Walking in a Winter Wonderland... Literally.

Christmas 2009 was amazing for me. My parents and I decided to go visit my Gramma in the country for Christmas instead of her making the 2 and a half hour drive to us. The original plan was to leave for home on Boxing Day, however there was an ice storm Christmas night. When we woke in the morning, everything was covered in a sheet of ice. We weren't going anywhere. So I took the opportunity to take some photos. Thankfully we brought the SLR. (Of course I always have my trusty point-and-shoot on hand for those macro shots!)

Lake Erie Sunday Drive

These pictures were taken last weekend on Lake Erie.  It was a bit chilly.  I can't wait to go back to these places in the summer!

The sand was covered in these amazing markings

Erie Beach Amusement Park ruins 1885-1930

Erie Beach Amusement Park.  Believe it or not, the left side of this wall used to be a swimming pool....

Fall Walk

I kicked myself for not bringing the SLR camera on this walk...  But I was thankful that I at least had my point and shoot.  Some of them turned out a bit blurry (I think I am going to ask for a new point and shoot for Christmas...) but like I said, I was glad to have a camera at all.
It's a little late in the fall, so most of the beautiful colours were already brown-ish (hence the black and white).



Saw this little guy sun bathing for one of the last times this year



Weird tree balck and white

Weird tree un-edited

Hind sight is 20/20.  Now that I see this picture, I wish I tried a few different things...

Allegany State Park, Ellicottville & the State side of Niagara Falls

In August we took a weekend trip to Ellicottville, a very small town in New York.  Definitely a place to check out in the winter if you're a skiier or snowboarder.  We also decided to take a day trip to Allegany State Park.  I wish I had more time to check out the whole park.  It is massive!  Next year I hope to camp in the park and check out the bear caves!

View entering Allegany State Park

Fire Tower we climbed up

View from the top!

Weird flower

Stone Tower in Allegany State Park

Checkin' out the view from the top of the Stone Tower

From the top of the Stone Tower

Couldn't resist the rainbow picture

State Side on that walk-out thing

Toronto Zoo - Stingray Bay

Back in June, my sister and I went to the Toronto Zoo.  I was really looking forward to Stingray Bay...  I took my Xacti for underwater shots and video.  Here's some of what I snapped!

These are stills taken from videos.  The rays move so fast it's a bit blurry.

Feeding time!

I also enjoyed the fish tanks with the exotic fish and the jellies!

Civic Holiday

Oh what I wouldn't give to have a tri-pod...  Although these pictures turned out to be pretty neat. 
I went to Port Colborne to see the Tall Ships and the spectacular fire works display.  I was amazed!  The ships were very neat (we saw the tallest sail boat in Canada!) and the fire works were amazing and seemed never-ending.  I would definitely recommend heading there to see them next year.  I have not edited any of these photos - I haven't had the time.  Some would look much better after a little editing...

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Some side walk art downtown Port Colborne.

Still taken from the video on the Xacti



Tallest one in Canada!



Took this picture at exactly the right time!  Just when it fired a canon.

No tri-pod, moving the camera slightly to create this neat affect that I often use with Christmas tree lights.  It was not my idea to do this with the sail boat, but once it happened by accident with Mark, the idea took off!

Still from an Xacti video

The Beaver Convention

I thought I would take this time to talk about something I have been a part of for the last 6 summers. The Beaver Convention. It all started 10 years ago with 10 ladies in a back yard. This event would turn into something that no one could have imagined. This year, there was over 250 women.

The organizers of this "annual girl's weekend" are my heroes. Blanche, Hazel, Beverly (Beaverly), Debbie, and Tami to name a few.
These women have made an immense impact on my life in so many ways. They have introduced me to some of my best friends, made me a part of BlaZel's Big Give which is extremely rewarding, and they know how to party! They are the most unselfish women I know! I can't even imagine how much planning has to go into one year. I do know that they use their own vacation days and their own money for dry-runs, they have been out-of-pocket over the years for unexpected costs and have not asked for more money from us, and do all of this for no profit or personal financial gain - every dollar goes to the convention.
I was introduced to my team (teams are made up of 8 women) by my fellow Operations Support Clerk, Wanda. She was making a new team because circumstances with her old team had changed. At first I was told that I was a back-up team member - they had already asked the 8th person to be on their team, but if she said no, then I was in. I had heard Wanda's stories and even gone with her to pick up her costumes for the year before and was desperately hoping #8 would decline and I would take her spot. As I had hoped, #8 declined. Yesssss! I'm in! And so begins the story of Team 10...

Year 1 (2005)
Costume Theme: Super Hero Beavers.
Costume Highlights: we decorated an entire vehicle as our beaver mascot.
Location: Farm, Wasaga Beach, ending at Blue Mountain Resort.
Notes: This year was my personal favourite. I loved the games that were set out for us at the farm. They included hay bail races, walk-the-plank, balancing a bowling ball, guiding two team members through a maze while blindfolded helping them to avoid the flags, and of course, goat herding.

After a short stop at Wasaga Beach where we were instructed to locate our earlier kidnapped "baby beavers" we proceeded to the main event/race at Blue Mountain. I won't go into much detail for this event because you would be reading forever, but I will say there was a lot of running, I fell down, Heather had to deal with her fear of heights and the next day, I could hardly move I was so sore. By far my personal favourite.

Winnings: Race winners - the limo bus was very nice and I still use my robe to this day!

Year 2 (2006)

Costume: FBI agents (my personal favourite costume)

Costume Highlights: the guns we fashioned to shoot a certain feminine product

Location: Kingston and Gananonque
Notes: Kingston is a close favourite. The night life was the best. There was much more running this year, a lot of searching, (I don't think we ever found that friggin' flag in the window!) and a Gananonque cruise at night. We lost Heather briefly in some sort of creepy alley (straight out of a horror movie), and Velcro was born. The costume competition was different this year - it was held prior to the main event at a hall. BlaZel brought in outside judges to vote on the costume competition. As I was shooting tampons at one of the judges, I thought to myself "He looks vaguely familiar," but brushed it off. Turns out he is friends with my FATHER! I can't remember who told me first, Blanche or my dad, but I wasn't told until after that lovely evening. Daddy heard all about my little 'weapon' and make-shift arrest presentation involving Bob. Thankfully my dad has a sense of humour and as an avid hunter was quite impressed with our slightly modified weapon.
Winnings: Costume winners and best beaver pelt - Wanda

Year 3 (2007)
Costume: Victoria Secret Beavers
Costume Highlights: hand made, custom wings with a special touch added instead of feathers
Location: Huntsville
Notes: We all hummed and hawed over making our legs hairy for the costume competition or not. In the end on competition night, someone put maple syrup on their leg and threw some beaver fur on it. It looked hilarious!  We all died laughing and had to do it. The costume competition was held prior to the main event again this year. BlaZel had reserved Melanie Pringles for the competition. So Team 10 thought nothing of dressing up in lingerie because it was just going to be us in the restaurant, right? Wrong. BlaZel had rented a portion of the restaurant.  Whoops. I remember this year as being more laid back, not as physically challenging as the others. We arrived for lunch around Uxbridge area and saw tents on the ground that had not yet been set up. My team had a heart attack. "Are we CAMPING!? HERE?!?" But of course we got back on the bus. Phew!  Off to Huntsville we went.  I think I dreamt about garden statues that night. I had a lot of fun the next morning. The weather on that Sunday morning was amazing, there was a water trampoline, paddle boats and canoes! We all chilled out on a grassy hill and competed for Beaver Queen with our impromptu presentations with the ducks as witnesses. Our presentation incorporated old(ish), cheesy dance moves. I was the Sprinkler.

Year 4 (2008)
Costume: Beaver Herders
Costume Highlights: personally Diane's costume brings me to hysterics every time I think about it. Love the moustache! And Wanda's uncanny resemblance to Gene Simmons...
Location: Blue Mountain
Notes: We can never go wrong with Blue Mountain! Another great time! This year we had a HUGE suite! All 8 of us were in the same room! 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and a large balcony. First we played hockey, a memory game, basketball and of course, the main race. (The air conditioning in that chocolate store was heaven!) And a brief shout-out to the puddles.  That was entertaining!
This was the year BlaZel's Big Give was born. Pennies, pennies pennies! Team 10 had a "Penny Garage Sale" to raise our money for charity. I believe it was Wanda who said "We better not be rolling these pennies for an event at the race!".
Winnings: most amount of money raised for charity

Year 5 (2009)
Costume: Slang words (that's all I'm gonna say about that)
Costume Highlights: The hilarious story that went behind our costumes
Location: Honey Harbour
Notes: This year, BlaZel tricked us into thinking there had been a tie with the costume contest, so we were told there would be a tie breaker at dinner. We had to pack our costumes on the bus (carefully!) and replay our entire presentation.  We had many discussions about who we thought we were up against. Well joke's on us! We had already won and they just wanted us to do it all again! This year probably comes in 3rd for my favourites even though it poured rain all day long, (this was the first year it had ever rained!). I think my team nearly died we laughed so hard during that toilet plunger game! Trish had to climb a floating rock wall and was one of the first people back. Since she was one of the first back, herself and 2 others were given 3 items. Person #1 picked Immunity, Person #2 picked a gift and Trish got the choice to steal one of the 2. She (of course) stole the immunity. She wasn't told what the immunity was for, but immunity is usually a good thing, right? This was also the year where I hid in a bush (which was fitting given my costume) for about an hour.  I was so proud of myself!  No one could see me!  Isn't there supposed to be a horn or something?  What time is it? Ah well. Before dinner, we had the privilege of watching the top 3 teams compete by doing a synchronized swim-off! At dinner, we were finally told what the immunity was. Immunity, as it turned out, disqualified us from the ENTIRE race! We didn't find this out until after the race was over, so all of our hard work was for nothing. We had already lost. But none of us hold anything against Trish because we all would have made the same choice. And we got a hefty Losers Prize out of it!!
This year we were informed that next year would be the last Beaver Race. It was a devastating blow to the entire room. People were in tears. It was a very emotional closing ceremony.
Winnings: Loser Prize and Costume







Year 6 (2010)
Costume: Girl Guides
Costume Highlights: I loved our sash's!  They paid tribute to most of the tasks we did over the years at each race.
Location: Honey Harbour
Notes: This year was the last year. The last Beaver Convention ever. Not only that, but our team leader Wanda was pregnant and would not be participating. This was a tough pill for me to swallow. She was there from the beginning, she provided me with some hilarious memories and she always jumped to the plate for any task. She would be missed. Thankfully, she was still coming and was going to be behind the scenes this time! To top that off, Heather was pregnant and Kathleen was in Portugal. Team 10 was down 3 members... On the plus side, we gained 3 new ones! Cathy, Candy and Julie #2! The boat rides were the highlight of this year in my opinion. My team split up to do the race. Four went to The Island and 4 stayed on the mainland. This was probably a mistake. My team missed a crucial piece of instruction and well, let's just say the game was ended a little bit early with no winner. I will never forget how proud Trish and Candy were! The look on their faces was priceless! Then Julie and Cathy went missing. There was about a 30 minute time period where I truly believed they had been abducted. But of course, they were safe. I am very happy that Diane got to experience rock wall climbing. She was amazing! And I totally called Minute-To-Win It by the way! This year's closing ceremony was a tough one. We all knew it would be the last. Blanche and Hazel both did their farewell speeches before hand and recorded them to play for us. It was very emotional.
Winnings: some of the greatest memories, friends and experiences I have ever had :)

 I am so grateful to have been a part of this. I am so grateful to the women who organized this event year after year using their own vacation time and time away from their families. I wish I could write down every single memory and include every single picture so you could see that I had the time of my life every single year. I think all of the beavers and every recipient of BlaZel's Big Give would agree with me when I say that we are lucky to have known all of you. Thank you so much for every minute you poured into making sure we all enjoyed ourselves and thank you very much to your families who are probably the most understanding husbands and children out there!

I am also thankful for my team. Thank you for all the memories, laughs, drinks, pictures, encouragement ("RUN!"), advice needed over the years, the overwhelming amount of emails, and the countless hours involved in making our costumes (including, but not limited to; a giant tiara, 8 sets of life-sized wings, the general rule "if you see 8 t-shirts the same colour, 3 small, 3 medium and 2 large, buy them all!", and our resident sewer Julie). Thank you, thank you, thank you! xo

This is only my side of the story. Team 10's adventures. There are many many other stories, 31 more team adventures and many friends made :)
I look forward to continuing the "annual girls weekend" with my friends and of course look forward to keeping BlaZel's Big Give alive!

http://www.brendasfoundation.com/
http://www.hearthplace.org/
www.coloncancercanada.ca/wendy_bear

These are just a few of the sites I could find from this year's Big Give.

Please feel free to leave comments and pass this along to anyone you think might enjoy it.
For those of you that don't know, there is a group on Facebook where there are many more pictures and it's a good way to stay connected with everyone.  Also be sure to check out the group Casey's Sunshine on Facebook.  She was a 2010 BlaZel's Big Give Recipient.