Click on my house
for a home tour!
We're having an adventure - or two - this summer!
Our home is being used to film a movie called "Finn on the Fly". Our house has been transformed into the "Soledad" home - and we're living in hotels. The movie is about a boy and his dog, Finn. The dog is accidentally turned into a human in the mad scientist's garage across the street. It's a fun story. It will be interesting to watch it come to life.
Click HERE to see some of the changes to our house.
July 2, 2007
It was the day before filming is to begin in Moose Jaw. And we had a crazy hailstorm. It hailed for over 20 minutes straight at our house. More than an our after the hailstorm, there was still 2 to 4 inches of hail covering our lawns. The green you see in the pictures is not grass - which was completely under ice - it is leaves stripped from the trees. Most of the plants (mine and those brought in for the movie) were destroyed and new ones will have to be planted tomorrow.
Our lawn, more than an hour after the storm, covered in hail and leaves from the trees.
(There was still ice in the yard the next afternoon, even though the temperature was around 30 degrees Celcius or 86 F.)
The hail was golf-ball size when it fell.
July 3, 2007
Filming started in Crescent Park in town today.
The actor holding the frisbee plays the dog turned human.
July 4, 2007
Filming began at our house today. We stayed to watch one scene being filmed. And we got to meet all of the canine stars!
The school bus scene is being shot directly across from our house (on the left).
Martha poses with Charlie - made famous as "Winn Dixie".
July 6, 2007
We drove to Saskatoon today with visit with friends and family. We will pick up Shea and her friends from camp on Saturday.
July 9, 2007
Filming was underway again today. We popped by in the morning to watch for a bit.
They are filming in the dining room/kitchen in this shot.
Shea and I are watching what is being filmed on two moniters just in front of us. They were shooting a scene in our backyard, just through the green gate on the left.
July 10, 2007
This is our last day to watch filming at the house. We are leaving on our vacation tomorrow. It's hard to leave because watching the movie has been very interesting! By the time we get back, the filming will have wrapped up and our house should be transformed back into something we recognize!
Ana Gasteyer (of Saturday Night Live fame), who plays the mad scientist, and another actor between takes.
July 11, 2007
5:30 a.m. and we're on the road. We will travel as far as my husband's home town of Morden, Manitoba today. Why did we leave so early in the morning, you ask? So we arrive in time for Dean and his dad to get in a round of golf. My sad discovery upon arriving in Morden: my case full of quilt projects for the trip got left behind!! A tear or two was shed...Fortunately I do have my sewing kit so I'll pick up a piece or two of fabric and I'll be back in business.
July 12, 2007
We drove as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota today. We mostly drove but did stop for a bit of shopping at an outlet mall.
July 13, 2007
We got to Michigan City, Indiana today. We arrived in the evening but fortunately it was still warm enough to have supper on the beach and a dip in Lake Michigan.
Shea and Martha jump on a sand dune by Lake Michigan.
July 14, 2007
Today we got as far as Washington, Pennsylvnia. It was a long day of driving - hopefully the last really long day for a while.
Shea and I shared this old-fashioned strawberry-banana milkshake at a 50's diner called Arnold's - just like on "Happy Days". The waitresses even wore roller skates and poodle skirts!
July 15, 2007
This morning Martha got in a quick swim at the hotel pool while I did 4 loads of laundry. Then it was back on the road. We drove to Hershey, Pennsylvania and went on the tour at Hershey World and saw a 3D show. We also had our own personalized chocolate bar made. It was very fun. Then we drove to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where we'll spend the night. It is beautiful country here! We saw Amish families riding in their buggies within minutes of arriving.
I want to live on Chocolate Ave. - Cocoa Ave. would be good too!
Our personalized chocolate bar. (Our other two kids are meeting us in New York...)
July 16, 2007
We spent most of our day in Lancaster, Strasburg and Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania today, before driving to Parsipany, New Jersey. We started with a tour of "The Amish Village" where we toured an authentic Amish home and learned about the Amish. We learned some things we didn't know - very interesting! Then we took a ride in the dining car of a steam engine train, where we were served dinner. The train travelled through the beautiful countryside. The highlight of my day was stopping at a quilt shop and chatting with an elderly Amish woman who was sitting barefoot at a quilting frame, while a fan powered by air compressor kept her cool. She was very friendly and had the tiniest quilting stitches I've ever seen! She was quilting a colourful maple leaf quilt. I wish I had a picture! but the Amish don't like to have their pictures taken.
The girls try out an Amish buggy.
Martha is holding an Amish iron. It is powered by gasoline (stored in the blue container at the end of the handle). One benefit: they can iron outside in the cool shade of a tree - no need for a power outlet!
Another steam engine train passes us on our train ride. We were interested to see that the engine was a CN train (Canadian National). We felt right at home.
July 16 - 19
The next leg of our trip was driving to Boston (with one night in New Jersey on the way). We especially enjoyed the drive on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut - beautiful!
Dean was attending and presenting at a conference on education and technology while we were in Boston, so the girls and I were pretty much on our own while we're here. The three of us did quite well figuring out the transit system (our hotel was at the end of the subway line). We spent a lot of time in transit. All went well, although I can't say I enjoyed the time we spent stuck underground on a crowded broken down train...
The girls and I did a lot of walking in Boston - mostly in the rain! We took a trolley ride and got to see the sights and get a little of the history. I loved the old streets and buildings. We also visited the Aquarium. We spent most of our time watching the penguins and the seals.
A rockhopper penguin and watching a seal at feeding time.
One day the girls and I went whale watching on the Atlantic Ocean. It was so excitiing. Unfortunately, I forgot the digital camera that day! I did purchase a disposable one before we boarded the boat. When we got out to the pocket where whales are known to feed, we began to spot them. It was so exciting and we were snapping away. Unfortunately, we ran out of pictures before they got really close to the boat!! We thought the far off sightings were as good as it was going to get, but we got so close to some that we actually got sprayed by one whale! But alas - no close-up pictures!
July 20 - 22
And we're on to New York! Our son, daughter and son-in-law (Sam, Meredith and Kurt), met us in Irvington, NY where we parked our vehicles and lugged our luggage onto a train bound for NYC. There we boarded a subway to Hotel Alexander on West 94th Street.
Hotel Alexander - they might be waiting for me...
Our first evening there, we took the subway to Times Square and just wandered around and took in the sights - and there were a lot of them!
Catching a subway train and as close as we got to the Late Show!
On Saturday, we got on and off a double decker tour bus. Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty (look closely above Martha's head).
The whole gang: Dean, Meredith, Shea, Paula, Martha, Sam and Kurt
We spent some time shopping, of course. Martha - and Dean... - got a little tired and decided to take a little nap on the streets.
The guys took in a Yankee game while we girls saw a Broadway musical - Hairspray. It was simply heaven. I'm definitely going back for more - some day - I hope!
The next day, we spent some time at Central Park.
Me, Meredith, Sam and Shea walking to Central Park from our hotel.
We met a very handsome French bulldog named Buddy taking a break from his walk in the park.
And we visited the Museum of Natural History.
Then we took the subway back downtown to 30 Rock for a tour which included seeing where they tape Conan O'Brian's show and Saturday Night Live.
July 23 - July 31
We had a great time in New York, but it was time to head to Toronto, where Meredith and Kurt live. We stayed with Dean's sister and brother-in-law while we were there. We had a great time reconnecting with family as well as doing some tourist things.
Family barbeque with kids, neices, etc. after church
We rented a bicycle to ride around Toronto Island.
The view of Toronto skyline from the ferry to Toronto Island
We did a day trip out to Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls.
The rainbow over the falls
Meredith and Kurt pose outside Waverly Baptist church in Toronto, where Kurt begins as Youth and Music pastor this month.
I found a new chair for my living room in Toronto. And thanks to stow-and-go seating, I was able to squeeze it into the van to take home.
The chair is under the laundry basket...
August 1 - 4
It was finally time to head back to Moose Jaw. The movie had wrapped up at the house and we were ready to be home. We could have done it in three days, but we decided to spend a day at Wisconsin Dells - the waterpark capital of the world - if you didn't know!
Dean snapped this shot from the balcony of our hotel room of me, Shea and Martha floating down a "lazy river". (This is as close a photo you will ever see of me in a bathing suit - especially after more than 6 weeks of eating out!)
And lest you think this was as brave as I got, we also went on this little water ride:
It is termed a "high anxiety" ride and I would say that's an understatement. I admit that I didn't know what water feature I was in line for (the line was inside and the funnel was outside...), and it was a good thing because I wouldn't have been on it. I admit to wetting my pants just a little and I think even my husband was screaming. The kids begged to go on it again but once was definitely enough for me!
We ended our 9200 km (~5700 mile) trip with a speeding ticket in North Dakota, but even that had a good side. The ticket wasn't too high and the nice policeman found and booked a hotel room for us (it was almost midnight and every hotel we had tried was full).
It was a trip with a lot of high points - one we'll remember for a long time.