New England Trip, Day 7--New York City, New York

Wednesday, April 25 we left Allen's and headed to New York City.

We wanted to stay in a good location, but we didn't want to pay a lot for it.  

So, the result was a YMCA.  

New England Trip, Day 6--Rhode Island

Wednesday, April 25 we got to another new state for all of us--Rhode Island!

New England Trip, Day 5--Connecticut

On Tuesday, April 24, we were in Connecticut!

New England Trip, Day 4--Walden Pond, Massachusetts

Because of the season, many of the tourist places weren't open as late.  So while eating pizza we had to decide whether or not to go to the Boston Tea Party Ship or drive out to see Lexington and Concord.  Because of the time of day, we decided it would be best to stay in Boston and just have to miss out on those other small sites.  So then later when we were driving out of Boston, I remembered seeing that Walden Pond was close by.  I remembered learning about Henry David Thoreau in my English class by Mr. Walker.  He said that if we were ever in that part of the country, we should visit.  So in honor of Mr. Walker, we stopped at Walden Pond.

New England Trip, Day 4--Boston, Massachusetts

Monday, April 23, we spent the day in Boston, Massachusetts.

We started the day with a walking tour of the city on the Freedom Trail.

New England Trip, Day 3--Plymouth, Massachusetts

Some surprising advice we received from the locals was that it wasn't really worth our time to go to Plymouth.  One sister said she had never taken her family or friends who came to visit, but they always wanted to go to Salem.  We however, had watched a show that highlighted the sites in that city.  We were fascinated with it and couldn't wait to see the things that he had.  We respectfully thanked the sister for her advice, but we went anyway!

The first thing we wanted to see was the National Monument to the Forefathers.  

New England Trip, Day 3--Bunker Hill, Massachusetts

After our walking tour of Salem, we headed down to Boston to the monument at Bunker Hill.

New England Trip, Day 3--Salem, Massachusetts

After our lobster meal in Maine, we continued driving, getting into Massachusetts.

(I've been there before, but the rest of my family hasn't, so it was new states for them.)

Oh, and sorry for the bad picture...sometimes the state signs are big, sometimes they are small.  Sometimes they come right at the border and other times they are into the state a bit...and if we cross at night, it can be difficult to get a clear picture.

New England Trip, Day 2--Maine

 We may sound a bit crazy for doing a trip like this, but with our being in Toronto, we are much closer to these states than if we were back in the West.  Originally we had a few places on our list, but with these states being so small and close, it felt hard to not drive another hour or so to get to a new one.  So, still on Friday the 20th of April, we continued on from Concord, NH into Maine.  Our main--haha--objective was to see a lighthouse and to eat lobster.  

New England Trip, Day 2--New Hampshire

After our visits in Vermont, we drove a short distance to another new state--New Hampshire!

New England Trip, Day 2--Vermont

Friday night we drove through Canada and stayed the night in Vermont.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, this is a new state for us!  

New England Trip, Day 1--Canada

Friday, April 20, we set out from Toronto for a trip into the north eastern United States.  We wanted to take advantage of how close we were to these states and to the church history sites.  

(This was just a funny sculpture we saw on our way out of the city...)

April Fun

Our April seemed to go pretty quickly.  It was filled with lots of fun and tourist-y things.  We also had fun at the apartment.  Our absolutely WONDERFUL friend from church, Cecelia, came to dinner again.  We got a picture this time!

Niagara Falls, Canada

Friday, April 13, I had another doctor's appointment in Niagara Falls, USA.  We didn't see the falls on our previous trip because it had been too snowy and foggy.  And even though it was cloudy we decided to see what we could see from the Canadian side of the falls.

Ripley's Aquarium Canada, Dinner and Good-Bye

On Friday, April 6, we met our friends at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada.  Both Paul and Raul were able to get off work early to come enjoy it with us.  That was fun!

Thursday with the Gonzales Family

On Thursday, April 5 we decided to have a more casual and easy day.  We walked the few blocks to where the Gonzales, the family from Spain, was staying.  Ana prepared some spaghetti bolognese to share with us and we brought over some Jell-O with Cool Whip and raspberries.  We both wanted to share foods that were common in our cultures.

And we just enjoyed being together, out of the cold--because it was still cold.  The kids had fun playing with toys and tablets, while Ana and I enjoyed talking together.

Ontario Science Centre

We had a day of rest before we headed out with our Spain friends to do more things on the Toronto CityPass.  (The CityPass gave us tickets to the CN Tower, Casa Loma, the ROM, the Aquarium and the Science Centre.)  On Wednesday, April 4, we met up with Ana, Isaac and Andrea to go to the science centre together.  It was quite a journey out to the centre, taking us over an hour to get there by transit.  We rode the subway line, then had to transfer to a bus and then had to walk the rest of the way.  There was probably a better way, but that's what I found on Google Maps. 

Anyway, it wouldn't have been so bad, except the wind was really strong and really cold.  We were getting blown over and having our breath taken away because the wind would hit us so strong.  We were so glad when we finally arrived and could be inside for several hours.

Cheryl's Visit, Day 6--Bata Shoe Museum

On Monday, April 2 Paul headed to work while Cheryl, Glenn and I went to the Bata Shoe Museum.  We had a free pass there from the library and it sounded like an interesting place to go.  It wasn't very large, but it was filled with unique and interesting shoes and facts about footwear.  We enjoyed it a lot and would probably go again!

Cheryl's Visit, Day 5--Easter

Happy Easter!

As we had Easter with Cheryl we realized that she had been with us 5 years ago for Easter when we were in Spain!  This time we were in Canada.  So we jokingly wondered in what country we would be in another 5 years for her to come visit us.  That would be pretty funny if it happened again.

Cheryl's Visit, Day 4--Casa Loma

Saturday morning we headed to Casa Loma.  I realized when we got there that I forgot my phone at home.  :(  So I couldn't take pictures like I usually do at these places.  I used Paul's for a few pictures before it died, but they are sort of blurry and not very good.  (It is at the end of it's life and doesn't keep it's charge very long...)  So unfortunately I don't have many pictures of this amazing building in Toronto, but if you want to see what it looks like, then you should look it up on the internet.  It's really a gorgeous home!

This first picture is from the website--it didn't look this beautiful and green when we went, but it gives you a great idea of what it looks like.

Cheryl's Visit, Day 3--The CN Tower

Friday March 30, we were on our way to Casa Loma, but since it was clear weather, we changed our plans and went to the CN Tower instead.  It had been rainy and cloudy the days before, so since it was clear we didn't want to miss our chance of having a good view from the top.

Cheryl's Visit, Day 2--the ROM

On Thursday March 29, we headed to the Royal Ontario Museum, or the ROM.  

Cheryl came to visit! Day 1--Exploring

Paul's sister Cheryl came to visit us here in Toronto at end of March/beginning of April.  The first night we didn't go anywhere or do anything special--just had dinner and hung out.  The next day we all walked with Paul to his work building.  He heard about a little concert that would be happening in the PATH connection under his building.  

Another Warm(ish) Day in Toronto...Finally!

Monday, March 25 we met our new friends at Cafe Crepe before heading to Grange Park (about a 10-minute walk northwest of our apartment).  It was a sunny and somewhat warm day so we took advantage of it by going to the park.  The kids were beyond happy to be able to play at the park.  And we were happy to share a yummy restaurant that we had found.

Park and Dinner with Friends

We met other friends at church--the Hall family--and had been invited to their house for dinner and playing.  We decided to meet in the late afternoon so we could get several hours of play before it got late.  Since the sun was shining and it was somewhat warm, we played at the park for a little while.

{Somewhat warm meaning the temperature was in the upper 30's, maybe low 40's.  Haha! We still had to bundle up though!}

We all enjoyed the sunshine and the kids especially loved being at the park.  Sarah liked the little lady bug, the swing, slides and sand.  Glenn enjoyed the slides and also playing football and freeze tag {how appropriate} with the other boys and the dads.

Lost Tooth

On Friday, March 23rd Glenn had been sitting on the couch wiggling a tooth.  The next thing we knew, he had pulled it out!  It's been awhile since he's lost one, so it was pretty exciting!

New Spanish Friends

On Friday, March 23rd, we met one of Paul's coworkers and his family.  They were visiting from Spain for a couple of weeks for the Easter holiday.  Paul and I had previously talked about meeting for the noon time recital at St. Andrew's and when Paul mentioned it to Raul, he said that he and his family would like to join us.  So we got to meet Raul, Ana, Isaac and Andrea at the church just before the recital started. 

Afterwards, we talked and decided we wanted to go to lunch together.  We tried one place, but it wasn't open for lunch.  And another place was pretty crowded, so Paul and Raul picked up some food from there while the rest of us went back to our apartment and waited for them.  We figured it would be a lot easier to eat at home with the kids.  They brought home some yummy Thai food from Pai.  

March 15-31

The last half of March was filled with several fun things.  We had a visit from Aunt Cheryl and we spent a lot of time with our new friends from Spain.  Before they came however, we did some fun things on our own and of course here at home.  The weather was still cold, snowy sometimes and rainy on other days.  It's definitely still winter in Canada this time of year!  One time when we were out walking we noticed a sign that said, "Glenn."  We of course had to take a picture!  This is the Glenn Gould Studio, named for a classical pianist of the 20th century.  

Visiting our Indian Friends

Remember we met an Indian family in our apartment building only to have them move out that same weekend?  Well, thankfully, they didn't move far.  And once they were settled and during March Break (March 12-16), we got together with them at their new place.  

We shared some Indian food at their apartment and enjoyed the views--they live on the 46th floor!  Then we went down and to the next building which was a giant rec center.  It is available for all the residents of their building.  It had a two-lane bowling alley, a TV/game lounge, an indoor swimming pool, a basketball court, an indoor running track and exercise area.  It also had a playroom/toy area for the kids.  It was perfect for a cold, snowy day.

March 5-8

We've now been here in Toronto over a month.  It's still cold and has snowed off and on several times during these weeks--and will most likely continue for a few more.  We've ventured out to the library weekly and have done some kind of tourist-type thing on Saturdays.  And we've also just enjoyed being inside with the warmth and watching the snow from our windows.

The Toronto Public Library system has 100 branches! Woah!!  The one that is closest to us is in the bottom of the tall City Hall building.  In the square just outside City Hall is an outdoor ice skating rink with large, lighted letters spelling Toronto.  So we get to see them every time we go to the library.  We usually spend time climbing on the large mound of snow/ice that is also in this area because we aren't from here and the kids are really interested in the snow. :D

Toronto's PATH and Aussie Meat Pies

Toronto has an underground shopping area with entrances all over the downtown area.  One day in which it was particularly cold but we wanted to get out and stretch our legs, we decided to go explore the PATH.  According to the Toronto PATH website, "The PATH has over 30 kilometres worth of shopping, services and entertainment. According to the Guinness World Records, it’s the largest underground shopping complex in the world."

Sugar Bush Maple Festival

On March 10th, we drove out to Bruce's Mill Conservation Area for a Sugar Bush Maple Festival.  

Baby is a ......???

Friday, March 9 we headed south across the border to New York.  Our health insurance doesn't work here in Canada so we have to go to the USA to visit a doctor.  On March 8 I hit 20 weeks, so this visit was to not only make sure things are still going well, but also to have the ultrasound!

I'm not very good at the selfie shots, but this shows my little belly.  

(And Sarah being silly!)

Everything looked good in the ultrasound--measurements were spot on as well as the heart beat.  It's always so wonderful to hear!  

We didn't think of anything clever to announce the gender, but we thought of this:

We are looking forward to Baby #3 later this year!  (And hopefully not in Canada, for those wondering...)  ;)

Mackenzie House Museum and Burrito Boyz

Saturday, March 3rd, we went to the Mackenzie House Museum.

Groceries!!

Even though we have a grocery store close by, it is pretty small and quite expensive actually.  So we were looking at trying out other grocery stores nearby or online.  We heard from others that the other stores, while having a bigger selection, are still expensive and harder to get to and from, especially with bags full of food.  We tried out the Wal-mart.com website but was declined because we had an American billing address for our credit card.  So we tried again, this time we put in our Canadian address because we changed the billing address.  It was declined again.  We figured they wanted a Canadian-issued credit card.  That we don't have.  And we don't want to get one just so we can get groceries from Wal-mart.

So we had to find something else.  Thankfully Paul found one that delivers Costco food to downtown apartments.  You don't have to have a Costco membership and they can deliver the same day if you get the order in before noon!  

We gave that a try, but I was just waiting for an email that said we were declined.  So I was definitely happy and surprised when I got a knock on the door that evening from the delivery guy!

He brought in so much food--because I ordered so much food! 😉

Ice Fest 2018

On Saturday, February 24th we went to an ice festival in downtown Toronto.  The theme this year was "Winter Hath Come".  

New Indian Friends

On Friday afternoon (Feb. 23), after coming home from the noontime concert we heard kid voices out in the hallway of our apartment building.  The kids were really excited and ran to the door to see who it was.  They've been missing their friends so hearing kid voices was a welcome and exciting thing.

We went out to meet who was out there.  Next door to us were some families from India, one with a boy a year younger than Glenn and a little girl around Sarah's age.  Wow!  Perfect!

So we introduced ourselves and got talking with them.  The little girls wanted to show their stuffed animals and dolls and the boys wanted to run around the halls.  It was great to have someone for the kids to play with and for me to have someone to talk with.  

We found out that the boy's birthday was on Sunday but they were having a party to celebrate on Saturday.  They invited us to come.  So we went!

Noontime Concerts

While walking to work, Paul noticed that this church was advertising free noontime concerts on Fridays.  He mentioned it to us and asked if we wanted to meet him sometimes.  Sure!  This church, called St. Andrew's, is just down the street from our apartment.  I love the outside!  It's beautiful!