mother’s day weekend

as mentioned, chaeli and i had our own pre-mother’s day celebration. and yes, she finished all five comic books by dinner time that day. we’ll probably go back in june. and to be honest, because i wasn’t prepared, i didn’t really get a chance to look at a lot of the graphic novels. i want to get back into reading sandman and hellblazer.

it was a very nice, albeit cold, weekend. friday night, we went to oakville to hang with ada and hoa. they took us to a burger restaurant known for their 100+ choices, which was just in walking distance.

a good thing – we needed that walk back just to help digest those crazy burgers! the chain is called the works. and while it’s a carnivore’s heaven, there’s the option of subbing the beef burger for chicken. and a huge selection of vegetarian options (especially the ones featuring a portobello mushroom as the core).

sunday morning, i was prepared for the feasts (yes – plural) ahead of me so i woke up to start my workouts (yes, once again, plural) at 7am. i started with the p90x strength circuit training, chest, delts and triceps, and after a 15 minute rest to re-hydrate and take hobbes out on his potty break, i finished off with a really strong ashtanga vinyasa / power yoga session. i was half way through when doug came home from his shift.

with flowers and fresh berries from the store on the way home, him and chaeli made me a cinnamon bread french toast and breakfast sausage brunch. with blueberries and my favourite, blackberries! oh… and very good coffee!

later that day, we went up to my parents’ place and basically, ate some more. i also treated myself to THREE gin & tonics.

apparently, there’s more, though. while sunday at my parents place was nice for all, i really needed a day for just the three of us and was a bit bummed not to get it. especially as i had a very early morning Monday – had traveled for work to the states – coming home later than usual to boot.

they’re taking me out this weekend. i’m not being told where… just whether i want my brunch on saturday or sunday. so… i suppose there will be a post-mother’s day celebration to follow.

pre-mother’s day celebration

like last year’s mother’s day weekend, doug had to work today. so i decided to do some type of mother-daughter thing again with chaeli.

it’s been a very long time since we returned to one of my childhood haunts, silver snail, and in fact, the last time i was there was at their old, orginal location with chaeli. she was quite young at the time. the visit was also very short – not knowing how to read (or the importance of the comic book world and superheros), she wasn’t that interested in what the store had to offer.

but she’s twice the age as that last time. and she now totally gets the whole superhero universe. so, after sleeping in, stretching out with some gentle, vinyasa yoga, we drove to the library to drop up some books and pick up ones that were on hold, then drove to the subway station to take the tube downtown.

first, we stopped at mr. greenjeans for lunch where i fulfilled my craving for a light, seared, tuna sandwich (sushi grade so kept nicely rare inside). then out to the streets we went where it didn’t take long to find the new location of my beloved comic book store.

waiting for fries!

unlike the last time, chaeli was totally mesmerized. she went right to the newly released section and started to flip through a comic book right away. i took a photo of her (below) to email to right there and then.

a geek in training

she ended buying five teen titan comics and well, i have to admit that i miss the old pricing from back when i was her age. at an average of $3.50 per comic book, i was looking at close to $20 for those five after tax!

we also looked around at all the toys hanging on the walls. we stopped at a miniature gremlim.

“what’s that?” she asked.

“oh… it’s a gremlin,” i answered with nostalgia, “it’s from this movie from when i was your age… they stay cute like this but turn into that if you don’t take care of it properly.” i said this last part while pointing to the evil gremiln at the bottom row.

“what do you meant?” what do you do to turn it into that?”

“umm… don’t feed it? or something like that…. no water… or light… i think it’s that you can’t feed it…”

“don’t feed it after midnight,” one of the young, male store employees interjected.

“that’s right… you can’t feed it after midnight! thank you!” and to myself, i’m thinking, how does this guy now? he wasn’t even born when the movie came out!

but it didn’t stop there. store employee girl #1 said, “you can’t get them wet or they will multiply…” and store employee girl #2 added, “and they don’t like like – it hurts them.”

then the two girls went into a discussion about how the light kills them but the first girl said that it only hurts them. yet, apparently as explained by girl #2, in the sequel, it kills them.

at this point, i’m thinking, there was a 2nd movie?

and these people are all half my age.

at the same time, their friendliness, willing to help and total geek-like nature made me just love them all! while my knowledge about all things 80′s-geek is a bit rusty, i had this feeling that i was right at home.

[note to my friend, B: if you ever go to silver snails don't ever admit you have no idea what a flux capacitor is! you'll make the entire place fall into a deep silence. they might have to ask you to leave the store.]

it was a very cool little adventure with my little miss. she’s reading her very first comic book now. and is already asking when we’ll be going back for more.

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a dialogue about adam levine with my 9 year old

we were watching The Voice when chaeli commented, “hey, i didn’t know adam wears glasses!” he wore them during one of his coaching sessions for the knock-out round.

i said, “i guess he does. i think he looks better in them!”

“i don’t like him in glasses.”

“did you know that auntie cathy loves adam levine?”

“i like him too!”

“yeah, but auntie cathy thinks he’s SEXY**!”

*surprised look from chaeli*

“what… you think he’s sexy, too? do you like him the way auntie cathy likes him?”

“ah hahahha! nooooo… ha ha ha!”

“oh… you’re embarrassed. that’s okay, we can talk about it later.”

“hahaha! i don’t want to talk about it later! hahaha-haaaa!”

chaeli was laughing so hard she almost had trouble breathing.

i continued teasing her as she went up the stairs to get ready for bed. she had to lie down until she was able to contain herself.

of course, i kept on just saying in different ways how auntie cathy loves him, has the biggest crush on him and think he’s sexy**

it was awesome.

then she asked, “did you want to marry a SEXY man, mommy?”

i replied, “i did… i married daddy!”

“ah ha ha ha! daddy’s not sexy! ewww… that’s gross! hahaha!”

**it should be pointed out that in no time, did my friend cathy, ever admit to thinking adam levine is sexy – perhaps just a small crush on the man but that is all. i added the whole ‘sexy’ bit because i knew it would make chaeli uncomfortable. and it makes for a better blog post.

barque.ca, baseball game and moose steak

we met up with friends at barque for an amazing brunch. and when i mean amazing, i mean AMAZING! doug ordered the barque benedict which was on top of a smoked brisket which was on top of two toasted cornbread which was all covered and smothered with a bbq hollandaise sauce.

i was very tempted in ordering this but my gut instinct was to give their smoked trout omelette a try. and i was not disappointed at all. in fact, i don’t recall such a good omelette!

we’ll be heading back to this restaurant again… and again! the aim is to try everything on their menu at least once.

view from their seats

the husband of our friends, who happens to be my director, had two company tickets for the next day – toronto blue jays versus the new york yankees! doug and i have had these seats a couple of times in the past so we fully knew the view was going to be outstanding. but as there were only two tickets, i told doug to take chaeli since she’s been wanting to go for the past couple of years.

new blue jays fan in the making

luckily, chaeli’s first game resulted in a win for our team – 8 to 4. and daddy could not resist buying her her very first team baseball cap. he got one himself and i’m trying to forget that we now have $60 less in our pockets (not including the cracker jack, cotton candy, water and beer – all these things are so much more jacked up in price at a game!) but it was a great day and chaeli scored amazing seats for her first game.

to just back-track a bit, doug, chaeli and i also took hobbes back to high park after brunch with our friends, since barque was only a few minutes away. it gave hobbes a chance to burn out some of his canine energy and for the rest of us to walk off our brunch. the day was windy but the walk along the leash-free trail was nice. plus chaeli got another chance to visit the high park zoo.

as mentioned the other day, we had moose steak for dinner. doug’s had moose meat before but it was a first for me (and chaeli… and yes, hobbes, too). i have been wanting to try moose meat for awhile now. i’ve tried many other types of meat such as reindeer, elk, alligator, snake, frog legs, shark (not fins – actual shark meat), sea turtle (farmed, not the endangered type), bison, buffalo, ostrich and chocolate covered cricket. moose was definitely up their on my priority list.

it was a great way to end another wonderful weekend.

eyeing our leftovers

we had moose steak for dinner tonight. and some one else was eyeing our leftovers…

mmm…. can i have some, too?

board games, high park zoo and duck confit french toast

this weekend, as do all good weekends, went by too fast. but it was a good weekend indeed. the type i wish i could just put in a jar for a rainy day.

doug did have to work saturday, so that day was low key. chaeli and i took hobbes to the vet for a routine heart worm check-up. not fun for him since they had to put a needle in his hind thigh to draw some blood. the poor guy starts to shake whenever he’s on top of the examining table.

nothing special happened for the majority of the afternoon. chaeli had homework and i had housework. but then, being the amazing, domesticated mom that i am, i told her to put socks on because we were going to wendy’s. and not just eat food from wendy’s. but eat there.

which is fun for a kid. for me? it just means the garbage can be disposed of THERE and not at HOME. and the mess, should there be a mess would be THERE. and no, not at all at HOME.

i made up for my lack of domesticated skills after dinner though. well, sort of. my intent, in order to win mother of the year, was to just turn on netflix and veg out in front of the tv.

chaeli, however, wasn’t in the mood for tv. she asked, “can we play board games?”

i looked at her and replied back with a question, “really? with just the two of us? don’t you think it would be more fun if we did family game night with daddy home?”

“no… it can be fun with just two people.”

i will admit. i took a moment to think of all the excuses i could think of. i had my heart set on being lazy in my pj’s, lying in bed watching whatever netflix had to ofer, at least for kids. plus, do you know what it is like to play boardgames with kids? they either don’t follow the rules or they take a long time to decide on their move or they whine when they lose.

well, maybe not all of them and not all the time. the potential for any of these things to happen can very well happen.

but suddenly, i was in the mood to play myself. and i’m glad we did play that junior scrabble game, even though it forces you to limit your choices to the words already on the board. because it was a great way to spend the evening.

the next day was quite nice. we met up with ada and hoa at high park so doug could go for a run with them. while they ran, chaeli and i took hobbes to the off-leash trail to get some fresh air and move our muscles a bit.

i was not at all feeling guilty for the fact that i wasn’t joining them. in fact, i was rather happy to announce, “i don’t run. yoga, p90x and wimping out on gym cardio machines… that will do it for me!” they’re all marathon/triathlon types. or at least 10K types. and due to this, doug has been eating healthy and cutting back on the luxuries that happens to be beer. that’s why i don’t do marathons. i like to eat.

ada only did 30 minutes with them and then text-ed us to meet up with where ever we were. which was good. chaeli wanted to go to the zoo but with hobbes, i have to keep him away from the fenced in animals. ada was able to stick closer to her while i stood back whenever hobbes got overly excited from seeing an animal which he probably took as being a very, very large dog. except when he saw the turkeys and peacocks. then he just took them as very, very large birds.

we ended up at origin afterwards for an awesome brunch.

duck confit and french toast… heaven!

cool ski chiquita

we decided to take advantage of saturday’s amazing, sunny and mild weather. so off we went for a little longer day out on the slopes.

once again, chaeli did really well. a couple of falls but for the most part, she held her own. near the end of the slope, she also started to pick up speed and do more sudden stops. there was definitely a noticeable increase in confidence.

VID-20130309-00037 a video by shyeyes on Flickr.

in fact, she even was starting to put on this ‘yeah, i’m cool’ aura about her. usually, my daughter is all excited, bubbly and it’s difficult to get her to just calm down when she’s about to do something she really, really loves to do. but as soon as we got there, she strolled into the lodge and was all, “i’m putting on my bored look. because people who look bored are cool. the world bores you when you’re cool. and i’m just very,  very cool.”

if she had a thought bubble above her head, it might even read, “yeah. i can do this. bring it.”

not sure where this all came from. but as she’s not the most athletic kid, i’m glad she has something to be confident about.

my parents came during the last 1.5 hour of our 4 hour rental period to watch chaeli. they were extremely impressed. i may be speaking too early but the kid seems to have a natural ability on the slopes. she comes by it honestly – doug is a whiz on skis.

as for me, i’m happy to say that yesterday was a hell of a lot better than last week. i fell a few times but  for the most part, i got the carving skills back. my s-turns were wide still, but the fact that i was more comfortably able to go from toe to heel and more importantly, heel to toe, made my day more enjoyable and less painful. well, there’s definitely some pain as far as muscle stiffness and soreness.

doug will be taking chaeli on the bigger green runs later this week if the weather co-operates. and i’m hoping, if there’s still enough snow around, i’ll get a chance to hit some of the longer runs myself before the season ends.

there were moments when i was coming down the hill just gliding from heel to toe and back, totally in the zen moment of boarding (exactly the feeling i wanted to get back) but then there were moments where all three of us where going down together – doug and chaeli on skis while i was not far behind them, doing my thing. it felt really good… to glance to the side and seeing them in their own world as well.

if chaeli and i can improve to the point where we can spend more time skiing/boarding during the winter, the cold, long months may not seem so bad.

it was just such a great day, which ended with a crap load of wings and beer (we treated my parents out for dinner).

embracing winter

i have to admit, since toronto’s winters have been more on the mild side (compared to what i remember as a child thanks to global warming), i’ve become a bit of a wimp with all the snow fall lately.

doug, however, has been encouraging us to embrace winter by getting out more and doing more winter activities. we think it will also help with my anxiety and depression which magnifies during the colder months.

the snow shoeing idea was a good investment. but skiing and snow boarding is another important activity we want to try and squeeze in.

this past saturday was our first ski/board day with chaeli. doug and i were prepared for the worst. chaeli is not the most athletic kid so we braced ourselves for posible whining, crying and frustrations.

pushing off!

she surprised the both of us. the kid got bit by the skiing bug within the first hour! we only went to a small hill just outside our city so it was a great place for beginners. but the beginner hill was steep enough to some momentum going.

after a short break, chaeli was begging to get back out there again. and then at the end of the day, she was asking when we can do it all again. by the end of the afternoon, she was going down without doug. and i have never seen doug as proud and as happy about chaeli’s accomplishments as he showed it that day.

practicing her turns

as for me, well… i’m 40. and have not been back on the board since 10 years ago (or maybe more). i was a mess at the beginning. after 3 hours, i improved more since my first, first-time… but there’s much more room for improvement. my body is sore but i’m not giving up. i have no real joy to ever get to those black diamond runs, but if i can make it down a blue trail as my best achievement, i’ll be happy with that.

i’m being real here. because i may be 50 by that time.

Disney World 2013 – Magic Kingdom

strange enough, even though we bought the park hopper option, we only visited the Magic Kingdom twice (one evening and then one full day), spending more time in Epcot. while chaeli enjoyed going on all the rides in The Magic Kingdom, she was much more interested in the more interactive, high-tech attractions. plus, i find she’s starting to seek that adrenaline rush for speed.

yeay for minnie mouse ears!

the Magic Kingdom, however, will forever remain my favourite. while i have key favourite elements from the other theme parks, the Magic Kingdom holds the most disney magic, so to speak. i always suggest 2 full days here and then 1.5 days for Hollywood Studios and Epcot. the park hopper option was a good choice, though – it allowed us to return to some of the theme parks that had extended hours (attractions were only opened, during this time, to those staying at a disney resort – we were actually carded for each ride during these hours).

snapped during fireworks

one of our first stop the first night in the Magic Kingdom was the new Journey of the Little Mermaid ride. similar to the classic animatronics style, like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan in the newly (and beautifully) renovated Fantasyland, it was great for little ones as well as all other ages who enjoy the whimsical delight of what disney’s foundation truly is – to capture the child in all of us.

it was interesting reading some of the reviews before trying the ride myself. people either hated it or loved it. those who felt it was only so-so admitted that they went on it mainly for their children’s sake but that had they been there without kids, they would not have bothered. the ride, however, was geared to follow the traditions of Fantasyland and meant as a family-friendly ride for those that have young children.

the design of the castle encompassing the ride was gorgeous. there was plenty to see and marvel at during the line-up (which was a short line-up for us since we got fast passes).

“winnie the pooh is so soft!”

can’t forget little piglet!

chaeli celebrated her 9th birthday morning at The Crystal Palace – another character dining experience with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. She got another autographed birthday card with all the characters from the 100 Acre Woods posing in front of the castle.

in fact, from the moment we arrived to our resort, chaeli was adorned with mardi gras beads, disney stickers and a birthday button. doug and i were given celebration buttons to wear to in order to support chaeli’s birthday week. so long as we wore those buttons, we got little surprises here and there. i know no other place that does it like disney.

anyway, the resaurant was also buffet style but as usual, the food was freshly made. all week, none of the buffets disappointed us – not at all like some buffets where you can really tell that the food was sitting there for awhile under heat lamps. i noticed that all the food trays were actually small for the magnitude of the crowd. i assume it was because they were on heavy rotation from the kitchen where everything was being constantly made, fresh from the stoves and ovens. the highlight was the puffed french toasts.

the characters were amazing. as usual, they played their roles very well but this set of characters looked extra soft that i had to really control myself! i almost ran up to give each one a hug!

spooky, funny, adorable ghosts

now that chaeli is older, i was able to convince her to go on The Haunted Mansion ride. i do remember being deathly afraid when i was really young (5 years old) but as i grew up, i started to appreciate the humour of The Haunted Mansion as only disney can pull off. chaeli was apprehensive at the beginning, when they cattled us in this dark room and closed the door on us – an introductory part before the actual ride began. but once we got going, she was captivated by all the ghostly, special effects.

classic disney parade

as we were leaving the park, we were just in time to catch the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. it’s one parade we missed the last couple of times so i’m glad we were able to see it. chaeli got a prime spot right at the edge of Main Street just as all the prince, princesses and their friends passed by. she also got a chance to see mickey and minnie at the start of the parade.

• all photos of the Magic Kingdom can be viewed here