Vaca Pics.

Some vacation pictures! Although to be honest, it felt less like a vacation and more like a 'visit everyone and get our stuff back' trip (which we did, our house is pretty much now fully furnished!). In the few minutes we had to relax, we did manage to visit the beach and wander around a bit. It was nice even though it wasn't quite the 'read books and sit by the lake' type trip I had been envisioning. Perhaps that will be the family PEI trip in August. Maybe...?

First night, Amy and I went for a little horseback ride.

Cody came along to flush out all the birds hiding in the bushes.

It was a beautiful night for a horseback ride.

Off to the beach in PEI before it rains!

The next day was raining so Cody stayed inside for belly rubs.

Off to Yarmouth! We spent a hour on the beach and not in the freezing water.

A quick dip in the lake by the camp one night after our short paddleboat ride.

Beautiful lake sunset which we watched while our campfire got s'more ready.

Exercising.

My knee has been feeling much better but I still asked the family doctor to check it out last week. It's mostly been feeling better because I've been babying it. But I haven't tried to run on it again out of concern of hurting it again. The doctor declared that the tendon was slightly inflamed and to continue icing and wrapping it but there isn't much more I can do.

I've been cycling a lot around the hills in the area. On Wed I did a longer ride down what ended up to be a long dirt road. I don't think that will become a regular route for me and Isaiah came and rescued me at the bottom of the hill. Today, however, I managed to get myself all the way home! I did a shorter loop so I still had energy for the hill at the end.

We tried to go for a good hike today but the first one was super overgrown and our second option had no spot to park due to construction so we ended up walking down the trail in Oxford. It was so hot out that even that was enough of a hike for us. Plus we found a lot of wild strawberries so I mostly just ate strawberries along the way.

Because I've been biking, hiking, and kayaking (once), we've decided against joining the gym for the summer. I also set up a exercise space in the little sunroom to do weights and stuff. I'll probably look into the gym again in the fall when it gets too cold for biking.

Some activity pics from the past week:

Yum!

Little gym area.

Dad and Isaiah trying to beat the rain in Shediac. It was sunny when I went out.

After our long walk on the beach out by Heather's Beach.

Weekend outings.

The last few days have been busy but fun, we've managed to do a few more things on my "Toronto to-do list."

Thursday, we went to the ROM and checked out their new dinosaur and the Pompeii exhibit.  Spoiler: Everyone dies. They had quite a few artifacts from Pompeii and some of the casts that were made from the bodies that have been found during the excavation. There were glass bowls that survived but more interestingly (to me), were the glass vases that melted during the ash-rainfall-that-killed-all (I'm being told it's actually called the pyroclastic flow...thanks geologist).

Friday, we finally made is kayaking on the Islands! The boat house was finally open. We rented a doubles kayak instead of each getting our own and we spent more time than I want to admit getting in sync so our paddles would stop hitting each other.  We made it to a few lagoon type places and checked out the dragon boats and went through their course (the races happened this weekend). By the end of the hour, our arms were aching and we both had blisters. We spent the rest of the day finding some geocaches, looking at the animals, and getting lost with the children in the maze.

Saturday, we had a picnic and small hike with my family. It was adjacent to the Bruce trail so I'm counting it as hiking part of the Bruce trail. My knee managed to hold up until the drive home. Two exciting things about that 1) my knee continues to get better and 2) I drove! My first time driving since the transplant. It's been over 7 months and it felt so good to be behind the wheel again. I gleefully yelled at all the other drivers on the road.

Sunday, we had a games day with various family members. We also went to an Escape Room which are all the rage now. It was quite fun and we were one clue away from escaping before the time ran out and we were sucked back into time and space forever. Or something like that...

Today, we tackled some of the packing. I have another box of meds to take back to the pharmacy (I've already taken two boxes) and threw out a bunch of supplies that I no longer need, like the vac dressing foam. It feels really good to get rid of all this stuff. We did keep all the gauze and tape though so are prepared if anyone has a serious accident while visiting.

Recovering from the weekend?

Isaiah and I spent a fantastic weekend at the Field Trip music fest listening to bands and trying to avoid getting a sunburn. We saw Sharon and Bram, Dan Mangan, Alabama Shakes, and a ton of other bands. I enjoyed all of them except for one punk-style angry band that I'm sure my 14 yr old angsty self would've enjoyed but I can longer get behind the whole "the world is against me, my life is miserable" shtick. We lasted about 10 minutes with that band before checking out the band at the second stage.

The best part about the festival is that it was at the fort across the street from us so I came home between sets to put on some warmer evening clothes and grab some non-overpriced food. The worst part was that I forgot how smoky outdoor festival things are. Even though it was a 'kid friendly' event, and there were children everywhere, so were the smokers. We ended up scouting out areas with kids to sit at as there was a less likely chance of people smoking. 

Aaand then yesterday, my body revolted. I don't know if I was overtired or ate too much with too few digestive enzymes but I spent the day yesterday on the couch trying to stop the feeling of someone stabbing me with a million knives in my digestive tract. I've had this happen before so it didn't cause me to panic but being in pain all night because my body doesn't want to digest food, is never an enjoyable experience.

It also didn't help that when I took Tylenol to try to help the pain, I immediately threw it up. My body really wasn't happy with me.

I'm feeling somewhat better now thankfully. I was scared to eat much all day so I stuck to oily food and fiber in hopes that would help. It seems to have helped, the waves of pain stabbing have been slowing down and it's now only an occasional thing so I think I'll be able to sleep tonight. It would be good for both me and Isaiah who has a job interview tomorrow and would prefer not to fall asleep during it.

To return to a happier note, here are some weekend pics:

Sharon and Bram! We all had a giant sing-a-long.

Me hanging out at the back for Alabama Shakes.

Dan Mangan singing at the kids stage. He also did a show at the 'adult' stage with his band, Blacksmith.

How we spent most of Sunday.

Easter Weekend!

Some fun Easter weekend pictures!

A shot from my bike ride on Thursday.

I saw a duck on some ice!

On Friday, we went to High Park for a walk and saw some animals at the little zoo.

We might see a squirrel!

Baby highland cow.

Llama!

I guess all the ducks are hanging out on ice now.

Saturday we went to the market and I ate a bag of deep fried dough covered in icing sugar.

We checked out the Distillery Market but we were too early for chocolate.

So we sat in the sun and waited.

Chocolate store! So much chocolate! Chocolate....

So we drank the chocolate. It was literally liquid chocolate and milk. No powder mix for them!

Happy November!

It's November! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! The winter winds have started blowing much to my dismay. Despite the cold wind, I had a fantastic weekend with David visiting. We mostly spent the weekend playing board games but did make it outside for Halloween and a hockey game.

Health-wise, I've managed to wean myself off the anti-nauseatesover the last two days which is a step up. I would say my energy is coming back but I've managed to offset that gain by staying up way too late the last few nights. I'm sure it will return over the next week.

We went to the Friday Night Live party at the ROM for Halloween. It was the last day of our ROM membership so we wanted to go for a last hurrah. It was super packed, apparently if you wanted to dress up as an adult on Halloween, that was the place to be.

We were in the minority of people not in costume which I was not expecting at all. The FNL night is usually pretty fun but I found Friday night was even more fun than usual. There was just more of a casual relaxed vibe everywhere. Even on the subway, everyone seemed more social. It seems people are more friendly when they're dressed in a funny costume. It's hard to be aloof when you're wearing a Mario hat.

People were definitely questioning if my oxygen was a prop or not. I'm not sure that 'person with cancer' is really a popular costume choice. Although two guys on the subway in Ebola cleaning costumes seemed to think it was a brilliant idea. I would not trust their judgement of 'good taste in Halloween costumes'.

In fact, a ROM security person on the second floor actually made me dig out the tank from my cart to prove to him it was real. Amused, I tweeted about it (because yes, that is something I do now), and some staff person must have read it as when we left, a second security person apologized to me. I wasn't offended, the guy was just doing his job trying to keep bags out of the museum.

All in all, it was one of the best Halloweens I've had in awhile.

Here are some pics from the last few days:

Face painting at the ROM!

We blended into the crowd more with our fun facepaint. Isaiah refused to join the facepainting fun. 

We ate some chocolate covered crickets. It tasted like chocolate.

We made it to our first Marlies game on Sat!

Fall road trip!

Isaiah and I went for a Autumn drive yesterday to Alton, had a lovely fancy lunch at the Millcroft Inn and then continued our drive through Orangeville and the Hockley Valley. It was nice to be out of the city to see the fall leaves. We were suggested the outing by someone who use to live in the area and played around the mill as a child before it was converted into a fancy Inn and Spa.

The Forks of the Credit roadway to Alton was gorgeous. There was a river and colourful trees, it reminded me of a drive in NB we would sometimes take in the fall with my grandmother to see the leaves. It was slightly mountainous (for Ontario) and the road had a few switchbacks which were fun to zoom around with the standard. Apparently Elton John has a place in the area but we were not invited in for tea on his estate. Next time perhaps.

We used the trip as a bit of a 'one year in Toronto' celebration. We made it through one year surviving in Toronto, waiting for the transplant. One year of physio, hospital visits, and ignoring people on the subway. On the bright side, it was also one year of theatre visits, sporting events, and festivals. So I guess it balances out in the end. Somewhat.

The beautiful drive!

Our view at the lovely inn.

The other side.

Isaiah's prosciutto wrapped rabbit legs with foraged wild mushroom risotto.

My delicious bison burger topped with blue cheese and quail egg. Yum!!

Happy long weekend!

I hope everyone is having/had a safe and fun long weekend! I heard the commerical again on the radio from the blood bank asking everyone to donate blood for the car accidents that will be happening this weekend. So a reminder to everyone who donates blood and plasma, to donate this week! People need your help!

We've been having a low-key weekend so far. There is an airshow happening close to our apartment which we've been hearing for the past two days. The planes sometimes come within view of the window but are mostly on the other side of the building. I would have been outside to watch them if it wasn't so damn humid outside. I spent a total of 2 minutes outside today, walking from the car to the grocery store and I though that I would melt into a puddle. I'm glad it hasn't been like this all summer. I was not thankful that the past winter was the coldest in a long time, but I am very thankful that this summer was also one of the coolest in a long time. Nothing wrong with a high of 24.

Happy Labour Day everyone!

Pics!

For something a bit more cheery than the last post, here are some pictures of the few things I haven't already mentioned that we did with Mom and Dad during their visit.

Went to an outdoor screening of Ghostbusters on their anniversary. The ghostbusters were as romatic as ever.

We went early to get good seats/actual seats, it filled up super fast.

Visited some comptemporary art museums on the waterfront and saw a butterfly.

Spent an afternoon at the BuskerFest.

Watched a contortionist squeeze herself into a small box. I saw her a few years ago at the Halifax buskers but this time she added the challenge of getting a basketball and her body into the box. It looked painful.

And we finished the visit with another sporting event. Blue Jays vs Red Socks. The Red Socks won in the 10th inning.

Obligatory pic of the CN tower from the Skydome (aka Rogers center).