One of the things that I wanted to do was take Marcus to Choko-Moko for some gluten free treats. I bought him a croissant and a danish, and thought I'd gotten him a cinnamon roll, but that was forgotten somehow. He really enjoyed the croissant and the danish, so all was well.
Suzanne and the cousins left a little later than expected and their visiting Dad's grave, and having lunch with Mom and CJ all took a little longer than planned so our ideas for a Friday in the city changed a little bit.
We met downtown at Sankofa Square (formerly called Yonge and Dundas Square) and then went to Little Canada. Ken and I had heard mention of Little Canada a number of times, but we'd never been. We'd even talked about it, but never got so far as to plan anything until now! I am so glad that we went. It was such a neat place. It's underground, the space is around 45,000 square feet which is huge. Right now the collection includes, Toronto, the golden horse shoe, British Columbia and the East Coast. They are working on Little North right now and that is supposed to open in October I think, then the next project will be the Prairies. It was so neat and we could have spent way longer taking it all in. I think we were there for about an hour and a half.
After we left Little Canada we walked to Nathan Phillip's square. Kate and Anna left us to go on an adventure together to the Art Gallery.
Matthew came and met us and it was time to figure out where to eat.
There might have been a little crankiness with a certain unnamed grown-up who likes to plan where we eat well in advance of needing to eat, especially due to the "eating fun" that we have in our family.
Marcus is pointing to a sign that says St. George International Academy, but the sign is all blurry so you can't even tell.
After getting the cars we started driving towards Harbour Front because Suzanne wanted to eat by the water. Ken was not impressed. As we drove south we encountered massive amounts of people and parking signs that advertised $50 for parking. The concert happening at Rogers Centre - The Weeknd and the Concert at the Scotia Bank Arena - Linkin Park made driving nuts. Andrew phoned and we agreed that we'd drive over to the Beaches and try to find somewhere to eat on Queen Street.
We headed to a place that advertised Gluten Free pasta, unfortunately it was closed. So instead we went to Tiarre's Brunch and Bistro. There were things to eat, but not anything that Kate wanted. Ken took Kate over to Burger's Priest to get poutine, he got food for himself and they sat on a bench and both had some chill down time. I took some pictures and texted Zorana - seeing that we were right at the bottom of her street at the time.
The food was expensive but I think everyone enjoyed their meals. I know I enjoyed my lamb.
Zorana popped in and said hello and it was lovely to see her!
Then the sad part, it was time to say goodbye to Marcus. I wasn't ready at all. We didn't even get to visit with him for a week. I don't like the mystery of "when will I see my family again". I know I will see them, and they might even be in town next year for Rowan's son's bar mitzvah, but I just don't like saying see you sometime. I wish we all lived closer.
Joey and Marcus ended up both going with Andrew to have a hang out and sleep over at the bachelor pad. They watched sports, I don't remember which kind lol, and played on Andrew's arcade game. Andrew got them snacks and a fun time was had by all!
Saturday
Now it was my turn to be cranky. Today was a blistering heat warning, humid hot, gross day. I did not want to go to the beach. I did not want to do anything. Ken, because he's a rock star amazing human, took Ben, Fiona and Alice (he picked up some other kids too) to the ward picnic. That was nice, because they had a fun time and they didn't need to be entertained.
After much discussion back and forth Suzanne and I agreed that the beach was the thing and that is what we did. Mom and CJ came a little earlier than expected, hung out for a bit, then went to get lunch and then it was finally time to brave the outdoors and go to the beach.
I found Mom and CJ, they hand found a shady spot and we set up and then people actually swam, Joey and Andrew played catch. The non water folk chatted under the shade and it wasn't the worst thing ever. I might even maybe admit that it was nice.
After our beach adventure everyone got ready for dinner. I took the dog for a quick very hot walk, and then we all met up at the Keg in Scarborough.
I wished I'd asked our server to take a pic of the whole group, but I never quite got around to it. I did eat a bacon wrapped scallop - didn't really want to, but did it anyway. I think Ken was proud of me, but I'm not sure. It only tasted like bacon and I think I was too hung up about eating it to know whether or not I liked it, but I ate it. Everyone had a lovely meal and there was much chatting. I will never stop loving Andrew's Keg connections!!!
Sunday
Today we went to my ward and Joey bore his testimony. Suzanne and I had chatted about Joey doing his homecoming in my ward, but Joey thought that was weird but eventually I thought I would really love it if Joey could bear his testimony and he agreed, and Bro. Hemans agreed. It was so lovely to hear him speak in person and bear his beautiful testimony about the gospel and being a missionary. And CJ snuck a pic in church and I love that he did!
It was also really neat because Andree Santizo actually gave his homecoming address today. He served in Columbia and talked about finding joy. He had met a man early on and it didn't seem like he'd found joy. Andree's words were faith filled and spoke to my heart.
After church we came back home and Ken served pulled pork sandwiches for lunch. He had spent the night cooking - he even slept on the couch until 3 am so that he could finish cooking the pork. Ken is so awesome. Lunch was amazing, almost as amazing as Andrew's shirt lol.
Cousins on phones lol.
After lunch is was time for goodbye part 2. Today it was goodbye Matthew, Anna and Joey. (Scroll up and re-read what I wrote about saying goodbye to Marcus.) I don't like that we all live so far apart, but I am grateful that we see each other as much as we do.
I kind of wish I had a pic like this with each grandchild.
Anna cracks me up! (I'll never forget her making funny faces out the window when we were driving from St. George to Farmington during the summer of 2022.)
Just missing Jon. Andrew stayed for a bit and hung out with Ben and Fiona. Suzanne took Matthew, Joey and Anna to the airport.
After a dinner of leftovers Suzanne and I took Ben, Fiona, the dog and a scooter for a walk to the lake. It was a lot lol, but it was beautiful.
Monday
The winding down. This morning Ken took Alice to the church to meet the bus to go to FSY. Fiona and Ben had such a great time playing. It was really fun for Fiona to have someone to play toys with. Her sisters aren't interested in toys anymore but Fiona still loves it.
Suzanne and I had a quiet morning during play time and then we took Fiona and Ben to go swimming at Mom's again. CJ was getting ready to mail one of his paintings to Korea for a show.
After dinner Suzanne and I took the dog for a walk again and this time we left the kids behind. They were a little miffed, but they got over it!
Suzanne having a moment looking at the water. Oh my goodness the water is so healing.
Tuesday
And just like that, it was done. Another visit finished. I don't like saying goodbye to my sister, but I don't have the same sadness/fear/apprehension - I don't know what the word is. My sister and I will always make time to see each other. (And Ben, he's still little, so I get lots more visits of him) I think the nephews and nieces stress me out more because soon they will have their own lives and it will be so tricky to figure out how to see them. And I just don't talk to them the same way. Suzanne and I use the marco polo app to send each other messages, we text, we talk on the phone every once in a while. With the nephews and nieces I text and they text back, but it isn't the same. Isaac is evidence of that. He's a full time air force helicopter in training pilot and figuring out how to see him in the future is going to get more and more difficult. But I guess the visits will just e that much more meaningful when they do happen - like on Christmas Day in Florida. That was so awesome.
I'm grateful that we have had the means to travel and see each other as much as we have. I'm grateful to Suzanne for always being up for an adventure and driving up so much when she was on the east coast.
Our bye bye Bates photos!
I think this is the first goodbye pic Ken has ever been in!
The rental mini van going north on Pickering Beach. I have a few van pics driving away over the years.
Today also happens to be Lovey's birthday! Happy sweet 16 Lovey!
Suzanne and I had briefly talked about driving caravan style together and spending some time in Niagara on the Lake on her way to the airport in Buffalo. We both agreed that it didn't really make sense considering she wouldn't have much time, but it tugged at my heart strings pretty good when she sent me this pic of Ben in front of the rectory, where Anna and David lived for a number of years.
Oh my dear sister. I love you so very much. I'm grateful for our bond. I love your kids and your husband. I love that we are sisters and great friends. I wish you weren't so far, but I'm so thankful to you for making so much for effort to visit. Thank you for a wonderful visit. Until next time.
