Friday, October 25, 2013

Sandy, cousins, Candain Thanksgiving and a visit from Grandma Kay

Wow what a blessing we had with our friend Sandy visiting from Minneapolis, Frankie, Lucy, Grace and a visit from Grandma Kay all at the same time, Oh and Thanksgiving, Canadian Style...

Sandy is a dear friend and we figured out (or Jimmy did) by asking her how long she has known Tracy that its over 20 years! She comes to all of our crazy family events, loves dogs and had to come visit us in Canada, well because she's family! She arrived on Friday afternoon and we spent the next few day's catching up, showing her the sights around Toronto and eating really good food! which is yet another thing we have in common!

The kids schedule (as usual) over took the whole weekend with an make up football game for Jimmy on Saturday, which was not supposed to happen, then taekwondo training for Billy, who has an upcoming tournament (more on that in the next installment). Meanwhile, Kay was free of gymnastics for the weekend and helped Tracy as her Julie McCoy for the day at the local high end mall, scary! We had a traditional smoked salmon dinner for Sandy which is on of her favorite's and then on Saturday night after the madness of football, Jimmy and Tom met the rest of the crew at GUU, another awesome food experience!

Sunday was yet another football day with Jimmy and the team heading west to Guelph while the rest of us headed to the airport to pick up Grandma Kay! She arrived without issue and we all headed out to watch the football game, which was a 55 to 6 victory for Jimmy and the Grizzlies. We showed Grandma and Sandy around the town of Guelph complete with a quick stop at the first Target store to open in Canada (really the very very 1st one that opened!), eh! Dinner was this yummy Portuguese seafood stew type thing that Tom has mastered over the years along with crusty bread and the day was complete. We all headed to bed after a great day and it was super nice to have Grandma Kay in the house :).

Monday was a day off for everyone as it was Thanksgiving! Tom put the turkey on the smoker around 7:30am and the rest of the day was full of laying around and wishing there was football to watch.
We had a nice breakfast and went for walks, the kids spent time with Grandma Kay, there was a neighborhood baseball game and then the cousins arrived! Frankie and the girls along with Frankie's friend Jen. We had a blast making a traditional meal, smoked turkey, Grandma Kay's famous potatoes, sage stuffing, green beans and the ever popular 70’s throwback ...7 layer salad, and a canned cranberry jelly thingy along with biscuits and dessert! Perfect!!! Frankie and the girls brought along dessert. We all shared what we are thankful for and concluded that we are all very blessed!






Tuesday was back to reality, Tracy headed out early for work, the kids to school and Sandy to the airport and back to Minneapolis. We were super happy to see her and thankful she made the trip!
Tom and Grandma Kay spent the day exploring North York and the city we live in and Kay got to experience her first Shawarma, which if you don't know what is well, you'll have to come and find out! Grandma spent the evening watching Kay at gymnastics for the first time in her competitive team
and then it was dinner and bed.














Wednesday was a bonus day for Tom (well sort of) as Kay - the younger - complained of an ear ache and stayed home from school, which may be a deliberate move on her part to spend more time with her names sake, Who can blame her!? Tom was able to spend the day with his two favorites Kay's, what a treat! We explored downtown Toronto, the water front, Lawrence Market, along with a quick stop at George Brown so Grandma could see where Chef school is and the a yummy spinach pizza lunch, quite a great day!




Wednesday night Grandma watched Billy prepare for his upcoming taekwondo Tournament and we had another culinary delight, Lemongrass Curried Chicken, Mushroom Rice Pilaf and asparagus. We celebrated Grandma's birthday complete with presents and homemade strawberry shortcake from Kay to grandma Kay, very cute!






Thursday was bittersweet as we said goodbye to Grandma Kay. We had an awesome time showing her around our town, spending Thanksgiving together and having Grandma watch all the kids in their different sporting endeavors. Thanks Grandma Kay for coming and seeing us and making the long trip!
We love you , we bless you and were glad you were here!
more to come.....