Wicked Weekend

I had a wickedly wonderful weekend! Everything ran smoothly except for a couple of false starts. The train I planned to take was sold out, so after a few moments of panic and plans to go buy a new GPS ASAP so I could drive to Toronto, I went down the street and bought a bus ticket. The bus wasn't leaving for half an hour, so I went into the attached Subway to have a sandwich with Chris and the kids before I left. I came out 15 minutes later to find that the bus had already left! Apparently, the practice is, fill the bus and leave as soon as it is full. I must have missed the announcement, so I had to wait an hour for the next bus. I kissed Chris and the kids goodbye and settled in with my book to wait. I would arrive a couple of hours late, but my relaxing weekend had already begun!

Friday night included visiting and fine dining, followed by relaxing in our room and introducing Denise to a new TV experience: What Not to Wear. On Saturday we replicated the show ourselves at the Eaton Centre and The Bay. I had been to The Bay before, but not to The Bay, Toronto's eight story flagship store. Julie led the way, having clearly been called home to her mothership! When four o'clock arrived, Julie probably could have continued her shopping marathon, but Denise and I were beat. We returned to the hotel to rest, regroup and eat before we headed out to the main event, Wicked.

The play was truly wonderful. I hated the book, and I may skim through the rest, but to be honest, the best parts of the play have nothing to do with the book. The music was incredible, the actors were excellent, the sets were breathtaking. I cannot recommend this play highly enough.

What a wonderful way to connect with old friends. We decided we really do need to make this an annual event. Our Wicked Weekend was Wonderful!

With a Little Bit of Fairy Dust...

There are some things, well many things really, that we are able to do because we live in London that we wouldn't have been able to do a year ago. This weekend we experienced on of them: we took our children to the Stratford Festival.

I've always wanted to see a play at Stratford, and this summer I had heard wonderful reviews (both published and spoken) of this year's production of Peter Pan. Chris and I started talking about it on the way home from NB, after we picked up a brochure at a tourist info centre just inside the Ontario border.  Stratford is only an hour from our home, so it would certainly be easy to take the kids to an afternoon or evening performance. That night I started looking online for tickets, and was able to get us some fairly good seats for the Sunday matinee. We decided not to tell the kids for a while, but I was convinced they would be excited.

Just a few weeks ago, one of the neighborhood boys told Connor and Janelle that he was going to see a play about Peter Pan. Connor came in and excitedly told me all about it. Connor and I had read Peter Pan and Wendy together a few years ago, and both of the kids have seen the movie Hook, so they are familiar with the story. It really is a story with something for everyone. Boys love the pirates and the lost boys, and girls are fascinated by Wendy and the mermaids and the fairies (although Mariana will be happy to know that both of my kids remind me often that Tinkerbell is a bad fairy!) Connor and Janelle immediately started asking if they could go see the play, too. I didn't tell them the good news until just a few days before we went. I couldn't contain my excitement any longer!

We weren't disappointed. Everything about the play was magical, and watching my children's faces as they took it all in was the best part! When Peter first taught Wendy, John and Michael to fly, I could tell that Janelle wanted to join them and fly right off to Neverland. An in the second act, when the pirate ship appeared out of the mist and seemed like it would keep floating right out into the audience, I thought Connor would turn inside out. Chris and I both love professional theatre productions, and we enjoyed it as much as the kids did. It was worth every penny of the ticket price.

It truly was a magical day.