Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas

The girls sang with the school choir at this week's Christmas concert.

Another Swim Meet

Burlington, ON
Nov. 12-13

100 fr
Alia 2:01.33
Kyra 2:25.91

50 br
Alia ? (oops sorry Alia)
Kyra 1:26

100 bk
Alia 2:17.45
Kyra 2:41.7

1st Swim Meet of the Year!

Alia
100 FR 2:02.69
50 BR 1:18.18
50 BA 1:02.12
100 BA 2:13.52
50 FR 1:01.44

Kyra
50 BR 1:49.19
50 BK 1:17.80
50 FR 1:06.20

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joyeuse Action de Grâces!

Merci pour l'eau.
Merci pour les personnes.
Merci pour l'air.
Merci pour la nature.
Merci pour notre terre.
Merci pour la nourriture.


(écrit par Kyra)

L'auteure Kyra

Voici l'histoire que Kyra a décidé d'écrire la première semaine d'école quand elle n'avait pas encore des devoirs. Elle a partagé son histoire avec sa classe pendant sa journée de 'montre et racontre'.

DANS LA FÔRET

écrit par Kyra

(septembre 2011)

Il était une fois un petit loup était perdu dans la forêt, et qui ne s’avait pas où il était. Après quelque minute, le petit loup à vu un troupeau d'orignaux, et il à demander à un petit orignal, et le petit orignal à dit « Le chemin ses de passer un tunnel, et de monter la montagne de roche, et au bout de la montagne il y à l'arbre de loup." Et le petit loup a dit "Merci." Alors le petit orignal est parti avec sa maman, et le petit loup est parti à la recherche de l'arbre de loup. Le petit loup a vu trois petits tunnels, et il se demandait quel tunnel prendre. Il avait prie le tunnel du milieu, et il avait traverser le bon tunnel. Après qu'il et passer le tunnel, il à vu la grande montagne de roche. Alors le petit loup à commencer à grimper la grande montagne de roche. Et le petit loup na pas abandonner. Le petit loup a réussi à monter la grande montagne de roche. Et il à enfin trouver sa mère.

FIN!

Alia's highlights from France

These days seem to go by so quickly. Going back to work full-time takes a lot of energy and a lot of juggling. I am attempting to delegate some of the family blogging duties to Alia and Kyra. Maybe this way we have a chance to keep family and friends up to date!!


Here is a little clip from Alia and her thoughts on our recent trip to France. Enjoy!

This Week! (or Too Tired to Come Up With a Better Title!!!)

Today was day 6 of the school year! Rebuilding a classroom from the ground up is a lot of work! Thank goodness I am working with some fabulous teachers that are willing to share their wonderful ideas. I hope I can repay the favour in the future.

We enjoyed a lovely lasagna casserole for supper last night and lunch today. Eric made it on the weekend for us to eat Monday-Tuesday and also made enough to freeze for those 'crazy' nights! Je t'aime mon amour! It was delicious.

We are falling into a routine at home. Last night, the girls and I picked up around the house (with the hopes that doing a little bit all the time will avoid the tornado-look at the end of the week!!)

The girls are happy in school. Alia and Kyra were chosen to be in the school choir this year! They are both excited and now are busy during lunch hours for practices. Picking them up at daycare after school is going well. I am hoping I can keep better up to date with the happenings at the school. I am hoping to pick them up a little earlier than I have been. What a difference 20 minutes can make on the traffic!! (Construction on the main street near our house and down towards the school doesn't help!!)

Now I should be preparing my plan for tomorrow and the rest of the week. It seems that I can't seem to pull ahead more than a couple of days in my planning. Hopefully, things will start running a bit smoother soon!

Now back to work.

Good Night all!

The First Week of School!

Today is Friday! The first week of school has come to an end and we are still standing!

The girls are very happy with their teachers. Alia has the same teacher as last year and is once again in a split class. Kyra is also in a split class with a new teacher whom we have not met. Both girls are in the younger group of the split, which I think is a better spot to be in.

I went back to teaching full-time. I have 20 1st and 2nd graders (I guess this is the year for split classes!!). Even though teaching is not new to me, it has been a bit overwhelming to think of the amount of work ahead of me. I am very grateful to my teaching partners for their support and wisdom. This is the first time I am teaching French Immersion and to such a young crowd! I know it will be a lot of work but I am so looking forward to the upcoming year.

Eric's work plans changed this week at the last minute which allowed him to work from home. We were blessed with lunches, hot suppers, clean clothes and new office furniture. Un super gros merci à mon amour!!

Time to enjoy the weekend! And prepare for the shock of Monday morning! ;)

Au Marché!

cheeses at Atwater Market

While we were in France, we reconnected with the joys of shopping at local markets, choosing our menu based on what the farmers had to offer that day. Some of the foods we loved to eat in France were the cheeses, the salaisons, the wine (of course), the baguettes and croissants. Even the butter tastes better! The girls discovered 'les sirops à l'eau'. 

Upon our return home, I wanted to continue to live the 'market' experience. I have to admit that I love walking through local markets, taking in the sights and wonderful smells, buying a treat or two to take home and add to our evening meal. We rediscovered a couple of local markets here in Toronto. The girls and I went to the North York Farmers' Market (Thursdays at Mel Lastman Square on Yonge Street). We also visited Reesor's Farmers Market in Markham on our way home from a morning of mini-golf at Timbercreek (Stouffville). 

These were wonderful markets to find fresh produce and local products (I stocked up on honey! Yumm!). But it is very hard (maybe impossible) to find the salaisons/sausissons or cheeses 'au lait cru' here. We also were on the hunt for the syrups the girls liked to add to water for special drinks. In France, there is a brand of syrups called Teisseire. We found them in the grocery stores while on vacation but did not have any luck here in Toronto. However, in doing some research online, I found a store in Montreal that was rumoured to carry these fruity syrups.

Hanging out at Atwater Market!

On  recent trip to Montreal, we went to Atwater Market one morning. JACKPOT! We walked in and the first kiosk we crossed was a sausage and salaisons vendor from les Iles de la Madeleine! We bought a piece for our 'apéro'! We walked a little further and found the store with Teisseire lining its store front window!

salaison - Check!

Teisseire - Check!!

J'ai mon sirop citron-vert!

We also ended up buying an early anniversary/birthday present in the form of a cheese friller. We also bought a 'tête de moine' cheese, something we also discovered in France. We must admit that it doesn't taste the same as the one we ate in France. I think something happens to these cheeses when they are shipped over the Atlantic!!

On our way out of the market, we walked passed the crêpe kiosk. And yes, he was making them on the flat round griddles like the ones in Paris! Cool. 

P.S. We enjoyed our treasures that evening during 'apéro' but of course we also had to stop at Lafleur's at lunchtime for a poutine!

"Crêpe au sarrasin anyone? Maybe a crêpe au Nutella?"

J'attends ma poutine! J'ai faim!

Bon Appétit!

We love markets!

L'apéro

Family Trip to France - Day 1

Days fly by and we wonder where the time went. I can't believe it is September already! Where did the summer go? I am hoping to recap some of our summer adventures, mixed in with some back-to-school events, in hopes of catching up by Thanksgiving. (There. I've put this goal in writing. I am sure some of you will be after me to keep my word. I will try my very best! This fall is looking to be very busy but I am going to attempt to do so.)

Our family had the opportunity to travel this summer to France. We had a wonderful time! It was the girls' first trip to Europe and their first time on such a long flight. We left our travel plans flexible so that we would have the opportunity to 'go with the flow'. We did book our hotel rooms in Paris for our first couple of days, our car rental and the hotel room at the airport the night before our flight home.  We also planned to spend some time with our friends outside of Grenoble. The rest we left open to adventure and discovery!

We arrived in Paris on Friday morning. We found our way through the busy terminal (To say that CDG is a crazy-busy place is an understatement!!!!), bought our train tickets and metro passes and boarded the train for downtown Paris! We bought our tickets at the airport tourist kiosk. It saved us time by not having to line up for tickets at the train and metro stations. The lady who served us was very helpful in giving us clear directions to our hotel so we didn’t get lost!

Hotels in Paris and France in general are smaller than North American standards. Most hotel rooms only sleep 1-2 people, which meant we needed two rooms. Some hotels have 'family suites' but they are rare. Fortunately our 2 rooms were on the same floor but sadly not connecting nor that close to each other! Eric ended up sharing a room with Kyra and Alia shared a room with me!  At the end of the hall next to the elevators was a bank of windows. We were able to see the Eiffel tower, the dome of les Invalides and Sacre-Coeur way off in the distance.

Since our first day was going to be a long day, with the flight, a 'night's' sleep on the airplane, plus the time change, we did not plan to do much the first day. We did take a walk to Champs de Mars and the Eiffel tower, which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel! Pretty cool.  Paris was pretty busy with the Tour de france arriving on the Sunday! We found a playground near the base of the Eiffel tower and the girls burned off some energy on the parisian jungle gym while the parents relaxed on the park bench and soaked in the atmosphere!

We had our first Nutella crepe and waited out the rain under the shelter at the park. After the rain we took a walk back to the hotel, found some dinner and went to bed early.

On retrace les pas d'Amélie à Paris!

One of my favourite movies is Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulin (released in English under the title Amélie). It was the movie Eric and I saw on our visit to France in 2001. At the time we were looking for something to do and stumbled across a movie theatre not far from Montparnasse. We asked the person in the ticket booth for a recommendation on the movies showing. This was when we first met Amélie. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, it is a must rent/download. Whatever you do, just see it.

On our recent trip to Paris with the girls, I started to get some ‘Amélie’ flashbacks! During our daily walks, I started snapping photos from the different locations I remember from the film.

On the steps of Sacre-Coeur

Sacre-Coeur and the carousel at the bottom of the funiculaire. The girls got to ride on the carousel after our visit to Sacre-Coeur one Sunday morning. We also stopped to admire the busker ‘statues’ on the steps of Sacre-Coeur.

Making our way back down the hill towards the metro, we walked by several tourist shops and boutiques. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and there were lots of people out and about. 

(On a side note, this particular Sunday was the final day of the Tour de France. We had weighed the possibility of making our way to les Champs-d'Élysées to watch the end of the race. However, we quickly (and wisely) decided to avoid the area.)

La carousel à Sacre-Coeur (Montmartre)

Canal Saint-Martin

Canal Saint-Martin. In the movie, Amélie is skipping stones on the canal. She obviously got special permission to be on the locks (for filming purposes) because one is really not allowed to cross the canal other than on the footbridges (and not on the locks like Amélie). We had a nice Sunday afternoon walk down the canal. One thing that is very different in France is that stores do close – daily around lunch hour. Many stores are closed on Sundays and quite a few close for the month of August for holidays. For us, this meant a limit to the shopping we could do – a good thing for the pocketbook! We did stop to watch the tour boats go through the locks.

Canal Saint-Martin

Amélie travels to Blois

On our last morning in Blois (Loir-et-Cher), we stopped to have our morning café crème outside the local bar-tabagie-café near the hotel. As I waited for Kyra, who was using the WC, I happened to look up and take in the whole scene from inside the shop. The two ladies were behind the counter. One was drying some coffee cups and putting them away next to the espresso machine. The other was closer to the door at the cash register, with her display of cigarettes behind her! Even though it was not even in Paris, it was still quite funny to get an Amélie movie flash!

Je veux jouer au parc!

Maman, le parc est juste là!

We were blessed with the opportunity to travel as a family to France this summer. We had several activities on our 'must do' list, a few hotel reservations made, a car rental booked and plans to visit friends while we were in France. Other than that, we left everything else up to the adventure. We figured it was a good time to go: the girls are now old enough to remember a trip like this, they are open to trying new foods and they have the stamina to walk and visit the sites.

We were also reminded (in a good way) that the girls are still young enough to want to play and have fun every day. In the hustle and bustle of being a tourist, it is just as important to enjoy the moment and be a kid. I have to admit that the times relaxing on a park bench, sharing a Nutella crêpe and watching the girls play in the playground near the Eiffel tower are just as memorable (and more meaningful) as our visits to the châteaux, monuments and museums.

Sourire!

Regarde moi!

Escalade

Plusieurs semaines avant son anniversaire, Kyra nous a dit que pour sa fête, elle désirait aller faire de l’escalade. Et bien, le 30 avril nous sommes allés faire de l’escalade en famille.

La montée

La grande soeur participe

Birthday Traditions

Bonne Fête Alia! Bonne Fête Kyra!

The long weekend is coming to a close and the fireworks are going off in the local park. There are some large ones going off in a nearby park and I can see some of our street neighbours setting some off too (well at least I can see the reflection of them in the neighbour's window). Seems that's what people do here: Buy fireworks at Walmart and then set them off in the street or park!

We spent the holiday weekend in Montreal, celebrating with friends and family. We had perfect weather for the outside party on Saturday. The drive is long but definitely worth it! Eric had to drive back to Quebec City so the girls and I made our way back today. Hats off to Alia and Kyra. They travel so well. Merci les filles!

Tomorrow is Kyra's 7th birthday. 7 years ago tonight, the Szollosy's, Eric, Alia and I enjoyed a visit to Dairy Queen, only hours before heading to the hospital to welcome Kyra into the world! It's a fun tradition that we try to keep every year. So tonight, the girls each had a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate and I had a mint oreo blizzard. I probably should have had the brownie explosion to truly recreate the moment, but that was too much chocolate and ice cream for me to eat by myself!! (7 years ago I had help!!!!)

Happy Mother's Day

I have been blessed with a sunny day to pull weeds in the garden and watch the girls play outside, enjoy an tranquil coffee this morning and a relaxing 'happy hour' this afternoon.

I have been blessed with flowers and gifts and lots of hugs and kisses.

Happy Mother's Day.

New Discoveries!

On March 11, 2011, Eric and I took the girls to see KODO play at the Sony Centre downtown. Sadly, it was also the day of the massive earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster. A moment of silence was observed just before the concert.

Our view at the KODO concert

Before the concert we went for supper at a japanese restaurant. We had some time to spare so we walked through the gift shop of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Alia wanted to buy something with the Oilers logo on it and I said should couldn't buy anything other than items with a Montreal Canadiens logo. (joking) Realizing that the store was closing, we hurried out of the store (not buying anything of course). We thought we were in an ordinary office building/shopping centre. Little did we know what waited around the corner. Just goes to show us that you never know what you may discover when you turn the corner...

Old facade of building - outside yet inside!!

whoa!

HOP

Yesterday afternoon was raining and cloudy. Eric and I decided to take the girls to see HOP. We don't go very often because it is a pretty pricy family outing. The girls were excited when we told them what we were planning.

Thank goodness we arrived early at the theatre! Two birthday parties and many other families with the same idea as ours (rainy Sunday afternoon = movie theatre). The theatre was packed. We were one of early ones in so we had our choice of seats (gave ourselves a good distance from birthday party row!)

The movie was cute. I liked the candy factory on Easter Island! The girls liked the dancing chicks and the Pink Berets! Eric and I got a chuckle at how a movie can identify the ages of people in attendance. When David Hasselhoff tells E.B. that he is not surprised to see a talking rabbit because his best friend is a talking car, you can hear the Knight Rider generation chuckle spread through the theatre and sense kids staring at their parents with a look of confusion in their eyes.

Overall, it was a cute movie. BTW, it always pays to stay until the end of the credits. 95% of the movie theatre goers missed the last punch line of the movie!

It's Spring!

Spring has returned. The calendar might have it marked as a day back in March, but I think yesterday was the real start of spring. Signs include:

• Spending the majority of day outside cleaning out the dead leaves and branches from the garden.
• Coming home from Canadian Tire with a trunk load of supplies.
• Filling bike tires up for the kids.
• Replacing rusty/broken parts on the bbq and had a nice chicken bbq supper.
• Trimming back overgrown branches in hopes that things will grow this summer.
• Working outside with no jacket.

and of course...

• Hearing the ice cream truck drive by our house!!

Nikkei Kids Day 2011

The Monday of March Break, the girls and I participated in the Nikkei Kids day at the JCCC (Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre). They organized a series of activities for kids. There were origami and odori stations and info tables from different prefectures (areas) of Japan. We met some members of the Shiga-ken club, which is our family's home prefecture in Japan. The girls and I were also helping out at the taiko station. Kids would visit our station to learn about taiko and try playing the miya and kodaiko.

Yonsei and Gosei banners in the entrance hall of JCCC.

Alia, Kyra and Kai (another Yakudo jr. member) had a chance to visit all the stations and collect stamps in their 'passports'. After all the stamps were collected, the kids could claim their prize and snack.

They learned odori. "Dig to the right. Dig to the left. Over the shoulder. Over the shoulder. Wipe your brow. Wipe your brow. Push your cart. Push your cart. Empty your cart. Clap. Clap." (If I knew which song this was, I would tell you. But I don't but I will try to find out!)

Flash Mob for Japan!

Yesterday evening we tried out a new family outing - participating in a flashmob! Yakudo members organized several practices this past week and on Friday, we all met at the Eaton Centre, centre court, to perform our dance for Japan.

One of our Yakudo members choreographed the dance, along with the taiko rhythm and fue part. I had the pleasure to play the fue part. Alia learned the dance and Kyra kept me company. Due to heavy snow on Wednesday, Eric's business travels were cancelled this week and he was able to be there for the show!

With only a minor run-in with mall security, we pulled off a pretty cool flashmob! A lot of people showed up. Yakudo has a very big extended family. I'm sure the hundreds of people lined up at the Apple store for the new iPad2 were happy to have a little entertainment while waiting their turn!

Have to say that it was pretty cool to be a part of it. In japanese, "Nippon Gambatte" roughly translates as "Good Luck to Japan".

Our family's version of the flashmob.

Zoomed in version of flashmob (not filmed by our family)

Guess we can now say that we were part of a flashmob!

La Cabane à Sucre

Voici quelques photos de notre visite à la cabane à sucre.
Sucrerie d'Antan (Saint-Lazare, QC)

Un bec sucré!

La tire! Yum!

Et une petite anecdote pour aller avec ces photos...

Pendant le diber, en attendant la soupe, je suis sorti "en secret" pour aller voir le monsieur qui fesait bouillir l'eau d'érable.

Je me suis approché et je lui ai dit bonjour et lui ai demandé pour du "réduit". Le monsieur fait une pause sérieuse et me regarde... "Tu connais ça du réduit?" Je lui réponds que oui, j'ai un oncle qui a une érablière et je connais ça.

Il fait une deuxième pause très sérieuse, me regarde dans le blanc des yeux et me dit "Il faut que tu gardes ça pour toi... Je ne veux pas me faire envahir par d'autres..." Et il me verse un verre de réduit. Je le remercie et retourne à l'intérieur.

A la table, j'ai secrètement fait gouter au réduit aux enfants et aux adultes. Une petite cuillère à la fois... Mais au moins ils ont eu l'occasion d'y gouter! 


- Eric

La gang!

Tarte au sucre, crèpes et grandpères!

Les érables!

Tourtière, omelette, saucisses, fèves au lard et oreilles de crisse

La belle tire!

Just Add Shoyu

Just Add Shoyu is a cookbook recently published through the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. I purchased my copy back in November but only recently opened it. Last weekend, I made chow mein (with homemade noodles purchased at Haru Matsuri). All I can say is yum, yum, yum!

final result

I have also tried the okonomiyaki (which was ok even though I left out the yam) but it was a little soggy. I have never eaten 'the real' thing so I'm not sure if it is supposed to have turned out the way it did. They did taste good tho.

Yesterday, I followed the recipe for sushi rice to make inari-zushi. It was the first time I used kombu while cooking the rice. For those who are not familiar with kombu, it is a version of seaweed (nori) that is much thicker and tougher than the nori used to make maki rolls. Pieces of kombu are added in with the rice water (or in water for soup broth) to add flavour. It is discarded after cooking. I have to say (and so did my dad and Alia and Kyra) that they were very good!

At the end of the book are stories from the Japanese Canadian community, war time stories, New Year's traditions. I have yet to read the whole thing but I am looking forward to having some extra reading time after April 1.

Joyeuse St-Valentin

Pre-Valentine fondue. Yumm!

Les fleurs de St-Valentin!

Valentine sushi!

Valentine Sushi Dinner!

Celebrating Report Cards - continuation

This morning we went for our danish and coffee at St. Lawrence Market. We also picked up some cheese and baguettes for our family Valentine's Day fondue tonight. The girls came away with free keychains! Whoa, did we spend that much on cheese to earn a 'free' gift? ;)

This past Monday, I was at the girls' school for parent-teacher interviews. I don't the chance very often to see what is going on at school like I used to. Before I started working, I used to volunteer in the classroom or help out with hotdog lunches. So I like going on these evenings were I can see what the girls have done in school (since a lot doesn't seem to come home very often).

Here's Alia's project on the lifecycle of the maple tree.

Kyra's page from class book project in art class.

 Kyra's story she wrote with a classmate.

Celebrating Report Cards

On Friday, the girls brought home their 1st term report cards. Yes, it may seem late for 1st term but that is a whole other story which I will not get into now. As usual, the girls are doing very well and as a parent, I kinda liked the new report cards. (Which I know where a pain in the butt for teachers to fill in - I was a witness to the mayhem at my school.) We try to do a special activity as a celebrating for all their hard work and effort. In the past it meant a trip to Chuckie Cheese (the only time we went there as a matter of fact) or a new book.

At suppertime, Eric asked the girls what special activity they wanted to do to celebrate the good report cards. Kyra had a hard time deciding on something other than Canada's Wonderland (which is closed for the winter)!!! We were caught off guard (and pleasantly surprised) when Alia jumped in with her request - she asked to go to 'Lawrence Supermarket' (her words but what she meant was St. Lawrence Market downtown) for breakfast! Oh my goodness our kids are growing up to be foodies! Can't blame her. Who wouldn't want a nice croissant, strudel or mega muffin for breakfast!

Since we couldn't make it there this weekend, we decided to go to What a bagel and Starbucks for breakfast. We will go to St. Lawrence Market next Saturday morning for Alia's celebration breakfast of turnovers and molten lava muffins (but then she might surprise us by choosing something else)!!

Saturday morning, Kyra finally decided she wanted a Tim Horton's bagel belt as her treat! Ok.

Good Bye Chuckie Cheese! (phewf! Personally, I am glad!)

Commuting Wisdom 1

I have started to take the bus to work. It's not a long commute: 15 - 20 minutes, 2 buses and 5 - 10 minute walk.

This morning the Rocket bus arrived first. The Rocket buses are express busses that only stop at major intersections. At the last second I decided to take it and then walk the block back to my normal stop. The difference is on corner of the shopping mall or the other. We are talking the width of the Zellers parking lot. I thought I was being smart and it would be faster than waiting for the regular bus. I was wrong.

While I was walking, I counted three other buses that would have stopped at my regular stop! The positive outcome is that I had an extra five minutes of exercise today.

The lesson learned: getting on the first bus will not always get you to your destination faster!

Tangled

This afternoon, we took the girls to see Tangled at the movie theatre. It has been a while since we've been to the movies as a family but an outing to the movies is expensive these days. These days so many movies are released in 3D which Alia doesn't really enjoy. Most films don't need it. It is just an extra money grab.

Tangled was a cute movie and we had a good laugh. Max the horse was one of our favourite characters.

On the way home, Eric was joking with the girls that I was his Rapunzel (je t'aime aussi mon amour!) and I had once magic hair but I cut it so it was now brown and short like the princess in the movie. Kyra saw right through his joke. 'C'n'est pas vrai, papa. J'ai vu une photo de maman quand elle avait des cheveux longs et ils étaient bruns aussi!'

Sunday Afternoon in Toronto

For Sunday lunch, we took the girls to Lou Dawgs for our family’s fix of pulled pork sandwiches and BBQ! Eric had saving a coupon he purchased on the internet for this BBQ place downtown. This week, we decided to finally use it. Eric took the girls to music lessons while I stayed home and continued to ‘winter’ clean the closets and put away the laundry. After music lessons, we drove downtown and walked into this cozy pub with a live blues band! (2 man band = drummer/harmonica/vocals and electric guitar/vocals) Very cool. When we got there, we were the second customers there! The restaurant filled up half way through our meal. Most people seemed to leave with take out.

 They serve brunch on Sundays but we were looking for pulled pork! We ordered our pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ beans, and a ‘Loutine’ (poutine+pulled pork = yumm). The food was really good, the service was friendly (the girl even went to store to get a litre of milk for the girls since they were still waiting for their milk order to arrive and they usually only serve milk with coffee), and the music was good. They even sang You are my Sunshine for the girls!

I think we would definitely go back.

As we were heading home, the thought came to me that had I thought of it earlier, we would have brought our ice skates and would have stopped at Nathan Phillips Square or Harbourfront to go skating. The girls wanted to go skating so we swung by the house, grabbed our skates and headed to our local arena for 2:30 leisure skating. There were a lot of people but I was glad we were in the arena. It’s cold outside.

We skated for about an hour and then came home and put our feet up! I don’t think I am cooking supper tonight. Still full from lunch!