Grandad's Visit
Happy holidays! I can't believe it is not only the end of another month, but also the end of another year. (Oh, and the end of a decade!) Goodness time is flying. We've had a busy but fun month in the lead up to Christmas, starting with a visit from Andy's dad. This was an impromptu trip, decided on only a few weeks before. Oh, how easy it is to travel to and from England now that we live in Canada.
This was Dave's first trip to Canada, and he was greeted with lots and lots of snow. Dave got to experience the sledding school run early his first morning here:
Once Ella was at school, Andy took his dad to Crawford Lake for some snowshoeing to kick off his visit. I unfortunately had to work, but from all accounts it was a good first day in Canada for Dave.
Just to clarify... I feel like I'm giving the impression that everyone just gets around on sleds and snowshoes here in the winter, which is totally not the case. I don't think any other kids travel to Ella's school via sled, and I've only been snowshoeing once, on a school trip when I was in like grade 5.
Next stop for Dave was a day in Niagara Falls, which is about 1.5 hours drive from our house. Even though it is pretty cold there in the winter, it can be very beautiful when all the mist from the waterfall freezes on the nearby trees. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for Dave it wasn't quite cold enough for that to be happening on the day they went.
Two of the coolest attractions you can do at Niagara Falls are Maid of the Mist and Journey Behind the Falls. The Maid of the Mist is a boat ride to the bottom of the falls and it is pretty awesome. This doesn't run in the winter though, so Dave will have to wait for his next visit for this one. They were able to go on the Journey Behind the Falls, which is exactly what the name says... a walk down through tunnels that cut through the bedrock the the water flows over, where you can observe the waterfall from behind. These up close views of the falls give you an idea of the absolute power and force of all that water.
Andy and his dad also went up the Skylon Tower to get a bird's eye view of the falls. We all know how much Dave loves a tower!
The bridge in the first photo connects Canada and the USA. The part of Niagara Falls in this picture is on the American side.
Andy also took his dad to Port Credit, the area of Mississauga on Lake Ontario. There Dave got a look at his first Canadian wildlife: a beaver! I don't even think I've ever seen a beaver in the wild!
The last big event of Dave's whirlwind week with us was a day in Toronto, complete with a ride up the CN Tower (of course!). The first day Andy and Dave went to Toronto, it was cloudy and rainy so they cancelled the trip up the tower and visited another famous Canadian attraction... a shopping mall. I think Dave was pretty surprised with the scale of the malls here, but if he was here all winter he'd understand the need for indoor shopping. Here is Andy at the Eaton Centre, with the tallest Christmas tree in Canada, standing at 108 feet tall:
Two of the coolest attractions you can do at Niagara Falls are Maid of the Mist and Journey Behind the Falls. The Maid of the Mist is a boat ride to the bottom of the falls and it is pretty awesome. This doesn't run in the winter though, so Dave will have to wait for his next visit for this one. They were able to go on the Journey Behind the Falls, which is exactly what the name says... a walk down through tunnels that cut through the bedrock the the water flows over, where you can observe the waterfall from behind. These up close views of the falls give you an idea of the absolute power and force of all that water.
Andy and his dad also went up the Skylon Tower to get a bird's eye view of the falls. We all know how much Dave loves a tower!
The bridge in the first photo connects Canada and the USA. The part of Niagara Falls in this picture is on the American side.
This picture is of the Canadian side of the falls.
Andy also took his dad to Port Credit, the area of Mississauga on Lake Ontario. There Dave got a look at his first Canadian wildlife: a beaver! I don't even think I've ever seen a beaver in the wild!
We got to show Dave some crazy Christmas house decorations, which I think is a very North American thing, including this one not far from us:
The next day Andy had an interview for a teaching job at my school (which he got, yay! More on that in another post), so my dad took him into the city for the day. The two grandads had a great time together, and my dad is a really good tour guide as he grew up in the city. The weather was much more cooperative that day, so they were able to go up the CN tower to get a look at the city and surrounding suburbs of Toronto.
This is Nathan Phillip's Square, where city hall is and a great skating rink in the winter:
Some fun Christmas window's at Canada's oldest department store: Hudson's Bay Company.
And a walk around the Roger's Centre (which I will still forever call by it's original name, the Skydome), where the Toronto Blue Jays, our baseball team, plays.
Dave's week went by really quickly, but it was so great to have him here. The kids loved having another grandparent around, and it was lovely to see how close they are with him, despite only seeing him a few times a year. It was a shame Bunny couldn't make it this time, but her and Dave will be here for three weeks in March so before long Ella and Ollie will have even more grandparent time.
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