Queen Margherita and BuskerFest

Friday my cousin Carol came for a visit and we went to Queen Margherita for pizza. It is apparently one of the best in the city and all this time it was in my hood and I never knew. I have to admit, the pizza lived up to its reputation. It was unbelievable! They have a prix fixe menu so for $20 you get salad, pizza and nutella mousse. Yes, the mousse was to die for. I would go back just to have that. After pizza we went to the CNE. I was unable to go last year due to major preggo belly and I really missed it. As soon as we got in, we got Tiny Toms and then hit the Food Building. Unfortunately due to poor planning on our part, we were too full from lunch to fully enjoy all the tasty treats. Some didn't look so tasty (Krispy Kreme burger) but I really wanted to try the deep fried Twix. However, will have to save it for my next visit, just no room to squeeze it in.

Today we visited BuskerFest at St. Lawrence Market. When I lived at the condo I would go every year. This was the first time since moving out of the hood and boy was it different! So much more food, many food trucks and very cool buskers. We enjoyed some dumplings and Kalbi from the Korean stand and then Gerwyn got a fresh coconut. I also wanted to try the chocolate crepe and elephant ear but seeing as how I overdosed on 2 dozen tiny toms at the Ex yesterday, I decided to pass.

We were only there for about an hour and a half but I felt like I got to see almost everything. It was a bit difficult navigating the crowds with my stroller, now I know what it feels like to be one of "those" people who I used to get so annoyed with when I was young and childless.

Tomorrow we hope to go back to the Ex. And I hope to finally try my Deep Fried Twix!

Playing with the Boys

Only a week to go before I officially go back to work so we decided to get in as many play dates as possible. And who better to play with than Marley's bbfs (best boyfriends) Jacen and Sully. Everyone came over today and it was amazing to see the kids' progress. Everyone was crawling around, patting each other's heads or pulling hair and lots of baby chatter! Sometimes it sounded like they were really conversing with each other. Everyone managed to get along for the most part and we even squeezed in a visit to Bobbette and Belle for some macaroons and cakes. Yum! Now that my mat leave is dwindling, I really appreciate these get togethers and realize how fortunate we both are to have such good friends to share our lives with. Thanks ladies (and gentlemen), I'll really miss you!

Distillery Food Truck Festival

Yesterday we spontaneously decided to check out the Food Truck Festival in the Distillery District. I had heard that the previous event was packed and all the food sold out quickly so I was a bit skeptical since we got there at 1:30 and it was closing at 3. Luckily we got a great parking spot from a friend and only encountered one really bad line. We managed to eat pork and chicken skewers from the Hawaiian BBQ truck, empanadas and meat pie from the Chilean food truck and a spicy brownie and smores bar from the Southern bbq food truck. It was great to see all the different trucks, there were so many I wanted to check out (specifically the Cupcake food truck) but the lines were a big deterrent. Still, we managed to enjoy our two hours and get enough to eat.

Playdate with Cousin Elijah

Thursday we headed out to Scarborough to have lunch at my brother's house and play with Elijah and my mom. My mom made "neng-myun" which I had been craving for awhile and we spent the afternoon playing with the plethora of new toys. Those kids have so many toys it was like a super playland for Miss M. Eventually she decided to just stick with Elijah and follow him around. Nice to see you Elijah, thanks for sharing!

Centre Island with the Lees!

No, not my family. Today we spent the day at Centre Island with Gerwyn's friend Lawrence (Lee) and his wife, dog and new son. We had lunch at Il Fornello on the harbourfront and then took the ferry to the island for some funnel cakes and football! It was a gorgeous day out and luckily the boys were able to take the day off so we could enjoy some group family time. As you can see by the last pic, someone had so much fun, they passed out on the way home.

Can you keep a secret?

So tonight I did something that my husband probably shouldn't know. And you might be thinking, doesn't he read your blog? I'm pretty sure he doesn't. But I guess this will be the test to find out...

I recently had a conversation with someone (you know who you are!) about leaving your sleeping child in their bed at home when you have to run out for a minute to do something. In her case, it was dropping her older kids off at school 2 minutes away. She didn't want to have to wake up the youngest, get her all suited up and into the car only to have to come back a few minutes later and deal with a potentially cranky child.

At first I was appalled. However tonight, I admit, I gave it shot. I put Miss M down for bed, and was sitting alone downstairs when I was struck with a craving for a Twix bar. Yes, that's right people, I left my sleeping baby alone for a chocolate bar. In my defense, the store is literally across the street, 1 minute away. I think my monitor probably would have worked from that distance it was so close, however it didn't occur to me to even take it. I just whipped out, got my chocolate bars (yes, there were more than one, had to make it worth it afterall!) and whipped back into the house, no one the wiser.

I'll probably tell Gerwyn when he gets home. Or, I could just stash the evidence (aka the wrappers) and just keep it to myself. And you guys of course. ;)

Langdon Hall

Today I met Saadia, Trish and Kim for a girls day out at the spa. Its become a tradition for us to go to Langdon Hall, an inn and spa in Waterloo and today we kept the tradition alive. I met Saadia at 10am and we drove up together and met the girls for our spa treatments at noon. Trish and I had massages while the other girls had facials. We took a quick walk around the grounds and then had high tea in the Inn. This is our third time having high tea and unfortunately I couldn't find our original photo, but managed to find the second one from October 2009 (bottom left of collage). Our lives have changed so much since our last visit but our friendship has stayed exactly the same, we are lucky to be able to just pick up where we left off. I cherished my day with the girls and now am trying to decide what to do with my precious couple of hours alone. Gerwyn took Marley to his mom's for the day so they won't be back until 7. My first inclination is to clean and do chores of course but I'm trying to fight that urge and just enjoy some quiet time to myself. I miss my family but I know I will also miss this alone time once it disappears in two hours so I must relish every moment!

Playdate with Tyler

Today Gerwyn's friends Lawrence and Crystal came over for dinner in the hood and a little playtime with the babies. Tyler is only 2 months old so he couldn't do much playing but he and his mommy came by in the afternoon and we all managed to go for a walk on Queen Street and enjoy some treats at Bobbette and Belle. Lawrence joined us after work and we all had dinner at Leslie Jones. The food was just "ok", some dishes were definitely better than others but the company was great and we all enjoyed the opportunity for an outing together.

Harbourfront Playdate

Thursday I met Susie and Sally for a playdate at Harbourfront. The weather was beautiful, the babies were adorable and it was a great day all around. We walked along the boardwalk, had lunch at Il Fornello's and enjoyed what could be one of our last playdates together before Susie and I go back to work in the fall.

Runny Nose

Lucky for me, Marley hasn't been sick very often. So when she is sick, I really notice the difference in her behaviour. Unfortunately with two almost back to back illnesses, I feel like I barely got enough of her "old self". Now she has a very runny nose and major congestion and is so incredibly clingy again. I don't know if she has a cold or is teething but either way, its so taxing! I barely got any sleep last night since she couldn't feed very well and kept waking up for more. I had just managed to get her on a doable sleep schedule (she was only waking up twice) and now we're back to waking every 2 to 3 hours. SO TIRED!

Elmer's Wedding

Last night we attended our last wedding of the year. Gerwyn's college friend Elmer got married and we attended the reception in Vaughn. It was a very nice space and the food was definitely plentiful! We started out with a lobster and crab buffet so we were pretty full by the time the main course came along. The music was great and this time we managed to dance the night away and enjoy our evening to ourselves. My cousins Mark and Meredith along with my sister so kindly babysat Marley and apparently she was pretty good! Maybe now I'll have an easier time finding babysitters...

Dinner time fun

While feeding Marley her dinner this evening, I noticed that she was more keen to eat if she could touch the food and feed herself. So first I broke apart her meatball and gave her piece by piece to put in her mouth. An occasional crumb fell but overall, not too disastrous. Then came the yogurt. At first I thought I would just let her touch a little with her fingers. Next thing I know she's shoved her whole hand into the yogurt container and seconds later, we end up with this.

Bon Voyage Woo Wows!

It seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to the Woo family but here we are again sadly saying goodbye. It was a great visit and such a pleasure to meet the "new" Jessica, Michael and Steph, so grown up! Admiring handsome movie stars with Jessica, talking Lego with Michael and playing many silly games with Stephanie. I'm glad I got to squeeze in as many visits as possible and Marley got to meet her international Emo and cousins. We look forward to making the trek out to your neck of the woods in the coming years. Thank goodness for the blogs! Not exactly the same but a good substitute when you can't see each other as often as you'd like. Looking forward to the next visit already...