Canadian Thanksgiving

Last Monday, October 10th, was Canadian Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to get TWO Thanksgiving dinners this year... and we still have American Thanksgiving to look forward to next month! (That will bring our total to seven Thanksgiving dinners in 3 years!)

On Sunday, October 9th, we went to a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend David. His amazing wife, Deborah, not only managed to organise a successful surprise party right under his nose... but also coordinated Thanksgiving dinner for 45 people without him catching on!! It was an amazing spread... turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potato dishes, mashed potato, salads, apple pie, cupcakes, pumpkin tarts, fruit salad, ice cream, etc!

This is a bunch of old fogeys who turned up at the party to sing an 18-verse version of "Davie Boy" (to the tune of Danny Boy), interspersed with a couple of amusing skits. (I'm not sure if posting this photo on our blog breaks the "no Facebook" clause certain parties insisted on. Insert "any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental" disclaimer here.)

Birthday boy David and surprise party host extraordinaire Deborah...

The next day, Monday (a public holiday), we went to Kelly and Janae's home and enjoyed another amazing Thanksgiving meal. This time it was less traditional food - we had the best beef short rib stew ever, Yorkshire pudding, roast parsnips and squash, mashed potatoes, self-saucing caramel pudding, and ice cream. Yum yum yum!
Making the Yorkshire pudding...

Polishing off the scrumptious stew...

Teaching Etta about the kind of stew we have in Australia...


We love Thanksgiving!!

Ben's trip to Australia

From September 10th to 27th, Ben was in Australia to do two weeks of uni prac subjects on campus at USQ in Toowoomba. It was a frantically busy time for him, as he not only had assignments to do for his two prac subjects, but also for the two other subjects he was already studying externally this semester. And since he's still pretty bogged down with all of that (12 assignments and 1 exam in total this semester!), I'm going to do his Australia blog entry for him! :)

His flights were with Air Pacific, Fiji's international airline. This is the plane that flew him from LAX to Fiji, and some of the sights he saw during his few hours at the airport in Nadi, Fiji...

He landed in Brisbane on Saturday morning, and spent that first weekend with his family.
Jim, Fraser, Merity, Leo, Jenny
Leo, Fraser and Merity (Ben's sister)




The first week, his prac subject was called Professional Practice 1. This consisted of lectures, student seminars and classroom sessions, so he didn't take any photos. He stayed with our friends Tim and Chany from Sunday to Thursday. (To help our non-Aussie readers make the connections: Tim was the best man at our wedding, and he and Chany met through us.)

On the middle weekend of his trip, Ben stayed with our friends Trevor and Valmai (Tim's parents... in fact, parents of the grooms at the last two weddings we returned to Australia for!). He spent most of the weekend working on assignments, but went out for dinner with a group of friends on Sunday night.
Trevor and Valmai

Tim and Chany
Lycie and Kimberley
Lachy C
He also had time to go shopping for lamingtons, and send me a photo of him eating one just to torment me...


The second week, his prac subject was called Soil and Water Practice 2. This time he took a few photos...









During that second week, he stayed with our friends Russ and Kate in their newly built house.


View from Russ and Kate's home
A table centrepiece from our wedding on display at Russ and Kate's
Kate, Russ and baby Clint
Clint
He also got to briefly see Kate's sister Steph (who is married to Ben's mate Glen/"Bill") and kids, Laura and Lachlan...


On his last Saturday morning in Australia, Ben hung out with some of his mates while they flew radio controlled airplanes in a paddock at some friends' cattle farm near Gatton (Delle's parents' farm, for those of our readers who've met her).
Dexter

Glen and Dexter

Lachy B (Delle's brother)


Alex (Delle's other brother)
Tim








Back at his parents' home for the last couple of days of his trip, Ben got to meet his new, day-old nephew, Archer!


Fraser, Archer, Merity, Leo
He also went Monday night walking at South Bank in Brisbane on his last night in Australia...

Ben arrived back in Canada on September 27th, and I was very glad to have him home!
And this is what AUD $130 of Aussie junk food looks like...

A big thanks to those of our friends who gave Ben a bed, food, and/or fun new Aussie memories during his crazy busy trip. We really appreciate it!