Weekend Recap

 

  The kids did not have school on Friday.  E went to the food bank to volunteer with a couple of friends.  They were there for a few hours, a great way to spend a day off of school!

I did a workout before dinner, while Dave and the boys played PS5. 

On Saturday, we took Q to a baseball camp with Vladdy!! Yes, that Vladdy (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays in case you aren't baseball obsessed like we are).  This event came up on my Instagram a few months ago, a three hour baseball clinic with an opportunity to "hang out" with Vladdy.  I wasn't sure if this was a real thing or a scam, but we signed up and I did learn it's a real thing but the "hanging out" was not going to be much, fair enough. You could sign up for upgrades for a one-on-one photo with Vladdy but we didn't do that.

Looking good!

Ready to take the field.  There were about 400 kids there, divided into different groups.  They rotated around doing different baseball drills. 

The man himself!!

Q was eager for everything. 

Q's group getting ready for their photo with Vladdy.  Q said he got to high five him after the photo, so it was all worth it for that moment :)

After we got back, I took E with me for a walk up the street.  We got a Booster Juice and some ingredients for dinner. 

And Q and I made cookies too.  

We had homemade pizzas for dinner and watched Tron.  Then after the kids went to bed Dave put on A House of Dynamite and we thought we would just watch a little bit, but it was very engaging and we had to watch the whole thing. 

On Sunday morning we walked up to have breakfast at a new spot by our house, Yolks. It was nice to be up and out of the house early.

We did a great job in the afternoon of tidying up the house and organizing various thins, including the front closet. I got some of the old shoes out of there and put our hats and mitts in our drawers. 

I made this stew and put it in the oven for it's two hour cooking time, which meant I had lots of time for a workout. I did a 60 minute bike bootcamp.

The stew was smelling good when I came upstairs. 

Q got this little soapstone carving kit for his birthday, so he started working on that.

I worked on our Christmas cards and E did his homework (because why not leave it to Sunday night when you had all weekend?!!).  We capped off our night with a couple of episodes of The Office. 

Friday Favourites

 Happy Friday!

We had some lingering snow this week but I was able to outfit the kids in warm clothes for their walk to school (except that E needs new boots). We are starting to look ahead to ski season and that’s the only reason why I’m happy to see some snow and cold temperatures. 

We handed out our Christmas party invitations in the neighbourhood on Tuesday night. Q was a big help.  Always nice to see our house from a different angle. 

Q’s piano needed to be rescheduled on Wednesday so I had time to walk to pick him up from school (because we didn’t need to be at the piano lesson for a specific time).  We ran into E and his friend and the kids all stopped for a cookie. 

Thursday morning called for The Grinch during breakfast.  We watch this movie way too many times during the Christmas season.

On Wednesday I did a Day in the Life post of my day on Monday. It was a pretty normal day.

We have a treat tomorrow - we signed up Q for a baseball “camp” with Vladdy Guerrero Jr.  Not sure the extent of the actual interactions with Vladdy but we are excited to see him.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Weekend Recap

First of all, it is Remembrance Day and that is always a special day on the calendar for me.  As noted previously, it is not a holiday in Ontario, but I will watch the ceremony from Ottawa.  The Bridge podcast had listener letters about Remembrance Day on their Thursday, November 6th program.  I always enjoy hearing about the various people that served and how people remember.

I started listening to Christmas music last week.  I was just tired of the regular music I was listening to so I clicked into our Christmas playlist and chose Jamie Cullum, a jazz artist from England. It was a nice introduction to holiday music for the season.

After work I got a bike in before dinner. Q was keeping me company.

We enjoyed a steakhouse style meal at home.  It was delicious.

Dave had one last round of golf on Saturday morning.  

When we got going for the morning we went out to rake some leaves. We did about 7 bags.

Then we walked up to get a Booster Juice and a few things for dinner.  Q went to hit some baseballs with his friend and I did a bike boot camp.  

I made these candied pecans for our dinner to have on a spinach salad.  They were so good.

We woke up to some snow on Sunday morning.  We didn’t have any coffee at home so Dave and I walked up the street to buy some, along with some breakfast pastries.

It snowed for the rest of the day and after I did the grocery shopping I was glad to be inside.  Q was playing with his car tracks for the better part of the afternoon. 

I made some gnocchi and used up the burrata that was in the fridge.

E had been at the pool doing his Bronze Cross exam for the afternoon and evening.  He passed!! We were very proud. 

It was a good weekend to get some stuff done.

Weekend Recap

There are a few moments in life that you know for sure are going to be exceptional and for me Game 1 of the World Series, Blue Jays vs. Dodgers, in person at the Skydome will be one of those.  Going to Disney World for the first time is a contender, but I think I can say that this was probably one of the top events of my life. (Some of are you are nodding along, others are scratching your head.)

So let's recap - we are sports fans in this family and we especially love Toronto baseball.  The games are plentiful and easy to attend throughout the season.  Dave grew up playing baseball and the boys play too.  I always remember having the Blue Jays games on when I was younger and Dave and I both remember the Blue Jays World Series wins in 1992 and 1993.  We love the Blue Jays and this season was so fun to watch as they got to the top of their division and now are playing the World Series!!  

As soon as they won the American League Championship I knew that we should try to get tickets.  I remember when Taylor Swift was here last year, I thought it was impossible to get tickets so I didn't even try, and I'm not a huge Swiftie, then it seemed like everyone was going to the concert and I regretted not going.  Fast forward to now, even with tickets selling out immediately and resale prices being astronomical, I knew that I would feel left out again if we didn't find a way to go.  So we waited until Friday and scoured the various resale sites for tickets all day, with a concentrated effort from about 4:30 to game time.  There was some movement in ticket prices but not a lot, so we eventually just bit the bullet and pressed "Buy Now" on four tickets together in section 539, row 13 (way up top for those not familiar with the Skydome). There was a bit of a wrinkle when our credit cards were declined for fraud suspicion.  But we got that cleared up and paid the price and ran over to the stadium.  We were handed the "Want It All" towels and made it as the US National Anthem was starting.  We stayed on the concourse for the anthems and realized that we did the right thing by buying actual seats rather than General Admission, as the Gen Ad crowd was 5 people deep and we wouldn't have been able to see much that way.  Then we went up to our seats to see the first pitch. 

I kept thinking I can't believe the Blue Jays are in the World Series, and that we are here, and that they kept doing so well.  The crowd was amazing, on our feet for most of the game, high fiving everyone around us, spilling our popcorn all over when Barger got the Grand Slam, and screaming so much that my throat is still hurting days later.  Vibes were immaculate.  We had absolutely no regrets of spending the money on the tickets. 

Now, some photos:

We look like we are going to the game, but at this point we didn't have tickets.

Met up with Cindy and Eve for dinner at the Keg, they had tickets already.

Starting the walk down to the stadium, checking out prices all the way. 

Want it all!

We're in!!!  Let's Go!

Great moment singing O Canada with everyone. 

Our view. Yes, we are high up but there is really no bad seat in the house.

Bichette was back!!

Brief moment of the rally towel under Q's hat before the Jays tied it up and then blew it wide open.

One of many friends at the game.

We can't believe it!! 

Core memories were made!!

We were very late getting home, but it was all worth it.  After watching Game 2, we were so happy we chose to go to Game 1 instead of waiting, we would not have had the same experience at all.

Dave was golfing in the Pumpkin Scramble on Saturday morning with a 10:00 tee time, so I dropped him off there and picked up some Blue Jays doughnuts for the kids and a coffee for me.

E had some birthday money to spend so we went to the mall in the afternoon.  He got a new pair of shoes, I used a Sephora gift card for some things for me, and the boys bought a Lego set with their shared money.  As if we need more Lego but if they want to spend their money, I'm okay with it.  

We were still exhausted but we rallied so we could go to a friends' house for dinner.  We were able to walk.

Tuning into Game 2 after a delicious dinner. 

On Sunday morning I went to church and Dave and Q went to batting practice.

In the afternoon Q and I went to the golf club for some Halloween cupcake decorating and magic show. It was a fun little event.

E practiced his guitar while I did a bike.

And Q was at the Marlies game with a friend. Unfortunately they had to evacuate because of an alarm so they just went back to the friend's house for pizza and hung out there instead.  They did get on the big screen!

Dave's cousin Adam and his son were up for a curling bonspiel and they stayed with us on Thursday night and Sunday night.   I forgot to get a good group photo but here they are playing crib.