Donaldson Crew Adventures

Halloween night turned out to be a rain out this year, but luckily we went out and had a great time on the 30th at Dyffryn Gardens where they had a kids Halloween event complete with graveyard walk, face painting, magic shows... the works. 

On the way back from a US business trip, I routed up through montreal to visit some family and friends this past weekend.  I flew in Friday evening from Boston and met up with my good friend Roger.  He had got us seats at the pre-season NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks, so after landing at 6pm, clearing customs and changing in the car ride over, we were at the game by 7:10.  We had great seats!

This was only the start to a very fun evening that had us arriving back home around 3:30 AM.  Our goals was to cab it to old Montreal in hopes of getting a seat at Garde Manger (by Chuck Huges).  Lady luck was on our side: just as we walked in there was a couple leaving, and with about 30 minutes until the kitchen closed.  The menu looked so good we decided to pick a few things and share.  We starting with Lobster Poutine, and Jerk Crab legs, followed by a main course of Filet Mignon and Braised short ribs (slow cooked for 60 hours).  I finished the meal off with a low fat:) deep fried Mars bar. The food was supported by excellent wine, and amazing service.

Saturday turned out to be sunny and clear so after getting a morning shot of coffee we headed down to old Montreal to wander around.  What a great area for walking and exploring.

At the same time, my sister Leanne, her husband Nelson, my niece Karly, and my dad were driving down for the afternoon, so we all met up for lunch at a restaurant called Deville - Sort of an upscale retro diner with a fun atmosphere.  It was great to see family and hang out for the afternoon.

Alas, they had to get back to Ottawa, so that evening a number of other friends from Montreal and Ottawa got together for evening drinks and a meal at Zero8.  Alex and his wife Elise, Elise (different person) and her boyfriend Daniel, my friend Dale, and Roger of course. It was amazing to see so many friends that I haven't seen in some time - thanks everyone for making the trip down.  Look forward to the next time we can meet up.  

A quick whirlwind trip with a (very) early morning flight back to the UK on sunday but well worth it.  

 

In Boston for work this week. Crisp clear fall days. Early morning walk through historic Boston Common with the sun sparkling off the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House.

After rain all week, we were blessed with a beautiful clear and crisp fall weekend.  Saturday was spent working around the house.  On Sunday we decided to take the kids to Margam Park for a picnic lunch and some exploring.  It has been recommended to us a few times and since its only about 25 minutes from our house we thought it would be a fun Sunday outing.  

Margam Park is an 850 acre country estate that is one of the oldest human settlement areas in Glamorgan.  The current Tudor Style Castle was built in the early 19th century.  The park is covered with open grasslands, forests, animal park, kids play area, a train, a castle, ruines of an ancient abbey etc.  Here are some pictures from the outing.  Note the picture of the billy goat.  The kids called him the big billy goat from 'The Billy Goats Gruff'.

Kelly and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on October 5 2012.  Our goal was to pull off a weekend in London.... no easy task with 4 kids, but in a combined effort we were able to pull it off.  We decided to bring Preston with us, and leave the 3 oldest at home with a babysitter.  It turned out to be a spectacular sunny fall weekend in London, and a great way to celebrate 10 great years together.

We took the train up from Cardiff friday afternoon.  Trains are very pleasant and much better than cars or airplanes.  The train dropped us off at Paddington station in central london, and a short cab ride brought us to our hotel for the weekend.  I had selected a boutique hotel - The Chesterfield Mayfair.  Here are some shots of the hotel.  The weekend package came with a bottle of champain and a complimentary afternoon tea which we took advantage of on Saturday afternoon.

We hired a babysitter through the hotel both nights so we could go out to dinner.  Friday night we had dinner at Butlers resturant inside the hotel.  Saturday night I had reservations booked at a french resturant called 'La Petit Maison' that was only about 1/2 mile walk from our hotel.  It was a spectacular meal and highly recommended.  Some pictures of our evening outings.  Plus Prestons favorite time in the bath where he had the bathtub all to himself!

Daytimes were spent walking and seeing the sites of central London.  Since the weather was so good, we stayed outside for the most part.  Plus lines were long at many sites and Preston is much better when he is moving around. Pictures from our daytime walks.  You will likely recognize most of the landmarks.

On our 5th Aniversary we were living in Boise Idaho with only Hunter and Noah.  We went away then as well.  That time, my parents stayed with the two boys while we spent a long weekend in Park City Utah.  Amazing how much is different in 5 years. Time flies when you are having fun.  

I'm back in bend this week for our annual sales meeting. Dinner tonight was at broken top golf course. There have been some forest fires recently so the sunsets have been very interesting. This is taken from the deck at the broken top clubhouse.

There was an apple festival being held this weekend at a place called Tretower castle up in the Brecon Beacon so we decided to take Saturday afternoon and check it out.  The festival was ok - it could have been a lot better with more vendors but the kids still had fun trying some unique types of apples, watching the entertainment, making apple bird feeders and exploring the grounds.

Probably the highlight of the day was the medival garden and what we found out to be a mulberry tree growing with mulberries ripe for the picking.  Kelly and I had only ever heard of a mulberry bush in the nursery ryme.  Why these trees are not more popular is supprising.  The sweet juicy berries are spectacular.  The darker the berry the more ripe it is, and the sweeter it is.