10K - for fun and friendship

This weekend my friend Christa & I ran a 10K together.  Our goals were to not stop running and to make another good friendship memory.

We reached all our goals easily.  It's amazing how quickly time running can go by when you're with a friend with whom you just never run out of conversation.

Our cheering crew was definitely the loudest and cutest!

There were all kinds of fun kid activities afterwards. Helena & her friend Holly have just started holding hands all the time.  It is so sweet.

Longboat Island Run - for the second time.

Two years ago John & I ran in a 5K race on Toronto Island.  It was John's first running race and he called it a "marathon."

 

This spring John brought up the race in a conversation with friends and they decided to all run it together.

John had some cute fans cheering him on:

 A quick note from a spectator - I have to just mention all that happened during John's 26:26 run: Benjamin ate and had his diaper changed, the race's bagpiper gave Helena a thorough explanation of how the instrument works, we walked to the other side of the island, had a snack, and Helena fell & skinned up her knee.  It's amazing how much happens with little kids in such a short time!

Roger's Cup, for the second time

We bought tickets to the men's tournament of the Roger's Cup to celebrate our 6th anniversary in 2012.  That day John was sick and the matches ended up being postponed due to rain.  It all resulted in a nice evening for me & a friend sitting at the court in the rain, as well as credit for tickets to this year's tournament.

This year Toronto hosted the women's tournament (men played in Montreal), so we weren't quite as excited since there was no chance we'd see Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray or Del Potro.  But I don't think there could have been a better night to attend the women's tournament.  This is what we saw:

Serena Williams play.

Billie Jean King receive an award.  (She's the one in the purple.)

The reigning champ go against and beat the up-and-coming Canadian player.

 Yes, Benjamin came with us and it worked out pretty okay.  John & I didn't sit in our seats very much at all, and Benjamin slept most of the time.  When he was awake, he was busy stealing our attention and others' from the match.

 

Dad/TomDad/Dad2/Grandpa/Poppy

He's known by many names in our home, and they're all affectionate ones.   During John's dad's visit last week, we ate out at a lot of fun restaurants and he & John were quite cultural with two concerts and a museum visit.  None of those activities were the highlights however. 

The first highlight was keeping up the family tradition of hunting & gathering in the dark.  When John was young, the men of his family would sneak onto the Mackinnac Island golf course in the middle of the night and collect hundreds of golf balls.  Here in Toronto they collected "chestnuts" with Helena to later roast.  Good thing John researched it before we tasted them, however, as they'd actually collected horse chestnuts, which are poisonous.  (Later we bought some and man, do they not taste good.  That Christmas song is now ruined for us.)

The second highlight was going to a University of Toronto football game.  Wow, is our team ever bad.  In 2008 they ended a seven-year winless streak at 49 games.  They managed to end the game we watch with a score of 34-6.

Do notice that the team emblem is not on the 50 yard line.  Rather it's on the 55 yard line.  In Canadian football there are almost 110 yards, which is very close to 100 meters.

Third highlight?  Playing hearts with TomDad each evening.  He is so good at shooting the moon or attempting to shoot the moon and yet still unload all his point cards on us; yet it's so much fun.

Thanks for the visit, Dad/TomDad/Dad2/Grandpa/Poppy!

Rogers Cup

John & I rather enjoy tennis.  It's fun to play but we really like to watch, especially when Roger Federer is playing.  So, with the Rogers Cup being held in Toronto and 3 of the 4 best players in the world had signed up to play, the decision to go to the tournament for our 6th anniversary was easily made.

 

Then HFMD hit.  John couldn't go, so my friend Steph went with me.  We had a lot of fun, eating burgers and then sitting under our umbrellas, all while being the only people in the nosebleed seats for the entire 2 hours we were there.

No real tennis ended up being played due to the rain, but we did end up seeing Novac Djokovic joking around with an umbrella on the tennis court!

The good news is since the tennis match couldn't be played, we get to send in our tickets and get new ones for next year's tournament.  Hopefully then John & I will both be able to attend!

A Morning Date

Dates seem almost more important now that we are parents than before. So this morning a friend babysat and John & I headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame. This was definitely a date chosen with John in mind and he loved it, so it was good for me too.

Standing with the Stanley Cup Trophy

But let me just say being in this museum is hilarious. It is basically room after room of glassed-in displays of clothes (hockey jerseys) and there are men taking pictures everywhere. Then in the museum store there are more clothes and the men are the ones taking them off the racks and talking about how great they are. Just observing all of that may have been the best part of the museum for me.

Photos dealing with hockey below - I tried to pick only the somewhat interesting ones!


Remember that grocery store we visited a few days ago? Well, the above trophy has that same building right on it - when it was the hockey arena!


Sadly there were only two Vancouver Canucks jerseys in the entire museum - one in the franchise section and then this one, found in the Fan Favorite section. As the Canucks created a fan in me, I had to get my picture with it!


Do you recognize this guy? I remember the day after the Olympic Gold Medal game I went into work and was asked "Charlotte, who is this guy?" while pointing at her computer. I had no idea. It was Sidney Crosby, the player who scored the winning goal. According to my hockey lover of a co-worker, every Canadian will know who he is for the next 20 years.

The only college team jerseys to be found in the entire museum?
One from Wisconsin and one from Minnesota.
That's right.

Maple Leaf Gardens

A couple weeks ago, we were walking down Yonge Street and John said, "Wow, I've never seen this place in the daytime." My response: "How can that be? We've lived right next to it for 4 1/2 months now!" It just showed how busy John has been and how he hasn't been able to take part in exploring Toronto like Helena & I have. Thus, our mission over John's reading break is to really take in and explore Toronto, specifically our area.

Yesterday we went to the


and then down to


In case you're not a hockey fan, Maple Leaf Gardens is where the Toronto Maple Leafs used to play. Since then, it was bought by Loblaw's, a grocery store, and has been completely redone.

We went for the tourist sights, not the food, at the grocery store. Almost everything from the arena is gone, but there are a few things left, like the original arena seats that make up the Maple Leaf below. Notice the zigzags on the wall to the left of the leaf? That's where some of the arena stairs used to be!


We also made our way to centre ice, found in Aisle 25 next to the SPAM. See the Leafs fan that we took with us?


It was fun to overhear people's conversations, which included "Where can I find Ranch dressing?" and "Where is centre ice?" And even though our focus was on the sights, it was impossible to not be impressed with the store. Here was John's second favorite part of the trip:


An entire wall of cheese.

But the best part was introducing Helena to donuts. After her first bite, she kept pulling the donut back to her mouth for more!

The Longboat Toronto Island Run

This Sunday held the much awaited event of the summer - John's running debut. We ran the Longboat Toronto Island 5K, and it was so much fun. Helena was part of the action too, as she rode along in our jogging stroller.

(stretching with Mommy)

The following consists of interviews with John taken before and after the race.

BEFORE:

What have you been doing to train for this race? I've been running every few days with my wife and daughter. My wife is my trainer and coach; she's good at pushing me to the limit. It's been a grueling 4 months but in this last week I've started to enjoy it.

What's your goal for the race? My goal is to finish under 30 minutes and to not throw up.

(Helena insisted that ballet slipper socks would be better than Keds for the race)

We finished with a time of 28:20! John was quite hot at the end, but after a half-dozen glasses of Gatorade, he was feeling fine.

AFTER:

How was the race for you? It was great. I had a blast. I can't believe I just did that. My wife is awesome; she pushed Helena in the stroller the whole way and still it was hard for me to keep up with her pace.

Will this be your debut AND your finale? Well, my season is over for this year but I'll be back next year. I definitely want to do the Toronto Island Run again.

Do you have any goals for next year? Yes. In next year's race I want to run 7 minute miles; if I do this, that would put me in the top three for my age range. By the way, this would also put Charlotte in the #1 spot for the females. Next year we are going to dominate!

(a running family)

I'm not sure about the whole domination idea, but on our way home John did say that Sunday was the highlight of his summer. Looks like we will be racing again next year!

The unbelievable has happened.

Watch the video and I'll explain below.



But first, before the explanation, let me tell you a little story. One day during our first year of marriage, John called me at work to say he'd gotten free tickets for a surprise activity that night. He wouldn't tell me what it was but he'd let me guess later. That night we started the drive to downtown St. Paul and the guesses started pouring out: a movie, a musical, a concert, figure skating, etc. At one point I said, "It's not a hockey game, is it? Please, if it's a hockey game I'd rather sit in the car and do my schoolwork." As John wasn't saying yes or no to any of my guesses, it passed. When we arrived at the Xcel Center, I was sure it was figure skating as the jumbotron outside was showing just that. But when we walked in, it was none other than a pro hockey game. That night I occupied myself with people watching.

Back to the video. The video was taken during a game in which the Vancouver Canucks scored in the last few seconds, allowing for an overtime. What you heard was the city's reaction. Now the team has made it to the Stanley Cup finals!

How do the story and video go together? I now call myself a hockey fan, a Vancouver Canucks hockey fan. The unbelievable has happened.

Woo-hoo for Wisconsin!

January was a sad month for Wisconsin Badger fans, as they ended up losing the Rose Bowl by a field goal. The season ended with the team ranked seventh. But things sure have changed for the Cheeseheads now, what with the results of the Super Bowl!

Alright Pack!

The Rose Bowl

As it's the first day of the new year, it's Rose Bowl time! The first one was held in 1902 with Michigan vs. Stanford. Humorously, Stanford was losing by so much in the third quarter that they flat out quit!

Today we won't be seeing any quitting, however, because the Wisconsin Badgers are playing.

Go Big Red!

Canada's National Songs

The song "O Canada" is a recognizable song with a somewhat interesting history. For a long time there were many songs vying for the title of National Anthem of Canada. "O Canada" was originally written in French and for a long time found competition in "God Save the Queen" and "The Maple Leaf Forever". In 1908 an English translation (however not a literal one) was written and finally accepted as the one in the 1960s. Since then there have been multiple modifications proposed for the English version, such as these two:

"our home and native land" to "our home and cherished land"
"in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command"

Not only does the song have official lyrics in Canada's two official languages, but it also has a set version in Inuktitut, one of the First Nations' languages.

You now know the history of "O Canada". But I recently read an essay in The Walrus (think the Canadian version of The New Yorker) that proposed a different song for Canada's national anthem. This was definitely not the first time it has been mentioned in the same phrase as "Canada's national anthem." And I must admit I have heard more about this proposed song since living in Canada than any other song. It was even played in the Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics! What song is so popular?

The old Hockey Night in Canada song! You may not recognize it, but this song (titled "Hockey Theme") is not only recognized but can probably be hummed by most Canadians. It was a BIG DEAL when the song for HNIC was changed in 2008. People still talk about how disastrous a change it was.

So, in order to teach you all more about Canada and its culture, here is...drumroll please...the Hockey Night in Canada theme song: