I’ve had a great sleep this afternoon and am ready to go, and as I look outside as I type, my wonderful friends at The Weather Network seem to be right about the weather straightening out this evening.  The flag on the pole on our farm here between Jericho and Walsh is even laying right down at times!!  Thank you so much to all the folks at TWN for being such wonderful partners and providing the personal weather reports for both of these Lake Erie swims!!

Thanks you too to all my crew and those who are volunteering time once again!!  I can’t believe I have so many people who would basically give up their summer to help me help Camp Trillium!!  You are all amazing and watching how well you work with my family to get things done is inspiring to me!!  I know you are all friends for a lifetime and are part of our family!!  It’s been an incredible summer of working out together, traveling together, meeting together, and laughing together!!!  Talk about memories!!  And think of the lives you have changed at Camp Trillium!!

I think I head out at about 9:30pm, and I know that there is a real push to have people come to the pier in Port Dover and see me off, which is embarrassing and makes me feel very good at the same time!!  If you’re their I hope I get to wave at you or even yell hi!!  You have all been so wonderful to me!!  I’m just that little girl from the country that wants to help other kids and I want you to realize that!  My community and country for that matter have been so great to me and in helping me and I hope you all know how much I appreciate it!!  There are just no words to describe how I feel about you all!!  Whether it has been giving time, money, praying, cheering or sending well wishes, YOU have made this possible and made the world a better place for someone battling cancer!!

I know I have been bad at blogging!  I seriously haven’t had the time !  I’ve done a lot of things and spent the summer working at the pool in Delhi, so even with the training and swims my life has been incredible! Sitting on a computer typing just didn’t seem like a way I wanted to “balance” my summer !

Anyway, I need to go and finish off preparations for tonight!  I will be leaving for Port Dover soon and hope to see you all there!  Continue to monitor my progress on the “Broadcast” page here on my website and PLEASE continue to give to Camp Trillium and allow kids and their families in a battle for life to have such a small time to have fun and have a smile on their face!! I believe all kids deserve to be kids…no matter what…don’t you??!!  Donate either here online on my website or at the Tiki Hut on the Port Dover beach where my great friend Duane Rutter will continue his guitarathon tonight beginning when I get in the water!  Thanks you all so much!!  Love Annaleise <3 !

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I want to make sure I thank all of those involved with this swim from crew, to volunteers, to sponsors, to everyone who has donated and supported!!  I’d love to mention everyone by name, but as I’ve learned, someone would get missed and I don’t want that. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, and that goes double for my family!

I can’t believe it is finally here!  Actually, finally doesn’t seem like the right word, because it came so fast!  I’m sorry if me having to start early ruins any plans! With the time I need to do this swim, I need that big of a window before the storms come on Saturday!  I’m ready!! I want to go now actually!!  But I better try and get some sleep!  I talked to a couple of TV stations here when I arrived, so it’s nice that they care about what is happening for Camp Trillium!!  This team I have over here is incredible!!  A special shout out to everyone in my home county of Norfolk!!  I can’t wait to swim home tomorrow!!  To those who have embraced the Ripple Effect like Duane, Josh Buchhold, the kids at the Waterford Museum, and so many more thanks so much!!  I know I won’t be able to sleep tonight, but I’m signing off anyhow and trying !  My parents will update my blog like 2 years ago when I swam Lake Ontario, so you should have some information as I swim!!  Thanks so much for sticking with my and I’ll see you on the beach in Dover !!  Good night everyone!

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I have to thank everyone for all they have been doing!  I won’t name names because they are just endless!  This has been so humbling! I went to Norfolk County Council this morning and thanked them and the people of Norfolk for all they have done! But there are so many more too!!  None of this happens without every person that helps or gives!  So THANK YOU!!!

I’m going to make this short tonight, but not before I mention Josh Buchwald!  As I set out to do, I wanted to create social change so that people just did things for others, just to help, not for self exposure or awards, but just to be good people! That is the idea of my “One Drop, Many Ripple” theme surrounding my swim!  So, I get an email from Josh about a month ago asking if he could use my picture and name in order to clean cars at his business “Boston Car Cleaning”, to raise funds for me and Camp Trillium!  I though it was wonderful that the ripple effect was happening and asked if I could help him out!  So, if you saw the , you saw the story about Josh and what he’s doing this Saturday!  We all have a gift that God has given us and we need to use it and use it to the best of our ability, and if we can use it to help others, all the better!!  Way to go JOSH!!

Well, good night all, I really need to get some rest!  Shout out to all those who came out to the volunteer session in Port Dover tonight!  Thanks so much!

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Anyhow, it was crazy fun and I once again had one of the greatest kayakers in the world (right up there with Darcy Campbell, Rob Smith and Tyler Wilson) in Scott Olsen from Fargo, ND!!  Thanks Scott for looking out for me…and for helping me when my life was on the line!!

So, I suppose you all want to know the story?!  Okay! We were a long way through the race and we stopped so I could feed.  We were right on a bend and I got caught in a current and it swept me toward at dam of logs and trees which had kinda’ washed into an elbow in the river!  I tried to swim out of the current, but there was no use!! As I got closer to the pile of logs, rather than be swept underneath of it, I grabbed on to the first log and held on until Scott could manoeuver around all the debris and help me!!  My hero ;)!! I know he was upset, but it’s that type of thing that makes this sport so appealing to us open water swimmers!!  The unknown!! Just because you made a swim once doesn’t mean you’ll make it next time!  What will be around that next bend?  All of these type of things keep us coming back for more!!  I was honoured and humbled to be able to swim alone side so many iconic open water swimmers in North Dakota!!  Thank you Andrew Magness for bringing me down to the brown Red River to play !

So, it’s always nice to be back in Canada!  Thought I’d update you and introduce you to my coach for my Lake Erie crossing!  Paula Jongerden  is one of only a few people who have swam across Lake Erie and a very awesome person, and can you believe she lives only about 3 minutes from my home!?  I’m so proud and honoured to have her on board and she is so positive and funny and I know she will make this crossing a lot of fun!!

Our planning has been so well done!!  My team is just amazing!! I believe we are ready now…I know I’d like to go any time!!  The water is the prefect temperature!  Last Sunday when we did the training day the temp was 61-62  which I thought was great!  I’m sure it’s much warmer now.

I’ll sign off by mentioning that I’ll be in the boat parade and the street parade on July 1st in Port Dover!  Happy Canada day everyone!!  Don’t forget to get out and help me help Camp Trillium!  Let’s keep the donation thermometer on my website rising!!!!

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So thought I’d just share with everyone that I will be back at the this summer as a guest on August 17th!  What an honour again and thanks to Steve for inviting me again!  This is a great event and they do it to raise awareness about the cleanliness of lake and Lake Ontario Waterkeepers!  Can’t wait for this event, but Lake Erie first!  Good night for now!

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So what else? I’ve had some book signings in Toronto, thanks to the Thomas family for working on that!  Met some really neat people!  I also had one last night at the Simcoe Little Theatre were the production, Dixie Swim Club, is taking place!  Can you imagine they have a production about swimming this year !  I got to see me at 77 years old!!  Thanks for the invite SLT!!

I’ve also done some fundraising events at HalNor and at the National Karate tournament at HT in Simcoe!  I’ve had speaking engagements, and I really have to mention what an honour it was to speak at the Ontario Volunteer Service Awards in Vittoria!  Thank you Eva for inviting me and thank you to all the volunteers who help so many people!!!!!  I also really have to thank the Weston (Toronto) Lions for helping us out with the fuel for the swim!!

I also had the honour to get a tour of Variety Village a by Kate Haggis and to be able to volunteer with the kids on the high ropes for a couple of hours!!!  It was so amazing!!!

And of course there is training!!  I’m still getting my regular pool hours with the swim team, but I’ve been getting awesome training with Rob and Darcy kayaking and Josh and Lisa pacing!!  Special thanks to Pete Shira and the Long Point Region Conservation Area for allowing us to turn North Waterford Conservation Area into my training camp :)!  The lake is warming up now, but the time I’ve had in the “pond” has been invaluable!!

I also want to give a shout out to everyone who is working so hard as part of my crew, whether they are on water or on land or media/promotions!!!  You are all amazing and really get the “one drop, many ripples!” message!  Thanks too to Duane Rutter for putting your body on the line while I swim :)!  I can’t believe what everyone is doing!!  Finally, thanks to the 70 or so volunteers who will be helping out in Port Dover while I swim!  I can never thank everyone enough for what they are doing!!

So, I’m signing off for tonight and heading back to school work and studying!!  I can’t wait until my exams are over, because that means I will be off to North Dakota for that exciting 36 mile race!!  Have a great night and rest of the weekend!  If you are in the area of Paris, Ontario tomorrow morning, come by the Bethel Stone United Church on Bethel Road to see me speak at 11am :)!  I’d love to meet you !

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Tonight I also added another Platinum sponsor in the Vittoria Firefighters Association!!  Not only did they give a big donation, but they are also planning to work with the St. William’s Firefighters and people of Turkey Point to have a kind of celebration breakfast sometime after my swim!!  How cool is that?  Now I’d just better make it across Lake Erie!

I’m so thankful to all my sponsors and partners and all the incredible things they are doing!  Sounds like everyone will have a great time in Port Dover while I am swimming across the  lake!  Duane Rutter, Norfolk County and Knetchels are making sure it will be exciting!

I have to thank the over 600 people who showed up at Camp Trillium and donated over $6400 yesterday during the Pancake Breakfast!  It was such a wonderful morning and I loved meeting all the incredible people that stopped in!!  Thanks especially to all the awesome people who volunteered their time!

There is just so much going on, with speaking engagements and fundraising and training, it’s just awesome!  I want to talk about it all, but I just don’t have the time!  One thing I will mention is that I will be at “Count Me In” tomorrow in Toronto!  If you don’t know what this is, you really need to check it out!  I had the honour of being a part of the day last year, and my friend, Shane Feldman, was kind enough to make my family VIP guests this year!  I am looking so forward to the day and seeing Shane again!

As you will see on my events page, I’m staying very busy!  I love speaking on behalf of Camp Trillium and promoting the cause of children with cancer, as well as their families!

I’d really love to write more, but tomorrow is a very early morning and I have to get some sleep!  I hope I get to see some of you tomorrow at Count Me In!!

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Little did I know how excited they would be!  To shorten the story, they’ve made it possible so that I can go to the final Rock game of the season on Friday and take the opening face-off with Colin Doyle and they are going to help me spread the word about Camp Trillium!  There is so much more (including I got to shoot with a lacrosse stick on their practice rink in Oakville) but I’ll just end this part here!  If you have a chance and are in Toronto Friday, come down to the ACC and see me face-off!

So my training is going VERY well and I’m feeling awesome!  Biggest problem is I can’t wait to get into the lake to train!  My pacer, Josh Reid , is waiting too!!!  I was honoured to be asked by Kate Haggis of Variety Village to headline and participate in their open water swim again this year on Sept 6th!  Trust me when I tell you Open Water Nation, this is the most awesome open water event I have ever been in, if only based on the beauty of Buttermilk Falls  !

This Saturday I will be signing my book and fundraising for Camp Trillium at the South London Chapters!  Please come out and see me!  Thanks so much to all the nice things that have been said about my book and to those who have come out to my previous book signings!  It was an honour to work with someone as talented as Deborah Ellis!!

I’m going to finish for tonight because I have so much homework .  I can tell report cards are coming out soon !

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So, I said I was going to talk about my sponsors in my next blog, and that’s what I’m going to do now!  Without my crew and sponsors I can’t even think of doing anything like swimming lakes!  The cost would be just too much!  Of I course have 2 incredible partners in Camp Trillium and Norfolk County, but there are so may other companies and groups that continue to help me and you can find them on my sponsor page!  The Port Dover Power and Sail Squadron, contacted me right away after I announced another swim and wanted to be part!  The help, information and boats that they as a group have supplied is amazing!  Kristen Jerry, our primary contact with the squadron is now the Assistant Manager of the entire swim because she just does everything!!  And she is amazing at it!!  The job that she and Shane Feldman, founder and producer of “Count Me In Canada” and one of Canada’s Top 20 People under 20 Years Old, have done with social media for the swim and book launch is simply incredible!  They know their stuff!  The squadron has supplied 3 very large boats for my swim, as well as a lot of crew members to “man” them!  Back from my Lake Ontario crossing is Captain Chuck McInally and Dr. Bruce Bowyer on the “Chuck Wagin”  Having these guys along again will be so reassuring as they have been through one “battle” with me already!  Bridge Yachts in Port Dover is once again supplying me with the 2 zodiacs I need!  They are soooo nice to me and Ed is such a sweetie !  Then there is Clear Blue Sorbents and Martinrea who continue to stand by me!  RE7 keeps me energized and hydrated all the time!  What a blessing it was that they found me 2 years ago!  Media partners like MyFM 98.9 in Norfolk and Sun Media with their Simcoe Reformer outlet are here to make sure that my message about Camp Trillium, helping others, and social change gets out!  Wonderful ongoing sponsorships, with 2nd Ave Printing in Simcoe and the work Jeff Kowalsky does for me, Millea Physio and Roddy’s ongoing support, and Simcoe Dental Clinic and the never ending help of Dr. Fard, are so humbling that sometimes it’s embarrassing how well they treat me!  Same with the Barrel Restaurant who are ALWAYS there to help in the community!  What an amazing group of people they are!  Cindy Chappe and Top Notch Signs and Promotional Products and her tireless ideas for fundraising!  My church family in Courtland, Ontario, Grace Family Bible Fellowship, with their continuous support and love and financial help, as well as the help of groups like the Port Dover Lions and Tillsonburg Seniors!  I saved this one though! Medical Transportation Services out of Mississauga are coming all the way down to the beach at Port Dover to transport me to Norfolk General Hospital after the swim on their own time, and I think that is amazing that they would offer and want to come down here to support what is happening!  There are more coming that are not up on the site yet either…mainly because we don’t know exactly where they will slot in!  For example, the Vittoria Firefighters are on board as a sponsor and we are planning a fundraiser with them…possible in Turkey Point!  There are many other too so stay tuned and see how companies and group want to help others!!  We’ve hardly begun!  If you are interested in sponsoring me and supporting Camp Trillium and kids with cancer and their families, you can either contact me under the “Contact Us” Tab, or there is a sponsorship package you can download on the “Sponsors” page!

I’m just going to leave you with this.  The entire goal of this swim is to get as many people involved in helping others!  Hence my motto “One Drop, Many Ripples!”  The ripple effect of helping others is unbelievable!  Alone I am quite insignificant, but with the help of family, crew, sponsors and YOU, we can make a real difference, not just for Camp trillium, but in a hurting world!  Please help me by becoming one of those “Ripples”!

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