Season's Greetings

New Colin is celebrating the holidays with SN on the west coast. The Quatchis and I were up at Blue Mountain to spend time with my dad's side of the family.

Wishing everyone a festive holiday season with all the trimmings!

Sunday @ The AGH

Buddy had a really great afternoon at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on Sunday! He wrote a letter using a typewriter at "The Living Room" exhibit...

...learned about Ken Danby...

...saw a bunch of paintings from Canadian artists...

...including some colourful contemporary art...

...and loved checking out this futuristic diaroma!

AGH exceeded our expectations. If you're in the area, we would recommend you check it out!

Name that City

Clem went on her first international trip last weekend! Can you guess where she is?

Shopping Spree

Clem joined B and I on a shopping trip. The goal was to buy a wallet for B's dad. We were a bit distracted when we got to the mall. Isn't this purse fitting for our sweet Clem?

Clem was super snazzed when she saw these fun accessories. She wanted to touch everything. She suggested the Karl wallet for B's dad, but we ended up going for something more classic.

Happy Mail

Sending a special THANK YOU to our quatchtastic friend, Sophia, who sent us a great life update! The Quatchis are so happy to hear you are well! Take care!

Fro-back

Found this funny photo of Colin on my phone.

Who knew he would look so good with hair!

Welcome, Clementine!

Monster Factory is having a monster sale! We are so happy that Clementine was available! She arrived today safe and sound. Welcome, Clementine!

In Hamilton

Bernie and Dumbo have been spending time in Hamilton with B. Today they spent the afternoon sitting by the window watching the world go by. There were lots of people moving in and out of neighbouring apartment buildings. Bernie and Dumbo occasionally took a peach break. We picked some up from the farmers' market and they were super sweet!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

Mansions, Oh My!

There are several mansions to tour in Newport. We visited the following:

1. The Elms 

2. Chateau-sur-Mer

3. The Breakers

4. Marble House

5. Rosecliff

Many of these mansions were summer "cottages", used by wealthy families for only eight to twelves weeks a year. The mansions now belong to the Preservation Society of Newport County. They are worth checking out!

Hi from Newport!

Maggie, my mum, and I went on an impromptu trip to Newport. We enjoyed checking out the shops and walking along the water.

Most accommodations in Newport are B&Bs. We found a great one just off of the main drag. It served excellent breakfast and afternoon treats. Can you find Maggie on the bed?

Looking good, Mags!

The weather was much hotter than expected - over 40 degrees with humidity. We braved the heat and walked up the Cliff Walk. It was a nice scenic walk of the water and mansions.

We ate at some great restaurants, including the Mooring. We had lobster, crab, and shrimp fritters, as well as clam chowder.

We also had lobster! Yum!

On our final day we had afternoon tea at One Bellevue. Maggie shared a cup of Earl Grey tea with me.

The main reason why we went to Newport was to check out the mansions. We'll show you some photos in our next post!

Congrats, Team Canada!

Q and the Mins have been watching the Olympics as much as possible via the CBC website. They especially enjoyed the opening ceremonies, as well as the swimming, gymnastic, and running events.

Congratulations, Team Canada! We're proud of your performance at Rio 2016 and your your current Olympic medals!

The Secret Life of Pets

Bernie was excited to watch The Secret Life of Pets! There was only a handful of us in the theatre so Bernie had an unobstructed view of the screen. The movie was a fun one! If you go see it, let us know what you think!

Chi-town Eats

I went to Chicago this past weekend to celebrate a friend's recent marriage. I always intended to bring New Colin. Dumbo politely asked if he could join too and I couldn't say no! This is his first trip south of the border.

After checking into my AirBnB in Bucktown/Wicker Park, we walked around the neighbourhood before having a trio of tacos from Big Star.

We also grabbed a lemon pistachio cruller from Stan's Donuts. I then tucked in the friends before catching a late night improv show at iO Theatre.

The next day we visited the Museum for Contemporary Art. The Kerry James Marshall exhibit was excellent! New Colin and Dumbo liked this painting in particular.

We walked down the Magnificent Mile and checked out a few shops. It was the Fourth of July long weekend, hence the huge American flag.

We ate brunch at Little Goat. We asked for a light dish and the server recommended this burrito. We were so stuffed afterward! We slept all the way on the train to the suburbs to meet my friend.

On our final day, we hit up a few places I always wanted to go to (but never did on past trips to Chicago). We ate a char dog at the Wiener Circle in Lincoln Park.

And checked out the baseball scene at Wrigley Field. The game was completely sold out and scalpers were selling tickets for $80 a pop. I will plan better next time and order tickets in advance!

For an afternoon treat we had coffee basil and goat cheese cashew caramel gelato. Yum! We also bought a sandwich from the Chop Shop. It hit the spot before heading on the plane.

New Colin and Dumbo's tummies were happy! Thanks for joining me, guys!

Farewell, Kingston (and PEC)!

I made one last trip to Kingston recently. It was bittersweet. I made great memories in Kingston but I'm also excited to moving on to another chapter of my life. The Mins wanted to go to Juniper, a new cafe by the water, before we parted ways.

We did a quick day trip to Prince Edward County. It's a pleasant drive along the water from Kingston. We took the ferry to the island. Can you see the Mins' reflection in the car mirror?

We checked out a few wineries. The Mins' favourite was County Cider Company. We bought a case of the peach cider for the summer.

We went to Sandbanks, one of the largest beaches in Ontario. I've been wanting to go here for a long time so I'm glad to check this off the bucket list.

We grabbed ice cream at Slickers. The strawberry rhubarb hit the spot! The campfire flavour was even better (and quite possibly the best)!

We ate dinner at the Drake Devonshire. The inn has a small beach with lots of lounge chairs and a fire pit. It was a great spot for the Mins to relax after a big meal.

Farewell, Kingston (and PEC)! Thanks for the memories!

Simple Ice Cream

Q helped me whip up ice cream yesterday. It's not the healthiest, but is super simple to make, and tastes very much like the real deal. You only need two ingredients for the base, and we added a tad of vanilla extract to pump up the flavour. Click here for the recipe.

For our vegan friends, check out this recipe. Q and I were a bit skeptical at first, but we tried the Nutella version, and it turned out pretty good.

Have fun making ice cream!

The Rock

Spencer joined B and I for a hike a few weekends ago. We went to Rock Dunder, a wilderness area 30 minutes away from Kingston. Rock Dunder used to be Boy Scout camp and is the highest point of land in the area. It was a hot and steamy hike, but the view was worth it!