The first significant snowfall occurred today but before we get to that let’s talk Saturday.

In the morning Maggie wanted to return some items so we went to the mall (Brandon and I stayed in the car) so she could do her thing.  We had pho for lunch then headed to Port Colbourne so I could pick up an iOptron Skytracker camera mount.  Hehe I quite enjoy astrophotography and with a tracker mount, I should be able to get better photos of the milky way and maybe even some deep sky photos.  I’ll need a ball head and a heavier duty tripod & can get those pieces later.

In the evening Maggie wanted to go to Niagara Falls to see the Christmas festival lights (we did it last year) and it was fun.  We got there a bit too early at the beginning but it got dark fast so it worked out well.

I didn’t bring my flash so I needed to use whatever light the decorations gave off and they turned out pretty well.  That and I have great dynamic range on the Canon EOS R5 lol…  For dinner we went to Montanas, Maggie suggested it and I was actually a bit surprised since she doesn’t typically like pub food but it was good and Brandon got to draw. which he enjoys.  Poor Slinky though, I forgot to give him extra food so he must have been very hungry when we came home.

Getting to today, yeah it was the first significant snowfall of the season and we’re ready!  Both Lexus’ have their winter tires on and winter gear in the trunks so yeah about as prepared as one can be.  To keep Maggie’s car warm for the duration of the winter we’ll keep her car stored in the garage while mine freezes in the drive way lol.

Thankfully the snow was the light fluffy stuff so it wasn’t heavy, I got the boy to help me clear the driveway and sidewalk so we were done in no time.  Man we really do need to expand the driveway, moving cars around really sucks though I guess when stuff freezes I could just park on the grass lol.  That’s on the list of things to do, hopefully we can get to it next year when we do some other renovations to the house.

Didn’t do much today, Maggie went to play badminton while Brandon and I stayed home.  Bring on the cold and snow, I want to see what my Lexus NX & it’s AWD can do. 😉

Brandon hates shots and lol that’s exactly what he’ll be getting…  Booked him in for a COVID19 shot for next Tuesday, yeah even though the data says the virus doesn’t affect kids too much, for my own sanity I want him to get it.  With all these new variants flying around, hopefully with it he’ll be a bit more protected.

Man what a hectic weekend!  It started bright and early on Saturday morning as Brandon and I drove to London ON so I could pick up a Canon RF 70-200 F2.8L IS USM lens.  Yes I’ve decided to go back to the extending RF lens. During our Eastern Canada trip in the summer, carrying the EF 16-35, EF 70-200 & RF 100-500 lenses all at the same time (with the RF 24-70 on the body) was a huge pain and I felt it every night when we got back to the hotel.  Yes I’m one of those people who carry everything because I never know what I might want to use.  Anyway going back to the RF will save me roughly a pound of weight and now that I carry a rain cover in my backpack, I’m not as worried about inclement weather as I was before.

In the afternoon the Cub scouts went for a hike in the Oak Ridges Moraine and it was a lot of fun!

We hiked for about 2 1/2 hours, covered ~7km during that time and climbed some rather tall hills.  It wasn’t so bad and I’m glad I didn’t have any problems as I’m out of shape.

Yesterday I picked up a new Arcteryx Beta goretex jacket, my previous jacket was just fine but I like to layer up and picked up a large so I can put thicker layers in between.  In the afternoon we went to celebrate Simone’s birthday (it’s actually today) and she turned 2!  Ahh what a cute and wonderful age…

I always enjoy family gatherings and seeing how cute the little ones are.  Poor Brandon, as he gets older there are less photos of him at these things but that’s alright he was off in his own world playing games.

Yeah and that’s it, very hectic but enjoyable weekend Sunday night I felt I needed a break from my weekend but alas no it’s back to work and for the weekly grind.

Halloween is always fun but before we get to that in the morning I did the sexy thing and changed the tires on my Lexus NX.

Instead of steel wheels, I picked up a used set of Lexus RX 350 rims from 2 generations back yeah they’re plain looking but better than the ugly steel wheels for sure.  Unfortunately one of the valve stems was leaking air so I had to go to Active Green & Ross this morning to get that swapped out but now I’m ready for winter!  I didn’t do Maggie’s Lexus CT200h yet, she was out playing badminton in the morning and we were busy in the afternoon so I’ll get to it either this week or the coming weekend.  Debating if I should get nicer rims for her too, she doesn’t really care so I guess it doesn’t matter too much.

In the evening we met up with the local group of kids to go trick or treating and it was fun!  There were so many kids out but that’s not a surprise, last year was cancelled and they came out in force to make up for it this year.

We started walking around at 6:30pm and the kids were tired by 8, it’s alright they all got a good haul and had fun.  We left our lights on and handed out candy till about 8:30pm and then everything died right down so we called it a night then.  Haha too bad kids can’t dress up everyday, it’s fun and pretty harmless though Emmitt’s costume (the boy next to Brandon) was pretty scary looking!

Good times.

Man time really flies when you’re having fun and we’re so lucky to have Slinky.  He’s easily the best cat I’ve ever had and a wonderful friend for Brandon, we got him 6 years ago today and we can’t imagine our life without him. 🙂

From the past to today, Slinky we love you and are happy you’re part of the family!

Halloween stuff & what we did on the weekend tomorrow. 🙂