Todd’s Blog

I just spend a very enjoyable 5 days spending time with my family away from anyone we know. Between teaching, coaching basketball with my oldest playing on the team, my youngest playing hockey and his team going all the way to winning provincials, and taking this class; there hasn’t been a lot of family only time. Before Christmas (knowing winter was a busy time for our family), Jeanette (my wife) and I decided a family holiday would be a good idea. The four of us hadn’t really gone anywhere together in a couple of years. We decided to go to Toronto and catch the pro teams there, and check out some other highlights of the area. It was a full trip. On Tuesday we went to Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant and later that night watched the Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey (well that’s what it’s called, not that they played it well!) at the Air Canada Center. Wednesday saw us take in the Hockey Hall of Fame and then that night the Toronto Raptors play basketball (now they played the game the way it was meant to be played!). Thursday saw us venture out to the Niagara Falls. It was a site to see, but in reality it really wasn’t as big as I had imagined. Like food commercials late at night, pictures really do make it look better. It was neat though. Finally on Friday, a tour of the CN Tower was the last tourist site to check over. I, being quite afraid of heights, stayed on the ground while the others marvelled at the amazing structure. For those of you shouting “what about the shopping?!”, yes that happened too. The Eaton’s Center downtown is huge! The factory outlet shops at Niagara Falls had many good deals as well. There were many other little things that were enjoyed such as the subway, Younge Street, traffic!, and the massive amounts of people. We even saw a guy get chased down and arrested for trying to steal 2 cases of Red Bull from a grocery store.!

Overall the trip was quite enjoyable. We really enjoyed our time together. Toronto is quite the place. Traffic is bumper to bumper non-stop. People are everywhere. It really makes you appreciate home. It’s a fast-paced life, and myself, I like the even-keeled pace of life here in Saskatchewan. It’s good to experience places like Toronto. I know it opened the eyes of my boys. Dorothy had it right though…there’s no place like home.