Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We spent our first couple of weeks trying to settle into our new world of homeschooling, working remotely and a little touring around. We have quite a few friends in the Hamilton/Toronto area so we mixed in some downtime as well.

The place we are staying is in a really convenient location. We are within walking distance of a library, a community centre and a park. We lucked out and it was warm enough a couple of days for the kids to enjoy playing outside. Jacob took the kids to a morning at the library for a puppet show. We all went to an afternoon swim at the pool.

For the most part we had pretty quiet days. I’m still working and we are trying to get the kids used to school work in the mornings. It certainly wasn’t all work though.

We took a couple of trips into Toronto to visit cottage friends. The kids friends William and Elodie along with Nila and Sophia all live in Toronto. We spent a great afternoon connecting with the Haddad’s and then another afternoon with Nila and Sophia at the Ripleys aquarium before supper with the Haddad’s. It was really great to get to see our summer friends and spend some time in the city, plus the aquarium is always a hit.

We also surprised the kids with an early Christmas present – a day at Fallsview water park. I am certainly not a huge fan of pools, or water parks, but I am a huge fan of an indoor space that’s heated to 28° in the winter. Everyone had a solid day, I even braved all of the slides. The kids had no such reservations and willingly flew down each one many times over. To end the night we got to watch some fireworks over the falls – a pretty great day!

The highlight of Hamilton though is getting to spend time with the Burns family. We were able to get in a few visits, an afternoon with cider and Santa, an amazing dinner at Maisys pearl – it’s so fun to celebrate the accomplishments of your people – a bbq fest with Milly and an evening with Brooke’s parents. It’s always a treat to spend time with close friends and the Burns are some of the best.