A Newfie came to visit

It’s been a while since I posted, all for a lack of time, as its truly been incredibly busy at our home in the past few days. Steve Smith [aka “ramairsedan” - Kev’s friend from Newfoundland] arrived in Toronto on the 21st. I met Steve for the first time late in the evening on Friday as the guys stumbled home from a night of hitting various pubs in the city – they brought with them stories – including light banter and teasing – apparently the Newfie was camped in the washroom after having a few pints of draft beer. :)

I liked Steve right away, saying he’s a great guy is an understatement, even though he’s younger than the rest of us by a few years you wouldn’t know it, he was a perfect gentleman and very well mannered.

Kev threw a party at our place on Saturday night so as to give the PreciZion members a chance to come on over and meet Steve – it was a small crowd but fun none-the-less. I missed most of the party though, as I wanted to get through a few outstanding tax returns before partaking in the festivities, when I finally joined the crowd… I, [along with many others] was made an honorary Newfoundlander [I even got an official certificate] – I had to eat the hard bread, drink the screech, wear the hat and say, “long may your big jib draw” as Kev and Steve snapped photos [photos that had better not make it on to the internet!!]. It ended up being a late night, but all had a good time. Rene, Bruce and Steve were spending the night so I got fresh linens for them, towels and bath soap and went to bed shortly after the last guest had said goodnight – by then I was totally pooped, as it had been a truly long day.

In the morning, Sunday 23rd, I came downstairs around 11:30am to find Rene and Steve chatting in the living room – turns out they had been up since around 10am and Bruce had already taken off as he’d had prior plans for the day. I went to wake Kevin and then got started on breakfast - we ate, showered and then Rene took off – he was heading back to Barrie and had about an hour ahead of him.

We were thinking of bringing Steve down to the Beaches for the day but it was pouring rain so we brought him to Vaughan Mills mall instead – it was our first time at the mall as well so it was a little adventure, and as it turns out we also found that Bass Pro shop that Ken was telling me about – he’d said they have the camping fans that I was looking for. We spent about two hours at the mall and then left to drop Steve at the hotel so he could meet up with his parents. When we got to the hotel he invited us up to meet his folks and we got to chatting with them [they are super nice folks] – they ended up inviting us out for dinner and as we dined at “Tony Romas” http://www.tonyromas.com/files/home.asp we got a chance to learn a bit more about Newfoundland and the way of life there. We also found out that his dad had taken part in the 29th Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, held in Bannerman Park in the town of St John last year where they attempted to set a new world record for the number of accordionists playing. We’d read about it in the newspapers here in Toronto so it was cool to actually meet someone who had partaken in the festivities there. His mom also scrapbooks so, of course, it was neat talking to her about some of the stuff she’s done. I promised her to take quite a few pics of Steve’s trips around Toronto with us, thanked them for dinner and then finally bade them g’night. Looking at my watch I realized I’d missed “Grey’s Anatomy” but it was worth it and besides I figured I’d get Kev to do a download. :)

The next day I met up with Ruth for lunch at Markel’s place, which is always fun, the guys [Kev, Ken, Bruce, Marcus] joined us as well and we got to talking about houses and the ascending prices. Ugh. We’re thinking of moving up our start-looking date but we’re not sure as yet, we keep saying that we should… but we keep procrastinating. We really should decide one way or another.

Friday night was a blast -> Steve, Ken, Liv, Marcus, Bruce, Kev and I went to the Armadillos Restaurant & Pub after work for dinner and drinks. And by drinks I mean that I had a fruit juice or two as the guys went through seven pitchers, yes, SEVEN pitchers. It was a good time; we talked, told stories and watched the hockey game in HD. Steve, having learnt his lesson with the draft, stuck with rum and coke… and everyone was still in good spirits when we left the bar around 10:30pm or so. [We brought Steve & Bruce back to our place where they crashed on the couches for the night.]

The plan was to head to Wonderland on Saturday with Bruce, Steve, my parents and my brothers, for BMO day at the park, but my parents ended up not being able to make it as they wanted to help Julie out with transporting stuff for the party that evening so at the last minute we changed the plans – we picked up Bunny and Stefan in our car and Steve rode with Bruce as we headed to Wonderland for the day [I’d managed to score last minute tickets for the guys]. I had a funnel cake and got as far as the Vortex before calling it a day, the guys tried a few other rides including the Tomb Raider ride [which they totally underestimated], Drop Zone & The Bat. Top Gun wasn’t working at the time but the tickets I scored give us entry again between the months of May and June so Kevin will definitely have his share of thrills once again.

We had a "Sweet 16" birthday party to attend on Saturday evening... so we left the park [and Bruce and Steve] early to drop Bunny and Stefan off and to head home to get dressed, we got to the party totally exhausted, spent a few hours taking pics of the birthday girl and mingling, rescued a goldfish that was a centrepiece and headed home shortly after 10pm.

Can you spell exhausted?