Subway and TBS

My sister Lisa and her husband Travis were here on the weekend (God has blessed us with lots of company from Alberta which helps make our move easier!) and we went to the Toronto Islands on Saturday and the CN Tower on Sunday (I'll post some pictures from that another time!). After church, on our way to the CN Tower we took the subway downtown so that the kids had the opportunity to experience Daddy's commute and it gave me the confidence to take it by myself with the kids. Daniel has a 75 minute to a 90 minute commute Monday to Friday (he has one class everyday) and Jeremy was particularly intrigued by the "train" that Daddy rode to school. Daniel takes a bus down to the subway station and then transfers onto two different subway lines to get to school. We just drove to the station and started from there! The subway is definitely one way to see how multi-cultural Toronto is - we met a family on the way back that had just moved three weeks ago to Toronto from Dubai and three years before that from India! It reminds me that moving from Alberta to Toronto is really a small move in a lot of ways.

The "train" is a-coming!

After two subway trips and a jump onto a streetcar for two blocks we arrived at Toronto Baptist Seminary and gave Lisa, Travis and the kids a tour around. TBS is unique because it was started by Jarvis Street Baptist Church over 100 years ago and continues to have very close ties with the church. Jarvis Street Baptist Church is a beautiful old church and Nathan was particularly impressed with the pipe organ in the sanctuary.

front of Jarvis Street Baptist Church

back of Jarvis Street Baptist Church

Sanctuary with pipe organs

There are two classrooms and the school library in the back of the church and two classrooms and offices in the main TBS building. After visiting the school we jumped back onto the subway and headed south to Union Station and the CN Tower.

By the way, I don't know if you had subscribed to the email feed link that I had posted but I don't think it was working so I have found another one through FeedBlitz that should work! So if you are interested in receiving my posts via email and don't want to have to check back all the time, just enter your email to the right!

Who takes the sink plugs???

The second day we were at our house I went to wash dishes - no drain plugs! Who takes the drain plugs with them when they move??? The next night I went to give the kids a bath and guess what, yep, no bath tub plug! Check the bathroom sink - no sink plug either! I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone else but I have always left the plugs behind when I move. Anyways, we went to Rona and checked out the sink plug section - you wouldn't believe the options that are available! We guessed right on the bathroom sink and the bathtub plugs but it took two tries to get drain plugs for the kitchen. Which meant I washed dishes for 2 weeks without a plug! Not impossible but definitely more challenging. And how did I give the kids a bath? Thanks to Daniel's suggestion, I stuffed a washcloth into the drain and as the water slowly leaked out I just kept adding a little bit more water. :)

Ontario Science Centre!

I've finally taken the time to sit down and write another post! I had grand plans of blogging every couple of days but between unpacking and company life has been full! We had a good time with friends of ours that were dropping their son off at Toronto Baptist Seminary (TBS). They were able to stay 4 days and after they left my friend Luella flew into Toronto for three weeks to visit her family in Ontario. We spent most of today at the Ontario Science Centre with her and tomorrow we go to the Toronto Zoo. The Science Centre was a lot of fun - we didn't see all of it but that's okay because I purchased a Gold Member's Pass which gives free admission, free parking, and free IMAX movies all year (all for only $230) and since we will be homeschooling this year (more on that in a future post!) I plan to take the kids regularly. Nathan loved the "Under the Sea" IMAX movie but Noelle and Jeremy weren't too sure. It is pretty powerful to feel completely surrounded by picture and sound.

Thanks to Luella for the pictures (I forgot my camera!)

Daniel wasn't able to come to the Science Centre with us because he was at a retreat for school. Tuesday was his orientation day TBS, Wednesday he had off (we hit IKEA, Rona, and Wal-Mart and we should hopefully be done buying and assembling furniture, or finding furniture on Kijiji or Freecycle! Yeah!), and Thursday and Friday he had a retreat with all full time students and the staff from TBS. They had a pastor share three messages, free time in the afternoon and a campfire in the evening where new students shared their testimony. He enjoyed getting to meet everyone and it sets a great tone for the beginning of the year. Monday the works begins Daniel!

Toronto and driving!

Well, our Internet and phone was finally hooked up on Monday and I have subscribed to Freecycle and Kijiji looking for some furniture so keeping on top of emails is a full time job :) We found a few possibilities on desks through Kijiji and then they fell through. Then Daniel found a store called "Source Liquidation" that has used furniture from hotels at good prices. We headed there today and have bought two desks and a bookshelf! Getting there was interesting though without our GPS (forgot at home) and the address (forgot at home but thought we could find it!) After stopping twice for directions and help we finally found it 40 minutes later! Thankfully we didn't have to go on the 400, 401 or 402. If you don't know Toronto those are the freeways. The 12 lane BUSY freeways! The rest of Toronto often feels like Edmonton to us (maybe just more cars on the road) but we've never experienced highways like this before. Daniel has done a great job and the GPS is (usually) a huge help. Occasionally, the GPS has taken us the long way around! Anyways, once Daniel starts school next week I will get to start practicing my driving again. I'll let you know how it goes!

I have sent out an email with our new contact information including email. If I somehow missed you, let me know and I'll forward it on to you!

Thanks for all the comments! It is great to hear from you and feel connected. One of the desks we bought today is for my scrapbook space so hopefully I'll be able to start to getting my fingers dirty with inks, glue and paper soon!