Recap of the summer (Part Deux)

I planned a little trip to Toronto this summer. My brother, Jason, lives there and this trip has been a long time coming. I planned to take the Joes, my cousin DuAne,  my nephew Bradley and two of his buddies from college (my extra nieces). When the time came for us to take our trip, Big Joe informed me that he could not miss that many days of football practice. He was gonna have to hang back. DuAne told us that he wouldn't be able to get time away and one of the extra nieces, Laina was out of the country. I was most disappointed that Big Joe was not going. He is 15 and able to stay home alone but I was looking forward to a family vacation. And who knew what he would be up to whilst I was away!!!

We drove to Canada on a Thursday morning. By we, I mean, Bradley. I was super excited to be a passenger on a road trip. I am usually the driver. It was a pretty uneventful trip. We listened to music and ate snacks and laughed and talked. When we crossed the border to Canada, we were all excited. We took pictures and began our countdown to our arrival at our destination. Soon, our happiness turned to frustration when we realized that our cell service was no longer working and our GPS no longer worked. We missed a turn and the GPS would not reroute us. LOST. IN. ANOTHER. COUNTRY. We finally figured it out and eventually made it to our hotel. The hotel was a Doubletree hotel outside of Toronto and was very nice and it prided itself on being a very "green" establishment. WIN!!!We drove around for 4 days in Toronto with archaic printed directions until my cousin J asked why wasn't I using my Tom Tom. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!! I haven't used it in so long that I forgot I had it. It was helpful for the rest of our trip and the ride home.Duh!!

Jason, his GF Stefy and J2

J2, me, Taryn, Bradley and Jason

CN Tower

While in Toronto, we ate good food every single night. We attended an Afro-Caribbean festival. We took a boat tour of Toronto's waterfront. We shopped. We visited tourist spots. We had a great time.

Fancy!!!

Bradley and me at Spring Sushi

J2, Taryn and Jason at Spring Sushi

There was one tiny problem at the hotel the night before we left. Bradley and extra niece Taryn were heading out for an exciting night on the town in Toronto when they got stuck in the elevator. For about an hour and a half. The fire department had to come and rescue them. I believe there were tears. I was not crying...

Bradley FaceTimed me while stuck in the elevator

On our way home, we stopped in Niagara Falls. We parked in New York and walked across the border to Canada. We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood and had chocolate at the Hershey store.

We had an awesome time. Big Joe called me several times asking when we were coming home. He missed us. I had given my friends his number and gave him theirs in the event that he needed something. One friend, Tiara, called and checked on him AND went by to  visit him. What an awesome Kid-Spy!!!

I definitely enjoyed Toronto and will have to go back soon.

Getting back on the proverbial horse or literal bicycle...

Longest bike ride this summer...Hit a 4 minute mile in there!!

I had to buy new bicycles for The Joes last year. I went to Target one night and excitedly bought them both new bikes. I explained that they should take care of them, lock them up and not leave them in the driveway. One week after I purchased them, The biggest Joe left the littlest Joe's bike in the driveway and it met an untimely death. The biggest Joe's pedal fell off of his bike. We returned it and got another. Both pedals fell off. In the meantime , I lost my receipt. We're currently stuck with a pedal-less bike.  Needless to say, bicycle shopping in 2012 was pretty much a bust. 

This year, I invested in good bikes that will last for The Joes. The biggest Joe has a Giant brand bike and the littlest Joe has a Fuji brand bike. When I brought that Fuji bike home for the littlest Joe, I just had to try it. I needed to see if there was a difference between my cheap bike and this pricey bike. I can tell you with all certainty, that there is a difference. Over the summer, I have alternated between riding both of the Joes bikes. If I ride with the littlest Joe, I ride Big Joe's bike. If I ride alone, I ride the littlest Joe's bike. Starting to ride was a little difficult. I was only able to ride 5 miles in an half hour on my first ride. I set a goal for myself to be able to ride a double digit ride (10 miles or more) in an hour by the end of summer. I also wanted to spin for the entire ride (no coasting, constant peddling). A friend of mine who bikes encouraged me to try this. I rode about twice a week and used RunKeeper to track my rides.  My longest ride so far has been 11 miles. I participated in a virtual 50 mile race and used this race as inspiration to get in some miles on the bike.

Views from the ride

Swag bag from virtual 50 mile race for Alzheimer's Awareness

Recap of the summer (Part Uno)

I had an eventful summer this year. I had planned a mini vacation without the Joes and a family vacation with the Joes and my nephew, Bradley. I was super excited about both vacations. I was spending my mini-vacation with an old friend that I semi-dated in college in Puerto Rico and we were spending our family vacation in Toronto, visiting my younger brother, Jason. I had never been to either place. On the Tuesday before my Puerto Rico trip, I got a call while at my standing nail appointment (this is how I remember it was a Tuesday) from my friend from college (for convenience's sake, we can call him Steven). Of course, I couldn't answer because I was mid-Shellac and who wants to mess up their Shellac?? I listened to the message and found that he was cancelling due to work. I responded and told him that I was okay with going alone and that I would just do all the activities I scheduled alone. He selfishly requested that I not go without him. I stupidly obliged. The ticket that I bought was non-refundable but I had a layover in Atlanta so I decided to make some lemonade out of the lemons I had been handed. I bought a return flight to Cleveland, booked a hotel in Atlanta, reserved a car and called my buddies that lived there to make plans. I met up with a girlfriend from college, LuShaun, who is pregnant, for breakfast (my favorite meal of the day). She was absolutely adorable!! I shopped and ate with my girlfriend Nicole and her husband and then celebrated her birthday at a DJ Jazzy Jeff party. We also walked for exercise...around an outdoor shopping mall... I hung out with Shelly, my buddy from 6th grade (yes, 27 years) for drinks and then spent a leisurely day at the pool with her mom, her sister and her very adorable nephews. I also had lots of fun at dinner with my cousin Gary. Overall, I had a terrific time with my friends and family. I am a little bummed that I missed out on Puerto Rico. I wish that I had just gone alone but I am totally grateful for the much needed time away. I took one picture while in Atlanta. It's a selfie. The other two are stolen from other social media sites...

My outfit looks funny in the other pic. I think it's cuter here;-)

Me and Shelly

Nicole and Me at her birthday party