Canadians

This post is probably a bit overdue. But as I recently spent a weekend in the company of my Bride's side of the family in the Toronto area, I thought I would correct the oversight.

Nancy's mother Marjorie and all of her ancestry were from Scotland by way of Canada. Nancy's father while born an American was also the son of Canadians. These facts have resulted in me and my children having a large contingent of Canadian cousins of various levels of order (first, second and soon to be third) and removal (once and twice - last year little Emily was born, Nancy's first cousin twice removed). If you think this is confusing, you're on the right track.

Let me first say that the reason I feel this post is overdue is that the Canadian cousins are a gas. To a person. They are fun, smart, hardy and caring. They are also unpretentious, hard working and incredibly nice. I'm not sure if my appreciation for the Canadians flows from their natural cultural strengths or the fact that my Bride's bloodlines are from superior stock. I suspect both. But what counts is that these people have enriched my life and continue to be an important part of it.

It all started for me in the summer of 1980 just after Nancy and I were married (see previous post Memory Lane for a little more on that notable event). As a new member of the family I began joining in on the summer fun at the LeRoy family cottage - Avon Rae - at Ipperwash Beach on the southeastern Canadian shore of Lake Huron. This included time with the Canadian cousins who had been coming to Avon Rae for a couple of generations. Ipperwash was a perfect place to relax, catch up with the relatives and build indelible memories (as you will see in a future post dedicated exclusively to this family treasure).

So I first met the Canadian relatives on the beach. To give you the flavor of that summer, here are a few shots of the players. But first one of the cottage as it appeared that summer. The lake levels were higher then. This shot was taken from the beach only a few yards from the water's edge. In the coming years much would change, both with the beach, the water levels and the cottage. But this was the view in 1980.

Next, here is a pic of the true matriarch of the family, Grandma Mary Edna McKellar, mother of Marjorie and Evelyn, known within the family as Nana, seen here at 95 taking a rare glass of wine while on a visit to the cottage.

Dignity runs deep in the McKellar line. I realized this immediately upon meeting Nana. Nancy introduced me to her as "Chuck" whereupon Nana replied, "Chuck? Sounds like a piece of meat. I'm going to call him Charles."

Before we get too far, let's briefly review the American contingent of the family that has enjoyed the Canadians all these years. Here are shots of me and Nancy at the cottage in 1980, still honeymooning really :-) Note that although I was in my pre-Adirondack period, I already knew how to use a beach chair.

Rounding out the American side is the family of Nancy's brother Dave, pictured below. With Dave (in the beard) is his bride Barbara and the boys - my son Ted (the Superman tee shirt), and the LeRoy sons Brian and Matthew (in arms). I have no idea who the guy in the Ohio State tee shirt is.

Now for the Canadians. Here is Uncle Ken, my hero and mentor when it came to enjoying life, in one of his favorite mid-afternoon positions (there'll be more dignified photos later).

And his bride Evelyn, ready to summon the family to another excellent cottage dinner.

Here are the Canadian first cousins Lynne and Ann, daughters of Ken and Evelyn, posing in front of the sail of the "Blandmerk", the house watercraft.

Through the early 80s these cottage scenes with the Canadians were repeated many times. They were supplemented by regular trips by the American side of the family to Toronto, for Canadian Thanksgiving and other family events, and return trips the Canadians made to Michigan for similar occasions. They were all great times, with participants picking up our close relationships right where we had left off on the previous visit, like it was only yesterday. Here are some more shots from the early years.

These two are from 1980 in front of the family homestead in Toronto. In the first are Evelyn, Ann, Nancy and Ken. The second is the proverbial rose between two...uh..more roses.

Of course, the 80s saw a lot of kids born. Here's a pic of our Christy and Lynne's Heather at Avon Rae in 1984, honing their sand castle building skills (this family gift has now been handed down to a new generation as documented in the previous post Beaches - the Early Years).

And a pic of our Cathy and Lynne's Andrew with his beloved Blue Jay hat at Avon Rae in 1988.

Here's a 1988 group shot of the younger crowd - Christy, Cathy, Heather, Ted and Andrew - attending happy hour at Reedholme, a cottage two doors down from Avon Rae that the Canadians often rented.

The picture above was taken at the outset of what I consider the glory days of Ipperwash in my lifetime. From the late 80s through the mid 90s the Canadian relatives rented Reedholme for a month during the peak of summer. During each of those summers all of the American and Canadian cousins made it up for joint visits running from several days to up to two weeks. These summer visits brought the two branches of the family even closer, generating a host of wonderful memories. In future posts I will share more about these great summers as I progress through my long-term photo-digitizing project. But for now, here are a few more shots from this golden era of cottage life.

This is one of my favorites - Cathy, Christy, Heather and Andrew on a windy day at the beach in 1989. Note the variety of footwear.

From 1991 this picture captures another cottage tradition - gaming. It seemed that each summer a different game would be all the rage. This year it was Sorry. This shot from left to right has (Ann's stepson) Jonathan Spicer at the bottom left; Andrew, Matthew (no longer in arms) and Heather on the sofa; and Christy at the bottom right.

Also from 1991, a shot of another cottage classic - the afternoon trip to the Ipperwash Provincial Park candy store for a mid-afternoon sugar fix. Here we have Christy, Heather and Cathy, each returning a looney (a Canadian one dollar coin) lighter.

The 90s also saw more babies. Here is a 1990 shot of Ann with her husband Dave Spicer, Jonathan, and the new addition to the family, Drew, first family baby of the 90s.

And here we have little Drew with his favorite American cousin (known as Uncle Chuck). Dude.

From 1992, a few more typical shots of the cousins at play. First, the kids' table at the daily happy hour - somewhat more involved than in the earlier shot from 1988. From left to right we have Andrew, Christy, Jonathan, Ted, Drew, Cathy and Heather.

Here we have a couple of typical lake scenes on a "wavy" day. The first is of the dads leading an effort to see how many cousins actually fit in a three-person inflatable boat (an early but classic example of DLS - dad level supervision). From left to right we have Dave Spicer, Drew, Brian (back to camera), Andrew, Jonathan, Heather (partially hidden behind Jonathan), Matthew (also with back to camera) and Christy.

This shot is of a similar game but with an air mattress. Dave Spicer is doing his best to shake Christy, Heather, Andrew and Jonathan (with back to the camera) back into the sea.

And a couple of final shots from the cottage years. First, Ken with grandson Drew.

And Ann and Evelyn with the second baby of the 90s, little Lauren, just a tad over three months old.

Another chapter in our American/Canadian adventure has been the Florida visits. These began in the late 80s when Rae, Marj, Ken and Evelyn - all finally retired - rented condos for the month of March in a vacation complex in Sarasota. So of course, the next generation took advantage of this opportunity to spend a little time in the warm weather (the rates were great). Here are a few shots from the Sarasota trips of 1990 and 1991. This first one is of five happy kids - Heather, Christy, Cathy, Ted and Andrew. If you check out the mirror on the wall you'll be able to pick out an adult or two including the photographer, Grandpa Ken.

This one is of our own personal "greatest generation", from whose largess all this family togetherness has come - Rae, Marj, Evelyn and Ken.

Here are a few shots of one of our favorite Can-Am Florida activities - chilling in the water (lake or pool - either works). This one captures Ted and Andrew sporting new aqua-eye gear.

The water fun was not restricted to the kids. Here are Marj, Evelyn and Rae enjoying the pool. Note the custom eye-wear on Marj and Rae - Ted and Andrew have nothing on this crowd.

And Ken sweeping his bride off her feet once again.

Here are a couple of more shots of Ken, demonstrating his pool technique for Christy, Heather and Cathy,

and here passing on a few tips to Drew.

And a final pool shot of Ann and Dave Spicer enjoying a moment with little Drew.

The Florida years were highlighted by a joint Can-Am reunion in Orlando in 1999 much of which was spent at Walt Disney World (for a little more on our family history with "The World", see my previous post Disney). This was a grand event with three generations of the family theme-parking, reminiscing, and renewing old traditions (like the aforementioned happy hours) for a little better than a week. Here are some pics from this historic event.

This first one is of Heather, Dave Spicer and Andrew working on their upcoming theme park itinerary. That's Ann in the background no doubt working on happy hour snacks.

Here we have Ken, Drew and Evelyn relaxing in our Disney's Old Key West vacation home. I believe that's a gin and tonic in Ken's hand, with a slice of lime (his classic cocktail).

Here is a shot of Dave Spicer and me sitting around enjoying happy hour and giving Ted and Andrew the benefit of our vast experience with, well, sitting around. 

This next pic is of Lynne and Cathy dressed for the theme park wars, posing at Conch Flats, the Disney's Old Key West community area.

The next pic is of the kids back in the vacation home, hard at a game of international Yahtzee, a family favorite. From left to right around the table we have Andrew, Lauren, Cathy, Heather, Christy and Ted.

We also had a birthday boy during that week. Here's Drew at the moment of truth.

Here are shots of the senior contingent, each relaxing with a well-earned Budweiser after chasing the next two generations around the Magic Kingdom. I clearly remember Evelyn and Ken having no trouble holding their own that day.  

Here are a couple of group shots. The first of the kids with, from top to bottom - Andrew and Ted, Christy, Heather, Cathy, and Drew and Lauren. From the "are we done yet" looks on the youngest pair I'm guessing this was about the fifth take. 

And the grand finale shot with, again from top to bottom - Andrew, Ted, Ken and Dave LeRoy; Christy and Dave Spicer; Nancy, Ann, Heather and some guy in a happy hour shirt; Lynne, Barbara, Cathy and Evelyn; and Drew and Lauren in front. An august group from any point of view.

It's been a while since the families have vacationed together, as our children have grown, married, gotten jobs and done all those other things kids do as time passes, including having kids of their own. But we still get together in small groups as we are able and every once in a while for a big event. Two such big events occurred recently, both on the Canadian side. The first was last September when Lynne's husband Ron Cunningham organized an over-the-top joint birthday celebration for Lynne, Heather and Heather's baby girl Emily. 

The event was held in Lynne and Ron's home (which based on my experiences and the many people I have met there, I refer to as the Port Credit Community Center). The bash included all the usual suspects plus an impressive number of additional Canadian sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins from other branches of the family. These people know how to party. Here are a couple of shots of the key players, for comparison to the early shots above. First a pic of the honorees, a not-so-little Heather with mother Lynne and daughter Emily.

Next, another shot of little Emily, this one with Jordan the very proud husband and father.

And to make my point about the effort put forth for this event, here are some shots of the main party area, balloons and all. The handsome fellow with Lynne in the first pic is her husband Ron, the architect of the celebration.

The most recent activity that brought us together was Andrew's wedding to his beautiful bride Sher. Here are just a few shots of the old Can-Am gang in attendance at this gala affair. First we have Ann and Lauren, all dressed up (and grown up) for the ball.

And Lauren again with her big brother Drew, also all grown up.

Here's a shot of Emily and her bridal-party mom Heather, posing in her party outfit. We start them young in this family.

This shot captures Nancy, escorting a most distinguished member of the American side (wearing his new retirement lapel pin), along with the proud sponsors of the groom, Lynne and Ron. 

One of the highlights of the evening was Lynne and Ron's most eloquent and loving tribute to the new couple that touched all present. Here they are at the podium. 

And finally, a shot of "little" Andrew with his bride during their wedding dance. 

Well, this brings us up date. Hopefully, this post has given you a good sense of our international family and the value I place on it. The Canadians will undoubtedly show up in future posts as I continue my quest to document our family history. 

For me, the last 33 years of hanging with the Canadians have been fabulous, from the early cottage days to the family wedding just a few days ago. And there have been recent conversations about renewing some of the old traditions as we move into retirement and have a bit more time to get together and continue the story. For my part, I certainly hope those plans play out. I'll keep you posted.

Until next time.