Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Family Vacation...

We just returned from our worst family vacation ever. For the first 3 days, I fought off a migraine while the girls, now 10 and 12.5 years old, fought each other constantly in the way that only pre-teenagers do... nasty... Our 5 year old was more interested in asking "when are we going back to the hotel?" and "when are we going home?" than in the zoo, or the museum. Sigh.

There were a few bright spots. We met friends while there and did the CN Tower Tour with them. Those few hours with someone else seemed to distract the girls from quarrelling with each other. Then we had supper at the Marche Movenpick (now the Richtree Market) on Yonge. Did I mention we were in Toronto? Fabulous place to visit. We even used to live there- for 3 years prior to having kids. After spending a week on the 401 and 400- in traffic that wasn't even bad, by TO standards- I'm happy to be living much farther off the beaten track. Like I said, fabulous place to visit... and shop in.

Two other bright spots to mention- I dragged the whole family down Queen Street West into the "Fashion District" where there is a wool store called Romni Wool. Here it is:


So, I would have preferred to go myself, but that wasn't really in the cards. So, we all walk from Osgoode station (because we had to see the CityTV/Much Music building), all the way down Queen West until we get past Bathurst. Finally, there is the shop. I spent about 20 wonderful minutes staring at and feeling wool that I can never buy in person here (e.g., Berroco, Debbie Bliss, etc. etc...), until my little people (and my one big person) got too restless. So, I quickly bought 9 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in an orangey-burgandy and left. Oh, to spend an hour or two there. Someday, maybe. I'll have to check for upcoming conferences in Toronto so I can get there by myself. So, the wool is stashed for a few weeks until I finally decide on a sweater pattern.

The other bright spot was a concert. The Jonas Brothers concert, if you can believe it! Our oldest daughter is a fanatic. I mean completely fanatic about them- and has been for about 2 years. Every inch of her bedroom is plastered in Joe, Kevin, and Nick. Last year, we had tickets to see them in the Ampitheatre, but backed out of the trip a few weeks before, due to my work committments, mostly. Good things come to those who wait, it seems. The concert was in the Skydome/Rogers Centre this year and was a real piece of work.

Now, I am saying this as a disengaged observer- I am definitely not a Jonas Brothers or Jordan Sparkes fan. But the production... totally top-notch. Very impressive. Of course, they are of Disney pedigree, so its not too surprising, I guess. It was also the loudest concert I've ever attended- thanks to the high pitched screaming of at least 30, 000 pre-teen girls (most of the other 26, 000 had to be their parents, right?)! I have to admit, the boys are kind of hot. If I was 25 years younger, I'm sure they'd be my Rick Springfield, Scott Baio, and Eric Estrada ;) And I almost have my daughter convinced that Joe's offering to the parents in the audience of "Sweet Caroline" was really just for me ;) (LOL- how old does he think we are!?! I consider myself more of the Simon LeBon than the Neil Diamond era, thank-you very much.)

Anyways, here's a tip: if you haven't seen the romantic comedy "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock, do yourself a favour and go. I watched it on the plane on the way home. In fact, now that I think of it, maybe that was the best part of the trip...
Naw. It was the wool shop.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's nice to get away! maybe next time without the kids!!

Mom and Dad visited us for 8 days (leaving tomorrow), but mom and I flew down to the Edmonton for a eekend to shop at the West edmonton Mall.

In all reality, I don't even want to go shopping for another year, but it was good to get away for a couple of days and not have to rush in and out of stores:)

Flo

Elizabeth said...

Hi Carolyn,
thanks for commenting on my very quiet blog. I kind of miss the blog hey-day sometimes.
Please feel free to post about my book and forward it anywhere you see fit.
Hey, are you on FB? Friend me there, I (shamefully) am on it a lot.

Doreen said...

I think there should be free day care services at the mall snd Men day care too, you know where they can watch tv and have a coke or something while the women shop BY THEMSELVES. Don't you think they would have much better sales than? I am not a big shopper to begin with but the thought of shopping with everyone tagging along just turns me right off the idea.