Toronto Games: Day Out at Centre Island

It was a day to remember for the children. For the adults, it was a time of reunion. The Hengs, the Mas and the Poons went for a day out at Centre Island.

Pipa, when IS the ferry coming?

Noah hits it off with Lauren and Charis
(don't ask me who's who!)

Mattea cozies up to Dad and Mum

The Toronto skyline

My kind of park!

Swan Lake

All the kids moving right along!

The highlight of the trip was all the rides for the little people. From all the smiles, it was such a glorious day.

Geoff and John try the log ride

At the top 

Arriving at the bottom

The girls trying to win another soft toy
for the twins at the games stall

Mattea and Christy heading south

Wheeeeeeeee

All the kids and the young at heart

Anika with Dad and Mum

Mum and her flowers

At the beach of Lake Ontario

John finds out the temperature
of the waters of Lake Ontario

Geoff the builder whilst
Kor skims with John and Noah

Encounters of the duck variety

Why walk when you can ride?

The holiday makers

The tourists mingle with the locals

Japanese food at the waterfront

Charis and Lauren take flight

Toronto Games in the Park

Summer time in Toronto means the great outdoors. The Ma family brought us to the nearby park at the University of Toronto for more games! So many people were at the park. There was a huge congregation of Indians playing cricket. Dad stopped to speak to one of them. They were many new immigrants with their families enjoying the sunshine.

The boys spot a chipmunk in the undergrowth

Beyond the ball games, frisbee, the children got a taste of wildlife too. I got up close and personal with a Redwing blackbird who literally swooped down at me twice when I stopped to take a picture of him. I think there was a nest nearby because a female blackbird flew off when I walked by.

Here is one chipmunk at the river's edge!

Redwing blackbird complains I am too close!

Woodpecker on the trunk

A river runs through it

Geoff trying to spot fish

John trying to spot salmon

Chatting at the park

David launches Noah

Flying high

David played frisbee with the boys and the frisbee ended up the bushes several times too. 

A walk in the park

Bridge over troubled waters

Toronto Games 2

The games went on and on in Toronto. There was a smorgasbord of board games. What better way to learn business and enterprise or world domination? So for Nathaniel, Charissa and I, it was a walk down memory lane. From dawn to dusk, the children pitted their skills against each other and against the adults.

Kor, Charissa and John have a game of the original Monopoly

I had a game of Rhummikub with Mattea

Mattea learns how to play
Rhummikub along with me

Kor teaches his children RISK

The new BFFs play Bible Snakes and Ladders

The RISK game goes on and on and on

Noah, Geoff and John battle it out

Whether it is taking over the world or simply a battle of strategy in the age-old game of chess, age or experience may not matter in the long run.

Noah and John match their wits in chess

Even Christy and Mattea challenged each other

Geoff finds something to celebrate

An evening full of twists and turns

Noah and I have a friendly game of chess

Toronto Games 1

We flew from London to Toronto on Monday 9 June and arrived safely at 5pm. We were hosted by David and Soo Min Ma, their three children Noah (8), Mattea (6), Anika (2) and Soo Min's mother, Auntie Wendy. They have a lovely home at St. John's Homestead in Mississauga, Toronto, Canada.

The Toronto summer games had begun. Here are the events:

Spider Boxing

Geoff caught a spider from the basement.
Mattea is not too keen on spiders...

John shows how harmless house spiders are

The boys went spider hunting to get at least two spiders to mount a fight. When they finally found a fuzzy garden spider to battle the house spider, the house spider had already been released. An interesting observation is that the house spider struggled to scale the walls of the plastic container but the fuzzy garden spider had no problems negotiating the smooth walls of the container. A pity but this game was a "walkover" or rather a "crawl-over" and both opponents missed their bout!

For a few outdoor events, the children explored the yard. The Mas have a small vegetable plot where they are growing their own greens like brussel sprouts and even corn.

Mattea showing her garden of  brussel sprouts,
corn and other veggies.

The girls tried the scooter, little push-car and pedal-less bike in the backyard.

Christy, Anika and Mattea enjoy the backyard

After a hour, they proceeded to the indoor events.

Mattea shares her toys. The boys took to the
Lego sets whilst
Christy played with Mattea's collections.

Geoff, John and Mattea enjoy water games in the Ma's heated pool

Kor also gets into the action

John tries the giant bubble blower

Christy dries Mattea's hair 

Mattea dries Christy's hair

We want to do gymnastics

That top-of-the-world feeling

What a summer in Toronto!