So anyways, we've passed a quite exciting and enjoyable couple of days. On Friday we arrived in Toronto, at the airport because we flew West Jet, and Chad and Leanne picked us up in the early afternoon. But before our rendez-vous with Chad and Leanne, we picked up our baggage--my suit had been doused in some kind of alcoholic beverage so we got a free dry-cleaning, compliments of West Jet--and then we had lunch at Swiss Chalet, and then we looked around the airport for a dry cleaner. Since we couldn't find one, we gave up looking and sat in a quiet location to wait for Chad and Leanne. Janelle had a nap and I read Anna Karenina.
At two o'clock I woke up Janelle and we started walking to the Rendez-Vous location. Leanne was already there, looking for us, and we quickly got on the road, destination: North Bay.
We arrived in North Bay for a nice supper at Mr. and Mrs. Black's house--that would be Leanne's grandparents--and we had a fantastic time. The Blacks were wonderful hosts and very funny. We spent the night and got on the road to Kapuskasing later in the morning, after we had breakfast with the Blacks and did some Shopping at the North Gate Mall.
I have to say that the drive to Kapuskasing was almost as enjoyable as the time we spent there. Chad and Leanne are so much fun; they're fantastic. We played games and had exciting conversations, and listened to music from Chad's Palm Pilot device. For lunch we stopped in New Liskeard, at Subway, and we hit up the Tim Horton's in Cochrane, but aside from that our drive was uneventful until the roads started getting a little rough near Kapuskasing. We counted four--or was it five?--cars in the ditch between Cochrane and Kapuskasing. Wow.
So we made it to Kapuskasing quite safe. I can't remember if we were in time for supper or not, but I'm sure that if we were hungry, they fed us. After we arrived the storm set in for real and it started snowing and raining for most of the night. Sunday morning was kind of rough too, but we made it to meeting and afterwards had lunch at the Bechards. Robb and Angele were also there, and Melina too. Matt was missing--apparently he had already come and gone; we missed him.
Chad and I were scheduled to preach Sunday night, so as the storm worsened over the afternoon, our hopes that gospel meeting would be canceled increased. Shortly after lunch we learned that the highway between Hearst and Cochrane had been closed and the snow started to fall with increased vigour. Giant flakes coming out the sky--it was awesome.
Anyways, it turned out that meeting wasn't canceled. Chad and I preached. I did a pretty sucky job, even forgot to pray when I was opening with my four hymns. Afterwards Matthew and Kimberley had us over and we played a couple rounds of thirty one and had some great conversation. Because the highway was closed, we had to use the back roads to get home, which was kind of exciting and scary.
Monday, Christmas Eve, we did some last minute shopping in the morning. Toured the mall, Canadian Tire, and Wal-Mart. Especially the photo section. After lunch we went home and Dad, Chad, and I shoveled the driveway. Sophie came out to help for a bit too, she melted a bit of snow with her cigarette butts.
For supper, the extended Labelle Family came over for supper. It was fun, we had a gift exchange game... I ended up winning the "Worst Gift For a Child" prize and was given something else as a consolation, I forget what it was though. The "Worst Gift" was three miniature parachutists and some smarties and stuff like that. I liked my gift and argued that Heidi got the "Worst Gift"--a plastic gorilla. Anyways, that's what it was.
After everyone left we opened our presents and stockings. Wow. Mom and Dad went all-out this Christmas. Crazy. It was very nice. Except that we had been expecting to leave with less luggage than we came with. That expectation was delightfully dashed.
Christmas Day we spent together, Janelle cooked some garlic bread and potatoes; we spent a nice relaxing day. Dad, Chad, and I had a stimulating conversation about perpetual motion, mortgages, Life Insurance, and investments. Uncle Bert and Aunt Chris and Scott, Tim, and Erica came over for supper with Grandma, Aunt Doris, and Aunt Alice. After supper we played Things--Leanne's birthday gift. It was very funny and great.
We left for Stratford on Wednesday Morning. Spent the whole day driving with short stops in North Bay, Huntsville, and Mississauga. We arrived at Chad and Leanne's later that night. Today Chad and Leanne worked, Janelle and I slept in, relaxed, and did our laundry.
Tomorrow we head for Michigan! We miss everybody back home.
(Awesome Camera, Joey!)
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