Oh, Canada!

Last week, we traveled to Toronto to introduce Cohen to the Italian side of the family.  He met his great grandparents for the first time, along with Josh’s aunts, uncles, and cousins.   In addition, we saw familiar faces - Chip, Kristen, our sweet niece, Lainey, (who is an adorable 4 month old now), Nana Rose and Papa Bill.

Arriving at Uncle Joe and Auntie Jewell’s house.  Cohen was in heaven with all of the attention he received, but he and and Uncle Joe formed an instant, unique connection.

Uncle Joe - Cohen's new buddy

 

Mini-Mug and the Lainey Bug

New Toronto Blue Jays jerseys.  Now Cohen has a shirt for both the top and bottom ranked teams in the AL East. :)

 We celebrated with Josh’s cousin, Jacky, as she graduated from McMaster University.   With the exception of the commencement speaker’s pro-union soapbox monologue that was more effective at inducing sleep than Ambien, we had a great time and are so happy we could be there to support Jacky’s achievement.

Cohen and Lainey met their great-grandparents, Nonu and Nona.  Nonu was the one person that Cohen refused to spend one on one time with, and we could never figure out why.  Fortunately, Lainey snuggled with him enough to make up for Cohen’s shyness.

The next day, we visited High Park, a park in downtown Toronto that Josh used to play in as a kid.  After having a coffee at a small restaurant that Papa Bill and Josh used to go to on Saturday mornings, we took Cohen through the small zoo in the park, where he saw some animals for the first time, including Bison and Emu.

More interested in Papa Bill than the animals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the emu

Aunt Kristen

Jacky, Jennifer, and Danny

 We then went to Nonu and Nona’s house and showed Cohen their garden.  Nearly all of the food they eat is grown in their backyard.  We also took him into the “cantina,” where the cheese, soppressata, and wine are aged. Cohen even had his own mini-soppressata made for him.

Mini-Mug, Nona, and the mini soppressata

Later, we ate our weight in delicious home cooked Italian food.  (You can never leave a family visit to Toronto without this including this event.)  Cohen loved it and gave commentary after each bite, which thrilled Nona as she watched him attack her lasagna.  He was so excited with all of the attention and activity of the day that he refused to slow down and rest.  It was impossible to get him to take anything but short cat naps, though he was constantly in a good mood.   In the middle of dinner, fatigue finally started hitting, but he was determined to fight it off.  So he’d take a bite of dinner and then rub his eyes with his lasagna covered hand.

Nona singing an Italian lullaby to Cohen.  One of our favorite moments…

After dinner and playing in soft, green grass (a combination that Cohen is not familiar with at home in NC), we walked to a nearby park.  Finally, the one-two punch of a big dinner and a swing took the boy down.

Thanks to our Canadian family for a wonderful visit!  We can't wait to come back.