Edmonton to Toronto and now Ottawa

I still haven't figured out why I keep coming back to this blog :)! Especially that none follows it or reads it, but I keep thinking that one day someone who is very close to me would find it, and smile while reading it!
I should probably remove some older posts since my wife (Laura) would be upset if she saw older posts with Amy, but I simply wanted to preserve the integrity of my writing and life experiences.

Here's a summary of the past two years... in two paragraphs!
I survived the renovations!!! and I learned a lot from that experience... if you're eager to see how it turned out, here are some teasers:

Kitchen project:

Building a closet:

I landed a job in Toronto so I had to rush through the renos and fly to Toronto within 3 weeks - I forgot how it felt like to fall asleep!

Toronto:
I finally made it to Toronto and had a first amazing summer in a long time - a well deserved summer.

 View from my bedroom

 A view from one of the rooftops

I took up kayaking, rock climbing and cycling. Drinking beer became my favorite hobby too!

 Random spot on a random night in Toronto

 Bike trip to Scarborough bluffs

 Kayaking near billy bishop airport

 I even got a hammock!

 Kayaking to Toronto island became a daily habit after work.

Marriage:
Fast forward & I'm now a married man! My family was the happiest, although they were still trying to understand what just happened!?

We decided that Toronto was too crazy for a potential family and decided to relocate to Ottawa! It's been interesting here, but mostly a great experience because two of my close friends immigrated to Ottawa. We gather every Thursday for a beer and try to get together almost every weekend.

Basement reno (kitchen)

Todays challenge is building a frame in the new kitchen basement.

I got a frame nailer with a 6 gallon compressor (nail gun needs 100 psi and the compressor need to catch up, cfm is 4.0)

This frame needs to go on this side of the toom to cover the mess of the other walls.

I'm only loosing a few inches of my kitchen space but at least it will look professional and not a puzzle!

I used treated wood for the bottom plate, this wood withstands any humidity

I'm basically ysing 2x4 studs with 3 1/4 inch nails.

I still need to attach my new frame to the concrete floor. For that purpose i got these awesome tapcon nails. You just drill a smaller hole and nail through the whole. They even come with their drill bit!

A life changing event

Sunday, October 12 2014 - 1 PM Edmonton Time. - I was driving to see a property when I received a phone call. That's the phone call that nobody wishes to receive, the type of phone calls that changes your life and your family's life forever.
I've always imagined seeing my children grow up with their grand father, always imagined the joy and privilege they would have to know him and enjoys the unconditional love that he expresses in so many ways. I wanted them to enjoy at least one of his epic trips, to hear his laughters and chuckles. I only imagined how much love they will have for him, and him for them. I never thought life would steal him from me, my current and future family.
I've lost my idol, the person that has always made me proud now matter what, the person who taught me that nothing is impossible, gave me my meaningful name, and made me acquire the qualities I have. He was one of the very few honest and strong men. His life was epic and always full, and even though it was far from being perfect, he always smiled and made sure everyone else around him is happy and safe.
His biological heart was too weak to carry the greatness, strength and courage that he had in him. I doubt that any human heart would be able to carry what my father has carried and endured during his 68 years on this planet.
38 days have passed and the pain won't go away. I'm struggling with my overwhelming emotions and it feels like my heart was ripped apart but as time goes by, I'm more aggressive to life at the same time, I want to revolt to having a normal life, take risks, change things, and leave a mark if one day I had to leave this planet as well.
I will be thinking about you dad, every day, for the rest of my life...

Batroun and Byblos

Batroun brings a lot of great memories to me and my family since I was raised there, and the simple life that people live there makes me want to leave everything and go back to that simply happy life.
We went to the fisherman's wharf in Batroun ( photos that I took 4 summers ago) and enjoyed the sunset as well as the beautiful view of the Mediterranean, and the historical great Phoenician wall

We decided to go to Byblos the second day and browse the old souks as well as enjoy a decent lunch at Finikia (Phoencia). The enjoyment was taken back when we decided to enjoy a $7 cup of coffee after lunch at Edde Caffee and we were served hot water with a 3 in 1 Nescafe pack.

We took a boat for a 15 minutes ride but the tourism's flavor has obviously changed. The little boat ride that is supposed to bring you closer to nature, feel the beauty of the Mediterranean and Byblos, was NOT what we expected (see here)

Vacationing in Lebanon - First week of summer 2014

We got chalet near Batroun for the month of our stay. The chalet is a few steps away to the ocean, and a fewer steps to two cool beach bars. There is also two local seafood restaurants next door that we tried during our stay. My sister invited us to a seafood dinner one night and Amy had her first experience eating a fish that comes to your table as a whole fish instead of a filet. For me, it was the real experience as I hate fish filet, so I was thrilled. Drinking "Arak" was the perfect choice with this dinner, but the overpriced menu made us decide to go for white wine at the chalet (20 feet away from the restaurant) instead of being ripped off.

First visit to Lebanon with Amy

For the first time ever, I decided to travel with Amy (my GF) to my home country. In Lebanon (my home country), making that step is huge - the way it is usually interpreted is that it's a serious relationships, and introducing your significant other to your family means you have great future intentions of marriage and starting a family together. We flew from Edmonton after Amy's parents dropped us at the airport -

and we landed in Beirut and finally arrived home after flying for over 20 hours

Amy's first day in Lebanon was small tour in Beirut, Gemayzeh and Mono old streets where cultural and historical houses who represent our country's heritage are being torn down, and replaced by ugly commercial buildings with no parkings- We went for a walk near Manara and Rawcheh in Beirut - everyone in the area was staring at her as if she was an alien, I did not have the words to explain to her why they were awkwardly staring at her - I was stared at too!
Same first day, second experience was attending a big fat Lebanese wedding of a friend "Salah El-Chlouk" who was visiting Edmonton in winter 2014, and who has already met Amy.
We left the after wedding party and headed to Lime - a smalll pub in Mono Street, Achrafieh to enjoy a drink in a relaxed atmosphere.

Progression

Why am I writing this post? The answer is Amy ! She decided to stat her own blog and she also decided to blog for both of us

Now my only concern is how much work that involves... I meant "me doing the work" such as being the photographer, the technical support, camera man, editor, etc... I guess we'll know within the next few days :) !

Why is Amy starting a blog? well, because we're going on our first trip/vacation together for 30 days. We're both excited and wondering how crazy and fun this trip is going to be.