Gael Renaud:  

Life (2005) Hi Burnaby Southers from my years, Tho I was born and lived in Burnaby Delta and Abbotsford most of my life, my family and I moved to Toronto Ontario 8 yrs ago. I know most everyone goes the other way, Toronto to Vancouver. My Husband Paul and our two children ( well adults now) Kristoffer and Stefanie, moved to Toronto. Our youngest, Stefanie wanted to go to Guelph University and my work was offering the transfer, so my husband and son agreed as well. Here we are in Toronto now. The kids live in the city, right by the Lake, and Paul and I have a lovely new home on the lake as well but way outside of the city. I have been traveling across Canada in my job, for many years now, developing installing and training people on Banking systems. My Husband has now retired from the Federal Gov't after 30 some years, and tomorrow July 3rd, Paul and I will celebrate 34 years of marriage. Hope to hear from some of you.... Gael Mitchell (Renaud) Sept 2005 Well I have left my long career in the training I/T industry, enough of the traveling. June 2008 Paul and I have decided to travel a bit and have purchased a 5th wheel trailer and truck. Our first trip, with me at the wheel was to New York, then on to P.E.I. What a fabulous trip, even my mom came along. Oh and both dogs..lucky the trailer is 30 feet so we has lots of room and a ton of fun. We are now building a new house outside of Toronto , so lots to do... hope to hear from some of you ... October 2008 Well I tried numerous times to reconnect with my old friend Sally Talbot, but that has not worked out well, she did not want to reconnect, so I am still hoping to hear from some of you from school. Our new house is finished and we have moved in, Aug 2008, and our old home sold. We are still in Brighton Ontario, a block from Lake Ontario. Our new home is really nice and we are loving it. We brought my mom out from Vancouver, and have built her her own wing on the house. Oct 8th 2008 I was in hospital and had half, yes half of my right knee replaced with what's called an oxford knee, so am now recovering well from that. I was up and walking with a walker the same day...amazing....drop me a note.....I've updated some pictures Gael August 2012 Well its been a busy,happy, and sad 4 years. My mother has gone back to Vancouver to live, she no longer wants to be part of our family, a bit of dementia, so we sold our big house in Brighton and built a smaller home on 2 acres just outside of Belleville Ontario. Paul is loving his yard, and doing his landscaping and we are comfortable in our home. Our son Kristoffer rented out his beach front condo in downtown Toronto and moved to St Catherines Ontario with his lovely lady Jennifer. He bought a big lovely home there 2 years ago and put in a huge salt water swimming pool last year. Its like visiting a resort. Our daughter who is a Vet tech near Peterborough Ontario announced her engagement last Jul 3rd at the 40th wedding anniversary dinner she arranged at a lovely restaurant for her dad and I. Stefanie will be getting married on June 30th 2013, so big excitement there. Lots of planning etc. I have made her crystal brooch bridal bouquet and am doing the flowers for the outside of the Gazebo where she will be wed. Her fiancee Jeremy is a wonderful man and treats her like a princess, so her dad likes that. I was lucky enough to connect with a couple of people from school, Gord Stone and I have chatted via email, that was so great to connect with him, and Linda Wiens who I went to Moscrop Junior secondary school with and I reconnected as well. I've tried to find Yvonne Eamor from Central, we were close friends growing up, but have not connected with her. Well I will put my daughters bouquet in y pictures and my again hope to hear from some of you. Sept. 2012 Our son Kristoffer and his lovely lady Jenn have announced their engagement and will be married in a small intimate ceremony at Niagara on the Lake in Aug 2013. Wow...two weddings in two months...our daughter Stefanie June 2013 and Kris Aug 2013. Thankfully Kris' is small as it is Jenn's second wedding so they are only planning about 40 people at the venue. Sept 29 2012 Dec 30th 2012 Paul and I are very happy in our new home, we moved in in April 2012 and are just now experiencing our first big snowfall up here. The past 2 winters, 2010 and 2011 were not even classed as Ontario winters there was so little snow. Not like my first winter here...1997 when we had 104 cm on the ground and the Mayor called in the army, great experience. Anyway we have about 7 inches on the ground now and its beautiful on our property just pristine everywhere. We also have a herd of 8 deer who come to our neighbor Larry's house every afternoon around 4:00 as Larry puts out their dinner. Lovely to see. Well I do hope you all had a nice Christmas season and hope too all will have a happy prosperous New Year !!!! Until 2013 !!! Take tender care All !! September 2013 What a year so far ....Both our children have gotten married this year. Our daughter Stefanie in June 2013, and our son in August 2013. What a busy year !!!! I made all the bouquets for our daughters wedding even her bouquet which was made of all crystal brooches and jewelry including her Grampa Mitchell's ring. She has few memories of him as he passed 26 years ago, but her Big brother Kris has told her wonderful stories of her Grampa. It was a beautiful wedding, and we even had some family from Vancouver fly out for the occasion. Our son Kris married his lovely Jennifer in a smaller intimate wedding, just 40 people at a beautiful mansion in the Niagara area. Her Family is wonderful and she has two nice teens from her previous marriage. So life has been busy. I am now gearing up to start doing some Christmas wreaths for clients and even maybe another wedding. I have attached my business pictures here and more on facebook, so we'll see how many new clients I get this year. My husband Paul is still loving his 2 acres and our dogs love to be able to run as well. Take care everyone...Sept 10 2013. Here we are in 2014 !! and in yet another new house. !!! This is the last house, we've promised each other. We sold our home on the 2 acres in November of 2013. After the two weddings and all the company we had we made the decision to go back to sweet little Brighton were all our friends live. And we did the huge lot thing, Paul loved cutting grass on his tractor and the tons of gardens, but we're not getting any younger !! So we engaged a young builder we know in Brighton, to build us a new smaller house and Paul and I spent the winter months in Picton County . Never saw so damn much snow in one year since my first year in Ontario (97 I think) anyway Picton was a heck of an experience with all the snow. We were renting a cottage there while our new house was being built. My darling husband surprised me with a heart attack in January, I had him in Picton Hospital within 6 minutes and they were fabulous. Paul was transported to Kingston General for an angiogram and had a stent put in. There was a blocked blood vessel at the back of the heart. He remained in hospital for 6 days then I brought him back to our wee cottage in Picton., we spent one afternoon and night and the very next day in another huge snow storm, Paul had a second heart attack !!! Well back in the hospital and that was dealt with. In March he started the cardiac exercise program in Picton and went 2 days a week and got himself strong and healthy again. We moved into the new house in Brighton at the end of March and Paul has been great since completing his class. Now in September he's been working in our garden, the yard is all fenced and our dogs are loving the yard and being outside with us. We also had really exciting news in January, after the heart attacks...Our daughter Stefanie is expecting a baby girl at the end of September ..Our first grandchild !!! .today as I write this...September 30th...still no baby, but Stefanie and I will head off to her doctor tomorrow, and we both feel he will suggest inducing and getting this baby here !!! Stefanie's husband Jeremy is working really long hours so I've sort of been on call for the doctor appointments and for her prenatal classes, so I am excited about being in the deliveryroom as her coach and support along with her husband, Well, that's where we are so far in 2014.... Well our new granddaughter was born on Thanksgiving, October 11th 2014. Her name is Hunter Grace Ellen Greer and she was 12 days late and weighed in at 10 lbs.I will post a few photos of this little beau...Expand for more