ACW Episode 78 – So we went to Toronto

Honesty compels me to confess that the above scene never actually happened on our trip to Toronto last week, and there’s a good reason for that. The kids know I would KILL them if they ever acted up this badly.

In fact, the kids’ good behavior was the second most-likely reason people stopped to talk to us while we were out and about touring the town last week. (My Vibram shoes were the first most-likely reason we would be stopped.) People noted that the girls seemed very pleasant, were quiet and well-behaved in public, and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ with only a little prompting. Only once toward the end did I have to put anyone in time out for bad behavior, and that was when Pixie refused to hold my hand in the Royal Ontario Museum. She was getting antsy, and I prefer to keep a tight grip on her when she gets like that, since I know she could easily spin out of control otherwise. When she refused to hold hands and threw a tiny tantrum, I put her in the nearest corner for 2 minutes. It was amazing how many people stopped to applaud while we stood there. Apparently lots of people are tired of seeing kids behave badly in public.

I don’t blame them. I saw some attrocious behavior while we were out, and not just from kids. People touching museum exhibits that were clearly labeled “No Touching!” Kids hitting and kicking their parents when denied ice cream. Shouting and swearing in hotel hallways. I cannot believe people act like this. And every time I see such behavior, I turn to my girls and say, “If I ever catch either of you acting like that–“

“You’ll kill us,” they finish for me.

“Exactly.”

So my girls know the score – behave or die young. I am very proud of them for understanding that concept.

Anyway, we had quite the vacation. This is our usual yearly trip, where Hubster jets us all out to whever his annual geek conference is, drops us in some strange city and then takes off for the week while I tote the girls around town. It’s both thrilling and exhausting. While he’s hob-nobbing with other engineers, I’m dragging two kids from museum to museum and trying to unpuzzle the local public transportation system. We didn’t do too badly this time. I was actually able to figure out which trolley I needed to take to get back to our hotel one afternoon when the bus we were supposed to take never showed up. However, I tried to stick to my prefered mode of transport – walking. The girls and I must have logged 2 miles a day, not including time spent at the various sites we visited. And of course, once the Hubster was done with his conference, that mileage doubled. That man likes to pack a lot of activities into his vacation time, I tell you. We walked so much the last two days of the trip, I still can’t feel my feet.

We got back on Sunday afternoon. It was an amazing trip and honestly, I could have spent 2 weeks there and not done it all. Among other places, we saw the Ontario Science Center, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Casa Loma, the Ontario Zoo, and the Royal Ontario Museum. Now that we’re home, I’m trying to slip right back into work and the usual routine. I can’t believe how much paying work I’ve got sitting in my in-box, waiting to be handled. And the laundry! Oy, I may never dig out from under that heap of work.

Anyway, I may do a few more cartoons on Toronto before moving back to some other topic, just to give you all a feel for what it was like. I hope you enjoy.