Just dropping in to say "hi" ... :)

Wow. Another big hiatus. Funny how this blog goes in fits and starts. If you've figured that I just didn't have anything good to write about of late, I can assure you that it's very much the opposite ... I have just been too busy doing awesome stuff to sit down and recount it! :)

This has truly been as good a summer as I've ever had - and I have enjoyed some spectacular ones (windsurfing in Europe, working at a summer resort, planting trees in Northern Ontario, living in Whistler, BC, etc). 

I have shared several huge adventures with Jack - he crewed for me at The Death Race, joined me at Camp Bisco in Albany, NY, and paddled the Missinaibi River with me (a pending blog post about a 7 day trip that turned into a 9 day odyssey, with 3 for 3 destroyed canoes and some impromptu rockclimbing our way out of Hell's Gate Canyon after a missed portage and some out-of-our-league whitewater followed by waterfalls). Along the way, he also caught five of the biggest pickerel I have ever seen - all in one afternoon! Back home, Jack fell completely in love with waterskiing/wakeboarding/kneeboarding and any other excuse to be towed behind Papa's boat. :)

Katy represented Canada at the Pan-American Wrestling Championships in Mexico, and let me be her personal chef/trainer/assistant for the whole week prior helping her prepare. Then she was home just three days before heading to Poland and Germany for 3 weeks of training camps. Earlier in the summer, she medaled at her first international meet, and then I spent five days in Timmins with her at the Northern Bear Wrestling Camp. When we've had her home, there have been lots of trips to Canada's Wonderland with her awesome friends and some chill time on Lake Couchiching in the boat.

In the midst of all of that I have managed to put together a fairly productive summer as well - selling some terrific homes, coaching several great clients, shooting a weekly arts-scene program for our regional cable station, and booking a busy speaking schedule for the fall. I also earned my Open Water Diver certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and did some diving in Lake Simcoe

What is coming up? Well, this is a holiday weekend and we will be doing lots of sailing, wakeboarding and hanging by the bonfire. Friends have booked a cruise ship and a band for Sunday night for an annual summer ending shindig. Straight from the boat, I am planning to drive overnight to Pittsfield, VT for a few days to help clean up from the terrible flooding caused by Hurricane Irene. Almost as soon as I get back I am off to Haliburton for my first ever 100 mile ultramarathon. I had originally planned to do the 50 miler, until a friend said - "Why don't you just do the Hundred?" Strangely that is all it took. Along the same line of thinking, a Death Race compatriot encouraged me thusly, "Johnny, you'll have no trouble with it. Just think, at 5 miles per hour you'll finish in 20 hours or so, which is way less than the Death Race." Sounds downright easy - haha!!

September also brings Dragon Boat racing, a Girl Talk concert in London, and a chalk-drawing event for POGO,... while October has the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon, Explosions in The Sky and Skrillex, as well as an RV trip to U of Michigan for the homecoming football game.

I am looking forward to a busy Autumn professionally as well; continuing my real estate momentum, building my Versapay client base, and expanding my coaching company in an exciting new direction (stay tuned). I am also coaching a 15 week Self Expression and Leadership Program for Landmark Education at the Toronto Campus, and launching a monthly film series in conjunction with an awesome local yoga studio - the premiere is tentatively scheduled for October 18th, screening "May I Be Frank?" Stay tuned :)

Alright, off to bed. It has been a wonderful day! A few hours catching up in the office this morning, then Wonderland with Katy and Jack and Lucas and Emily and Aly and Lauryn, with a stop at the Drive-In on the way home to watch "Thirty Minutes Or Less". Kids are all sleeping, and I'm loving life!

Next up - a proper recounting of our epic adventure on the Missinaibi!! In one of the quieter moments of that journey, I snapped this picture. Truly as beautiful a place as there is ...