My brother, his wife and their 2 kids were just here visiting with me. We had such a great time! It was their first real time in Toronto (or Canada for that matter) though they were all here for my wedding reception in 2006. That was just a weekend though and they didn’t get to see much of the city.
June 24th - Tuesday
They spent all day in Niagara Falls and didn’t arrive till after 7pm. We went to Memories of Japan for a tappanyaki dinner. The kids seemed to really like the food and the chef did some egg juggling and an onion volcano! My brother and his wife went out to check out a bar nearby, Scruffy Murphy’s. The kids stayed the night with us and we played Rock Band all night.
June 25th - Wednesday
Took the kids to our indoor pool to swim for a little bit but we were all hungry and the building was having water issues AGAIN. We went to Licks for lunch then took the subway to Union Station and walked down Front Street to the CN Tower. We purchased tickets through Airmiles so we had the full package and express elevator. They seemed to think it was cool. Especially the glass floor!
We found the skyway back to Union Station and met up with Ken to go to dinner at Pappas Grill on the Danforth. Isabel had a minor melt-down before dinner but DJ took her outside for awhile and she was fine after. We had a noisy bunch of teachers having their end of the year party at a table next to us. They were quite rowdy but it was funny to watch. After dinner we drove around the city a bit and Ken gave a mini-tour. Then back at our apartment we played some more Rock Band and Daemon played some Assassin’s Creed. Isabel didn’t have an extra pull-up with her so she went back to the hotel with DJ & Missy.
June 26th - Thursday
We woke up late, my brother had been trying to call but he had been using my cell phone number and I didn’t hear it. I drove Daemon over to pick them up so he could get changed. Then because of the time we just went to the Science Center, had lunch in their cafeteria and spent a good 3 hours looking at all the stuff and chasing after the kids. They especially loved the Science Arcade, the Giant Mouse Trap (like the game) and Isabel had to be dragged away from the Kid Spark area which had a stage set up with working lights and songs. Then at 5pm we saw Roving Mars in the Omnimax Theater. So cool! Everyone had a great time, though I think my sister-in-law had the best time there :p
Then we picked up Ken again for dinner and went to Pier 4. The kids didn’t really seem that interested in all the naval decorations but it was such a pretty view on the water and they loved the food. My brother & his wife shared a huge seafood platter for 2 that had everything you could want, if you like seafood that is!
June 27th - Friday
Picked everyone up at the hotel and we met Ken’s sister at the Pickle Barrel for lunch. Afterwards we took the kids to the Toys R Us store to browse. Managed to make it out without buying a THING! Then we hopped on the subway again, this time to Museum station and went to… wait for it.. the MUSEUM (Royal Ontario Museum)! They had a great Dinosaur exhibition going on. Pretty cool actually. Then they had a bunch of art and artifacts from different regions, China, Korea with some gorgeous mother of pearl inlaid furniture which is my favorite, Europe: Themes and collections with suits of armor and such, Europe: History of Style with displays of Victorian & other outfits and home decor, Africa, the Americas & Asias Pacific, Middle East & South Asia, Africa: Egypt which was the coolest of course!, Cyprus, The Bronze Age Aegean, & Greece which had the best jewlery display next to Egypt. We spent a long long 6 hours there, but only had one Isabel melt-down.
Ken picked us up after, and we drove to the Mandarin chinese buffet near our apartment. They are huge fans of chinese buffets so everyone loved it. Lots of variety there. We were all extremely stuffed! My friend came over after dinner and my brother entertained us all with stories and videos from Iraq. Then he and his wife went back out to the bar for their last night together. Daemon played more Assassin’s Creed. Isabel had a short melt-down when she couldn’t watch Meet the Spartans because we have it on Blu-Ray and that can only be played on the PS3 which Daemon was using. After some threats and some alone time in a bubble bath she calmed down and we watched her movie later.
I miss them already and I hope they can come back again this summer but I doubt my brother will be able to join them for awhile. My sister-in-law and the kids are staying witih my mom and younger brother in Virginia for awhile and my older brother will be in Florida doing some training.