William World!

Weina had to fly back to China to fetch her dad (otherwise known as "Laoye," which means grandpa on the mamma's side), and needed to do it over the July 4 holiday.  This would leave Matt and William on their own, despite Matt needing to work two days.  Katie decided she wanted to make the road trip up to Toronto to help out with William care, and we asked if we could come along.  Thus was born a great road trip to Toronto!

Katie's route came right near our campground, so she picked us up bright and early on July 3, and we headed northwest.  Laird and Risa offered for us to stop by for coffee, coffee cake and lively conversation to fuel our travels, and we eagerly agreed.  We would never miss a chance to see them or sip some scrumptious Bisetti Coffee, lovingly hand-roasted by our niece Hannah and her partner David, who own three coffee shops and a coffee roastery in Lima, Peru.

Here's a photo of Laird and Risa wrestling Katie for the last cup of Bisetti coffee.  Si no es Bisetti, no es cafe:

Prior to this visit to Albany, David and Kathy had gone shopping with Risa and Laird to find all sorts of July 4 noisemakers and party things.  We reminded them that we had these in tow and would be using them to great advantage with William in Toronto over the holiday.

Thus energized, we drove even faster toward Lake Ontario.  By Thursday evening, we had crossed the border into Canada from Alexandria Bay, New York, circled around the eastern end of Lake Ontario, passed some of our favorite towns in the Thousand Islands, and arrived at Matt and Weina's new apartment on the waterfront in Toronto.  Here's a little selfie Bubu took of us as Matt rested from his labor of unpacking, cleaning and hanging paintings:

Matt and Weina have collected several beautiful, unique paintings, all of which are favorites of ours as well!  We got a chance to see them hung in place, as Matt experimented with locations and presentations of each of the paintings.

The apartment is gorgeous, and has a panoramic view of Lake Ontario, marinas, the local municipal airport, and downtown Toronto itself including the CN Tower, which can all be very dramatic by night.  Here is the interior of the apartment reflected in part of its expansive picture window:

And don't miss the view of the CN Tower to the east:

We were eager to get out and about downtown.  In between trips with William to the park, we strolled along Queen's Quay.  Some parts of it are gorgeous (witness the flower planters below) and some are less so (witness the street construction behind the flower planters below):

One evening, a mist settled over the city, and as we took the dogs for a walk in the park across the street, we caught this view of the city center, looking magical:

Just in case you didn't think we had chances to rest in the evening and enjoy ourselves, here's another selfie (not sure where Katie was when we took this - maybe she was out walking Bubu):

Of course, the real highlight of the visit was the grand opportunity Katie, Kathy and David had to play with William.  A typical day would begin bright and early, with William announcing, "PLAY CARS!" and we knew it was showtime!  Matt and Weina received the shipments of their household goods just before Weina jetted off to China, and these included all of William's favorite toys.  So, he had the great pleasure of rediscovering all his oldies and goodies.

Two of them were his Lego and Duplo blocks.  He could spend hours constructing cars, houses, mountains and what-not.  Here he and Kathy show off their latest creation:

And don't forget a fort made of cardboard boxes (William calls it a "casa").  Here Kathy is visiting William in his casa.  Pay no attention to the little man inside the box:

On Friday and Saturday, while Matt unpacked and such, we took William to the nearby park, which features a wading pool filled with fresh, cold water every morning.  It was such fun walking with William down to the park around 10 am and watching the park workers fill the pool. Then it was playtime, and William pulled out all his water toys.  Each day, the pool play was accompanied by some sandbox play, and snacks, and such.  Maggie the puppy came with us one day and frolicked around the park while William splashed.

When Matt was free of work and his chores of unpacking and cleaning, we took strolls.  One of them was on Sunday to Matt's and Weina's favorite dumpling house in Chinatown.  William discovered the joy of being hauled backward in his stroller.  Here he is showing how happy a little boy can be when his tummy is full of dumplings:

After morning playtime and lunch, a little boy can be very tired.  Kathy helped William fall asleep one day in the second bedroom being prepared for Laoye.  The little guy assumed his customary butt-up sleeping position, and Maggie the puppy, who shared the bedroom this visit with Katie, volunteered to guard him while he slept:

Did we say how beautiful the skyline of Toronto can be?  One morning we awoke to fog having rolled in off Lake Ontario, and caught this view of the CN Tower rising as the symbol of a beautiful city in the clouds:

We celebrated July 4 with Katie's college friend, Carolyn, and her husband Jay and son Thomas, by sharing a barbeque with them on the deck at Matt's and Weina's apartment building.  Matt was chief chef and grilled up some scrumptious fresh bratwurst sausages, hamburgers and such.  The barbeque was preceded by a GRAND JULY 4 CELEBRATION in the apartment, led by William and Kathy!

As a follow-up to the July 4 barbeque, Carolyn and Thomas ("Tom-Tom") met Katie, Kathy, David and William at the Toronto Aquarium Monday morning, July 7, while poor Matt actually had to go out and win some bread.

The Aquarium was spectacular.  We saw many more breathtaking sights than we can show, but here are some highlights.  One of the best exhibits was a huge fish tank through which the visitors walk in a large, underwater tube.  As we strolled and ogled, the fish could swim all around and over us!  This shark looked like he was going to come right up and bite us, but luckily the ceiling of the transparent tube kept us safe:

Then there was this white saw nose shark, whose lower gills made him look like a ghost.  He was just resting on the top of the tube, but we were sure he was watching our every move:

The Aquarium was filled with interactive exhibits for children of all ages.  Here, two children of widely varying age enjoy the spiral slide:

And what visit to an aquarium is complete without a water-play area?  William demonstrates how to successfully float a boat upstream through the Great Lakes by using a lock system:

Busy boys need energy, and we came armed with grapes and cherries.  Kathy helped William stuff as many grapes as possible at once into his mouth:

Kids can even crawl through some of the types of tubes the Aquarium uses to supply clean water to its fish tanks (of course, there is no water in the pipes when the kids are in them, but you get the idea):

The exhibits were breathtaking in their depth and color.  Here, Thomas gazes at real coral and tropical fish...

...and in this scene, Thomas, Carolyn, William and Katie ooh and ahh over a display of tiny, fluorescent jellyfish:

Having drained the Aquarium of every bit of learning we could, we asked William what he wanted to do next, and he immediately replied, "TRAIN!"  Sure enough, he had spotted the old trainyard across the street from the Aquarium.  It has been converted into an historical exhibit and park, and we could run and romp among the engines and traincars.  Here is William walking the tracks:

Not to be outdone, Katie, Carolyn and Tom-Tom climbed one of the engines to show how big it is!

Monday was our last full day in Toronto.  Tuesday, we spent taking turns, playing with William and helping with apartment cleaning.  By the time Matt got home from work to grab William and head to the airport to pick up Weina and Laoye, we had cleaned until we dropped.  Even little Bubu was exhausted, and he found a nest among some pillows:

As we left the apartment, we got big hugs from Matt and William, and little goodbye kisses from Bubu.  The four of us - Katie, Kathy, Maggie the puppy, and David - piled into Katie's car and started our 9 hour drive back to our campground.  A system of thunderstorms had passed through Toronto Tuesday afternoon before we left, and we followed it the whole trip east to the Berkshires.  Luckily, we never caught it, and, while we saw lightning on the ridges as we drove the turnpike from Stockbridge toward Boston, we never got wet.

Katie and Maggie slept over at our RV near Northampton (Maggie and Baxter did not maim each other) and awoke early to finish their drive back to New Haven so Katie could get a full day of work in on Wednesday.  We served her a travel mug of our most special Aeropress slow-brew coffee and got goodbye kisses from both Katie and Maggie.

Then we dove back into bed for two hours more sleep!