McCartney Family: April 2026

My birthday plans started with wanting to go downtown to Kensington Market and to the Art Gallery on Saturday. Then Ken made a suggestion that went next level. "Hey, Great Lake Swimmers are playing a show Friday night, what if we go watch the show and stay in a hotel?" Part two, "And then what if the girls took the Go train and met us downtown the next day?" And my most epic birthday yet was born!

Friday at school was good. It was a good day and really, the whole week was good. I got home, walked the dog, (saw a coyote), Ken got the girls pizza, we packed and we were off. The girls planned to watch a movie together and have a fun evening.

Ken and I drove to the hotel, Gladstone house checked in and talked about what to eat for dinner. We didn't have a ton of time, so we decided to go to Burger's Priest, grab a quick bite and then make our way to The Great Hall to see the concert.

The room had a pink wall that I kind of loved. It was mostly opaque but a little bit translucent. It was one of the walls of the bathroom and when the light in the bathroom was on it glowed pink.

The exposed brick and art was fun - can you see how pink we are in the glow of the wall?!

Burger's Priest.

The Great Hall. In between acts I read all about the history on the website. It has a cool history. It started out as a YMCA, was owned by the temperance society, the Polish society and then became a concert hall. Tom Longboat trained in the facilities at one point. Refugees were housed at one point. And now it's this lovely venue.

The first act was The Deep Dark Woods. They call themselves a folk-roots ensemble. I know a few of their songs, not well, and while I didn't hate the performance, they weren't nearly as good live as they are in their recordings.

I was so excited when it was confirmed that the instrument I saw getting set up that I thought looked like a vibraphone was indeed a vibraphone. And it sounded awesome too.

We stayed up in the balcony and had a great view, and the sound for the Great Lake Swimmers was amazing. So clean and crisp and so well balanced. It was beautiful

After the show we had a really interesting conversation with the sound guy Simon. Asking him about the differences in the sound between the two bands. The first band really needs to get their live performance sound figured out because it was pretty terrible. The vocalist was so hard to hear, you couldn't understand a word he said, and the buzzing amps and the guitars it was just too loud and bad.

After the show I desperately wanted a blood orange San Pellegrino. There was a little convenience store, and wouldn't you know, they had some. I was SO excited!

After we were back in the hotel room getting settled for the night we had our first phone call from home. Fiona was fine, but needed to say good night. So we chatted twice and she went to sleep.

At three in the morning my phone rang and woke us both out of a dead sleep. Kate was in tears because everything was ruined because, news flash, the Go trains weren't running this weekend! We assured her we would figure everything out in the morning and she calmed down and Ken and I went back to sleep.

Saturday morning Ken woke up before me and as promised, he didn't wake me up! He was already trying to figure out what to do to help the girls. After much debate, messaging back and forth, we settled on having our awesome friend Doug drive the girls to the Pickering Go station where they would get an express bus directly to Union.

Meanwhile we checked out of the hotel and went to visit to Gluten Free bakeries. The room we stayed in was very small, but perfect and fun. The whole hotel was really neat, including the old fashioned elevator. Every room in the hotel was designed by a different artist and the ceiling in the lobby was hand painted. It was really neat.

The parking garage was funny. We couldn't figure out how to get out once we parked, and trying to figure out how to get back in was a little challenging too lol.

Yummy croissant and other pastries.

Amazing baguette and sour dough bread!

Once we'd visited the bakeries we made our way to Chinatown to wait for the girls. They got to Union just fine, but then figured out that not only were the trains not running, the street cars weren't running either! YEESH! But like the awesome young women that they are, they figured it out. They asked questions, they were brave, they figured it out. After a shuttle bus, they got on the street car and then we were reunited!

Funny side note - I took pictures of three street cars before this one! I had no idea which one they were on.

My family! My people! I was just so happy to see them and so incredibly proud of them!

Epic gelato in Kensington. They had dairy free!!!

After treats in Kensington, a stop off at the car to drop off coats and treats, we headed to the Art Gallery.

There was lots of sitting.

But there were also these awesome moments of connection with art.

I loved watching Fiona take a pic of this piece. It was stunning in real life. She noted that it just didn't look the same in the pic.

The Paul McCartney photography exhibit was a lot of feelings. Mom and her dementia and her little obsessions - one of which is Paul McCartney.

I love Paul Blackwood's prints.

After the art gallery tensions ran a little high. Tiredness started to show, and I almost made Ken take us home instead of to our dinner reservation. But we persevered and went to Riz and it was worth it!

We made a quick stop at Loblaws and then it was home.

I walked Milo, Ken grocery shopped and naps were had!

Sunday, my actual birthday, was mostly just a regular day. Walking the dog with Ken, church, primary singing, laundry, I helped out by playing for the Stake Choir in their first practice, walking the dog with Fiona, the missionaries over for dinner, more laundry. Between things there were awesome text messages, and polos and a phone call with a sister. There was "Great British Bakeoff" with Ken and Fiona in the basement. Most of all there was just love. I felt loved and appreciated and happy. So very happy. In a commercial break when Fiona popped upstairs I leaned over to Ken to tell him what an awesome weekend I'd had and how grateful I was. He told me that I take care of so many people, it's his job to fill my bucket. I'm so, so, so lucky to be his bride. I love my Ken and my girls so much.