Tag: outings

Rick Mercer Report

I managed to get four tickets to the Rick Mercer Report live taping for Friday night, Susan and I were going to go with friends, but plans changed, so Angela and Claudia came with us. Gillian had her Grade 11 semi-formal that she was attending. The taping is at the CBC Broadcasting Centre on Front Street. Here is Roy Thompson Hall.

Looking north-west from near Metro Hall.

Near the eternal flame outside Metro Hall. We had dinner at Sushi Oniwa Japanese Restaurant on King Street W. We were headed to the Swiss Chalet that was next door, but it has since closed down.

The girls waiting for the show to begin.

He does some crowd interaction at the beginning.

For the segments of the show that are done on location, he comes out and introduces the segment and then they play it on the video screens. This week he was in Ottawa at the Governor General’s residence and working at the Chateau Laurier. The show will air on Tuesday February 14th.

During the show he is always chatting with the floor director.

Rick waving to someone in the audience.

The audience holds 350 people, and almost every friday night for 20 weeks it is full. The best chance for rush tickets are if there is a snow storm, since the tickets are free, people are more apt to not show up if the weather is bad.

Waiting for the crew to install his desk.

The end of show 15 of season 9.

The wait to meet Rick Mercer wasn’t that long, or we got out of the studio quicker. He liked Claudia’s panda hat. He talked about the pandas coming to Canada and what citizenship a baby panda would be if born here.

 The Mr Dressup display in the CBC Museum.

 Angela and Claudia in front of Casey and Finnegan’s treehouse. The original show had gone off the air before either of the girls were born.

Both Angela and Claudia really enjoyed the show.


Lunch In Chinatown

We headed down to Chinatown this morning for lunch with Uncle Tak and Anona. He had invited Mom and Dad out for dim sum and invited us kids. The plan was to go for dim sum at the Bright Pearl, but that place has closed down. We ended up at Xam Yu, across the street, another of Uncle Tak’s favourite restaurants when he comes to Toronto. On the Shrimp Ball plates there were carrot sculptures, we think a lion and a bird.

The bird we’re pretty sure about, but Uncle Tak thought the other was a poodle, I called it a pig when it first came out.

Uncle Tak was having an engaging conversation with Claudia through lunch. He likes kids that can converse with him.

The menu.

Claudia and Uncle Tak reading their fortunes.

As Angela commented when we were driving up Spadina Avenue, there were a lot of asians around.

 Uncle Tak giving Claudia a hug good-bye.

Uncle Tak with the girls, Alex and Emi.

 The Bright Pearl across the street.

 Looking north along Spadina.

 

 


The Muppets!

We went to see the new Muppet movie today. It’s good to see them back on the big screen, it has been 11 years since their last theatre release movie. It was a good movie, funny and lots of unexpected cameo appearances by current stars. Looking forward to the DVD release.


PA Day

The girls had a PA Day last Friday. We headed out to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area for a walk with Chloe. If she didn’t have leaves stuck to her it was burrs.

The one trail leads along the edge of the escarpment.

Looking across to Mt Nemo.

Angela and Claudia climbing the rocks.

Gillian taking the easy way up.

There are a lot of rock climbing areas. There are points all along the top with ropes hooked on.

Claudia trying to get over the branch.

Watch out below!

Chloe finally found a portion of the wall short enough for her to see over.

We learned today that Chloe doesn’t like stairs she can see through. There were grated stairs that lead down the escarpment. She wouldn’t go down, so Angela carried her down to the first landing. Then we tried to get her to come down another flight and she wasn’t having any of it.

Some of the escarpment walls.

Claudia and Angela climbing up for a photo op.

There were quite a few people rock climbing while we were there.

After Rattlesnake Point we headed to Hilton Falls Conservation Area. On the way to the falls Chloe started going down the grated stairs, although these ones weren’t as open as the other ones.

The falls were more of a trickle, we’ll have to go back when the creek is running a little more.

Part of the old sawmill waterwheel.

The girls and I at Hilton Falls.

They had the fire pit going, too bad we didn’t bring any marshmellows.

The top of the falls.

Started off on another trail until we realized it was for mountain biking only.

The walk out to the falls was 4km one way. The weather was great and we had great time on the trails.


Robbie Alomar Day!

We headed down to the Rogers Centre early in order to be one of the first 20,000 to get our Roberto Alomar Bobblehead. We took the subway down and arrived at 10:40, the gates didn’t open until 11:00. The lines were already snaking around by the time we got there, in our line alone there had to be a few hundred people ahead of us. Once they open the gates, the line moved quickly, but the way they gave out the bobbleheads was a little chaotic, no real order to it, it would have been easy for people to collect more than one.

The coveted Roberto Alomar Bobblehead, this one is not worth as much as it is out of the box and no longer MIP (Mint in Package). A quick look on Kijiji and Craigslist have them listed for anywhere from $50-100. Even when we were leaving we saw some people offering to buy a bobblehead on the street.

When we left Mississauga it was cloudy and overcast, the forecast was still calling for 60% chance of showers, when we got down there the roof was closed. The Jays were taking batting practice.

Jose Bautista taking a few warm-up swings before getting in the cage.

Next thing we knew they started opening the roof. Not often you get to see it actually open or close while you’re sitting in it.

Some video of the roof starting to open.

We were sitting in the 500 level in Section 525R, row 16, seats 6-10. They are almost right behind home plate with a great view of the field. Unfortunately after the past couple of weeks they have stopped showing replays on the Jumbotron, there were a few close plays that the umpires have blown the calls, so now there is no replays at any of the stadiums.

The roof is almost fully open and we are now sitting in the sun.

The last panel rotating around to the far side.

Prior to the game there were some pre-game ceremonies to honour Robbie Alomar. They played the Journey to Cooperstown on the big screen.

There were some former teammates among the special guests.

Roberto Alomar entered the stadium walking down one of the aisles among the fans, he is the guy in front of the Mountie wearing the suit.

Robbie shaking hands with from L-R, Kelly Gruber, Duane Ward, Devon White, John MacDonald and Paul Beeston.

The MC was Jerry Howarth.

John MacDonald (current Jay) saying a few words, they were teammates in Cleveland when he was starting out. Cito Gaston in the background.

There were a number of video tributes to Robbie.

Robbie with his mother and father thanking the fans.

They had a big number 12 on the field covering second base.

They had special second bases for the game, they had the number 12 on the actual base.

Aaron Hill

Everyone heading off the field.

On with the game, it was a later start due to the pre-game festivities. On the mound for the Jays was Brandon Morrow.

Jose Bautista watching a ball.

Jose walked and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two run home run to follow, the Jays jump out to an early 2-0 lead.

The wave.

The newest Jay Colby Rasmus was o’fer coming into the game, he broke out with a single and a 2-run double to go 2-4 and now sits with a 0.125 average since coming over from St. Louis.

The first pitcher in relief for the Texas Rangers was Yoshinori Tateyama. A couple of innings later he was followed by Koji Uehara.

It was a good game, the Jays scored runs in each of the first four innings, Brandon Morrow had 11 stikeouts and had a one hitter going through five innings.

The final boxscore for the game. It was a sellout attendance. The people that sat down on either side of us didn’t get a bobblehead. The one family arrived at 11:50 AM and there were none left.

Blue Jays boxscore


Harry Potter

We are sitting at the AMC theatre waiting for Harry Potter to start. Free refill on popcorn and drinks. Lights are dimming.


Jays Game

We are heading down to see the Blue Jays game on Sunday. It is Hall of Fame Day, they will be retiring Robbie Alomar’s number 12 jersey. He went into Copperstown Baseball Hall of Fame last weekend. We’ll need to make another trip down to see his plaque. We stopped there back in 1996 when we headed down to Massachusetts. The first 20,000 receive an Alomar bobblehead. Looking forward to seeing the game against Texas.

Alomar Bobblehead


Great Day at Toronto Indy

It was hot and sunny down at the Toronto Indy, there is lots to see and do, here are Gillian and Brittany sitting in the motorized Target shopping carts.

Gillian and Brittany in the Target Shopping cart

One of the freebies they were giving out were reusable folding shopping bags with the Target logo on them. Claudia and Angela checking out the shopping cart. I don’t think it was bigger than the one we found in Parksville, BC a couple of years ago.

Claudia and Angela in the Target Shopping cart

One of the best things about the Free Friday at the Toronto Indy is that it allows you to get up and close to the cars and drivers. The main grandstand overlooks pit lane and as the cars come to pit lane, the drivers come down pit lane either by foot or by scooter. This is Takuma Sato of Japan.

Takuma Sato

Here is Mike Conway of Great Britain. There are three Canadians in the race and only four Americans out of the field of 26 cars.

Mike Conway

One of the three women drivers in the race, Simona de Silvestro.

Simona de Silvestro

This is Sebastian Saavedra of Columbia.

Sebastian Saavedra

One of my favourite drivers is Helio Castroneves of Brazil.

Helio Castroneves

Simona de Silvestro waiting to get going.

Simona de Silvestro

Dario Franchitti (Scotland) coming back into pit lane.

Dario Franchitti

One of the Canadians, rookie James Hinchcliffe.

James Hinchcliffe

Helio Castroneves.

Helio Castroneves

Scott Dixon of New Zealand.

Scott Dixon

James Jakes of Great Britain.

James Jakes

Takuma Sato.

Takuma Sato

Sebastien Bourdais (France) pit crew working on his car.

Vitor Meira

Ryan Briscoe of Australia.

Ryan Briscoe

Ana Beatriz of Brazil.

Ana Beatriz

E.J. Viso of Venezuela.

E.J. Viso

The defending champion from last years race, Will Power of Australia.

Will Power

Coming out of turn 11.

Coming out of turn 11

Sebastien Bourdais

Jr Hildebrand of the USA.

JR Hildebrand

Probably the most recognized face of the IZOD IndyCar Series, Danica Patrick.

Danica Patrick

Mike Conway of Team Andretti.

Mike Conway

You see all kinds of racing fans down there, this lady had a baby strapped to her chest and if you look closely, the baby has a pair of ear defenders on his head.

Baby with ear protection

We left the qualifying early so we could get a good spot where they pass on the way back to the Paddocks. Last year we were on the news (okay so we were in the background) while we watched the cars and drivers go by. Here is two time winner, Paul (The Thrill From West Hill) Tracy’s car.

Paul Tracy's car

Will Power's car

Dario Franchitti's car

The crew shuffles everything from tires to computers back and forth from Pit Lane.

Tire guy

Danica Patrick steering through the traffic.

Danica Patrick

Graham Rahal heading back to the Paddock. Graham is the son of Bobby Rahal who won the first Molson Toronto Indy back in 1986, three years before he was born.

Graham Rahal

Paul Tracy.

Paul Tracy

The Paddock area is where all the racing teams have their trailers and trucks set-up. It is where the teams will do the set-up work on the cars and where the drivers hang out in their trailers between qualifying runs. Firestone is the official supplier of tires for the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Firestone tire pit

Claudia is just a little taller than four of the indy car tires stacked up.

Claudia just a little taller than 4 indy tires

Marco Andretti’s Paddock area. He is the son of Michael (7 time winner of Toronto Indy) Andretti and grandson of Mario Andretti.

Marco Andretti Paddock Pit

Oriol Servia of Spain was out signing autographs.

Oriol Servia

Mr Canada was camped out at Alex Tagliani’s area calling his name.

Mr Canada

On our way out we stopped at the Ferrari Challenge Series Paddock area, as you can see the cars are transported in the top half of the trucks.

Ferrari Paddock

Also running this weekend were the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

CTC Nascar

Another great experience at the Toronto Indy. Waiting for the Go Train to head home.

The girls waiting for the Go train

Go Train


Free Friday at Honda Indy

Honda Indy Toronto

Sitting on the Go train heading down to Toronto Honda Indy for Free Friday with Claudia, Angela, Gillian and her friend Brittany. This the second year in a row they have opened up the friday qualifying. Photos to follow.

Free Friday at Honda Indy

 


Mississauga Celebration Square

Saturday night Susan and I went to dinner at Brad and Lesley’s house. Lesley is a colleague of Susan’s. After a fabulous dinner we headed over to the new Celebration Square by City Hall. The official opening was last week. This weekend there were a few events to coincide with the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) events. The main act was “delhi 2 dublin” a band from Vancouver that mixes Indian music with Celtic music.

delhi 2 dublin

On both sides of the stage there are state of the art media screens.

delhi 2 dublin

The band was really good, there was a drummer, couple of fiddle players, vocals, guitarist and a DJ spin dude.

delhi 2 dublin

A couple of giant balloons were tossed into the crowd.

delhi 2 dublin

We’ll be going down to the square more often this summer. On Thursday nights they will be showing movies on the big screens.

delhi 2 dublin

Lesley on the left with Angela and Susan.

Lesley, Angela and Susan

The new Celebration Square stage.

Celebration Square

Looking back towards Mississauga City Hall.

City Hall

They have increased the size of the fountain pool, in the winter it will be frozen for ice skating. They have also opened up the area around the square.

Celebration Square

Sunday afternoon they are attempting a Guinness World Record by hosting the world’s largest Bollywood dance class.