Our friends have left now to look at a bit more of Canada. We loved having them and managed to squeeze in quite a few things while they were here, but didn’t have much time to report on our activities.

What we did:
Two Museums: We spent half a day at the Museum of Nature, where we were able to see the Canadian birds, mammals and the dinosaur sections. A whole day was necessary at the Museum of Civilization, where we walked through the impressive Canada Hall and then split up, our guests choosing to look at the First People’s Hall while we visited the “Unique” exhibit celebrating 30 years of Canadian crafts and then the Children’s museum.

Parliament Hill: Our friends returned to Parliament Hill without us and did the tour and then strolled down Sparks Street Mall.

Byward Market: where we enjoyed a great meal and had our names written on grains of rice.

NAC Theatre: where we listened to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with violinist Leila Josefowicz

Rehearsals: The girls didn’t miss any rehearsals or lessons, but A came along and met our teacher and listened to the girls prepare for the Kiwanis festival.

Swim: We convinced A that a swim would be very good for the knot in her shoulder and she found it was and so swam again and again. The question is will she keep it up without us to encourage force her?

Ate: Chocolate chip cookie dough icecream was the culinary hit of their trip, I believe, although Andrew’s boned and stuffed chicken and his Gorgonzola cream pasta sauce were very stiff competition. On their final night we consumed a decent amount of delicious Vietnamese food.

Celebrated: A had her birthday with us and we were able to rustle up the requested Maple leaf shaped cake complete with candles, also Happy Birthday posters, presents and balloons with her name on them.

Played: Many games of One to a Hundred!

Talked: late and long.

What we didn’t do:
housework, grammar, spelling, convince them to stay longer.

By the way, when I took them to catch their train on Friday morning they were told they couldn’t catch it as there were Mohawk protesters blocking the line hear Kingston. They went by coach instead.