Day 34

 Dear Gilles, 

Today the boys spent the afternoon with their uncle and cousins at ACTIVATE. 

Activate

Both enjoyed themselves and had a lot of fun. Patric is asking to go back and has done the research for other Activate locations across Canada. 

I spent the evening starting the final stage of finishing my quilt. It's off the frame and I'm hand stitching the binding while watching White Lotus and the Handmaid's Tale in alternating time slots. 

Day 33: ALL the governments

 Dear Gilles, 

Today we took the TTC to Queen's Park to visit the Ontario Legislature. The weather was threatening rain and it was windy. We took a walk around to look at statues of persons unknown to us and generally admire the old building. 

The current lieutenant governor, Ontario is Edith Dumont, was expected for the Throne Speech that day, so there was extra activity and an air of excitement all around. 

Public tours are offered every half hour. We made it through security and had 25 minutes until the next tour. We spent our time at the gift shop and purchased pins for the collections. 

Our tour included us and a couple from Ireland. The tour guide gives 6 tours a day, 5 days a week and talked really really fast - so it was sometimes hard to listen and process what he was saying. 

After the tour, we walked over to Toronto City Hall to meet up with my sister. She works for the City, so she was able to give us a fun tour, inside the big dome of the council chambers, up to one of the top floors for a view and we got pins. 

I was also able to sort out Toronto street parking for longer than a week at a time. 

Then, we headed across the street to the Sheraton Hotel and I VOTED. 

So through the day - we visited Municipal, Provincial and Federal activities. 

 

Day 32

Dear Gilles, 

It was a quiet day today. 

Luc was busy with his his car cleaning and detailing service for his Aunt&Uncle. He spent most of the day removing salt stains in the upholstery and generally making the car 'new again'. 

Then we headed over to Face to Face Games so he could spend his money on Magic cards and play with the crowd that shows up there. It's free to play; unlike Williams Lake which often charges persons to play. I'm sure if the library offered it for free, there would be people that would show up - similar to chess club. 

I was happy to hear about little chick hatching at home. Is there just one?  I had to hear about it through Luc's texts rather than my own. <nudge nudge> Hope all the rest of the animal crew are doing well. 

Day 31: Toronto biking

Dear Gilles, 

Today we tested out the bikes on a short ride down the bike path I used frequently as a teen. There were 7 of us out. Brother and his kiddos joined us. 

It was Sunday afternoon, and everyone and their dog were out for a walk. 

Our bikes work. We had no problems and as the weather gets nicer, we'll use them more. I'm still waiting for bike helmets to ship from Mountain Equipment Co Op. I ordered them a week ago, along with bike locks - and they're still not saying they've shipped. We need them NOW. 

At one point, 5 kidlets were racing down a side street - all in a row. I was 6 houses behind them.  It reminded me of the movie Goonies. Out in search of adventure.  I fumbled to get my phone out of my pocket for a photo - but the moment passed. 

Day 30

 Dear Gilles, 

THIRTY DAYS away from home so far. WOW. 

We're not quite in the travel groove yet - but we're getting there. 

I took Mom up to Newmarket for a Finnish Bakery. Viking  She was able to get all of her Easter goodies. It was an hour's drive to get there - and we finished a few other errands in the same area before headed back to the house at 1:30. 

Then we were invited to Zed*80 as a birthday treat for kiddos. Classic Mario for Patric, Pinball games for me and random explorations for Luc. $10 got you all you can play games - no quarters - no stress. The Saturday afternoon was crowded, but there were enough games that you could always find something to play. We spent an easy three hours. Then walked back to the house (4km) while it was still daylight. 

The evening was spent watching "Ticket to Paradise" 2022, with Julia Roberts and George Clooney.  IMDb 6.3. You don't need to watch it.  

Day 29

 ZERO DAY 

Day 28: Parry Sound

 Dear Gilles, 

We left your folk's place at 9:30 and stopped off in Alban for kolbassa and cheese curds. The cheese curds were placed at the cash register as impulse items. 

Then we headed south via Hwy 69. 

We passed the big sign saying the highway was closed. I should have believed it and back tracked to Hwy 11. 

We were stuck for 90+ minutes before we reached the accident scene at Brit. There were pockets of vehicles, including transports getting through - so I figured they were at single lane alternating. BUT it was 15 vehicles at a time - super slow. At least Hwy 97 in BC has figured it out and lets through big chunks of vehicles around an accident scene. 

Once we were through, we hopped down to Parry Sound City Hall. They came through with a Parry Sound pin. Tail gate lunch on the waterfront. 

It started snowing as we got closer to Barrie. We abandoned the visit to LegoLand in Vaughn as it was getting late and we were headed in to rush hour. I was worried about my broken windshield wiper with the wet snow - so we did take a bathroom break at Canadian Tire and picked up a spare. 

After sitting in the truck all day - I opted to take the 407 toll highway ($20 bill coming our way to home address). It saved time across the top of the city, but we lost it all with volume going south. 

Back to mom's in the evening and out of the truck for a day.