Happy New Year

Enjoy 2010!!!

Family Christmas

Well...hello again folks!

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, and Santa bought you everything you wanted, as you were good little boys and girls!

Anyway, we spent our Christmas with Brian's aunt, Greta. This was a special event, as Brian was meeting with his cousin Shane for only the second time ever, the last time they both met was when they were both about 5 years old.....35 years ago!!!! GULP!!!

We also met Tana, Shane's girlfriend and Tana's mom and dad, Jean and Jim and we a great time, eating, drinking, more eating....well...you get the idea!

Check out the picture below:

From left to right:

Shane
Greta
Tana (sitting on floor)
Brian
Jim
Jean (sitting on floor)




All in all a great time with family!

Take care and see you all soon!

We Are 1 Year Old Today!!!!

Errr....

Better explain this update!

Hello folks!

Today is the day, 1 year ago that we moved into our fantastic home!!!

Those of you that have visited know what it is like....those that haven't....stay tuned as we will get pictures up on the blog of the internals of the house (just need to tidy up a bit!!!!)

We could not of wished for a nicer neighbourhood, with our neighbours who have now become friends!

Take care and see you soon.

You Know That White Stuff Called Snow.....

Well....it's back!!!

Good day folks! Just a short update to let you all know that we have had a snow storm in the last 3-4 days, and with it 15-20 cms of snow, with more to follow.

Oh well, better go and clean up the driveway!

See ya all later!

No Snow.......YET!

Another update to you all, to say that we have not had any snow yet, temperatures over the last week have been very mild, some days rising to 15C! Whoo hoo!! HEATWAVE!!!

We will just have to wait and see....

See ya!

A Lesson To You All

Folks...good day!

Elaine & I have been quite stressed lately.....and here is why:

We could not say before, but we employed the services of a contractor who basically did not finish work for us, which was all quoted verbally...in other words, no written quote! This contractor had completed works for at least 3 people in the court where we live, so we thought 'no problem!'

We even met the guy and we liked him a lot....but.......

He never turned up when he said he was going to turn up!
The job was left unfinished for about 6-8 weeks!

We even hired another contractor to finish the work quoted, and on two occasions, he turned up just before the second contractor was going to start work. GO FIGURE!!!

This started to get nasty, as we were willing to pay him, but only for the work he completed. Well, let us just say that he threatened to take Elaine & I to court. I even contacted lawyers about this!

Well, I am pleased to say that this situation got sorted out amicably without legal proceedings, as the contractor did not have a leg to stand on!!! The case would have been thrown out of court.

I would like to publicly thank my wife, Elaine, as without her sticking to her guns and not letting us be bullied, as because I was so stressed, with the job situation with my previous company and then this, it was too much, and I was ready to give in. The contractor was going to take us to court for $170 CAD!!!!!

Can't you believe that?!? That does not even cover the court fees!!

This is the first and the last time we employ contractor services without a written quote.

The moral of this story is: Always get a WRITTEN quote for any work you plan to do!
We have found another contractor, who is absolutely brilliant, to the point where our neighbours within the court are going to use him.

Well, I thought I'd share that story with you....hope you are not too bored from reading this long update.

Until the next update, take care.

Moving On....

Folks,

Just a quick note to say that Brian has moved on from his previous company, and joined the makers of the Blackberry, Research In Motion. He started today, Monday 26th October.

Wish him luck!

See ya later!

Thanksgiving Getaway

Well, it is that time again folks. Another update from the Emerys!

We had a short break away this long weekend just gone (October 9,10,11). We had a great time away with the Dempsters, Bob and Lorie and their kids, Jeff and Elysha.

We rented a cottage in Tudor, which is about 3 1/2 hours north of Kitchener and it was a very remote place.

Check out the pictures below:

We were here!!!

Us by Jordan lake:

The back of the cottage:

Another view of Jordan lake:

The two roses, Lorie and Elaine at the back of the cottage:

Bob and his son, Jeff:

Another fantastic break with the fantastic Dempsters!

See you soon!

Drive and Deck

Hello all!

Hope you are all well and all that stuff.

Just a quick update to say that we are all well and still loving it here.

Have a look at our new driveway and deck we have had recently had installed for us.

The driveway complete with inset lights:

and the deck with lights as well:

We will be able to do some entertaining when the weather gets better...(next summer, haha!)

See you all soon!

BYE!

We Were Treated Like V.I.P.'s!!

3 updates...in one day....we know you cannot take much more excitement!!

Good day once again, friends and family for an update to our blog!

Elaine & I decided to go and watch the Toronto Blue Jays vs the New York Yankees this past weekend, and we had a real surprise.

Elaine had booked a surprise hotel stay for me, as I have been a bit stressed with work and I needed a break.

Anyway, the hotel was booked and off we went.

The tickets we had were 'OK' tickets for the games, which I purchased several months ago, and Elaine had never been to a baseball game before.

Anyway, while we were walking around the Rogers Centre where the game was being played, we walked passed the VIP section (you cannot gain entry to this section unless you are a season ticket holder. $4,000 per seat per season by the way is the cost!!!) and the lady at the gate noticed we were looking in. She beckoned us over and asked if we wanted a look around.

'Sure!' We both said! So this place was nnnnnnniiiiiiicccccceeeeee, with leather seating and booths and waitress service for food, and all this stuff. We decided to leave once we looked around, and the lady at the gate said 'You can stay for free, but don't tell your friends!!!'

'Er.....OK then!!' We said!!! WOW!!! We were giggling like two little kids when we allowed to stay in the VIP section to watch the game!

Check out some pictures below, people:


Here is Elaine, with the Blue Jays in the background practicing before the game:






And look at 'Dame' Elaine here sipping on a beverage while the game is in play:










And finally, a picture of the game itself:





You want to know the score don't you?

Well, sadly we did not bring the Jays much luck, they lost 6-4 to the Yankees, who are the best team in baseball..

However, they played again the following day and the Jays thrashed the Yanks....wait for it.....

14 - 8!!!

So....this is a BIG THANK YOU to Ms M.....(you know who you are!!!) to make our day at the Rogers Centre (the Blue Jays home ground) a special one!!

See you soon!

Squadron Leader!

Well, hello again one and all!


The Waterloo Regional Airport is a stones throw again from where we live, and they were holding an air show, and the planes were flying our our abode....check out a couple of pictures below....


(sorry, we know nothing about planes, so if anyone can tell us the name of the plane / planes below...feel free!)









BYE!!

Green Stuff Between The Toes Is....

GRASS!!!


Yes, we now have grass on the court!


Hello folks, another nail biting update to our blog!


Well, we now have grass laid in the court, which we have been waiting for months for, which was installed about 4-5 weeks ago now.


Have a look for yourselves:





Here is our back yard....complete with fence (which is still not finished by our contractor...grrr!!)










This is the court itself, with the start of the grass being laid below:




Tune in next time for another fantastic, uplifting, pulsating update....

(Look, we know what you are thinking....if the only update you can put on here is about grass...then we must have really interesting lives!!!)

Until the next time!

The 3rd Visit from England

People,

How are we today? We hope you are all well!

Anyway, we had ANOTHER visit from the Emery's (no...not us, sort of related....this is hard to explain) Ricky and Karen to be exact (and their kids, Rob and Hannah)

They visited us for two weeks back in June / July and we had a blast with them! They certainly left an impression on our neighbours, who have continually asked when are they coming back.

Again, the usual tourist traps were visited, such as Toronto, Niagara Falls, etc.....

Well, the strange thing is, we only took one picture with all of us together, which is a real shame.

Looks like they will have to come back after all....

Signing off once again folks, until the next time!

EMERYNO2.....

Well....it had to happen!!!

Hello again folks!

We have bought another car as the car sharing was impacting us like crazy! Elaine would have to take Brian to work every morning and pick him up from work when he was finished. Not good....especially when Elaine had meetings to attend after work, which made Brian late as well as Elaine.

'Have no fear! A new car is here!'

We bought a 2009 Toyota Corolla LE, which is nothing really fancy, just a basic car to get from A to B. See for yourselves the car and.....well...you'll work it out!!






See you all soon......

The Second Family Visit......

Well hello again folks!!!

We have another update for you from the wonderful world of the Emery's!!

Elaine's Mum and Dad, Jeanette and Keith, have finally visited us from England. This was an emotional visit just as Clive's visit (See the First Family Visit update for details on that!) was.

Keith and Jeanette are here for two weeks, and they are well into their second week here, and so far they have done the following:

Met all our neighbours and friends at Elaine's BBQ (Check the blog for previous updates on that as well).
Visited St Jacob's market and village
Visited the CN Tower
Complete a bus tour of Toronto
Visited Niagara Falls
Visited Niagara On The Lake

And there are still more things to do before they leave!

Keith and Jeanette have had a fantastic time so far here, and here are some pictures to prove it below that we threw together into a video montage. Enjoy!

Elaine's BBQ

Another Post!!! Two in one day!! How can you all cope???

Elaine held a birthday party at our new house and invited approximately 50-60 people! Kindness knows no bounds here, as neighbours arrived with cakes, sweets, food and their good nature!!!!

Here is a picture of a cake below that our good neighbour Margret made for Elaine:

YUM!!!!

The BBQ in full swing, with our beautiful friend, Lorie stealing the limelight:

All the kids and neighbours tucking into the feast....more foooooooddddd!!

All of our friends and neighbours really thought we put on a good feast, and our good friend Bob provided some great music as well. A great day with great people and great food!! What else can we say but......

GREAT!!!

The Surprise

Well,

Another update for the Emery blog, and this time, it is not all about us (Brian & Elaine).

We surprised a good friend of ours, Bob, to a surprise makeover for his basement. Brian & Bob went to Niagara Falls for a boys weekend, while unknown to Bob, his whole family and lots of friends were fixing his basement and installing flat screen TVs, hardwood flooring, etc.

Checkout some of the pictures from Niagara below:

A shot of the Maid of the Mist, with a rainbow in the distance.......







Brian & Bob by the falls......











Brian the 'mad cyclist' in Niagara.......







All in all, a fantastic weekend and the look on Bob's face when we returned to his house when the makeover was completed was fantastic!!! We love ya Bob and you deserve it!!!

Spark Up The BBQ!!!

Well,

It's about that time here in Canada that BBQ season is here (we are lying)...it is BBQ season all year round!!!

We bought our first Canadian BBQ which cost about $800 CAD (about GBP 370). We have never BBQ'd (sorry about the grammar...just lazy!) before, but we got through the first one without any problems....

We have just finished our 3rd BBQ and check out the food...we mean....photos below:

Brian cooking up a storm....well...some meat anyway! Notice the beer in his hand...customary when cooking a BBQ!

'The Man' in action....careful Brian!!! Don't burn your sausage!

Gotta go...food to eat!

Stay tuned for more updates.

Good & Bad....

Folks,

This is a non-picture update (hoorah!!) as we thought we would share our thoughts since we have been here in Canada for just over a year.

Well, we cannot lie, we both love it here and would not trade it for the world...we have the house of our dreams, Elaine has changed careers and loving every minute of it, Brian has been prompted to a team leader position with his employer, we have both made fantastic friends....life is great!!!

But.....

Friends and family back in the UK (and some spread around the globe) we miss very much!
As much as Canada is our home now, we have not forgotten our friends and family back over 'the pond. We don't really miss anything from England apart from friends and family......

So, until the next time.....bye bye!

Brian's Birthday

Folks,

Well, as the title of this post states, Brian's birthday was on Sunday (12th April) and he had a really good time chilling out with very close friends.

Elaine and Brian were invited to their good friends, Bob & Lorie's home, for birthday celebrations and of course......FFFFFOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!!!!!!

After the big feast, we all decided to go on a walking trail, near Bob & Lorie's home...we also took some frisbees with us, and had an awesome time running around fields and acting like kids again....(Brian has never really grown up!!)

The gang is here below:

A bit arty here...a black and white picture next....

A picture of Elaine by the waters edge....

Happy birthday Brian!!

The Harlem Globetrotters

Hiya folks!

Well...it has been a long time for an update...nothing much to report....but the Emery's went to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Kitchener Aud.

You know the drill....family fun....silly basketball stunts.....crazy antics....that's what the Harlem Globetrotters are about.

Well....as always, we have some photos to share with you, but they are not very good as neither of us are good photographers, and we do not own a good camera. As we do not have any good photos to show you all, we will keep this update brief.....

Here are the Globtrotters on the court:

Here they are perfoming some tricks.....

We'll be back soon!!!

The First Family Visit......

Hello folks!!

Another update from Brian & Elaine is here!


Well, here we are sitting in a hotel room, one block away from Niagara Falls with......Elaine's brother Clive and his daughter, Katherine!


They have traveled from England to visit us for two weeks, and they are nearly through their first week with us. Clive and Katherine have been skiing at Chicopee (a ski resort around the corner from where we live...), met a lot of our friends, including Bob and Lorie and several others, and now we have taken a long weekend to spend with our visitors to visit Niagara in the winter.


Of course, our blog updates would not be complete without pictures, so here are some more for your viewing pleasure:


A shot of the Niagara (or Horseshoe) Falls:






Elaine, Katherine and Clive with the American side of the falls in the distance....

Katherine has requested her picture below to be shown for all the world to see with Barnaby Bear at the Falls as well, so here goes.....

We just had to take this picture of a....well....see for yourself....

As you can see in the pictures above, the Canadian side of the falls is far superior to the Amercian side (we are just biased!!)

Until the next update, the Emerys are signing off......

A Special Message From Brian & Elaine...1 Year On.

Blog Readers,

Please view below a video message from the Emerys:

We have been here in Canada one year today, Sunday 11th January!

Thank you all and take care.

What Canadians Do In The Winter...

Well, well, well.....

We are certainly getting used to the cold weather here....just look at this picture below taken from the back of our house....









People using snowmobiles at the back of the house....CRAZY!! This would not happen back in England!! (HAHAHA!!!)

Another thing....SNOW BLOWERS!! Yep, this is a device used to move snow without you having to dig up using a shovel.....check out Brian below in the court we live in now using a neighbours snow blower....





BRRRR!!!!

Some I...Deer.....No I....Deer....

Picture the scene....Elaine & I are snoring on Sunday morning, and the phone rings at 08:25am (we can hear you say lazy people!!)


It was Jen and Jeff, our next door neighbours telling us that there are deer grazing in the back yards of our houses.....RIGHT NOW!!!!


Elaine & I were running around the back of the house, upstairs and downstairs trying to see the deer, but no luck.


Jen then tells us to come over to their house, which we graciously accepted to take pictures from their place......


So below are some pictures that were taken about....1/2 hour before the blog entry was posted....see for yourself...





Ahhhh!!!

See you all soon

Shooting Hoops.....

Hello folks!

On Friday (10th January 2009), the Emerys visited the home of the local NBA team, the Toronto Raptors. The tickets were given to us as a Christmas present from Jeff, the son of our good friends, Bob and Lorie. This was a truly special gift given to us by a truly special person. Thank you sooooooooo much Jeff!!! Love ya bro!!!

Anyway, the Toronto Raptors were playing the Memphis Grizzlies from down south (the U.S of A.)


Toronto Raptors or the Raps for short are an OK team....for those back in the UK, think of a football (OK then...SOCCER!!) team that is always mid table in the league...not good enough to win anything, but not bad enough that they finish last....does that make sense???


This was our second game, as we have been here before, so the photos below are from that game (forgot our camera for this one!!) so everyone gets an idea of the stadium...called the ACC (Air Canada Centre)

Of course, the court with the Raps logo on it:

Come on Raps!!!!:







During the game last night, during the intermissions / timeouts, everyone in attendance had a chance to win 'The Best Seats In The House' competition. Basically, a section of the arena is picked, and then a person within that section wins a prize.


Guess who's section they pick....well....ours of course!!! Guess who they pick to win a prize....THE GUY NEXT TO BRIAN!!! They also place cameras on the area and person they pick, and Brian was on Raptors TV for about 15-20 seconds. What was it that the famous artist Andy Warhol said...'Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes....'. Well, Brian has his famous moment for 15 seconds!


The person next to Brian won 4 tickets to see the Raps play their next home game against the Boston Celtics, the current NBA champions! Also with this prize, you and your three friends will be placed in a suite / executive box at the game, with waiters and waitresses to serve your every need!
Last but not least, he won $150 spending money as well!!! Lucky, lucky, lucky!


Well, to finish off the Raps won 103 to 82, so it was a very good game!


Bye for now