Well, well, well look at the date. Nicole is now officially a debutante. Yesterday must have been an exciting time at your place. Did you have a big party? We were all thinking of you when we were having our dinner and we toasted “HB to Nicole”. I can still remember you taking your first steps at our house. I think you were nine months old and you have never stopped moving since. Have fun. With love from the Bakos’.

We got home this afternoon just before lunch. The flight from Boston was blue sky and clear. We flew low so we could see the trees turning colors through New England. We flew right over Niagara Falls, Welland canal and virtually right over our house. It was so neat. The prompter on the plane said snow in Calgary so when I logged onto the blog I went straight to the webcam and screamed. I feel sorry for you guys out west. I am still on Collo Lungo time, speed, warm weather and euphoria. Lets see how long this lasts.

Brian got his braces off today. He is thrilled and has his wonderful smile once again. He will have to wear a retainer at bedtime for awhile so that his teeth do not shift around. One more thing to get used to. Stephen’s have already shifted slightly on the bottom with his Wisdom teeth erupting.

Today I ventured to Square One to get my hair cut and styled at the famous Donato’s Salon (they win all the awards). I had reserved for the discovering new talent promotion where the new stylists offer hair cuts for 20$ trying to drum up new business. What do you think? Notice that I am no longer brown/blonde/grey. I’m ready for my trip now.

All summer we have had some suspicion that there was a critter visiting or living in our garage. The boxes had been tossed about that had been (ahem) neatly stacked. Peters hockey bag was soaking wet, paw prints on everything and the garage door gnawed on. Well this afternoon I confronted a teenaged, very shy racoon. He was rummaging around in empty buckets for what I guessed, water. So I went into the house and filled a bucket full of water and when I splashed around in it a bit with my hand, he quickly appeared and wanted some. Now does anyone have a trick to lure him out and to stay out. I heard once he is out to spray a solution of pine sol around the property and garage door entrances?

Last night we celebrated a belated Greek Olympic dinner in honour of our Canadian athletes. I arrived decked out in a toga, olive branch head wreath, a medal around my neck (it wasn’t the gold!) and delighting all with my sweet aromatic baklava. What a hoot and the weather was glorious last night, 21?C to sit out under the stars with only a pashmyna scarf to cover ones bare shoulders from the nip of the night air. The wine and Oozo also helped. We start off with a champagne bottle of Labatts beer, pressurized cap and all to celebrate our Canadian athletes. We really needed the cold beer to quench our thirst and to beat the humidity and heat of the early evening. Can you believe this Indian Summer we are having?
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Steve and Peter got a chance the other day to play in the Toronto Skydome. They both play for the Ontario Blue Jays or often referred to as the Jr Jays. Steve is a pitcher and a center fielder for the 17yr old team and Pete is a catcher for the 16 and under team. Nick took the afternoon off work as did Uncle Gig, Auntie Cindy and Meme . Family are the most loyal fans. We were so proud of them and they were thrilled to wear the uniform and walk in the footsteps of their heroes. The boys were scouted to play on this team and hopefully they will enjoy the ride.

Who said there was no hockey. Not in our household. The new season has begun and it is overlapping with the winter baseball program. Today the boys are in a tournament and they came home to air and dry out their equipment in the late afternoon sun. Their next game is tonight at 9:45pm. They better gather everything into their bags before it gets dark, otherwise they may miss something and have a surprise at the arena realizing that their jersey is still draped across the hot tub. Can you imagine this is usually what my living room looks like after each game in the winter. The smell is unbearable too.

August 1st brought a welcome mini vacation. I travelled down the 401 to Chatham where I hadn’t been for well over a year. My family continued to be wrapped up in baseball commitments back in Mississauga and I welcomed the break. I loved the farm facelift and it was fun to see both Jackie and Laura home for the summer. Thanks Laura for giving me your room for the 3 days. Lucas was sweet and very luvable. Thanks Tom and Martha for treating me to the movies and the picnic at Mitchell’s Bay. It was so nice to be back.

Can you believe that we drove all the way to St Louis and we didn’t even have a beer at the stadium!!! Too expensive so I’m told. We went thru the turnstiles at 12:30 for a 3:00 game. We got our seats and waited for the game to start. We thought that we would see the batting practise and warmups like at the Skydome but they cancelled these events due to persistent rain. Lucky our seats were under the roof for full cover from the elements. The Cardinals won the game over the Seattle Mariners. It was really neat because all the fans wear red or some sort of Cardinal gear and all they do all game long is EAT. They are up and down like a toilet seat. It is truly and all day event.