The girls went out for Halloween. The weather wasn’t great, but they went out on their own.
I couldn’t tell you what they were dressed up as.
They carved their own pumpkins. I think Angela did Olaf.
And Claudia did Catbug.
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! On Saturday Susan cooked up a turkey for dinner and subsequent soup and sandwiches for us and Gillian. We headed out to Carolyn and Danny’s on Sunday for more turkey. Lori and Dale were there with Lily and Kaiden.
Kaiden is a pretty happy kid, except when he realized his Grandma was not around.
Lily posing for the camera.
On Monday we had dinner at Mom and Dad Swan’s before dropping Gillian off at her place.
University Fair
Susan and I took Angela down to the University Fair at the Metro Convention Centre to get her thinking about post secondary education. This year we took the day off work and went down on the Friday in hopes the crowds would be smaller. The year we took Gillian, we went on the Saturday and it was packed. We got there for the 10:00 opening and were able to walk around and not fight the crowds.
First Day of School
Today was our 16th first day of school and Claudia’s first day of high school. Both Angela and Claudia had a good first day. Claudia has English for homeroom and her teacher is our former neighbour, Julie. Here is a picture Susan took of them this morning.
Uncle Tak Interview
I came across a new interview of Uncle Tak from the National Gallery of Canada.
At the end of the article, one of the links is to The Proust Questionnaire: Takao Tanabe.
Uncle Tak also received a Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Vancouver Island University in 2014.
Another Year Begins
We headed out to Hamilton on Sunday to move Gillian into her house for the upcoming school year. She is sharing a house with three other girls that she met last year in residence. It is about a 15 minute walk to campus. I took an early “first day of school” photo. Classes start on Thursday. She was accepted into her specialization stream of Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Afterwards we headed over to Andrew and Jeannette’s for dinner and to celebrate Grandma’s birthday.
The Ex
We headed down to the Ex on Thursday. The weather was great, 22°C and no rain in the forecast. The girls had the Ride All Day passes. Here they are taking the Sky Ride.
The good weather brought out a lot of people. The rides and midway filled up fast.
Here are the girls waiting in their car on the Blitzer.
It was a longer than usual wait, as they would only allow one car on the track at a time. Here they are coming down the first hill.
Angela and Claudia at the end, Gillian is in the second row.
Next it was on to the Polar Express.
Gillian and Angela strapped in on the Bonzai ride.
Click on the picture to see a close-up of Gillian’s expression.
Angela and Gillian on the Bonzai.
Angela went on almost every ride.
Taking a break from the rides to go through the Rock & Roll Funhouse.
They went on the Fire Ball during the day and at night.
The Crazy Mouse Roller Coaster wasn’t running earlier in the day, but it opened up and the girls didn’t have to wait that long.
Click on the photo to see a close-up of the girls facial expressions.
Posing with Pachi, the Pan Am Games mascot.
The girls posing on one of the Swans from Ontario Place. There are a bunch of them scattered around the Exhibition grounds.
Lots of minions were available as prizes this year.
Walking towards the Farm building.
The girls getting ready for the duck race.
We sat and watched the sheep shearing demonstration. Lots of wool.
Completely shaved.
The girls holding up their catch of the day.
Next to the giant inflatable pig.
It was back to the rides.
Angela and Gillian went on the Fireball (or Ring of Fire).
By mid afternoon it was getting even busier.
The Ride All Day pass was a good deal.
Angela pointing and saying she was going on the Mega Drop.
Angela was also the only one brave (or crazy?) enough to go on the Mach 3 ride. Here she is strapping herself into her seat.
Here is a video of Angela on the Mach 3.
A 37-metre arm connected mid-way whirls riders 360 degrees upside down and inside out. The relentlessly robust arm rotates at up to 13 revolutions per minute, producing a g-force of 3.5-g.
Survived!
We saw the acrobatic show called Mirage.
After dinner, we made one more trip down the midway. The food building was packed at 7:30 pm.
Some of the rides lit up at night. There was a time when we rarely ventured into the adult midway, let alone be there at night. We took a stroll through the kids midway earlier in the day and many of their favourites as a kid were still there.
After a long day it was back to the Go Train for the ride home.
Peanut Reduced Baseball Game
We headed down to the Rogers Centre for our last baseball game of the year. I ordered tickets for one of the peanut/nut reduced game. There were six games this year, they dedicate Section 204 as a peanut/nut reduced zone. They leave a buffer of seats on either side of the section. There is a special entrance at Gate 1, a peanut/nut reduced washroom, and the concession stand closest to the section doesn’t sell any peanut/nut products.
The seats are in the 200 level in right field. The roof was open and it was sunny. We got there early since it was also Mark Buehrle bobblehead day.
We were seated in row 2.
During the Jays batting practice someone hit a ball that hit the seat a couple over from Claudia as we stood in the first row waiting for balls. I was able to catch a ball that was being thrown up from the field by one of the players.
Jose Bautista at bat in the 6th inning. He watched a called third strike go by.
Then proceeded to argue the call and you can see the umpire eject him from the game.
It was a close game that went to the 10th inning, but the Jays came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision. The player that replaced Bautista was Nolan Reimold, he ended up misplaying a fly ball in the 10th inning that eventually led to the go ahead run. In the bottom of the inning he struck out to end the game with the tying run at third base.
Soccer Season Done
The girls finished their soccer seasons on the Saturday. Claudia played in a quarter final game. Unfortunately they lost 2-0. Here she is shooting on net.
Angela’s team had a bye to the semi-final game. She played goal the entire game.
They faced the undefeated orange team. Halfway through the second half the coaches on both teams got into an argument. Orange, as they have been all year were running up the score in a shortened game. The halves were only 25 minutes long.
Angela kept it close and played a very good game. Her defence didn’t provide much help on this day.
G passed G
Congratulations to Gillian on passing her G class driving test on the first try.