It's Been So Long....

We are back from the Linker Family Reunion and that finishes a whirlwind week of vacation. We made daytrips all week including one overnighter in Toronto.

Monday morning we started with coffee at Tante Henny's in Elora and spent the afternoon tubing on the Grand River at the Elora Gorge. It was lots of fun and the weather was great! On the first run Ray's tube burst while rubbing over some stones near the edge and he had to walk the rest of the way down. Not the most fun he's ever had but....he made it just fine. We brought one tube of our own and rented two there....one of us would go down with the boys and the other would drive the car back down and wait in a lounge chair in the shade.

Tuesday was a work day for me, newspapers for the boys, and then golf in the afternoon. That was an all boy outing, and I stayed home to clean and do the laundry. THis needed to be done badly since we also went camping from Friday to Sunday with friends at the Pinery. It too was a lot of fun. We fished, canoed, and went to the beach there.

Wednesday we left for Toronto. We parked at Yorkdale Mall and took the subway into the city. That really is the best way to go! We visited Casa Loma which is a castle in Toronto. It is really neat and the boys thought it was cool. Part of the movie "X-Men" was filmed there. There is a whole wall of movie posters in a lower section of the castle that were partially filmed at the castle. (Some include: Skulls, Chicago, Cocktail, The Pacifier, and XMen....and othere....) When we finished at Casa Loma we headed back to the subway and upon arrival discovered that the train wasn't running. GREEEAAAAAT! So we took a few minutes to contemplate our options, discovered that we didn't have any, and went to the wicket to ask for advice. The "wicket man" advised us to go above ground and take the #26 bus to the St. George station and hop on the subway there (which wasn't running...). But when you're out of options, you may as well do something, as opposed to nothing! We found the bus...along with a throng of other people and proceded to relate our situation to the bus driver. TTC bus drivers have seen it all, and have little time for tourists not familiar with the system...he waved us through and said...Just sit down! So we did...not wanting to ruffle any one's feathers, got a free ride to the subway and hopped on the subway at St. George, rode it all the way to Union station and walked to Rogers Center for a Blue Jays Game. Our plan was to buy some tickets from scalpers but it turned out that it wasn't going to be any cheaper than going to the ticket window. We purchased our tickets at the Center and got front row seats in the 500 section.(That's the front of the nose bleed section, but those seats only cost $9!! ) We sat in the family section, which means you can't drink beer in there, but ended up with a big group of girls from a camp right behind us cheering and screaming all night long. Ray was contemplating, with his ears plugged, if it would have been more enjoyable sitting with the drunks.....All in all, it was a great game, Toronto beat Baltimore 9 to7. And we rode the subway back without a problem. An usher at the Center said we picked a bad day to ride the train because there had been a fire around rush hour.

We got to the hotel, a great deal that included two adult passes ($40 value)to the zoo and included breakfast for all of us for $109!! Before we left that morning we also could buy discounted passes for the boys. In the end it was not THAT expensive! The zoo was nice, but there is a TON of walking. I can see why people buy season passes and visit several times over the summer. We didn't see the whole thing but prioritized the things we wanted to see. We paid the extra $3 per person to visit Stingray Bay. We left at a decent hour and Ray surprised us all on the way home by stopping at IKEA!!!! That was so fun. Ray found a shady spot and stayed in the car and said...meetcha back here in 45 minutes. We got back to the car and Craig announced that there were .50 cent hotdogs and $1 pops so went back inside and had a quick supper. It was a great day.

We listened to The Chronicles of Narnia on the way home. Our favourite is "the Voyage of the Dawn Treader", I can't wait to see THAT one turned into a movie! Do you think they'll do all the books???

Yesterday we were going to go horseback riding but....couldn't find a place! All the ones near here only have daycamps during the summer and offer trailrides in the off season. So we cut the grass at church and home, and I finished cleaning at church. Hardly the same as being on horseback....but nice to be home, and gear up for the Family reunion. There are always things to pack and get ready, and food to prepare. Things to unpack and put away....etc....

And now it's off to church tomorrow....kind of back to normal routines. Normal is good, but it was nice to have a break....

So that's what we've been up to. Blixie went to a friend's house while we were camping and then again on our overnight trip to Toronto.