....otherwise known as Transportation Day in the Smith household. Our focus on Saturday was all the different ways we can move or be moved which included a lot of firsts for Ro. We DROVE our car to the GO station in Oakville and caught the 9:28 TRAIN to Union Station in Toronto. This pic was taken while waiting for the train. Ro had no idea what she was in for....
This one was taken as the train started to move. See the wonderment on this 3 year old's face? I l.o.v.e. it. This face made it all worthwhile. Tonight she reiterated again how much she loved the train. Taking a stroller on the GO train was an experience though. I guess most commuter's aren't bringing their infants to work with them. :)
Once we arrived at Union, we WALKED to the CN Tower. Confession #1 (for this post): I'm afraid of heights. I have suffered panic attacks in Italy while walking around the domes in churches, ladders make me freeze up, I try to avoid them at all costs (difficult to do while growing up on a cash crop farm that consisted of a bijillion grain storage bins). I was very tempted to pass on this part of the day, but we do all new experiences as a family (as much as we can), so up we went. Ro loved it - seeing Centre Island, the ferry to Centre Island she rode about 1 month ago, the airport, the train tracks that had led us to downtown, Oakville, and buildings upon buildings upon buildings! Ro was pretty fearless, sitting on the padded ledge around the circumference of the tower.
We then headed to the deck that had the observation floor. This was WAY out of my comfort zone. I put my toe on the glass, but that's as far as I could venture. Ro also put her foot on it, but couldn't muster up the courage to stand on it. Ben, of course, stood on the glass, taking pictures of below, and then we put Vi on the glass. (Aside: does that make us bad parents? Some people looked at us as if it did, but they also weren't the ones venturing onto the glass...) Vi loved it! She was banging on the glass, pointing at things below, soaking it all in. I couldn't watch my baby, sitting on the brink of death. I found it a little hard to breath. Some others looked away also. I'm beginning to sweat just thinking about it....
Our next stop, after WALKING again, was the Marche restaurant. Ben and I have many fond memories that revolve around dates, crepes, real fruit, and ice cream. We were trying to remember the last time we had been there, but couldn't. All we could remember was that it was pre-kids. Who would have thought the next time we would be back, we would have 2 kids with us, our offspring, a family of four. AWESOME!! Here is Ben enjoying his crepe, filled with strawberries, drizzled with chocolate sauce, accompanied by chocolate ice cream.
We then WALKED to Union again, and took the SUBWAY up to Bloor and then south again to Union. What this picture doesn't show are Ro's eyes, quickly darting back and forth, watching the subway pull into the station. Her eyes were registering each car - what a cool thing to watch! Ro really enjoyed riding the subway and everyone was so sweet to her.
We caught the 3:42 TRAIN back to Oakville and learned something important - the middle car, the one we were on, was the wheelchair accessible car which had loads of room for our stroller. Note to self for next time...
This face sums up our day - contentment, happiness, togetherness. On our way back, we were able to have a great conversation about how some friends in Africa, not so very far away, have to walk everywhere - for food, for water, for school, to visit family and friends, for survival. I can only imagine how hard it is for Ro to process these things. I struggle to put it all together. I struggle to reconcile how I live, the choices I make, with knowing that there are others who don't have food, don't have shelter, don't have clothes, yet I have so much. I feel pretty strongly that we must educate ourselves (and our children) and then act on our knowledge, modeling what it means to give up things so others can eat, learn, live.
Here's to more great conversations, more learning, more love, more sharing,
Tam
