Dec 20 - to the ballet

Well, not me.  I just hung out :).

We left the cottage after I cleared the driveway of a couple of inches of new snow.  We had light snow all the way to Barrie, some slippery sections but reasonable driving.  Traffic was slow, however, and the entire trip was made at about 80kph/50mph.  We went straight towards Stef's because we hadn't gotten hold of Kim, stopping for a quick lunch at Tim's along Big Bay Point Road.  We also stopped at David's store.

In the meantime we heard from Kim and she brought Megan straight to Stef's.  It was a bit of a madhouse, with Abby and Mya playing; Lauren her street friend and Megan.  We got organized and left for Toronto.

The worst part of the drive was getting onto the 400.  Crawl, crawl, crawl.  Once onto the 400, however, the road and the traffic were good.  We got down to the Sheraton across from City Hall in Toronto with about 15 minutes to spare.  The girls went into the hotel and I parked at the City Hall underground.

The girls had gotten changed by the time I went upstairs and they were bouncing off the walls.  Ooh Ooh Ooh the hotel, the buzz, choir in the lobby etc.  We went downstairs and walked to Bay Street to get to our restaurant, The Mercato for our 5pm reservation.  It was a delight !  Sandy and Megan had the ravioli; I had the excellent risotto; Lauren ordered a pizza.  Notice that I didn't say "Lauren had the pizza".  She'd eaten food that Stef had packed on the way down and could only eat a couple of bites of her dinner.  That was great, because the three of us ate her pizza !  The pizza had fresh mozzarella and basil -- it too was wonderful.

Back to the hotel (we're only talking a block here), I took some things upstairs and the girls headed to the ballet across York street.  I watched TV and had a snooze.  I also took some pictures out the window -- it was a great view of Nathan Phillips Square (Toronto City Hall) including the skating rink.  Since we were on the 32nd floor, it was quite an expansive view.

The girls were back at 9:15.  Megan and Lauren were pretty wound up but they gradually settled down and went to sleep.  Sandy dropped off too.  Unfortunately my allergies were reacting to something in the hotel so I had a hard time sleeping.  After everyone went to sleep I went downstairs, had coffee in the hotel bar and used the lobby computers until 2am, finally feeling my head clear a little and going back upstairs and getting some sleep.

Today -- to the St. Lawrence Market for breakfast and groceries; to David's to drop off Megan; to Stef's to drop off Lauren and visit a bit; to Costco for groceries, perhaps, to Parry Sound to pick up some wine that awaits me and then back to the cottage.  We have a deep freeze on the way over Christmas but the cottage is already warm.  We have to get that tree and decorate !  Jeffrey is due on the 27th, give or take; David the evening of the 28th; Stef hasn't said what her plans are yet, she's more cautious about the weather.

Onward !  We could have some more messy driving today getting out of Toronto but we're in no hurry.