Norma and I decided that we wouldn't let a little rain from Ernesto stop us from having fun at The Ex! It started raining within 5 minutes of us arriving and never stopped. But ya know what? We never stopped laughing either!
We took the GO Train in and went to my traditional first stop, 'Tiny Tom Donuts.' Yummmm! As we waited for our hot little morsels to drop into the bag I said, 'I think it may be starting to rain.' Yup! Too funny! Not there 5 mins and the rain began. Oh well, we went prepared! As we enjoyed our donuts, we took a walk through the stables. (Always another funny tradition when you think about it. Enjoying hot baby donuts while the scent of horses wafts through the air. Oh well, it's tradition!) The funny thing about walking through the stables is that there were no horses. None, nada, zero, zip...except for a couple that were in stalls behind a locked gate! So much for the horse show. In years past the horse show was always one of our favourite parts but for the past couple of years they've started holding it the 2 weeks before the Ex. Not a change we're happy with but what can you do?
After the donuts were nicely tucked away in our tummies it was time to chase it down with a cup of coffee and stroll through the Home building. Early morning is the time to do this as it's practically empty! I bought some things for the upcoming, 'Hair Accessory' exchange but that was about all. I had hoped to buy one of those slicer/dicer things for veggies but the $49.99 price tag told me nope...a knife works just fine. (Either that or wait until Carol calls when she's made too many. Another preferable option in my books!)
We tried on Crocs as everyone says they're really comfortable but didn't purchase any. If they'd had the colour and size in stock that I wanted I might have been more tempted but they didn't so I figure it just wasn't meant to be. After the home portion we wandered next door to the countries area. Norma purchased some cute Chinese lanterns for us at a China pavilion and I scoped out a couple of Chinese parasols that I'd go back and pick up later. We wandered across the grounds to the sports area and watched some kids using mini tramps and basketballs for a 'Slam Jam' show. Fun and entertaining! By this point it was close to lunch so we headed to the food building. So many, many choices! Norma ended up with a hot dog and I chose perogies and a cabbage roll.
Hoping the rain might taper off long enough for the 'Human Cannonball' we wandered over to where that was but no, it had been cancelled due to the weather as was the trampoline/ski jump show. We visited the farm building and I managed to win something at the kitchen demo. This year it was dish soap...and I had to carry it. (As opposed to the purple potatoes I won last year and snuck into Deb's backpack while she was away! See here for that post!)
When we left the farm building we were surprised to see that the air show was in full swing in spite of the weather! We threw the rest of the day's schedule away and made our way to the lakeshore to watch the show.
Between the two of us, we were fairly prepared for the weather. We had rain coats, plastic rain ponchos, sweatshirts, garbage bags to sit on and an umbrella! What we didn't plan on was the fact that we'd be sitting on a hill! Oh man did this complicate things! In the pouring rain (and I mean pouring as you can see on the umbrella in this shot) we attempted to make ourselves comfy on the grass. I tried to use the 'self portrait' feature on my camera but didn't do too well! When it came down to that umbrella it was either getting in the way or, I was soaking Norma everytime I turned to see a plane coming from behind us and dripped a river of water down her back! Oops...sorry! :o)
After a while I was pretty comfy! Soaked... but comfy. We watched almost 2 hours of the air show this way. Slipping, sliding, dripping, laughing, chatting, giggling, soaking, talking! Or...building memories as we like to refer to it as!
The final show of the after noon were the Canadian Snow Birds and they were worth waiting for! The poor weather conditions meant they were only able to make about 5 passes before heading back to the airport but I tell you, the wait was worth it! A dance in the sky!
So that's it. Another year at The Ex with a whole bunch of wonderful new memories!
Will Miss Hannah be here to enjoy it next year? Somehow I'm thinking not quite yet but I could be surprised! Regardless if our first trip to the Ex together is next year or the one after that, I look forward to the time when she and I can begin building memories at The Ex together!
If you want to watch a movie that will leave you a changed person than this is it! 'Smile' is a wonderful movie based upon the true story of 80,000 people!
