We started the day out early after a much less than ideal night of sleep. Amy, Mike, James and Olivia spent the night over so that we could get out early. Unfortunately, the big kids were very excited and the little kids didn’t want to sleep. We finally got them all to sleep, but we didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight. Sue and I got up at 5am to prepare and get the big kids ready.

Our plan was to get out of the house early and pick up a nice breakfast from D&D. I’m not sure what world we live in, but D&D was not open at 6:30am. We ended up buying coffee and semi-palatable breakfast foods from Cumberland Farms. A gas station breakfast for the four of us.

We ended up at the meeting place early and got a chance to meet the driver. The woman in charge of this pick up spot had the nerve to ask us to get off the bus so that she could count us. WTF. There was only four of us and we were already settled in. She was late, not us. Not a great way to start the day, but we were still happy to be getting out.

The bus trip was relatively short and uneventful until we reached NYC. The kids had a good time and we well behaved. Thankfully the bus had a bathroom, which Emelia took care to use multiple times on the trip. Shortly into the trip the “leader” of the group announced that she had some movies that we could watch. She allowed the youngest on the bus to choose, which was Emelia. Out of the more recent Christmas movies she chose Elf. It ended up being a good choice, which the group enjoyed.

The only real interesting part of the trip was when we got a chance to watch a woman get out of her wheelchair, pull her pants down and piss on the side of 42nd street. The only thing that probably kept her bottom from being see was that she hid it behind the side of store door. The more amazing part was that there were two cop cars, with cops immediately right next to her. She just pulled up her pants, got back into her wheelchair and left. I was so stunned I didn’t even think to post a video. It could have gone viral!

None worse for wear, here are the kids posing in front of the New York Library. Just about ready to head out to see the sights.

Our first stop of the day was Times Square. It was only a few blocks from Bryant Park. At nearly each intersection were people dressed up as Elmo and other monsters. The kids enjoyed seeing them, but Emelia didn’t want to go near them.

Times Square was busy, but not so much that you couldn’t walk around. M&M’s World was our first stop. Toys R Us in Times Square was too busy to event think about going in. From what I heard they were giving out numbers so that you could shop at a scheduled time.

The M&M’s World store was pretty nice. It’s pretty much what you would expect. Three floors full of people and M&M’s branded merchandise. We checked out nearly everything and decided to buy a little bit to remember the trip. James is really interested in baseball so we bought him an M&M’s baseball and bought us all some Pretzel and Almond M&M’s for the day. They were of course overpriced, but we bought a few as a treat. It’s hard to resist when the walls are literally made up of huge bulk contains.

Emelia waited on line with me to pay.

Afterwards we made our way back down Times Square to the subway station. We took some token pics on the way through.

We had a lot of trouble getting a decent picture. The kids were too happy and giggly to stand still. Tickling them while we posed may not have helped either.

We bought a Metrocard and got on the subway for a short trip uptown. It was too cold and too far of a walk for the kids. This was to be our only trip on the train for the day and it was James first time ever on a subway. Emelia was accustomed to taking the subway after our trip to Toronto last year. He got quite nervous on the platform, but loosened up once we boarded the train.

Our next stop was to be FAO Schwarz. However, we were all hungry and needed sustenance. After seeing just how long the line was to get into FAO we figured that it would be best to eat first and then go shopping. Having not had time to plan ahead we spontaneously chose the only restaurant in sight and ended up having lunch at a place named Pop Burger.

It’s a small, expensive burger joint. The food wasn’t bad, but not great either. I had a burger, the kids each had a hot dog and mom had a caesar salad with chicken. I think we were all satisfied except for Sue. The chicken on her salad was very dry and hardly edible. I traded the last of my burger and tried to get her salad down. Blah. I’m not one to complain about food in a place, but I am one to give a less than good online review if a meal is bad. Other than that it was an okay meal. The place was small and busy, which means little seating.

After eating we headed over to FAO Schwarz to wait in line. I’m not sure what miracle happened, but it only took about 5 minutes to get in the building. I was expecting something like 30 minutes, but was pleased to be in the store so quickly.

It was our first time in FAO Schwarz. None of us have been there before. It was well worth going into the icon store, but I am surprised at the lack of holiday decorations. I expected the store to be bigger and better decorated. If it were not for the scores of people I would never have known it was the pre-Christmas season.

Emelia and James took in story time in the book section, which I scoped the place out. It was absolutely packed and difficult to get around. I figured it was best to find the places where we wanted to go without the kids. James was in love with the puzzle section and I found the Butterfly Container toy very cool. Emelia had a great time checking out the books and the dolls. We were liberated of a few bucks to buy a book for Caitlin and a Christmas toy for Olivia.

In the doll section the kids played with a Barbie themed foosball table. It was a custom made table and only cost $24,000 to buy. It made for a great place to take pictures with the kids (look for the kids posing).

Untitled from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

While we waited to get out of the building one of the guards entertained James. He had quite the personality and took to the kids quite well despite his age. It was unexpected. We got a nice surprise on the way out of the store. MasterCard had a deal where you would get a complimentary taxi ride if you bought anything in FAO with your MasterCard. We bought the book using ours and gratefully took advantage of the free taxi.

It isn’t much monetarily, but having a free taxi ready and waiting was a very nice treat. No running around to find and flag one down. We just hopped into a warm car and were off to Rockefeller Center. The kids both got a kick out of it. This was another first for both of them. They got to ride in a taxi in NYC traffic for the first time. The driver was nice and joked around with the kids too. Nothing but high spirits filled the car.

Our next stop was Rockefeller Center to see the tree and to check out a few other stores. It was amazingly busy as you would expect. Since it was only 2pm we were able to move around and actually get close to the tree. It’s nothing but a huge tree in the daytime, but amazing to look at when the sun goes down.

The crowd on the side where the angles are located was much thicker. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was where the entrance to Lego World was located. That was our next stop. The crowd on our side was thick, but maneuverable.

I love the architecture of the area. I may have to bring my grandma back here just to see this area. From what I’ve read the view from the top of Rockefeller Center is amazing and not as busy as the Empire State Building. I wish we had time to do it on this trip, but it wasn’t to be.

Trying to get a picture of the kids on the angel side. The couple behind them were damn near making out the entire time. I think he may have hit second or maybe third base in the few minutes we were there.

Angels and the tree. We are at the complete opposite from where we were earlier. Only took us 20 minutes to get there with all of the people.

We finally made it down to Lego World. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it would have been crawling with Lego kids. The big drawn were the bulk bins of Legos. You can buy a small or large cup of them for a lot of money. James is fascinated with the Star Wars sets. We had an extremely hard time getting around in there. Emelia got fed up and asked to be held. Bending down to her level I can see why. She sees nothing but crotches and butts at her height.

After losing Sue in the crown I had enough and tried to escape. Some poor woman was trying to get out of the store and people kept tell her to take her stroller through the revolving door. I’m not sure how that made sense. I told her there was a real door, but she couldn’t get there. Being a little pissed myself I made way in the crowd for her. Being large and having a big jacket on myself I had no issue parting the way and blocking the entrance so that she could get out. She was very grateful and I felt good to get some frustration out on the crowd.

I didn’t take many pictures after this, but we did plenty. We headed over to Nintendo World just to check it out. The kids took the opportunity to try out the many Nintendo DS’s all over the place. Sue and I got a chance to sit and rest. Afterwards we headed to the NBC store for a quick look and decided to get a warm drink. We bought some Starbucks coffee for us and hot chocolate for the kids. It was also another chance to rest. Mom and the kids were getting tired of all the walking.

After checking out the skating rink and waiting in line for a lifetime to pee we headed out. My plan was to walk back down to 42nd street and maybe stop at the NBA Store on the way. Either the directions on Google Maps were way off or the store is closed because we didn’t find the NBA store. When we reached 42nd street I decided to make our way down to Grand Central Terminal. The kids have never been there and it is an impressive building to see for the first time. I think it was a bit lost on the kids, but we went regardless.

Our next and final stop was dinner at Hunan Manor on Lexington. We were in the mood for Chinese and this was the closest of two places in the area. It ended up being a nice find. It’s a small restaurant that specializes in Hunan food. It’s across the street from another Chinese food place that seemed to have American Chinese food than Hunan Manor. We were looking for more authentic food.

To keep the kids happy we opted to get them some basic sweet and sour chicken. They were not really hungry and ate half of the dish. Sue ordered me some 五香牛肉, which I’ve come to like. It’s a five spice flavor beef/beef tendon that is formed and then served thinly sliced and cold. It’s a simple appetizer.

The second dish that I chose was smoked pork with leeks. It was also good, but Sue didn’t eat much as it was made with a piece of fatty pork. The smokiness is strong, but with the leeks and some good white rice it is a nice dish.

The last dish is one that Sue picked out. I don’t know the name of it and I couldn’t venture a guess. The three primary ingredients were hot red peppers, pork and cilantro. I have never eaten chili peppers like this. There must have been a ton in there. We usually cook a dish with 6-8 of these and never eat the peppers themselves. This dish contained dozens and they were a main ingredient. Cilantro is also there is large quantities. I’m not a big cilantro fan. The pork was minimal and very thin.

I cannot say that I liked the dish much, but I did eat it. It wasn’t terrible, just not to my liking. It was definitely spicy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The peppers were still dry and tough. I’m not sure if this is normal for Hunan food or not as I have no experience with it. Since the other dishes were done well I assume that this is normal for this dish. On a plus side I can say I ate it.

After dinner we took a stroll back towards Bryant Park. It was still one hour before our pick up time so we decided to try and reach Rockefeller Center again. We really wanted to see the tree in the dark where you can appreciate the lights. Emelia was beat and kept asking to be held. I kept her going by playing her favorite game where we run away from a monster. We ran most of the way back with James and Sue bringing up the rear.

We made it back to see the tree in 10 minutes flat, which is not bad considering we had kids with us and they were winding down. The crowds were as bad as you would expect, but we found a nice place to take in the tree from a distance. We didn’t even think about trying to get up close. It was a madhouse and not worth the fight.

Having still yet more time to kill we started our walk back and ended up and Barnes and Nobel. The kids wanted to check out the books and toys they had on sale. It was super busy, but the kids got to pick out some nice books. Both of the kids are at reading age so the store is fun for them. With 30 minutes left we trotted the rest of the way back and waited for our bus.

It took us a bit to get out of the city with all of the traffic trying to get back to the Lincoln Tunnel, but we got out in decent time overall. The trip back was quiet for the most part. We watched The Santa Clause and the kids both crashed. By the time we reached the car it was 11:15 or so. We were able to get home and get everybody into bed by 11:45.

As expected it was a busy, but a very fun day. The kids both did well despite the normal issues of not listening well. Nobody got hurt and nobody lost anything. We all got to eat well and took a few things home to remember the trip. We gained a lot of new memories and checked off some of life’s todo’s. The city was busy and crowded, yet people were polite and not annoying as you would expect. I even chatted up a few strangers while waiting.

One last thing about the trip. We all noticed that there were hundreds if not thousands of people dressed as Santa while we were there. You usually get a few eccentrics doing it, but not that many. Most were in their early twenties. According to the news they were dressed this way for SantaCon. Around Grand Central we found that there were even some drunk folks carrying OWS signs. There large groups of police officers armed with nylon handcuffs in the area too. According to SantaCon NYC the event is not political. This didn’t seem to stop some from showing some OWS love at the same time.

This is pretty much how the streets looked for most of the day. By the time dinner rolled around you saw some small groups, but still plenty of red outfits.

I have to be honest piano keyboards have always intrigued me. I never understood the madness that is the mess of white and black keys. Now I know how to use those keys to find the appropriate notes. Yes, you could say that I am easy pleased.

Emelia enjoys the class and is learning a lot. Practicing at home helps out tremendously. Catch her at the right time and get her in front of her piano and she can play three shirt songs already.

The class covers the basics of music. The kids (and parents) get to learn all of the notes and where to find them on a keyboard. Reading music is a must as is learning about tempo and pitch. The kids are challenged with games and get to dance as a group each week. It is fun and most of the kids clearly have fun.

I am looking forward to next week. She is learning more notes and we may learn a new song soon.

Both girls take swimming classes. Sue and I both feel it is good for them to be comfortable in water and to know how to swim. They may learn it in school like I did, but I think starting early is well worth the investment. Both kids are doing well in their classes. Emelia does not like the male instructors so it’s always a challenge to find a class that she can attend since there are few advanced classes and most are taught by males. The past couple of classes were held during the week so Sue has had to take time off to bring her. Caitlin is still in the more basic classes, which are plentiful, but crowded.

Emelia really enjoyed her dance class at the beginning of the year and I cannot tell you how many times Caitlin has watched the video of Emelia’s recital since June. It was a no-brainer decision to put both of them into dance class. There has only been a couple of classes, but Caitlin is doing well. She is a bit young, but has interest. The next month should tell if she is old enough to continue. Emelia is in a more advanced class this time and is doing very well. She’s very interested and loves the class. The instructor is the daughter of the person that taught her previous class.

Something new for both of them that we let them try this round is gymnastics. They saw a gymnastics class last year and they both were nutty about it. We broke down and let them both take the class. It’s not much of an investment and they both seem to like the class. Only time will tell if we continue with this class. These are recreational, not competition level classes. It’s not a bid deal if they choose not to continue.

That pretty much sums it up for Caitlin, but Emelia has two other classes. Both of her other classes are ones that we want her to take. The first is piano class. She’s taken quite a few music appreciation classes and short piano classes and she has enjoyed them all. Emelia loves singing, music and dance so learning how to play music may be something she will continue to enjoy. So far she loves the class and according to Sue, she volunteers eagerly for everything. We bought her a piano keyboard for practicing.

The other class that we put her in, mostly for her own good than for fun is Chinese class. Sue and I both strongly feel she needs to be able to speak fluent Chinese. There is a limit to how much Sue can teach her and sometimes having somebody teach her fundamentals in a classroom setting with other kids is beneficial. This does not mean that Sue and I are off the hook. If anything having Emelia attend class has invigorated the amount of teaching that we have to do at home. It also means that Sue speaks to all of us (me included) in Chinese nearly 95% of the time. Just like piano class this class follows the school year.

Come next September we’ll need to make a choice as to which classes Emelia will continue to take. She starts kindergarten next September and will not be possible for her to continue with all of these classes in addition to school. She won’t get much homework from school, but she will probably have some, which takes precedence over other classes and work. I expect her to continue with swimming, piano and Chinese school. Whether she continues with dance, gymnastics or both is yet to be seen. Sue feels she will drop gymnastics, but I feel it is too soon to determine which she’ll want to pursue.

Caitlin on the other hand will likely continue with her swimming next year. She may start to take a few music classes, just like Emelia did at the same age. We’ll have to see how she does with her dance and gymnastics before we decide if she’ll continue with either.

In the mean time having to attend all of these classes for both girls takes a toll on all of us. I’m responsible for taking both girls to dance and for taking Caitlin to swimming and gymnastics. Sue is on the hook for taking Emelia to gymnastics, swimming, piano and Chinese school. This usually means that we are busy running around 3 weekdays and all weekend for the kids. That coupled with normal jobs, chores, taking care of house and side work that I do is leading to two tired people. It sounds worse than it really is as most classes are only 30 minutes long, but we feel it is worth it. The kids love the classes and want to continue.

One pleasant side affect, which I’ve noticed during the past two weeks is that I hardly notice that Sue speaks Chinese to us anymore. I won’t claim I know what she is saying all the time, but I find it much easier to listen and be able to understand what she says without thinking too hard. The girls are showing improvements in their Chinese listening and speaking skills. Emelia is also learning how to both read and write Chinese. It won’t be long before both girls surpass my ability to understand and speak Chinese. Emelia is already showing that she understands how some words are pronounced better than I.

I spent most of Friday running around doing errands as well as getting ready for the party. Nothing like impending guests to make you want to clean house. I also took the time to decorate the house nicely this year. I was disappointed with myself last year so I made up for it this year. It was simple, but the girls loved it.

And now for the pictures.

Neil, Jess, Amy and Ivan

Amy holding Ivan

Caitlin with a silly photo face

A more natural, surprise look from Caitlin

Jason enjoying the food

The little ones sitting at their own table. I remember those days.

After snacking we all got a chance to catch up with each other. Sue was a slave to the stove cooking up a wonderful meal of chicken parm for the family. Shortly after the big meal it was time to open presents.

Emelia in her hat with braids. She spent all of Sunday and part of Monday in this hat.

Opening presents from great-grandma

Time for hugs

Last, but not least, it was cake time.

The only complaint I have and I understand the reasoning is the parking fees were higher than we expected. Instead of being $12 as it usually is, the cost of parking was upped to $20. They do this since the Ex was in session and if they kept parking at $12 they would fill up with cars for people going to The Ex instead of going to Ontario Place.

We started the day off as usual with a small breakfast in our room and headed out early. Despite being within walking distance of a TTC stop we decided we would be more comfortable making the short drive over to the park. Many travel guides suggest taking mass transit at all times in Toronto, but with a family in tow and with little traffic getting around town while driving is well within reason. Parking isn’t cheap, but it is not too bad. If we had known this before we definitely would have driven and parked near the harbour front when we went to the CN Tower and islands.

The drive to the park was uneventful. We had trouble finding the place on a map, but we were able to get directions from a guy that was "parking" his bike in the hotel parking garage. He was your typically friendly and more then eager to be helpful Torontonian.

When we arrived it seemed we would have the place practically to ourselves. We arrived early and it wasn’t too busy this day. There were some other families there, but plenty of parking. We opted to try to sneak in some water bottles this time, but we were pleasantly surprised to see the staff didn’t mind if we brought our own drinks. We probably could have brought lunch in as well, but didn’t think of it ahead of time.

Once inside the park we headed over to the area where the kids would have most fun. It was quite a hike since we had to walk nearly the full length of the place to reach the place. Again the kids had the run of the place. There were only a handful of families there. Emelia headed towards the 40" and taller kids play area. It was a large "building" full of places to climb and get lost. Sue brought Caitlin to another building that had lots of stuff for the littler kids. We all ended up there eventually.

The baby place was perfect for little kids. They had a large selection of toys for infants, a large area for drawing on the wall using chalk, play tables and other kid related toys. They even had a number of baby swings for the littlest of infants. My favorite piece in this room was the ball blowing machine. It was a device with various pipes and chutes that constantly blew air. It was fun to play with, but even better used as a device to blow air into your clothes. On such a hot day it felt great. And the funny part is that I wasn’t the only way. There was a family there from Boston and the dad did the same thing.

We spent some time in the baby area before heading over to the paddle boats. The four of us squeezed into a boat and headed out for a nice, cool trip around the park. It takes a little bit of effort to move four people around, but it was worth it to be on the cool water and to get out to see things from other perspectives.

The girls all geared up and ready to hit the water. These two had no issue or fear with being on a paddle boat in the water.

Caitlin was very happy today.

The heat was getting to the girls so they don’t look too happy here, but of course that could have just been the affect of my presence.

After our boat trip we hit up an entire building that had nothing but machines that blew sponge balls around. With the number of machines blowing balls around and others sucking them up the building was a cacophony of noise. We stayed there a little bit and would have stayed longer but the noise got to us all. Not to mention there was a large number of older kids there that took control of every available device. There wasn’t much for our little girls to do there. So, we headed out into the heat again and walked back towards the water park.

On the way back I took pictures of some of the dinosaur statues that we saw along the way. I’m not sure what these were there for, but they probably were part of some older display or attraction.

More dinosaurs behind fences.

A permanently (?) docked boat.

It was a treat to see this ship in action. I’m not sure if they were associated with the park or not, but it was nice to see.

On the way to the waterpark we also passed by a helicopter tour ride that takes off from the park. Had Sue been willing I would have splurged and brought the whole family for a ride. It was expensive for single persons, but for a family of four we could have gone up and see Toronto from the sky for a mere $200. Not bad considering what you’re getting; a personal helicopter ride. I almost went with just Emelia, but decided against it due to the cost of just the two of us. I also really wanted Sue to enjoy it too. Having a weak stomach she thought better to keep her feet on the ground.

Once we got to the water park we decided to grab a bite to eat and rest in the shade. It isn’t that these days were physically exhausting, but spending so much time in the sun, while carrying gear and kids you are just drained of energy. Fueled up on hot dogs and french fries we changed and headed to the water.

The water park on Ontario Place is decent. Larger than that which is at the Toronto Zoo, but smaller and less crowded than the one at Canada’s Wonderland. The shining star at this park was the huge bucket of water that filled and then spilled over the entire place at regular intervals. Sue and I both partook, but the girls were too small and were not interested in getting soaked.

We spent a long time trying out the various stuff in the park. Many of the good areas were crowded by larger, more aggressive kids so Emelia was a little bit intimidated and therefore didn’t get to do all she wanted to do. I did want to bring her on one of the larger tube rides they had. The kid area measured her at 40", but without shoes the water park so it was a no go. I talked to the girls there and told them about how they measured her early and they forgave the difference in height and let us pass. It was nice of them and I was going with her so no big deal.

The walk up and wait for the tube ride was long, but Emelia did well. We got a chance to see the entire area from the stairs on the way up. Some older girls (8-10 years old) talked with her on the way up. When it was our turn we got a big tube and grabbed hold. On the way down I went backwards and basically pulled her down the whole way. I outweigh Emelia by about 190 pounds so I made the ride fun, but we didn’t turn much. She had an absolute ball. She really surprised me in that she didn’t get scared at all on rides.

Since it took so long we could only make one pass and then we headed back to the locker rooms to change and get ready to head "home". The girls partially wanted to stay, but also were exhausted. Neither had taken a nap so they were wiped out. We headed back to the hotel to shower and rest a bit.

One the drive back I brought Sue around to the St. Lawrence Market area of town. Caitlin and I had been there the night before to buy food at the supermarket and got a chance to spend a couple dollars on donations during a street fair they had going on.

A shot of King Street and the clock tower at the old city hall.

One of the many churches in town. I forget the name of this one. The picture would have been nice had it not been taken through the spider web of cables used by the street cars.

After resting at the hotel we headed out yet again. The girls could not get enough of being out and about so I decided that we could walk over to Nathan Philips Square and see both old and new Toronto city halls.

Here is a nice shot of the nice looking old city hall.

The clock tower attached to the old city hall building.

Another shot of old city hall from Nathan Philips Square.

The water fountain at Nathan Philips Square.

New city hall.

The area is okay, but not much to do. There were a handful of homeless here and a bit of graffiti, but not much else. If you like architecture it’s worth the walk, but otherwise you can get the same feeling driving by  it in a car.

Nathan Philips Square from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

Caitlin!

Emelia!

Sue!

Another shot of old city hall.

The back of old city hall. We took this on our return trip to the Eaton Centre. I wanted to check out the maps for the area at Indigo.

After this trip we headed back to the hotel room for the night. We ate up left overs for dinner and headed to bed. The next day was to be a big day on the road as we made our way home. We only had a couple stops planned, but most of the day would be spent in the car driving.

On the way down we (actually I) made a mistake and didn’t get off when I should have. We ended up going to the next stop where I asked the guy how to transfer in the other direction. He said stay on and he’ll drop us off. He was being funny since the street car turns around after that stop and goes right back to where we wanted to get off originally. No big loss for us, just 10 minutes underground staring at each other while people load and unload.

Once we finally arrived at the place where we were to get on the boat we found a place to buy food for lunch. There were a few choices that Emelia and I scouted out before settling on a deli to get sandwiches, waters and chips. I wasn’t eager to spend a lot of money on lunch. It’s very easy to burn money in any city and three sandwiches, water and a small bag of chips still set us back $24. Eating at a place on the island itself would have set us back much more and for no good reason.

Lunch in had, we bought some tickets from a machine (which if you’re interested appears as a parking lot charge on your credit card) and made our way to the boat. It was busy at the docks since so many people were going out to the islands to get away from the heat. The trip over was uneventful and short, but gave us a great view of the city. When we arrived on the island I gave the camera to Sue so that she could take a few pictures of the surrounding area and the view of the city.

This might have been taken while on the boat, but it wasn’t rocking at the time. Maybe Sue was listing a bit to the side.

Now listing to the opposite side.

Ignoring the ugly tires acting as bumpers you can see a pretty bridge in the distance.

Caitlin was in her normal mood of whiney and clinging to Sue. Her main issue was that she was hungry. We left the boat and found a place to sit and eat.

Right next to the docking area is a huge field of green grass with a sprinkling of picnic tables. We made claim to a table in the shade, rested and ate lunch. We devoured our food. Emelia was a bit skeptical about the sea gulls. They were everywhere and were aggressive enough to come close looking for food and handouts. It took a while, but I was able to show her that the birds were there only to get food and that they would try to get away if you go after them. That was it for her. She had a lot of fun chasing the birds away.

There was a small slide and set of swings in the area, which we checked out. That worked well until we got there and a little boy was being a brat and didn’t want to go down the slide or get off. The care taker (not the mother) was on the ladder the whole time. After a while she got him off and we got a chance to meet each other. The little boy then whacked Caitlin on the head for no good reason. I know kids can be kids, but this was unprovoked. The care taker scolded the boy and took him away, but I felt a bit odd about the whole thing. Caitlin didn’t cry or complain, but wasn’t interested in playing there anymore.

So, we decided to find the beach. We were told there were good beaches on the islands. We rented a large wagon to hold the kids and our stuff while we trekked over to the water. Caitlin would have nobody but Sue pull her so I got a break.

This area is next to the on island amusement park. We opted not to go since were were going to be doing so many other things this week. Not to mention it wasn’t economical to go.

Plenty of wildlife on the island.

A view of personal boats in the water.

The area is picturesque.

By the time we got to the "beach" and changed the girls were not interested in going in. I’m sure the beach was better and larger than it was in the area near the locker rooms, but we were not going to do any more walking to find it. The girls didn’t seem interested. We doubled back and made our way to the wading pools where there were a lot of little kids playing.

I took Caitlin there alone and she worked her way into the pool. She was brave and wanted to go out without help, but found out quickly that she could easily go under the water. She held my hand after than incident. Eventually, Sue and Emelia came by and all the girls ended up in the water.

It was cold and not that well maintained but the kids enjoyed themselves a bit and got a chance to cool off.

Here is a shot of the area where we walked from to get to the wading pools and beach. There were large blocks of plants and gardens along the pathway.

A closer shot of the water fountain.

One of the gardens along the path.

We changed the girls and made our way back to the boat. The trip back was uneventful, but it was clear the family was tired.

Emelia was shot.

The boat was less crowded on the way back and we got on first so we had good seats and a good view of the city. This is one of my favorites views.

And of to the west.

Just east of the CN Tower.

Far east end of Toronto.

After our trip to the island we headed back to the hotel. The girls took a nap and I was sent on the errand of going to Chinatown to buy food and dinner. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but it did end up taking me over two hours to get there and back with food. I’m shocked at how long it took.

The fastest way over was to take the train and then street car. I wasn’t thinking at the time and realized the hard way that it was Monday and rush hour. Everybody was on their way home from work and transportation was packed. We waited a long time for the streetcar and it was amazing to see how such a large crowd was able to squeeze onto an already packed street car.

We were all jammed in tightly, but despite the conditions everybody including the driver was in a good mood. I didn’t notice any sour faces or angry comments at all. Normally, you have to "stay behind the white line" while on the street car, but we were so full people were up front with the driver and all the way down into the entry way on the stairs. The driver was ready to leave and nicely told the guy in front of me, "Buddy, you’ll have to move your pack. I won’t be able to drive with it bumping into me." The guy said ok and moved it. The driver asked the people near the door if it was all clear so that he could close it, they said go for it and we were off.

Somehow we made it a number of blocks letting a few people on and off. I squeezed off and made my way to my first stop. There was a pastry place that Sue read about. It was nothing like I expected. Unlike the hurried and fast paced stores in New York this was very laid back and easy going. The store specialized in moon cakes, but I just bought things I knew the girls would eat.

Next stop was a small restaurant that made baozi. It was literally a hold in the wall. Very small place with one lonely girl running the place. She was clearly the owners daughter. She wasn’t upset, but she didn’t look happy. She seemed depressed. I ordered up a few dishes and waited. I was also in the area to get dinner, but didn’t have a place in mind. I contemplated getting dinner there, but thought better of it.

I ended up going back to Rol San to order some food. The guys there were nice as they were last time we were there and even obliged my requests for multiple cups of water. I can’t say enough how hot it was. Dinner in had I made my way back to the hotel. The trip back was easier and less crowded since I was trying to go into the heart of the city, not out.

The girls ate up the food and we stayed in the hotel for most of the night. On a few nights I brought both girls out for a walk down Yonge to Dundas and through the Eaton center. I forget, but I believe this was one of those nights. Dundas square seems to always have something going on and this night they had the fountains working. The girls had fun playing with the water that squirted out of the ground while we walked around. They really enjoyed the life of the city. There is certainly to see and experience.

Back to the hotel for some rest. The following day was another big day.

The second fun bit came tonight while Sue, Emelia and I were in the living room together. We were all folding laundry. Emelia did well with her pajamas so I gave her the diaper changing pad cover. I knew it was difficult and gave it to her to see what she would do. She had it for about 10 seconds and brought it over saying that she couldn’t fold it, but she was struggling for the words. I said, “It’s shaped funny, huh?”. She replies, “Yeah, funny. Too fucking funny.” Sue and I took a double take as asked her what she said. She wouldn’t repeated it. We almost couldn’t control ourselves. When we could speak without laughing like hyenas we talked to her about not using that word.

Sue poses with Caitlin on her lap. Caitlin already ate her lunch at this point, but she was too clingy for me to take any pictures of her.

Emelia with a smirk.

Just like last year one of the parent’s brought in plain cupcakes and three tubs of frosting for the kids to put together. Emelia did well this year.

Yummy! Check out the silly bandz on her wrist. Somebody brought them in for all the kids. They’re banned in school, but not pre-school.

A few of Emelia’s friends at daycare. The one on the left is also named Caitlin, but I’m not sure of the spelling. There are two other kids named Emelia at daycare (not pictured), one named Amelia and another Emilia. The other two kids at the table have been in daycare as long as Emelia.

Little Miss Meticulous took her sweet time frosting her cupcake. I think she forgot that she was getting it ready to eat.

At least one of the kids end up with their hands covered in icing. This year it was Emelia’s friend. He split his time between putting frosting on his hands and licking it off.

In the end she ended up eating some of her cupcake.

Somehow we (just the three of us) made it through the day. I wasn’t so sure how I could do with the girls since both were sick and Caitlin is very attached to mommy and difficult to deal with when sick. I got lucky and Caitlin took a quick nap in her high chair after eating lunch.

Emelia wanted to take a nap on the couch. She surprised me by actually sleeping there. I made her a “bed” out of the love seat and a tucked in blanket. Emelia slept well, but Caitlin woke up after 40 minutes and proceeded to torture me for another 40 minutes. By three o’clock I broke down and took the girls out for a ride. The little one took a nice short nap. We had ourselves some ice pops to soothe throats.

Unfortunately, they ended up getting me sick. I did my best to avoid it by washing my hands, not sharing with them, etc, but it’s likely I got sick the same time Emelia did, I just didn’t realize it immediately. I almost went to work on Thursday, but ended up staying home again. This time Sue stayed home to watch the girls. We ended up taking turns, but she still took the lion share of the work. One fortunate thing was that the kids are nearly fully back to normal. It’s a quick sickness.

Sue kept Emelia busy with painting. Caitlin spent time “coloring”.

Sue teaching Emelia to paint some sun catchers that we bought months ago for Easter.

Caitlin’s masterpiece being made.

Caitlin had more fun putting the crayons back into the bag and then dump them than she did actually coloring.

A little video of the kids being creative.

Being Creative from xiaoniu on Vimeo.

By Friday morning it appeared that both girls were almost completely healthy again. They went to daycare I was good enough to take advantage of my already scheduled day off. High humidity and hot temps kept me from doing all the work I wanted to do, but it was a very productive day overall. The car finally got washed after many months and waxed for the first time ever. All I can say is that I’ll be glad to go back to work on Monday. Having a few days off, albeit sick most of the time did wonders for my mental health. Couple that time off with weekends front and back, and a couple days of atypical work and I’ve been able to clear my mind. Finally, for once I’m not thinking about work.

Here are all of the graduates along with some of the four year old kids that were there to participate. They started off with a procession into the auditorium and walked to their chairs.

The little graduate.

Here is Olivia holding up her end of the bargain by being well behaved and quiet. By the end she wanted out the car seat.

Caitlin spent the time walking up and down our row of chairs, climbing up and down and showing off her boo-boo (she had blood drawn for some tests). I can’t complain, because she was relatively quiet the entire time. The only moment she was trouble was when she tried to run off.

The kids were awarded certificates of graduation and sang a few songs. Each child also got to tell everybody what they learned while at daycare. James was proud to say that he learned his phone number. I would post the video, but he really does know his phone number and told everybody in the auditorium. It was cute.

Caitlin doing her best to squirm out of my arms. She was tired and ready for bed. I was hoping for a nice picture together, but this is all we could get.

James and the girls.

James and one of his buddies. This little guy’s aunt works where I work.

James’ grandparents came up to attend the ceremony and visit with the family.

Afterwards we headed back to the daycare for pizza and snacks. The kids stuffed themselves with pizza and cookies. I gave Emelia a small cup of soda, which is a first for her. She took one sip and told me to give her a cup of tap water. That’s my girl.