It’s taken quite a long time to get to this post - the last one for 2021. I managed to get back to Ontario for Christmas, after missing last year. Last year was strange, and it was great to get back and see every one and start to see our routines get back a little closer to normal.
I was back in Ontario for 10 days, as I wanted to make sure I had a chance to spend as much time with everyone as possible. While it was mostly family, I did have a couple of friends that had made huge changes in their lives that I wanted to also spend some time with. And to top that off, Edwin and Redmar, extended family from Holland also managed to make it to Canada to spend some time with us over the holidays, which was amazing!
We have lots of great traditions, but one of my favourites over the last few years is my Christmas lunch date with Aunt Rosie. With COVID peaking again, I wasn’t sure (understandably) if she’d want to go out. But she was up for it, and so we had a great lunch date! It seems that Swiss Chalet has become our go to spot, which is great because we don’t have many of them left in Vancouver, so it’s the only time I have it. We had a great time and I got to see Toby in person before we headed out for lunch. We had a nice meal and got to catch up and spend some time together. It was really nice. BUt eventually I had to go, to pick up the kids for our big day out.
One of the things that the past two years has really driven home for me is how much of everyone’s lives we’ve missed being stuck at home while COVID has kept us all apart. I feel like I’ve missed a lot as my nieces and nephews have been growing up. So I wanted to carve out some time to spend just with them. Instead of gifts for Christmas, we decided to book a day out. I was unsure how that was going to play out, and right up to the day in question I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to do it. But we did.
Dinner at the Keg at the end of our big day out.
Prior to Christmas, we had some back-and-forth trying to decide what we wanted to do as a group. The kids decided on “X-Play” a trampoline/laser tag indoor play center in Barrie. It sounded like fun. We picked up Ethan at the 400/9 parking lot and headed north. It’s probably been 20 years since I’ve been in Barrie, and it was crazy to see how much it’s grown.
The place wasn’t too busy - there were one or two other small groups - so it felt pretty safe, without to many people being all over each other. The kids played around on the “bouncy” part - trampolines, trampolines with basketball nets, dodgeball, foam pits, the balance beam for a good couple of hours. I participated a bit and was undefeated on the balance beam - no one could knock me off ;-)
There was an arcade in the place as well with a combo of video games and “games of skill” where you could win tickets. We took a bit of a break from the running around to play some games for a while. It seemed to be a hit. After that interlude, it was time for laser tag! I had never played laser tag before, and it was a lot of fun. We had the whole “arena” to ourselves, and played two full games -one everyone for themselves, and one where Mackenzie and I were a team against Lane and Ethan. I have to admit that the two boys beat us pretty handily. At the end of the two sessions, Ethan came out on top overall - but I made it close!
After laser tag, we wrapped things up at the venue and headed out to find some dinner. I think I got set-up, as when I asked what everyone wanted to do for dinner I got a unanimous vote for the Keg. So steak it was - those kids are not a cheap date! Fortunately the restaurant was in the same area as we already were and they were able to seat us immediately. We had a great meal and wrapped up our very fun day out. Or at least I thought it was fun, and I hope the kids did too. We dropped Ethan off at home, then I dropped Mackenzie and Lane off after a very long, but fun day.
Christmas Eve got us back to some of our regular traditions. Edwin and Redmar added to the festivities, and we had a great dinner and evening.
Christmas Day was as usual, pretty relaxing. In the morning we headed over to Shawn and Leanne’s to see how the kids did with Christmas. It’s always chaotic, and the new dog certainly added a new level of craziness. In a good way.
After lunch, Mom, Lisa, Edwin and I went over to the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park to go for a bit of a walk. Sadly, the weather had warmed up and it was a bit of a slushy mess, but still we had a great hike out to the main waterfall.
Despite it being quite slushy and in spots very slippery, it was good to get outside and get some fresh air. It would have been so much nicer just a few days earlier.
Boxing day, as usual, was the busier of the wto days. With COVID, the number of people we had at Mom and Dad’s place was significantly reduced (and spread out), but it was nice to see a few more people. I had basically never met Alex’s little girls, so it was great to spend some time with them. We did lot’s of video calls as well, catching up with those that could not make it.
While it was great to spend time with the family, I also had a few people I wanted to see while I was in Ontario. On the MOnday, i drove down to Toronto to see my friends Cindy and KJ. I had met them while living in London, and we’ve kept in touch since, trying to drop in when either of us are in the other’s city. They had just finished a huge reno on their house in the Beaches (quite close to where I used to live), and I was dying to see the results.
It was fun being back in my old stomping grounds, and it was an odd combination of nothing had changed, but lots had changed. Their house was, as expected, beautiful. The attention to detail was amazing, and I am particularly fond of the basement bar/pool room. I’d love to have something like that in our house on the island when we build it.
We had an amazing dinner and spent some time catching up on the couple of years since we had seen each other. It was a very nice evening.
The next day, I headed east out to Prince Edward County. My friends Risa and Jeff had bought an old farmhouse in the countryside outside of Bellville, and I had not seen them since the summer when they moved back.
Risa and Jeff’s house in Prince Edward County
It’s a beautiful house with a ton of character - and a lot of work to be done! They’ve already made good progress, starting to restore it back to what it should be. Sadly, it had been a rental for a number of years so the upkeep was not what it should have been.
It was great to catch up with them, and with the drive being over 3 hours from Mom and Dad’s, I decided to stay the night so we didn’t have to rush too much. I think I arrived around 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. We hung out, got caught up and had a great dinner. We sat by the fire into the evening and chatted, before calling it a night.
The next morning, Risa and I went out for a walk around the neighborhood, so I could see a bit of the “Big Island”. It was pretty cold - the wind was blowing pretty had, but we ended up walking pretty close to 5km along the rural back roads. I was hoping we’d have some good birding, but it was a pretty quiet day. The weather wasn’t the greatest, and I’m sure that had an effect.
We got back and the rest of the family was up and about. We had some lunch, and then Risa’s mother and sister arrived, so I took my leave. We had a nice couple of days and it was great to see their place.
On the day before I left, I finally managed to align our schedule and get some time to hang out with Sandy and his family. I drove out to Guelph, and to be very cautious about COVID we decide just to go for a walk on the trails near their house. It was good to see the whole family, as it had been a couple of years (as with everything…). The weather was cooperative, the hot chocolate was delicious and it was good to get caught up a bit.
I headed home on New Year’s Eve. 10 days was a good amount if time, but it went by so fast. Still, I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in forever, as well as meet some new people I had never seen in person.