Rainwater Rambling Archive

Back to the updates

The mini hiatus from regular blog updates is over. After being away for close to a month, I think I have adjusted back to life in the Tanabe household. Today we went skating at the Erin Mills Twin Arena. It was the first time for us since last year, Danny had taken the girls in the summer when they were staying at their place. Here are the girls and Sarah taking a break.

We had to buy Gillian and Angela new skates on Friday, Angela is almost the same size as Gillian now. Angela wanted to go on Saturday and was wearing her helmet around for most of the day.

The girls have a PA Day tomorrow so I took the day off. Next week is the Mississauga Santa Claus Parade in Streetsville. Both Gillian and Claudia are in the parade with their Pathfinder and Brownie groups. We're hoping for some good weather.

Angela has her Guide Enrollment this week, I post Claudia's enrollment picture when I do Angela's.

Only a month to go...

Today was the Mississauga Santa Claus parade in Streetsville. It was a beautiful day, sunny, clear and about 5°C. Claudia and Gillian were in the parade with their respective Brownie and Pathfinder groups. We had to drop the girls off at the Streetsville Go Station at 11:30 am, from there they were bussed up to the start of the parade. Here is Claudia ready to go.

We headed over to Queen St. to find a spot, even an hour before it was busy, mainly on the east side (sunny side) of the street. We were suppose to go and pick up Claudia when she was done, so we found a spot on the west side. Angela in her chair. By the time the parade was in full swing, they were lined up four deep behind us.

Hazel was leading the parade.

There was no shortage of marching bands. Check out the lead guy.

Here is a close up.

Gillian was holding the Guide banner as they marched.

Claudia was in good spirits, she said she carried the flag for a bit at the beginning.

The guy in the wgite was tossing his dough around as he walked down the street.

This was a cool float, it was a mini-train.

There was a walking green bin.

Another marching band.

A couple of Clydesdale horses.

This beaver was on a Canadian National Exhibition truck.

The last marching band.

Finally the guy we came to see.

I took some video of Santa because I figured Gillian and Claudia wouldn't have gotten to see him.

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Are We There Yet? Part 2

I have been working on the sequel to Are We There Yet? We have booked our vacation for this summer, check out the "work in progress" trip blog Are We There Yet? Part 2.

Bottles and Books

We took advantage of the great weather today and headed downtown. We parked at Yorkdale and took the subway down. You can't beat the $9.00 family day pass, unlimited travel for the day for two adults and up to four kids. We took the subway, streetcar and the bus. Here are the girls on the subway as we left Yorkdale station.

Our first stop was the Mountain Equipment Co-op down on King St. Usually this is our last stop of the day, but today it was our first. Unfortunately the climbing wall didn't open until 1:00 pm. We bought some new water bottles, these ones are Bisphenol A (BPA) free. We use to have the Nalgene bottles that were in the news recently. The girls have been coming home from school with some misinformation and we have been trying to figure out what is fact and fiction. Anyways, long story short we bought the Camelbak bottles. After the Co-op we took the streetcar back to Bay St. and waited for the bus to head up Bay St.

Here is part of the Bank of Nova Scotia building.

The TD Centre buildings.

Looking up Bay St. toward old city hall.

We got off at Queen St. and headed over to the Eaton's Centre on our way up to the World's Biggest Bookstore. The old City Hall building.

The Canada Geese are still flying in the Eaton's Centre. Did you know that the artist who created the sculpture "Flight Stop" also created "The Audience", those are the sculptures of the fans that are outside of the Skydome.

While we were having lunch a Protest against Bill C-51 went by on Queen St. Bill C-51 would lead to more regulatory scrutiny of natural health products sold in Canada. The funny thing was the guy with the biggest sign in the middle.

He was marching with the protesters except his sign was about Resisting the Mark of Slavery. Something about how everyone fitted with a bar code and put to forced and rationed labour. Apparently that is what he does all day, walk around with his sign and hand out flyer's

We made our way up Yonge Street and saw the Chalk Master, some guy who takes up part of the sidewalk on the SW corner of Yonge/Dundas. Wonder if he has a permit. This was his picture on our way to the World's Biggest Bookstore.

This was how far he had gotten by the time we came back.

Next to the Chalk guy was this lady, she would stand there like a statue.

Close-up.

A Dairy Milk billboard overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square.

Some of the sights from the square.

It was time to head home, we took the subway back to Bloor and then over to Spadina and then transferring to the Yonge-University-Spadina and back to Yorkdale. On the way down I told the girls about the long people mover they had at the Spadina station. So we figured we would transfer there instead of at St. George. I guess it's been a few years (more like 30) since I was last on it. Imagine our surprise when we turned the corner to see a 450 ft walkway. After a little Google search, we only missed it by 4 years, it was removed it in 2004.

Has anyone seen the renovated Museum stop. We only saw it from the subway car, but it almost looks like it's worth a trip on its own. Here is a picture I found on the Internet.

Downtown Mississauga

We headed into downtown Mississauga today, actually it was Square One, but it is still downtown. City Hall from the west side.

One of the new condo buildings near City Hall has gargoyles on the four corners of the building at two levels.

A photo showing the two levels of the gargoyles.

The higher gargoyle.

Angela and Claudia in the food court. Gillian is at Pathfinder camp this weekend in Campbellville.

The girls waiting for Mom to finish shopping.

Claudia has another stuffed animal from school to journal about. This time it is Blackie the Bear.

Angela in the mall.

Happy Canada Day

We headed up to the Japanese Canadian Community Picnic today. It was the 31st annual picnic and the weather couldn't have been better. We arrived around 10:00 and we were one of the early ones. We remember when the girls were little we use to get there for 8:00 to ensure we got a good spot. The last time we went was back in 2004. Here we are at our spot. As you can see in the background there was nobody around us.

The girls were busy trying to catch the minnows.

There was plenty of wildflowers around the pond.

The highlight of the day, besides eating, is the races. It started out slow with dashes as neither Claudia or Angela placed in their age groups. But then we kicked it up a gear. Here were Angela and Gillian before the 7-15 year old 3-legged race. They won the first heat and finished second in the final. Susan was disappointed because she had no partner for the 16-40 year old category.

Next  up was the Geta race, the Geta race is four people per team and they have to work together to walk to the finish line.

Again they finished first in their heat and came second in the final.

Not to be outdone Carolyn, Danny, Susan and I entered the 16+ Geta race. Again we cruised through our heat, but ended up finishing second in the final.

The wheel barrow race was the next challenge. Here are Claudia and Alex practicing.

Gillian and Angela practicing their form. It must have helped as they finished third.

The shoe kick was the next event. Carolyn and Grandpa didn't fare to well in their categories, but I placed third for the 41-59 year old category. A new event to us was the Saikoro. It was an all ages games. There were six people with number cards from 1-6. You would pick a number and stand in that group. You picked the number that wouldn't be rolled by the giant die.

The people standing at the number that was rolled were eliminated. In between rolls you were allowed to move to a new number. After a number of eliminations, they changed it up and you had to go stand at the number you thought would come up.

Susan and Claudia moved from number 5 to number 3, they were the only two to go there. The next roll was a 3 and they both won the prizes.

After the Candy Scramble it was time for Bingo. We had a lucky table. Both Susan and Carolyn had won a t-shirt and $3, but by the time I won two games there were no more t-shirts so I only got the $6.

This dragonfly was on our cooler.

Some of the fish they caught.

Claudia never giving up.

The girls with Grandma and G-pa.

Alex got his shorts in a knot because I was only taking a picture of the girls first. Then he wouldn't get in the photo with him and Emi and the girls.

We finished the day off with the Fukubiki draw, (Dad and I both won a prize) and then the Share The Wealth draw. Dad came up big again winning the third place prize. It was a good day at the picnic, we forgot how much fun it is.

Trip Blog...

I have been working on the trip blog, it's less than a couple of weeks before our adventure begins. I should be able to update fairly often, with the exception of Disney World, I may save up posts as I imagine I'll be tired at the end of the day and the internet access isn't free, something like $9.95 for a 24 hour period. I have added a link at the top of the page for easy access to the Are We There Yet: Part 2 trip blog.

We're Back

We had a great time on our trip to Walt Disney World and made it back late Friday night. We travelled close to 4800 km and stayed in places like Cave City, Kentucky; Marietta, Georgia; Orlando, Florida; Cocoa Beach, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina. The girls really enjoyed themselves in Walt Disney World and later on the beach and in the waves at Cocoa Beach. The complete "Are We There Yet: Part 2" trip blog is here. The main trip blog page is at http://tanabe.ca/old/blogs/disney2008/arewethereyet2.htm

Hershey Centre Birthday

Today Angela, Claudia and I went out to the Hershey Centre for their 10th Anniversary celebration. Susan and Gillian went shopping at Square One. We went to the Hershey Sportzone opening last year and it was pretty good, so we thought we'll go to this one this year.

Angela and Claudia under the balloon rainbow.

We were there early to enjoy the free hotdog and pop courtesy of the Mississauga St.Michaels Majors.

Later on we went back outside and the girls had another pop and I had another hotdog.

There was entertainment in the arena, there was a stage and some inflatable obstacle courses. This was Giorgio the Magician from Italy. His helper was Nathan (or Brandon, they're twins), he was in Claudia's class last year and on the two field trips I went on, he was in my group.

We headed back outside to listen to Mayor McCallion rally the crowd and asking the ethnic groups to go to the Majors games this year. This is Canada and hockey is our game, don't just watch soccer.

Hazel McCallion and the St. Michaels Majors.

Claudia and Angela with their St. Mike's helmets.

Next was the cake cutting with the mayor and a couple of the Councillors.

And yet another rousing speech by the mayor about what a great facility the Hershey Centre is and how us the citizens need to use it and come and watch the Majors.

The lamp posts outside the Hershey Centre are shaped as Hershey Kisses.

It was a good day and the girls enjoyed themselves. We enjoyed free hotdogs, pop, popcorn, peanut-free twizzlers and nibs, chocolate (Dad) and Ice breakers.

One last ride on the giant slide. 

Santa and City Hall

The girls had a P.A. Day today, it was parent-teacher interviews yesterday and today. Susan and I went yesterday afternoon and met with the girls teachers. The girls all did very well on their report cards. It was my day off so we went to the mall this morning to see Santa. It was a long wait, but the girls had their DS's, so they were occupied. Here they are as we are getting close.

The photo for this year. Gillian is always worried someone will see her, but then she gets home and she's telling all her friends that she went to see Santa.

Afterwards we went to see Susan at work, the girls haven't been in to her office since she moved. We brought our own lunch.

Angela pretending she is Mom.

Gillian taking her own picture.

The view from Susan's office, overlooking the Central Library.

The zamboni working on the outdoor ice rink.

Claudia working at Susan's desk.

Angela not wanting Gillian to take her picture.

Christmas Tree

Angela, Claudia and I went to get our Christmas Tree. We went to the place in Oakville where they hang the trees from the rafters. The pickings aren't as good on a Sunday, I imagine yesterday must have been pretty busy. They hang new trees but the branches hadn't fallen so it was harder to tell what they looked like.

Here are Angela and Claudia with the tree we picked.

A Trip Downtown

We took advantage of the good weather and headed downtown on Saturday. We drove to Yorkdale, parked and took the subway. The day pass for the family is $9.00 for unlimited use for our family. Here was our route, we started at the Bay subway station and ended at the King subway station. Point B was the Toy Shop on Cumberland, C was the World's Biggest Bookstore on Edward and D was the Mountain Equipment Co-op on King St.

Angela with a giant Playmobil guy at the Toy Shop.

Here we are walking along Yonge Street at College.

Stop number two was the World's Biggest Bookstore.

We stopped to watch the Chalkmaster for a while, Angela put some money in his wishing well.

Yonge/Dundas Square

That guy has one bad headache.

Continuing along Yonge Street.

We cut through the Eaton's Centre.

It was over to The Bay where Angela was blending in with the display.

Then out onto Richmond Street.

The site of the new Trump International Hotel and Tower, it will be over 900 feet tall, and the tallest residential building in Canada.

We took the streetcar from Bay/King to Peter/King to go to the Mountain Equipment Co-op. Angela tried the rock wall.

I don't think she got as high as last time, but it was probably the boots, maybe next time she should try a pair of climbing shoes.

Gillian watching.

After the MEC we went to Starbucks, we were waiting for the streetcar and it was taking forever, and there seems to be one on every street corner according to the girls. Here is Claudia being a turd.

Here is a group shot of the family, even I got in the photo.

We finally caught the streetcar back to the St Andrew subway station, we decided to get off at Museum stop and look around. They had renovated the station platform awhile ago and we had only seen it through the window of the subway.

Angela looking like King Tut.

Next blending in with the Totem pole.

Trying to look like pillars.

Riding home on the subway.

Best buds?

Door Open

No there is not a typo in the title. We went downtown for "Doors Open", but we only got through one door. The Don Jail was one of the new (and most popular) Doors Open for this year. It has never been open to the public before and starting this fall, Bridgeport Health who owns it would start renovations. This was an opportunity for the public to see it (for free, otherwise $20 per person over the summer).

We started the day at Yorkdale subway station and headed to Broadview. From there it was a streetcar to meet Carolyn, Mom and Alex.

We started out just above the G in Gerard Street when we got in line.

The lineup was long, and due to fire regulations, they could only take in 16 people, every 5 minutes. At least that was their plan.

The lineup seemed to move quickly initially, but then at some point it hit a snag.

This didn't seem so bad when we reached this point. We had already put in an hour at this point, but we had been moving.

Watching people finish their tours.

Even once we got to this point we seemed to keep moving. After this section they led people to individual lanes in groups of 16. We were close to that point when we realized we weren't moving anymore. One lady fainted in the heat and things were on the verge of turning ugly when two guys were taking pictures of her while she was laying on the ground. People were complaining to the event staff and pointing them out in the crowd.

The kids were good, they didn't seem to mind. They were able to get out of line and go sit in the shade.

The back of the jail.

The police were out in full force, always a good thing around a jail.

Once we made it to the individual rows we had some hot dogs for lunch.

The old Riverdale Hospital, now the Bridgeport Health Centre.

This guy was an actual guard in the jail at some point.

Finally it was our turn to tour the jail.

Looking up in the rotunda

Some views from inside the Don Jail.

The old jail closed in 1977 (it opened in 1858), the new jail next door was completed in 1958. They use to serve salmon as part of their meal, the salmon was caught in the nearby Don River.

Some of the prisoners.

They filmed the bar scene from the movie "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise in the rotunda.

This was one of the Death Row cells, a little more room than the regular cells, but they spent their entire time in there.

We got to see the execution chamber where they hanged twenty six men between 1908 and 1962. Previous executions were done outdoors for public viewing. You can see the painted outline of the gallows on the wall.

These were the rows of cells for the general population

The cells measured 1x3 metres.

From the inside looking out.

Without the flash, this probably more likely what a prisoners view would be.

More cells.

These were office areas on the main floor.

"Every man who walks through these doors, walks through time"

The front entrance to the old Don Jail.

This was our tour guide who was pointing out the Govenor's Residence.

The new section of the Don Jail is built right up against the old section.

They still have a little section of barbed (razor) wire on the grounds.

On the brick wall were names of prisoners that were carved into the bricks.

By the time we finished the line-ups were gone. They turned away alot of people and alot of people just turned away when they saw the line-ups.

There were still people waiting to go in.

It was a long day and we can say we saw it. It's been a part of Toronto history and it was an opportunity to see it in it's somewhat original condition. The tour was good, just a little rushed. I'm glad I went, not sure about everyone else. We ended up back on Broadview and walked past the new Toronto jail. This one is slated for closure in a few years when the new Toronto South Detention Centre is completed in Mimico.

Downtown

By the time we finished with the Don Jail, all the other doors were closed. We decided to head downtown and hopped on the streetcar from the corner of Broadview and Gerard.

We got off at Dundas Square, where there is always interesting people and things to see.

Dundas Square.

Deciding where to go.

We headed into the Eaton Centre and up to Indigo.

Angela and Gillian posing with Bella and Edward.

Claudia trying on a new pair of reading glasses.

Next we headed for dinner at the E-on restaurant. We went here years ago for dinner when I was small. One of the things we had was the snails. Here is Gillian trying them out.

Claudia liked them as well.

Leaving the restaurant and heading back to Dundas Square.

The angel was gone but Batman was in her spot.

Not sure if I'd be handing my infant over to some dude dressed as Batman at the corner of Yonge and Dundas.

Some drumming and dancing going on.

We headed over to the World's Biggest Bookstore. Here is Grandma and Gillian.

After there it was to the subway and back home. It was a long, but fun day in the the city. We enjoyed the diagonal crosswalk at Yonge and Dundas, although it seems to be every other light, so you really have to pay attention to your signals.

Blue Jays Game

Claudia and I went down to the Rogers Centre to watch the Jays versus the Rays. There was a Webkinz giveaway to the first 5000 kids under 14. We left early and were down there by 10:30. You can see the Webkinz dog in the picture. We were sitting at field level just past first base and about 30 rows up.

We had time to walk around, here is Claudia sitting in Lyle Overbay's locker.

Here she is with Roy Halladay.

Tampa Bay pitcher Matt Garza signing autographs.

The manager of the Rays, Joe Maddon.

Claudia brought her glove in case there were some foul balls, but she never had to use it.

Alex Rios at the plate, it was another 0 fer day at the plate.

Scott Rolen hit a three run homer.

Here is Rolen hitting a single a couple of innings later.

He was out on a double play ball.

The Rays having a team meeting.

Brandon League came in for the eighth inning after Brett Cecil went seven. These next five pictures were taken in less than three seconds.

The Jays won the game.

The final boxscore.

Claudia and I went to the ball game because Susan, Gillian and Angela were going to see the Katy Perry concert at the Molson Amphitheatre Sunday night. They went with Sue and Sarah from across the street.

Bath Day

Today was bath day for Chloe, I thought why not take her for a good run, get her tired out and then give her a bath. We headed over to the Meadowvale Conservation Area not far from the house. The girls found a sloth tree (a tree which allows them to hang like a sloth).

There was lots of open space for Chloe to run around. We stayed clear of the GINA picnic. GINA is short for "Greyhounds In Need of Adoption". It is an organization that tries to find homes for retired racing Greyhounds.

We stayed clear of the Hogweed. It looks like giant Queen Annes Lace, the sap is bad news if it gets on human skin.

We remembered there "use to be" a bridge to cross over the river.

It wasn't very nice down by the river, lots of broken glass and beer bottles.

We were teaching Chloe her name.

Some of the leaves are starting to change already.

We found another path to the river and when Claudia stepped towards it, the ground moved. It was a garter snake that freaked her out. Later I started stopping on the ground and he started to slither away.

Claudia poking around for more snakes.

Chloe was tired out after our walk, she decided she was going to lie down in the shade.

The girls with Chloe.

We headed back home and started to get her bath ready. It wasn't her favourite thing, she looked like the drowned rat.

Here she is shaking away in the backyard. She looked pretty good afterwards.

Of course she was rolling around in the rocks and grass as soon as she got the chance.

Arrrrrgooooosss

We headed down to the Rogers Centre to watch the Argos take on the Montreal Alouettes. The game was a McMaster Alumni event. We went down with our friends from university Stam and Brenda and their daughter Kira. We met them at Union Station.

Waiting...

Part of our ticket price included an on field "tour" before the game, a pizza slice/drink, and autograph session after the game. By tour they mean the depths of the Skydome, once on the field we were able to walk around the edge and then we entered our seats from the field. The autograph session after the game was open to everyone.

The girls got a cardboard football helmet.

We were at the Alouette end of the field.

Gillian at her first football game.

Claudia, Angela and Kira.

Big guys.

Stam and Kira.

The big Argo inflatable. See the mascot chatting up the cheerleaders.

The mascot "Jason".

Some of the game action. It was close in the first half. But then the Alouettes pulled away in the second half to win 27-8.

The announced attendance was 26,828.

Pinball Clemons was behind the Peanut Free Suite.

Can you see the girls down on the field.

"C" for Claudia!

We had a good time at the game. It was good to hang out with Stam and Brenda, we haven't seen them for awhile. The girls can now say they have been to a football game.

Rick Mercer Report

Back in September I managed to get some tickets to the Rick Mercer Report. Grandma Swan came out to stay with the girls so Susan and I could stay downtown for the evening. I picked the date because it was a holiday week for me and it meant I wouldn't be traveling this week.

We booked a room at the Royal York Hotel. Our room was facing the lake and it was a corner room so we had a view of the Air Canada Centre and looking west along Front Street.

WE did some shopping and a lot of walking. We did some of the underground PATH system and then back up to street level.

We had some time to relax at the hotel before dinner and the show. Watching rush hour at Front and York.

We had dinner at Joe Badali's on Front St. and then it was a short walk over to the CBC Building. We had to wait in line to pick up our tickets and then we waited in another line to go up to the studio. The studio is up on the 10th floor.

We were allowed to take pictures as long as the camera's were not on. He would come out and introduce each of the video segments.

They tape all of the desk portions live.

After the show, Rick Mercer will meet anyone who wants to wait in line. We had no where to go so we stuck around to meet Rick and get our picture taken with him. Here he is signing our tickets.

I asked him if he got up to Alert, as that was one of the places he was suppose to visit this season. He said they didn't make it and they eventually ran out of daylight, but the militay has said they will take him up.

Looking down at the atrium from the tenth floor. The banners hanging are the couples from the Battle of the Blades.

Down in the foyer you can see into the museum and there is Mr Dressup's Tickle Trunk.

Out in the foyer is Casey and Finnegan's Treehouse.

Susan in front of a giant Rick Mercer.

It was back to the hotel and some shots of the Toronto nightlife.

Royal York Hotel

The early morning light.

We could look out the window and watch the CN Tower, with it all lit up, it was like a night light.

An empty intersection.

Looking down to the lobby of the Royal York.

Susan waiting for me to check out.

Some of the intricate detailing on the columns.

Looking down towards the main entrance.

Port Credit Walkabout

We headed down to Port Cedit to walk around. Susan wanted to go shopping at a store down there so she dropped the girls and I off.

The girls and Chloe enjoyed the swans.

Chloe was okay with the swans and ducks, it was the sea gulls hanging around that Chloe was after.

I think Angela was taking a picture of the Toronto skyline.

Claudia brought her bike to ride around and Angela had her roller blades.

There was a guy feeding the swans and ducks some bread, actually he had a loaf of bread. He offered Claudia and Angela a slice, to feed the birds, not eat as Claudia would tell you.

Angela was trying to feed a dirty looking swan and manage to land the piece of bread on its back. We thought all the other birds would attack it, but it wasn't until one tried that the swan shook it off into the water.

Some of the fish painted on the bridge supports.

The lighthouse down in Port Credit.

Not sure if Gillian was pushing or trying to hitch a ride.

Claudia was over at the Canada post.

Gillian trying to keep up with Chloe.

We had a good day, the weather couldn't have been better.