Day 16

Date: Tuesday July 21, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Waterloo Ontario

Hours to drive: about an hour of touring around

Destinations: two of the houses that Chad lived in as a child and then his cousin Jen’s house

Planned activities: a trip down memory lane for Chad and then a pool party at his cousin Jen’s house with a bunch of his cousins

Quote of the day: “Why don’t we have a pool?’

Late morning we packed the kids into the truck and started our tour.  First we drove past a house on Highpoint Avenue in Waterloo where Chad lived from when he was four until nine.  Next we took a trip into the beautiful countryside.  I never realized how much of Canada’s produce was grown in southern Ontario.  We drove through small communities that still have a sizable Mennonite population.  We saw more than one horse drawn buggy driving down the street and there is even a designated lane for them. 

When we arrived in Nithburg (not much more than a street) Chad could suddenly remember everyone that lived in each house and could tell us what was the same as when he left in 1986 and what was new.  I could envision a ten-year-old little boy running through the fields, fishing in the Nith River, playing in the rapids or knocking on his neighbour’s door to ask if he could fish in his stocked bass pond.  A very cool childhood!

Now off to the pool party at Jen’s house!  We were the first to arrive.  I put lifejackets on the girls and then the little one hoped into a pink Hello Kitty inner tube and into the pool they went.  They spent most of the next seven hours in the pool.  The little one even jumped off the diving board a handful of times.  We were quickly joined by Kelly and her son, as well as Chad’s other Glen and his wife Kristen and their son.  A great time was had by all!