Toronto, Canada 2006

This is Judy's mom. The kids call her Por Por, which means grandmother in Chinese. She wanted to see her aunt in Toronto, but didn't want to travel alone. Judy was at a meeting in Washington DC, so she took the Amtrak to NYC and flew with Por Por to Toronto.

A bazillion years ago, Judy was a bridesmaid for Esther at her wedding to Judy's Uncle Bill. Bill is Por Por's cousin. They were married in this church, which Judy thinks has shrunk over the years. This photo isn't all that great because it was taken on a phone.

2nd Grandmother, is what we call Por Por's aunt. She recently moved into this nursing home. It's on the north part of Toronto, not too far from the hotel we stayed at. 2nd grandmother is 93 years old now.

2nd grandmother looked at Judy and said, "You look like you're about 30 years old." She remembers that I was Esther's bridesmaid (at the age of 13). I said, "How can I be 30.... if this is my son, who is almost 20?!?" She recognized Por Por's voice, but didn't recognize her face. It has been a long time since Por Por has been in Toronto.

While we were in Toronto, some of Por Por's cousins gathered for a traditional Chinese banquet. This is her cousin May, standing. May's daugher and husband are at the left of the photo.

Judy is between her mom and her "Auntie" Esther. Esther is married to mom's cousin, Bill.

We had two tables at this banquet. The boys sat at one table. When they saw the menu, they just "knew" there would be nothing they would want to eat.

This is Bill's son-in-law (Eugene), grandaughter (Jackie), and daughter (Nancy).

This is Alice, taking photos. The boys are goofin' around, as usual.

These are May's daughters.

This restaurant offers Northern Chinese style cuisine. The appetizers that came out first included duck tongue! The boys were quite concerned that they would starve and have to find some other food afterwards.

I forget whose kids these are. Bill comes from a large family. There are 7 children in his family; Bill is the eldest. Mom and her brother, Ken, were raised by Bill's parents after they were orphaned in 1938.

Bill's granddaughter, Natasha...

and Jackie. Bill and Esther care for the girls during the day while Eugene and Nancy are at work.

At the end of the meal, there was this dessert made from beans that was brought out. The boys thought it looked disgusting. Jerry and Joey decided they wouldn't even taste it. Davey tried one sip and gagged.

Nancy and Eugene just laughed at the boys. Bill called them all "cowards".

I tasted it, and it was quite delicious. The boys said, "No fair! You're Chinese!"

This is my Uncle Bill. He is the gentlest man I have ever known.

We went touring. These were statues on a building.... somewhere near the water.

We went to a Blue Jay's game in Toronto. On Sundays (the day we went) they open the dome. This is the needle looking from inside the baseball stadium.

Notch one more stadium into our list of baseball stadiums visited.

Outside the stadiums, there are lots of shops and eateries, and stuff. This is some goofy moose, eh?

We drove through the Chinatown area to see what was there.

Joey likes to find signs that amuse him.

These were some funky statues on the street.

Right in the middle of Chinatown, you can still see remnants of the original Jewish stores from the area.

We drove down to Niagra Falls on July 4th. Wow, was it crowded!

We are on the US side in the National Park area. Good thing we had our passports.

The famous Maid of the Mist.

The falls are truly spectacular.

The "horseshoe" falls toward the horizon is on the Canadian side.

Dave was here.

Dad wanted to fish and wished he had his pole. He figured there were lots of fish looking for something to latch onto to avoid the falls.

We walked over to Goat Island which is in the middle of the river on the US side just upstream of the falls.

Guess who?

Were you right?

Joey likes to take pictures of places with funny names. This one was near our hotel. Enjoy some more.

We had to take this photo, for our friends' daughter.... Zoë Cornell.

On the street, there were some portable toilets. We thought the URL was funny.

We went to an oyster restaurant for dinner one night. The oysters were WAY expensive - like $2 or $3 each. We were used to Louisiana oysters at $5 - $10 per dozen.

Only 58.7 days in a Canadian summer. Who wants to live there!??

The biggest mystery is.... where are the books?

Here is a tourist attraction we visited in Toronto, a castle called Casa Loma.

Casa Loma was the former home of a Canadian financier, Sir Henry Pellatt. It took 3 years (1911 - 1914), cost $3.5 million, and required more than 300 workers to build. There are secret passageways, an 800 foot tunnel, and 98 rooms. There are also 5 acres of gardens around the house.

After living there for about 10 years, Sir Pellatt ran into financial difficulties and had to abandon the home. The castle changed hands a couple of times, then became city property.

Can you imagine a spooky old guy playing the organ on a stormy night while lightning flashed and stuff? This is in the great hall.

There were lots of beautiful things in the castle.

Lots of things for us to see.

Yup, this way.

The bathrooms are relatively modern.

Don't be silly. That's Judy. Lady Mary is dead. But she had a great reading corner!

Joey wouldn't come over to the rail. He is afraid of heights.

How many beds in this place?

How many tables in this place?

There was a collection of World War I guns in the castle.

In the basement was a place for refreshments.

A spooky tunnel led over to the old stables.

The gardens were very nice.