February 10th we flew from Austin to Toronto via Houston. We picked up a rental car and drove directly to Josh & Alyx’s for a pit stop to drop off a big box of Christmas presents, say hi to the grandkids who were not impressed with the “visitors” and drove through Toronto to Kingston, Ontario where we spent the night with Fran’s youngest sister, Cynthia and her husband, Serge. We have lovely evening catching up. Since Joshua was working all week, we took the opportunity to see other family in this part of the world.
On Monday when we were in Austin, it was in the low 80’s F; here in Kingston on Wednesday it was -14C and slightly colder by the time we got to Ottawa in the late morning. About a 100 degree F difference!!!!! We rented some skates and skated the entire length of the world’s longest skating rink, the Rideau Canal and back – over 15km – almost 10 miles. It was cold especially when skating into the wind but a most enjoyable form of exercise. We felt a tad unsure when we first put the skates on (been at least three years!) but we got a rhythm and got a good work out.
After a stop at Timmy’s downtown, we visited the Winterlude grounds and saw the ice sculptures and then declared our blood was too thin for this weather and call it quits for being outside. Luckily, Cynthia and Serge had lent us snow pants, winter jackets, mitts, scarves and headgear but we were still cold!
We enjoyed a lovely evening at Fran’s cousin’s, Louise & Ron, where Aunt Georgette and Uncle Pete also joined us. Thursday it was back towards Kingston for another night with Cynthia and Serge.
By late afternoon Friday, we were back at Joshua’s where we decided to ignore the grandkids and wait till they were ready to approach us. That didn’t take too long and of course, the late Christmas toys we brought along did not hurt!
We had a wonderful long weekend (indoors due to the cold – temps dipped down to -38C (-37F) on Sunday!) as Monday is a stat in Canada. We played with the grandkids, watched movies with Josh & Alyx in the evenings and spent the nights in a nearby hotel. It was not too long, but an enjoyable “grandkid fix”. On Sunday, the six of us went to our friends’, the Natales, for lunch and their gracious hospitality.
Josh is enjoying his job and we learned upon our return to Texas, that he had confirmation of two large sales which will give him some pretty nice commissions. Alyx continues to work from home doing website designing and the whole family is doing great. Kids are thriving and so much fun to interact with now.
Doug left on the Monday to fly to Newark for a week of work and Fran left Toronto on Tuesday and stayed in Austin awaiting Doug’s return on Friday evening.
To check out the latest photos of Arya & Cyrus, to the “PICS” tab and see the gallery “Feb ’15 Visit”
