Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Happy Holidays love Splash, Boots and Harry!

Our first Family Portrait....
Hope you are all keeping warm and dry and enjoying this Winter Wonderland we are in the midst of.

We have already had one family Christmas, and have 3 more Turkeys to go!
We are leaving tomorrow and will be gone until next year. If you are in Barrie on New Years we would love to see you! It is an outside show, so be sure to bundle up, but we will keep you up and moving to keep warm. If you can't make it, we are going to be broadcast LIVE on A-Channel, so you can dance at home in the warmth of your living room.

Last week we met Santa....

and Emma, Alyssa and Anais(Thanks for the picture guys!)


Stay tuned for a trailer for our DVD in early January...
Here is a sneak peak of our Splash'N Boots House:




If you have some spare time on your hands during the holidays, check out our radio show: http://www.whistleradio.com/. We play lots of fantastic music by artists all across Canada...and Harry even pays a visit!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends, music, hot chocolate and tobogganing.
See you in 2008!

Love,

Taes and Nick


Splash'N Boots
























Friday, December 7, 2007

LIVE from Australia!..new video footage

Helllo Everyone..

This is a very special blog introducing "Monster Party" LIVE from Australia. This was taken at the FUN4Kids Festival in beautiful Warrnambool, Australia. Enjoy......

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Winter Storms and Video Blogging!

Hello and welcome to the month of the "Winter Storm Warnings"

I hope you are all keeping safe, and cozy and warm. If you managed to get more snow then rain this past weekend hope you are getting a chance to toboggan and play in it. We ended up getting freezing rain on top of the snow which made for a bit of a slippery weekend here in Southwestern Ontario. In fact it was so slippery that I managed to fall on the stage during our show at Young and Dundas Square downtown Toronto!! It was quite the move. I wish I had it on video. For all of you who made it out despite the freezing rain, we love you so much. Seriously. You are heroes.

Last weekend we did a show in Bowmanville with Madame Buskerfly... Here is our first video blog we took from backstage...wheee:

We are still filming like crazy. Our "Splash'N Boots "set" is coming along well. Rumour has it that our "Whoopie" video is going to be done later on this week which means: perfect stocking stuffers! We will keep you up-to-date...

Let us know if you would like to take part in our: 2 for $20 CD deal for Christmas presents. You have until December 14th to order. Just send us an email with details about which ones you would like, and your address: info@splashnboots.com. Don't forget to let us know who to sign them for!

"Splash'N Boots Radio" is launching on-line this coming Thursday at 7:30am and 4:30pm on Saturday. Check it out: http://whistleradio.wordpress.com/. We are looking for short stories to read on our next episodes as a part of our Storytime. Stories can be about anything at all, and should be under 1 page. Please send your creations to: radio@splashnboots.com. We can't wait to read them!

We had our first Toronto Subway debut during the past month...Thanks Amber for sending us this picture!

That's about it for now. We would love to hear from you...maybe see you one more time before the holidays. We have an outside show in Pickering this Friday. Check out our tour schedule to see if we are near you: http://www.splashnboots.com/CURRENT%20MONTH.htm

This is Splash, Boots and Harry signing off..

xo


Monday, November 19, 2007

Splash'N Dooooooor

H.E.L.L.O!

Hope everyone is getting bundled up as November has come in a hurry. We have been busy since the last time we blogged it up. As you may have noticed we gave our website a needed makeover. We have also been performing lots of shows and filming away for our upcoming DVD. We are excited that we now have a real Splash'N Boots set that we are going to start filming in this week.

We also did some more filming in a field:

..it will make a lot more sense why we have a door in the middle of a field once you see the actual scene this is a part of :)

If you are in the Toronto area December 2nd - we have a big outdoor show at Dundas Square downtown Toronto at 2pm... should be good times and perhaps and little chilly too! Hope everyone is have a great time and doing lots of singing and dancing. Look forward to seeing or hearing from you soon!


Love Taes and Nick




Friday, October 26, 2007

Whooooopie! A farm experience like no other.

Last weekend, over 50 people from all over, traveled to a farm outside London Ontario to be a part of our “Whoopie” Music Video. What a time was had. In order for everything to work out many factors had to fall into place. First of all, the weather had to cooperate – being late October you take a big chance with an outdoor video shoot. However, as luck would have it, records were broken with temperatures hitting the 26 degree mark and sunny skies to boot. Then you have to have wonderful singers and dancers with lots of energy to perform the ultimate barn dance over and over again. Boy did we ever have that! Plus these dancers came dressed in some of the finest cowboy and cowgirl outfits I have ever seen.

It was an amazing experience and we thank all the families for coming out and being a part of it. We will let you know when "Whoopie" is officially released and you can see some of these dancers in action. Until then, here are a few pictures.


The one above is a different video...here is a clue, see if you can guess: he is juggling vegetables.....
Hope everyone is enjoying this fall weather and getting outdoors. We look forward to seeing you soon. Keep singing and dancing.
Bye for now and we will be bloggin it up shortly!

Love Taes and Nick

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

ROCKKKKIN BLOG!

H.E.L.L.O!

Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful Fall weather. I love the air at this time of year. We had an amazing Fall experience at one of the greatest farms in all of Canada. Outside of London Ontario is The O'Shea Farm. It was there under the random hot October sun we started filming pieces of our upcoming DVD including the Rockin Vegetable Video. In the perfect pumpkin patch with the perfect rockin vegetable band we set out for a long day of filming. Little did we know what we were getting into but man did we have fun. We will be giving as much of behind the scene footage we can. We are so excited about the final product. Here are a couple shots of the Rockin Vegetable shoot.





The next day things got interesting as Taes made her acting debut with a Horse! We shot this scene at Nick's parents farm. I'm not sure if this Horse realized acting was one of his horse skills but he was a trooper take after take... so was Taes.






Not sure who invited this other horse onto the set:)

Even Harry had some Star Moments on Camera

We have been busy designing and getting the new website up- we hope you like it and have had a chance to check everything out...there is so much that is new!

We are off to Belleville on Friday night for a benefit concert for Almost Home. Then to Kingston to perform at Homecoming for Queen's University and then Battersea's PumpkinFest (there might also be birthday cake for a certain member of Splash'N Boots who's name is not Nick).
If you are looking for a perfect family day away here is the link for the O'Shea farm...the filming location of both Rockin' Vegetable and Whoopie. There is tons to do there..so give yourself lots of time! http://www.osheasfarmfresh.com/

Have a great day and we hope to see you soon!

Bye bye!!!
Love,
Taes and Nick
Splash'N Boots

One more DVD Sneak Peak: Our other Rockin' Vegetables on camera! Check out our new Fun Zone for ideas about how to make your own Vegetable People....


























Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Falling into Season

Heeeeelllllllloooo Everyone,

So sorry for the lack of blog lately.... but let me catch you up. We have been busy performing and working on a bunch of new exciting projects.

First off: - travelling around Ontario performing. Wonderful places such as......... Kingston, Amherstview, Oshawa, Guelph and Ajax. Our latest stop was the Western Fair in London Ontario where we performed 27 shows over 9 days. Thanks to everyone singing and dancing with us. We were lucky enough to share the stage with our friends Craig the Juggler and Doo Doo theClown.

Secondly: We are excited to announce that we are just about to go into production of our first full length DVD. We will be putting clips on our website and behind the scenes photos on our blog so stay tuned for much much more.

We are now getting ready to head to the International Plowing Match this weekend, where Taes will be showcasing her new John Deere Tractor.... however I imagine we will stick to performing our 3 shows that day.

Also, we will start adding video blogs starting at the Plowing Match- so stay tuned for that as well... motion picture fun!

Seee you soon!
Love Taes and Nick

with our friend Kennedy after our show in Ajax!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Sask a car toon

What a time it was in Saskatoon on our last leg of our 7 week tour. It was a lot fun exploring the city and performing 18 shows at the Saskatoon Ex. Once again we were treated so well and met some incredible people. One thing we learned on this 50 day trip was that no matter where we are people are always so kind. So many people opened their doors to us while we were on the road- to all of you who we met thank you thank you.

While in Saskatoon it was really fun to watch the professional chuckwagon races... i think we have seen more horses on this tour than the average cowboy does in a year.

We also met the Doodlebops who were performing in Saskatoon as well. We ran into them in our hotel and had a nice chat with with them... after that they had to go get on the bus.



Silver Elvis was also saying at our hotel and we able to get a picture with him... Elvis lives



Quick Facts about this tour:

Total Distance Covered: Approx. 36,000 kms (

Flights: 12

Ferries: 2

Boats: 2

Bus: 1

Surf Boards: 2

Shows performed: 92

Kangaroos Spotted: 6


We are now back in Burlington for 2 days then off to Kingston and Amhertsview Ontario for shows... look for updates and pictures for those shows very soon. What a summer it has been... Talk to you soon!

Love Taes and Nick

This is our friend Anna from St. Peter School in Tecumseh. Great to meet you Anna- thanks for the picture!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Strathmore the Merrier

We have just finished performing in Strathmore Alberta's Heritage Days...it was like a breath of fresh country air. It was a wonderful event with everything you would look for outside big cities. For instance if you were looking for a festival with a professional rodeo..it could be found

Or maybe a ride on a motorcycle ...

Perhaps touching a 14 foot Python would be up your alley? no?



A ride on a monster truck?



Thanks to everyone for coming up and saying hello and singing with us- we met some great people. We have just flown into Saskatoon and are getting ready for the Saskatoon EX where will be performing 18 shows...we are now on week 7 of this tour and are on our last 6 days....wazoooooo Hope everyone is doing well and we run into you soon!
See y'all later..
Love Nick and Taes
Splash'N Boots

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Splash'N Island Adventures!!!!

It has been a week we will never forget. Our trip to Vancouver Island was a full surprises and adventures.

It started with drive down what used to an old logging road but now is the only route to the west coast of Vancouver Island. In our little blue rental car fully loaded with Splash'N Boots stuff we travelled down a very curvy, winding road through mountains and beautiful lakes, and finally to a fork in the road. Tofino is one way, and Ucluelet the other. We took a left to Ucluelet, where we were transported into the most perfect little ocean town.


We were greeted by a community Salmon BBQ by the sea. There were live bands playing, people dancing and corn being roasted . It was “Ukee Days’’, a three day annual festival celebrating this community and all its wonderful qualities.

The shows went really well - filled with dancers and singers of all ages. The community there was just incredible and filled with tons of town spirit; the festival grounds were always full, the stage was filled with many talented local bands and children as well as those from other parts of Canada.

During our 4 day visit we were presented with wonderful adventures that we will never forget.


Our first adventure: Surfing
With a brief lesson and surf boards in hand we headed to open ocean. Now I can’t say that either of us were naturals at it, but we did both stand up once before doing a face plant flat into the water. Who knew waves could be so strong. It was so fun. Harry the Parrot would have joined us but we could not find a wetsuit that would fit.



Next Adventure: Pacific Rim Trail
This was a hike we did along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous- Canada has some of the greatest coasts in the world..


Next adventure: Hot Springs Cove
This adventure involved a very wavy hour and a half boat ride to a very remote area of the Island where natural Hot Springs exist in their natural setting ( that's a lot of natural). After the boat landed we did a long hike through beautiful rain forest to the place where the springs were situated. Let me tell you they were not joking about hot- these were hotter then a hot tub…and much more fun. We spent the afternoon soaking in the water, and sitting under the waterfalls. It was perfect.

But to make the day even that much more perfect we had many surprises on our boat ride home. Our captain decided to forgo the calm way home and take us out to the open ocean where the huge waves are in the hopes of seeing whales. After a half an hour of waves that sent our small boat flying up and down and side to side (sometimes I might have felt slightly nervous…!!) We both happened to be looking at the same place at the same time and saw a 30 ton Humpback Whale jump straight up in the air and land with a huge splash right beside the boat! It was the most incredible experience. We have never seen anything like it. It was like the whale was putting on a show for us because minutes later he did it again, along with a few other tail splashes. It was unbelievable!

Then we pulled up along a small island and saw Steller Sea Lions basking in the sun….they are the biggest sea lions in the world and definitely the cutest. Taes felt like snuggling up with them on the rock.


What a day. The sun made its way down on the west coast and the next day we headed back to the airport.


Next Adventure: Cathedral Cove

We managed to fit in one last hike on the way to the airport. We stopped on the side of the road outside of Port Alberni and walked among the tallest trees in the world. It was awesome. It is really hard to describe just how big these trees were but it felt like we had been shrunk down to the size of ants.

Well we are now back in Calgary preparing for some shows then heading off to Strathmore Heritage Days where we will be preforming 9 shows over 3 days. Hope everyone is having a great summer.... its August!
Talk to you soon,

Love Taes and Nick

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Edmon Ton of Fun

HELLO!

Hope everyone has been enjoying July! We have just finished performing 11 shows at the Edmonton Capital Ex and now find ourselves in sunny Vancouver. We had such a great time singing and dancing in Edmonton and seeing so many people we met at the St. Albert International Children’s Festival. Thanks for coming back and saying hello!
One of the highlights of Edmonton was a new exhibit all about butterflies. Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we ventured in, only to find about 5000 butterflies flying around everywhere. It was unlike anything we have ever seen before. They seemed to like Taes right away.

While in Edmonton we also came across a statue of “The Great One”…he’s the one holding the Stanley Cup:)
We had some excitement after our last show. We had to high-tail it to our vehicle when we were greeted with a lovely thunderstorm that brought with it several rain, winds and Tornado warnings. It was our quickest exit from a festival ever… and our wettest! Here is the picture of the calm before the storm.

We are now writing to you from a little coffee shop in wonderful Vancouver. Tomorrow we are off to Vancouver Island and are very excited to see the very very west coast of Canada and perform in Ucluelet on Sunday.

Plenty of adventures await. Thanks again to all of you for coming out to our shows – you truly make what we do soo fun. Keep sending emails- we love reading them and writing back!

****Harry the Parrot is really hoping he can see a whale off Vancouver Island since he didn’t get a chance to see one in Australia... we’ll seee!

Talk to you soon!

Love Taes and Nick…. And Harry the Parrot

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Stampede of a Time

H.E.L.L.O!

What a time we had at this years Stampeeeeede. 35 shows in 10 days...yahoooo !!!! The most exciting part was seeing so many familiar faces from last year who came back to see us again. Some even wore their own Pirate Costumes!! It was also fantastic to meet so many new families.


Since we were at the Stampede we made sure we went to the Rodeo:




Not sure if riding a Bull for 8 seconds is for us but I guess for some people neither is wearing blue pants :)

We also got to meet some great people. We were fortunate enough to share the Grandstand Stage and hang out with wonderful Children's Musicians Judy and David. Also the best acapella group in the world the Heebee-Jeebees. In between shows we always caught our favourite country music stars the Rodeo Riders.


On our last day of the Stampede we were treated with a concert at the Saddledome by fellow Kingstonians (a little known group) called: The Tragically Hip!



It was amazing...what a show! However things got even more exciting since we got backstage-passes after the concert. Here we are with lead guitarist Rob Baker and Bassist Gordon Sinclair.



Thanks again to everyone who came out to our shows...you were amazing and we hope to see you again soon. We are now enjoying a day off and getting ready to head up to Edmonton for the Capital EX.


We'll talk to you soon! Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far!


Love Taes and Nick... and Harry the Parrot


Here's a picture sent to us with our great friend Ty at the Stampede:




Friday, July 6, 2007

The Outback to the Wild West...

Hello from the Calgary Staaaampede in Alberta, Canada....yesterday we would have been saying G’Day Mate!

After 4 Flights , 30 hours of straight travelling, and somehow two Thursdays in a row we are back in Canada safe and sound and very very sleepy!
... but what a tour

Here's what went down down-under...
From Toronto we flew over the Grand Canon stopped in L.A and continued over the large oh soo very large ocean that is the Pacific and arrived in Sydney Australia. Other then a slight miss-hap in Los Angeles involving us running full speed across the airport to catch our next flight we made it in one piece- with all of our luggage and only slightly jet-lagged.



We spent our first day in Sydney, Australia trying to see as much as we possibly could in 24 hours. We went on a ferry to Manly Island, and saw the famous Opera House. LALALALA!

The next morning we were back in the air again and off to Melbourne, Australia for the day. After a quick taste of Melbourne and all its great art , history and coffee we managed to get ourselves on a train and traveled 3 hours South to Warrnambool (our final destination!!)
here's downtown Melbourne:

Warrnambool is unlike any other place we have visited. It is right on the southern coast of Australia. Everywhere you look there is Ocean. The beaches are some of the most beautiful in the world. Our favorite beach was called "Logan's Beach", which is also a lookout for whales. Every year whales make their way to this area and have their calves. So with many other onlookers, we stood and watched. Although we did not see any directly, those with binoculars had 4 sightings while we there. Here is a picture of Logan’s Beach and lookout.

Our shows at the FUN 4 KIDS festival were fantastic. The Australian families welcomed our music and were singing and dancing along. The crowds were super. Although we must admit it was a bit intimidating performing right after and before international superstars: The Wiggles:


But we quickly made friends with Wags The Dog:

Taes asked Captain Feathersword if he knew the Last Pirate on Lake Ontario??:...

and we did the Romp Bomp A Stomp with Dorothy The Dinosaur. Nick even brought her a rose.

Then we hit the stage:

Everyone treated us so well. We were known as "The Canadians", and they all commented on OUR accents!!

While we were there our wonderful stage manager lent us her car to take for the afternoon… this may seem like a simple thing – however Australians tend to drive on the left side of the road. This was no easy challenge- especially while driving standard. (Taes was a hero).

So after we found the courage to keep on driving we made it to a place we heard about called Tower Hill, which is a actually a volcano which last erupted over 30 thousand years ago. .. it is considered dormant .. not extinct.. YIKES! When it did erupt all those years ago it made beautiful craters, lakes and mountains and is now a protected reserve. Now the rumour was that if we went, we MAY see Koala Bears, and although not likely …Kangaroos. The thought that if we might see any of these animals in the wild was worth the trip for us. Well were we in for a treat....

We headed along a nature path with our eyes scanning the trees for Koalas… and sure enough we found the sweetest little guy. Man oh man are they cute. We were able to get sooooo close to him. They are so round and fuzzy! Taes wanted to take it home with us. It was so incredible.

After that we were feeling pretty lucky with our two sightings, when all of a sudden we were face to face with TWO Kangaroos! After Taes almost passed out with excitement- we were able to take some pictures. They just looked at us and we just looked at them. This lasted for about 5 minutes then the just hopped away using those massive back legs. WOW. It’ll be a day we’ll never forget.
The next day after our shows we headed down the windy "Great Ocean Road" to see the 12 Apostles, which are a famous rock formation in Australia. They were created many many years ago by the erosion of the coastline. We made it just before sunset and were able to get some fantastic pictures.

After our last show we jumped back on the train to Melbourne, took 4 different planes, hit 5 major cities and 3 countries, and woke up this morning in the wild wild west that is Calgary during Stampede week.

Today we headed downtown and saw the famous Calgary Stampede Parade... there was even someone riding a BULL.. for fun!


After that we headed down to the Stampede grounds and performed three shows.... only 33 to go, over the next 10 days....
We love the Stampede and are very happy to be performing again at it this year.

Most of all we love all of you who come to our shows, and bring us to your cities and countries. We feel so fortunate to have a job that enables us to see so much of the world and meet so many new people.

We hope you are all having an amazing summer so far and we can see you soon.

YAHOO (that's what everybody says during Stampede!)


Love Taes and Nick

Splash'N Boots