The Zoo and Giraffes

We also visited the zoo with Nani.  

 

Zoos are exhausting yet so much fun.  God's creativity is amazing.

Due to the rain, the giraffes weren't out in their green space, which was disappointing as the giraffe is Helena's favorite animal.  Then somebody told us the grass was too slippery for the giraffes but if we went through a gate, we'd see them at their house  Right after we got there a zoo keeper came out to give the mother giraffe a snack - what great timing!

It was the best part of the day.  Did you know that giraffes sleep for 5 minutes to 2 hours a day?  That's it!  Of course that's broken up into little segments throughout the day and all while they're standing on their feet.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.

Visit from Grandma/Mom/Millie

Last week we had a special visitor who is called many things, but in this sentence I'll just call her John's mom.  It was a bit of a strange visit, as John & I were gone in the middle of it, but it was still great.  On the days that we were all together, we definitely kept busy.

We spent lots of time outside in the nice weather.

We made our first trip this year to Riverdale Farm - a charming little farm in the middle of downtown Toronto.  It is a gem.  

During our last visit there, I learned that all donkeys have crosses on their backs!  Did you know that?  I had definitely never noticed that in all my time around donkeys.  The story is that the crosses are there as a reminder of Palm Sunday.

My favorite day was spent at Spencer Gorge Conservation Area, about an hour away from Toronto.  The park has two large waterfalls, easy dirt-pathed hikes to both falls, huge willow trees, lots of grass, and an old cobblestone bridge.

The bridge was simply charming.

It was such a GORGEOUS day!

We also had lots of fun playing inside.  One afternoon Grandma & Helena hosted a tea party for H's Mommy & Daddy!  Thanks so much for coming Grandma/Mom/Millie!

St. Lawrence Market & Woofstock

 

St. Lawrence Market was named World's Best Food Market by National Geographic in April.  So, to state the obvious, we had to go.  Lucky for us & Helena, the largest festival for dogs & their owners in North America, Woofstock, was taking place right next door on the same weekend!

The dogs were almost as plentiful as the people.

Helena loved it when this little chihuahua licked her fingers.

The best part of Woofstock was this vizsla, a Hungarian hunting dog, who played fetch with anyone & everyone, but especially little girls.

After this, Helena fell asleep & we surrounded ourselves with delicious food.

Fruits & Vegetables

Fresh Pasta & Sauce

Meat from near & far

(In this picture, you see ostrich, emu, camel, kangaroo &Australian kangaroo - don't ask me the difference between the two!)

Olives galore

Bakeries that reminded us of Paris

Amazing Antipastos

We ate so much delicious food.  Here's the list: the above pasta, a chocolate lava muffin, a fresh fig, a peameal bacon sandwich, cherry bombs (cherry peppers stuffed with feta cheese), a chocolate croissant, a butter tart and samples.  Despite the fact that none of us love pasta, the dish shown above was the best food we had and it was amazing.  Fresh ravioli - and by fresh I mean rolled out and then immediately boiled - with a sauce made up of marinara, alfredo and pesto.  The sauces were not mixed, causing each bite to be a little different.  I will either eat this dish or purchase this dish to eat later every time I go to St. Lawrence Market.  OH SO GOOD.

Bird-sitting

This past week we've been doing some bird-sitting.


Sartorius the Budgie has been residing in our living room, and it's been quite fun.


At times it hasn't been easy to figure out who's making all the noise -
the girl or the bird!

Riverdale Farm

Living in the city means we see lots of buildings, lots of cars, and lots of people. There's never nothing to look at! However, we do try to get out to the parks regularly so Helena can see trees (and grass this winter). We're super blessed to have a farm right downtown too!


That's right - a farm. Riverdale Farm is part of Toronto's Park & Recreation Facilities. It is great. There are lots of farm animals to watch and when Helena is older, activities to participate in.


Helena always loves the pigs - maybe because they are consistently the most-talkative? This time she found a new wonder to watch. The windmill! That's what she's pointing to in the above picture.


It has been so nice to have John around a bit more this week.
Sadly, there's only one day left.

Shadow the Cat

As it's reading break around here, our neighbors are gone on a trip and asked us if we'd take care of their cat while they were gone. So we're making daily visits across the hall to visit Shadow the cat.


Helena's funny. When the cat is on the couch, she's interested in being close to him for maybe 30 seconds. Maybe. But when the cat is underneath the couch, she can stay in this position for minutes on end!


She knows what his toys are, so she will bring them over to Shadow to play with. It's really so sweet!


But this toy, one of those that hangs from a door frame to get the cat to jump up and paw at it, well, Helena has decided it's now her toy!