An island in the City

Toronto is blessed with having many attractions for both those visiting from outside the country as well as those of us that live in and around it. The Toronto Islands are one such jem. From the heart of the city just a 15 minute ferry ride over and you seem to be as far away from the city as you can be, but if you look over your shoulder you can still see the Toronto Skyline reminding you that you haven't even left the city.

This little outing actually served two purposes as it was also a cousins get together. With many of the cousins being teachers it was easy to arrange a weekday event. Those few of us that are not teachers just took a day off and it was all set.

The day was perfect. It seemed to revolve around eating cold KFC which was purchased the night before. Around noon we dug into the greasy delight. No Superbowl ordering fiasco this time (I'll fill you in on that story at a later date) as we got just a little bit more than we needed. It was a little hot at times but enough trees and a bit of a breeze to cool you off when necessary, not to mention a splash pad for the kids.

Many childhood memories were shared and maybe a few more created.
Some more photos can be found here.

Just found this neat new feature in Picasa web albums

Simpsons Terry

The Simpsons movie will be coming out sometime this week. As with any new movie these days it has a web site. There is not much to it yet but they have a place where you can create your own Simpsons avatar. I'm not sure if it looks like me but the wardrobe is pretty close. All I needed was another shirt on top of the existing shirt. If you visit different areas of the web site it them shows your avatar with all the other Simpsons characters. I'm sure the movie will be funny but I doubt I'll go and see it.

On the other hand I've seen a trailer for 1-18-08 that looks quite interesting. We'll have to wait for that date to see it though.

Ottawa

We decided to spend Canada Day in our nations capital. Yes Ottawa is the capital of Canada not Toronto. Once you see Parliament Hill and all the other buildings in Ottawa you quickly realize why it was chosen as the Capital.
I had been in Ottawa once before for a grade 8 trip. I think we spent 3 days there. I vaguely remember some of the stuff we did but I think I forgot most of it. I seem to remember a photo on the steps of Parliament but that may be a trip we did to Queens Park in Toronto.
It was nice to spend Canada in the Capital. There was a certain buzz about the city and everyone was in a festive mood.
The kids once again impressed me with their ability to walk everywhere. We stayed in a hotel close to Parliament but they walked well beyond any other kids we saw.

Things to think about:

• French/English
  
• that little hike over the river taking you to Quebec
• Government workers
  
• they seemed to all be on break quite often during the day
• Tim Hortons
  
• what would we do without it on such trips. Now more that ever given their non-donut and coffee options
• French Fry trucks
• They were everywhere on Canada Day