Yes, I’m still catching up on old posts. There are a lot more to come, as it was busy over the holiday season and into the new year. I’m hoping to make a good dent in it this weekend!

Justine and I were both back to Ontario over the Christmas break, and for one of our longest stretches - two full weeks. I’ll try and hit some of the high points, as we crammed a lot into the visit, but it will be mostly photos to share.

Arrival and Off to Waterdown

We arruived late on Wednesday night (the 18th) - actually it was Thursday morning by the time our (delayed) flight arrived. Knowing that we had a late night, we had rented a car and booked a hotel near the airport. It ende dup being a good decision. Thursday, I was supposed ot be meeting with customers, but the meeting fell through, so we just headed to Justine’s parents place, where we were spending the first part of the visit. We worked Thursday and I had a meeting with Halton Police in Burlington on Friday, so being in Waterdown was convenient. Friday was also Maureen’s birthday, and we had a fun night out celebrating

Into Toronto for a Couple of Days

Saturday around lunch time we headed into the city. The Skydiggers were doing their annual Christmas concert at the Danforth Music Hall, and after missing a couple of years of the show I was excitied to see them again. We first dropped the car off at the airport, then took the UP down to Union Station. We were excited to discover that there is now a Shake Shack in Union Station, so we stopped for some lunch. First time in Canada! From there we took the subway up to College and checked into our hotel near Maple Leaf Gardens. With the concert going late, we figured it would be easier to stay downtown, and we were meeting up with some of Justine’s friends for brunch on Sunday morning.

After checking in we grabbed an Uber over to the beaches, to stop in to visit with our friends Cindy and KJ. They have an amazing home in my favorite part of the city, and were gracious enough to host us for a few hours that afternoon so that we could catch up. They had stayed with us on Galiano during the summer, so it had not been too long since we had seen them. Still, we had a fun afternoon before we headed up to the concert.

It’s always good to catch up with friends over the holidays.

They have my dream basement, and we played a few games of pool while catching up.

I’ve been a huge fan of the Skydiggers pretty much since their inception. I’ll bet I’ve been to at least 25 of the Christmas shows over the years. But this was our first time since they moved from the Horseshoe Tavern to the Danforth Music Hall. We took an Uber from Cindy and KJ’s and were at the venue in no time. It was a cold night, so we were happy to get inside. We had seats in the second row of the balcony, providing a great view.

The show was amazing and filled with great guests like Andrew Cash (an original founding memeber) and Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo). They ended up playing 29 songs across two sets and an encore, and managed to get most of the crowd favorites into the mix. It was a constant rotation of great guests on stage, and I was able to find a link to a set list from the night. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/skydiggers/2024/danforth-music-hall-toronto-on-canada-635c921f.html

We weren’t too late getting back to the hotel, and we had a nice night and relaxing start to the morning. We were meeting a group of Justine’s friends for bruch, just a couple of doors down from where the concert was the night previous. So it was back on the subway and out to the Danforth in the freezing cold.

We had a great brunch and it was good to get caught up with the whole gang again. We try to do this over Christmas, with mixed results as everyone has busy lives.

Diane, Anthony, Jus, Me, Mary and Ashley

Best buds!

After brunch, everyone headed off in their own directions. We hopped back on the subway to make our way back dwon to Union Station to take the Go Train back out to Waterdown. Along the way we made a quick stop at the Eaton Center just to check out all the changes and to pick up a few things we needed.

The huge tree in the middle of the Eaton Center. It had been years since I had been there. When I lived a few blocks away, it was such a central place in my life, and it’s changed so much!

We took the train back and Michael was kind enough to pick us up at the train station. We went out and did a bit of shopping (or at least tried to - the stores were insane!), before heading back. We spent a few days with Michael and Maureen, and it was nice to just relax and catch up.

We stayed with Michael and Maureen until Christmas eve. On Christmas eve we drove to Guelph and met up with mom. As it was about half way, it seemed like a good spot and so we decided to meet at a restaurant and have lunch. The restaurant was one the Sandy and Tonya had introduced us to. It was a bit surprising that the place was literally empty except for us. Especially once we had our meals, and they were fabulous. So we had a nice family Christmas lunch, before heading up to Alton.

Christmas in Alton

As we traditionally do, Shawn, Leanne, Mackenzie and Lane came over for dinner on Christas Eve. We had a nice dinner and it was great to catch up with everyone. We had Tourtière has become the tradition, and it was fanbulous as always.

Mackenzie want a “dressed up” Christmas Eve dinner.

Mom’s fancy table setting.

Dinner was amazing, as always.

Hanging out and chatting after dinner.

Christmas Day

We have quite a few routines and traditions around the holidays. On Christmas Day, Shawn and family are at home, and we go for a quick mornign visit before they head off to spend time with Leanne’s family. We then spend the day at home, and Lisa comes up around lunch time.

I ahd offered to make dinner on Christmas Day for the four of us. Mom had a nice prime rib roast, and so that formed the basis for the meal. I had a few other ideas for making it a Christmas-worthy feast!

The roast, heading into the oven.

It turned out better than I had hoped!

But I’m not sure why I was carving as well…

The full feast - roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, couscous salad and pomogranite green beans.

I think it turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself!

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is the busiest day of the holidays for us. We have the extended family over, and it is a fabulous day of seeing alot of people, many we don’t see other than on this day. There are lots of photos to share…

A Day out with the Kids

For the last few years, rather than buy prsents for my niece and nephews, we’ve let them pick an activity that they want to do. Last year it was rock climbing, and they surprised us this year by asking to have dinner at the CN Tower! It was a surprising request, but it seemed like a fun idea. I have never been either, so new expereinces for (almost) everyone.

We borrowed Leanne’s new SUV (the VW Atlas - it’s nice) and drove down to the city. The other ask for the day was to go shopping, so we decided to park at Yorkdale and do a bit of shopping before heading down for our dinner rservation at 6:30.

Driving down to Yorkdale.

Afterour shopping excursion, we took the subway from Yorkdale downtown.

Shopping went well. Lane bought the one thing his mom said he wasn’t allowed to buy (this is why we’re the fun Aunt/Uncle) and I picked up a nice shirt. The mall was insanely busy, so we didn’t spend too much time before hopping on the subway. This was a pretty new expereince for the kids - they don’t get into Toronto often, and never on public transit.

We got out at Queen Street and walked over to Nathan Phillips Square. I had toyed with the idea of renting skates, but the line up for rentals was huge and it was really cold. So we settled on a few photos, then headed for the warmth of the Eaton Center. We stopped in the fancy food court and had a snack of poutine, then used the PATH (a series of underground tunnels that connect all the buildings in the downtown core) to walk in the warmth, amost all the way to the CN TOwer.

The risk with doing dinner at the CN Tower in the winter is the weather, and sadly, we lost out this time. As we got close, it became clear that we were not going to be seeing a lot during our fancy meal…

Our reservation was at 6:30, and our timing was pretty much perfect. We went through security and our dinner reservation allowed us to walk right onot the elevators. It’s a fast ride up, and we were then seated right away. As expected, we couldn’t see much through the low clouds, but every once in a while they lifted, and we got something of a view.

We had a good table for dinner.

Every once in a while the clouds lifted and we could see a bit of the city.

The meal was great, but dessert definitely got a huge thumbs up.

My dessert was spectacular.

A hazy view of the lights on Rogers Center (it’s still SkyDome to me).

After dinner, we were able to go down a level to the main observation deck check out the displays. As there still wasn’t much of a view, we didn;t end up spending a ton of time. There were some fun things to look at, but eventually we headed back to the elevators.

We had a really fun day out with the kids, and I think they had a good time too! It was pretty late by the time we got everyone home, but it was a fun day.

We had a few more days in Alton before we flew home on New Year’s Eve. It was generally pretty relxing. Justine and I caught up with Sandy and Tonya; we helped mom with a ridiculous puzzle that Mrs. Carr had given her; we chille dout at GoodLot,a local brewery and met up with Ashley, Mary and their kids at the Caledon Ski Cliub where they are members. It wa s agreat way to end the trip.

Ashley and family are members at Cledon Ski Club. So we met them for lunch one afternoon. It was the first time I have ever been inside - crazy given how long I’ve lived just up the road.

GoodLot is a local brewery a few sideroads over from where Mom lives.

We stopped in for a beer one afternoon. It’s a great spot.

This puzzel was a beast!

But we solved it before we had to head back to Vancouver!

We were flying home early evening on New Year’s Eve. Not the best timing, but the ticket was alot cheaper. Before heading to the airport, we had been invited for lunch at the Carr’s. It was nice to spend some time with them and catch up.