Weekend in Toronto

Went back to Toronto with the kids to visit my mother. It was really nice to see each other since it's been a few months ... I have two words to describe our weekend:

1) emotional
2) filling

Here are some pics of us at supper in a neighbourhood Chinese restaurant. Yum yum!

Notice that my oldest is wearing his Ironman t-shirt :-)

On the menu:

- Pork broth soup with carrots and potatoes
- Spicy beef and green beans (this was the best!)
- Fried tofu with Chinese mushrooms and broccoli
- Chinese broccoli with garlic
- Deep fried pork chops with onion

My mom is also the best cook in the world! I must have gained a few pounds from all the fantastic meals she prepared for us ... she even made me her special chicken soup to take home with me.

I had brought my running gear but just couldn't fit it in, though the kids and I did make it out to a pool. It was crazy full of people enjoying a long holiday weekend.

I got kicked in the eye socket so badly, I thought I was going to pass out from the pain, but I managed to blindly tread water and make my way over to the edge of the pool. Even when I got kicked in the face during Ironman, I didn't hurt nearly as much. I was actually suprised not to have a black eye, though my eyeball is still sensitive if I push on it through my eyelid.

It's moments like this that I realise how graceful a swimmer I've become. The man swimming beside me in the deep end was flailing in every direction, completely oblivious to those around him. He had an extremely messy kick, as I found out in the worst way.

My question ... how in the heck could he not realise he kicked someone as hard as he did? Or maybe he was too engrossed in his swimming prowess as he travelled the 10m from one edge of the pool to the other. I am sure he was proud of himself. He attempted some butterfly too. I shuddered as I sat on the edge of the pool still recovering from the pain of being violently hoofed.

Awesome moment of the day: watching my youngest do a swim test to be allowed access to a certain part of the pool. He swam two widths of the pool doing front crawl ... and I realise how hard this must of been for him as he doesn't really know front crawl, and he also had his head out of the water the entire time, meaning he must have had terrible drag from his legs. What effort just to get to use a less crowded section of the pool ... and he did it, no questions asked, no doubt in his mind that he couldn't.

I was so proud of him! Hmmm ... perhaps I see an Ironman in the making ...