The Penner Family From Sea to Sea: Ali's Engaged!

Hi Everybody!

There is definitely some exciting news that Ali has lacked to share! I'm sure you all know by now, but ALI IS ENGAGED!! I apologize on her behalf that she hasn't yet published the story/posted pictures... apparently going to school and planning a wedding is enough to handle!

So Ali's fiancee, Mike, proposed at the end of August - August 31st, I believe. He's a teacher and they were going to decorate his classroom... they spent the morning there and then decided to go leave and get some lunch. They drove to the park - Heart Lake Park, it was called, and Mike brought out the picnic he had prepared. After they ate he brought out his guitar... he had written her a song... followed by a little speech, and then he popped the question! Following the picnic they hung around the park, then went into Toronto for a dinner at a beautiful place in the Distillery District.. the broiler house. They finally came home at the end of a great day to the family for champagne/cake. It was great!

So that's the smooth story - what's funny though, is all the things that happened throughout the day. Ali had so many opportunities to figure out what was going on!

For instance, when decorating the classroom, she went out to the car to get more supplies. There, she found a bag that I had prepared for her with a bunch of fancy clothes (mostly mine!), some jewelery, a little make-up, etc. (For the dinner afterwards.) Mike had to make up a story as to why Mike had a bag full of my clothes in his car! ...I still don't know how he did it:)

Also, when inside the classroom, she was seconds away from opening up the pocket in Mike's backpack that had the ring - he had to somewhat tackle her to stop her from doing that!

There were also some funny parts in the day - As Mike played her the song, she wanted to sing along with it. So they had an impromptu jam session with Ali's engagement song. Then there were some construction workers that were starting some work right around the corner from them. Mike had to go and talk to them, explain that he was about to propose, and asked them to come back in a little while! They walked by and gave them a thumbs up :)

All in all they had a great day and came back SO happy. It was such a fun and exciting night. Here are some pictures when they came back to the house.

All the parents! Such close friends, which is so nice!