I was born, so practically I've known Jason since he was born. While growing up, I was closer to Jason than I was to his older sisters, Debbie and Pam. I hadn't seen Cecil and Lynn in 10 years, and Jason in 12 years. Once we met up, we just picked up where we left off, without any awkwardness. There's the benefit of knowing someone your entire life. Of course, with that in mind, both our mothers insisted on a picture of the two of us, with what we look like NOW because our mothers have racked up quite a collection of pictures of me and Jason growing up but nothing to cap it all off. So here's the picture that was taken last Friday:

Being here in Canada, I thought I would have 6 days of watching my Toronto Blue Jays, because I don't get that at all in Sioux Falls, in Sioux Falls, I only watch them when they play the local professional team (not exactly local, but close by 4 hours), the Minnesota Twins. And they are not scheduled to play the Twins until August. But I was wrong. I only got to watch them once last Thursday (when they won in the 10th inning against the LA Angels, now that was a good game!), and over the weekend, when they played Colorado, they weren't on TV at all, which was a disappointment. But they're scheduled to be on TV today playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Instead of the Blue Jays being on TV (for the days that they weren't on TV), I was stuck with their American League rivals, the New York Yankees! I saw the game on Saturday where they went into extra innings against the Mets, and they came out of that one winners, and last night, the Yankees and Mets were on Sunday Night Baseball (but we do not get any ESPN here as that is American TV, it was on TV here nevertheless), watched as they lost to the Mets. I think I'm better off staying in Sioux Falls, because since I've been here, the record of the Blue Jays have been 1-4! That's not acceptable, and I think if I return to Sioux Falls, their record should be more on the winning side. Just wishful thinking on my part.

I could go on and on about baseball, but that's something for another post. This is about my vacation to Canada so far. It's been interesting, a lot of changes around here, and the food - oh my goodness... the chocolate is to die for. I have two Aero bars, that Lynn gave to me last Friday, I have a chocolate J that one of Dad's cousins mailed to me for Christmas and they had it in their freezer all of this time, I also bought a bar of Peanut Butter smarties, and I also got this candy where it's similar to Sour Patch Kids, but we have many different sour candies here, this was bought in bulk, and I'm considering buying more in bulk before I leave for Sioux Falls so I can have something on the plane. And if I like the smarties with the peanut butter filling (which is NEW), I'll bring back a lot more as well!

I bought a pack of cigarettes last Friday on the way up to Barrie, and my eyes almost POPPED out of my head when I forked over $9.56 for a pack, yes just for ONE PACK! Damn, that has to become reason #5, why I miss Sioux Falls already. A pack in Sioux Falls only costs me $3.50.

I'm going to shut up so I can go and eat lunch before we have company over this afternoon in about a hour. But wanted to take this free time and post in my blog about my vacation (so far) in Canada.

Adios from Canada!

Just thought I'd come back and post my thoughts on the last two days. I have the place to myself as my roommate is in Florida visiting her sister until Monday, it's really nice to have the place to yourself, but yet, you all know I crave human interaction, so this is why I decided to go out last night to a baseball game (not a professional game), but Sioux Falls is home to one of the minor league teams, it's called the Sioux Falls Canaries, lame I know. It's the only team that doesn't start with a S. I don't know why all of the other teams start with a S except for the Canaries, but that doesn't matter.

Other teams in Sioux Falls: Sioux Falls Spitfire (soccer), Sioux Falls Storm (Arena football), Sioux Falls Stampede (hockey), Sioux Falls Skyforce (basketball). The Storm and Skyforce have been successful in getting championships in the last two or so years. I've been to all of the games except a Spitfire game.

Anyways... I've also been spending a lot of time online. There's this man, Greg Gunderson, who lives here in Sioux Falls and is deaf. He used to work for CSD whre I work, but he has left CSD to pursue his dream of car racing. He is a rookie who is hoping to get a spot in the top 12 to qualify for this reality tv show called "Racing for a Living". With this reality TV show, the fans are the power. Fans can vote on which driver they want to go to the TV show. I've been voting for Greg Gunderson on a daily basis, and what's neat is there are no rules in voting, you can vote as often as you want! If you'd like to check it out and help Greg Gunderson achieve his dream, you can go to this website: www.racingforaliving.com then click on VOTE then scroll down to find Greg Gunderson's name and then click on his button and scroll down to the very bottom and click on VOTE. Just a week ago, Greg was as high as 5th place, and now he has dropped down to 11th, and I'd like to help Greg achieve his dream. Deadline for voting is July 31, 2006, and if you happen to be on the internet, just drop a vote for Greg whenever you can if you'd like!

This is me spending time online, but otherwise, I've been spending a LOT of time on my laptop. My laptop has been a personal toy of mine, and I just got a wi-fi card for it, so it's with me, and I can access the internet from anywhere. And since I've been the chairperson of the softball tournament, I've been becoming more and more dependent on my laptop so that I can respond to potential fans' questions and players' questions as well, so this laptop has been a lifesaver, especially with the wi-fi card. :) Speaking of laptop, I'm posting this FROM my laptop. :)

This is what I have for today, and for all of you mothers out there, "Happy Mother's Day!" I was a good girl and I already wished my mother that. I told her that I would not have a card or a gift for her for this year's Mother's Day as I will be flying to Toronto on Wednesday (yes this Wednesday the 17th), and that would be her Mother's Day gift from me.

I won't be surprised if I'll take a long time before I post again, but I'm going to try my best not to let too long pass before I post again. More likely I'll post again when I'm in Canada and bored out of my mind! *laughs* No no, I won't be bored, but I definitely will have a lot of time on my hands because I would be lacking transportation. :)

*hugs*

June