Blue Jays and Parks Canada Celebrations

The sun finally decided to make an appearance and it just happened to land on the Saturday of a long weekend, what good luck!!  We took advantage and drove to Toronto where we took in a Blue Jays game at the sky dome, it was my first time ever and I was pretty excited!  They were playing the Houston Astros (not that I know anything about baseball teams) and Toronto won 7-5!!  The best part was that two home runs were hit right over our heads into our section!!
Afterwards we walked around the Roger's center and the base of the CN tower where Parks Canada had booths set up to celebrate their 100 year anniversary.  Costumed representatives from parks all over Canada were there taking pictures with kids and promoting the importance of conserving the environment.  They also put on a free concert featuring some local talent including Toronto bands "Sweet Thing" and "Mudmen".  Mudmen were pretty excellent as they are rock band that also uses bagpipes and the two guys playing them looked like they should be football line backers rather than playing winded instruments.  We also manged to wander into a lineup for a free BBQ by the old train yard.  We're still not sure if it was really for the public but I have my suspicions that it was really meant for the workers and staff of the production "Railway Children" that had daily showings under a giant tent in front of the rail yard.  No one said anything to us so we just went with the flow and came out with plates of hamburgers and salad.
Just to let you all know, we have booked tickets to come home for July 21-28. We are flying with Porter Airlines and will be flying into Moncton on the Thursday at 12:35.  Can't wait to see you all!!

Mexico Pictures

MEXICO!!!

We are now back from a wonderful week spent at the Grand Sirenis Mayan Resort in Mexico located half way between Cancun and Playa del Carmen.  We were there primarily for our friends wedding but it was also our first big vacation out of Canada together!!
Our flight was uneventful with the exception of some turbulence, direct from Toronto to Cancun International Airport. We were met by some nice but very pushy Mexican's who promptly grabbed our bags and ushered us to our designated bus, obviously looking for big tips.  It was a little overwhelming but a good experience.  Next time I'm going to hold on to my bag a little tighter to save a buck and get to the bus myself.  On the bus we had a very enthusiastic conductor who taught us what he thought were the most important words to know in Spanish: Cervaza  meaning beer (all they have is Corona) and banos meaning washroom.  We then got to drink $2 Cervaza's on the bus on the way to the resort.  Please note my ridiculously orange hands due to a spray tan gone horribly wrong.  My knees were also this color, thankfully it wore off after a few days of swimming.

We got the resort early in the afternoon well ahead of the rest of the wedding party who where flying from Halifax.  The rest of our group was suppose to get in that evening (Thursday) but due to delays and cancellations they didn't end up arriving until Friday around 9 pm, losing almost a full day!!  Because of this Robbie and I got to spend the first full day on our own exploring the resort, relaxing in the pool, floating down the lazy river and swimming in the ocean.  ( We did this pretty much everyday regardless).  The resort was beautiful and had 3 different pools, 2 with swim up bars, easy access to the ocean with coral reefs all around (Robbie's favorite), lots of pathways for walking dotted with iguana's which were everywhere and architecture that mimicked Mayan ruins.   Food and drink was available at all times and there were multiple bars and buffets set up all around the place.  I was a little nervous at first about all the concerns with food, and drinks and how they made the ice etc and was cautious at first but it ended up being a non issue and no one in our group appeared to have any problems.  I guess being a 5 start resort that sees thousands of people a week have it covered.  The al a carte restaurants were by far the best as far as food went.  Everyone got to go to the Japanese one as Crystal booked it for the rehearsal dinner.  It was pretty amazing watching the chef cook everyone on his grill right in front of us!!

We also went to a Cajun dinner as well as a Mediterranean themed dinner.  We both agreed that the Mediterranean dinner was our favorite; Rob had the tuna and I had the squid, there was also a delicious buffet  with mussels and prawns and the waiters were amazing.  They started bringing drinks over without us asking and 2 rounds of shots, one was called a Cucaracha which is Khalua, rum and tequila set on fire and then you suck it really fast through a straw!!  The strangest feeling is being on the resort and going to all these little events and not having to pay for anything, everything is included.  

We did end up going on one excursion off the resort with a tour group that took us to a beach where we got to go snorkeling with large green turtles!!  It was amazing, we were not allowed to get too close but we could watch them feeding and we also happened to see a barracuda and a sting ray.  We then were transported to a cenote which are sinkholes created by the underground river system.  These are fresh water and considered sacred to the Mayan people.  The water was so clear you could see everything, amazing little piranha (not the biting kind) stalagmites and stalactites.  The pictures unfortunately didn't turn out very well.  

                                

The wedding was beautiful and the weather, like everyday we were there, was hot and sunny with a light breeze.  It was held right down on the beach and then the reception dinner was just behind in large gazebo type shelter.  It was a good time had by all. 

I feel like there is so much else that I'd love to share but I think I'll leave that for another entry as this one is already getting much too long.  I'm sure Robbie will want to tell you all about the sea creatures that he caught as soon as he gets his pictures back from his underwater camera.  

Its been tough being back and not being able to have my 10 am mojito or my 2 o'clock siesta...life is rough :)

Winterlude

This past weekend we were able to enjoy a long weekend away in Ottawa visiting Laura, Ian and Mandy.  Here in Ontario, this weekend has been deemed "Family Day"  as an excuse to have a long weekend in February but I won't complain, although I find this funny as we don't get Remembrance day off.  (Wow I just used the word weekend too many times)!
Anyway, it was also the last weekend of Winterlude, a two week festival in Ottawa where the main attractions are the ice sculptures, ice skating on the canal and beaver tails, all of which we enjoyed. Due to abnormally warm weather the week before,  many of the ice sculptures had melted and did not uphold there original glory but they were still impressive.  Of course while we were there the weather was incredibly cold and windy so we didn't stay out as long we normally would have.  This didn't stop us from getting out though and luckily the canal was open for skating on the Sunday despite the previous warm weather.  I am a horrible skater.  Robbie is not much better but his fearlessness and determination make him much better than I.  Falling hurts a lot more now that I'm older, I don't remember it hurting so much.  I could really use some practice but the thought of falling again makes me nervous, maybe I will strap on some pillows next time to cushion the fall!
We spent one evening at a bar called "Zaphod Beeblebrox", the name not meaning anything to me but apparently it is a character in the books "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" of which Robbie and others there were apparently familiar with.  There were quite the variety of patrons at this place, some of which must have been fanatics dressed up in bright colored wigs, sparkly make-up and even a Gumby costume (I'm assuming alien theme) it was all very bizarre but a good time had by all. 
We also finally made it to "The Works", a gourmet hamburger restaurant that makes all sorts of weird and wonderful topping combinations.  I had the "Sexy burger"  which had cream cheese, sweet and spicy sauce, pineapple and banana peppers.  Robbie's burger was called "The down Under" burger and it had the weirdest toppings; beets, fried egg, caramelized onions, pineapple and Gouda.  The sweet potato fries were delicious!

We are both sick of this cold weather that we have been having but on the bright side it is staying lighter longer for my walks home from work at 6 and we leave for our trip to Mexico at the end of March which will be a nice break from the cold just in time for spring to get here!!

Abs of steel

Jenn and I did Ab Ripper X last night, part of the P90X exercise video collection and my abs are feeling the burn today. Our goal is to be fit in time for Jennifer’s friend’s wedding in Cancun in April. We expect to be spending most of our time in our bathing suits. Thought I was going to have a hernia during our workout. We have been good and haven’t been eating out at all either although I am getting a hankering for sushi.

In other news I unfortunately won’t be going to Chile. I was unable to get the results I needed in time for the conference. I will however be heading to Ottawa for a conference the last week of April.

Here are a couple pictures of Jenn and I in our near prize winning ugly sweaters from my bio grad Christmas party. You can’t tell but Jenn sewed ribbons on the kitties on her sweater. Needless to say I did not find my sweater in the men’ s section.

 

Movember comes to an end and so does my moustache

 Movember is an annual month long event where males register to a charity and grow moustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. So we formed a group at the university. As today is the last day of November, I will be shaving off my moustache tonight, but I did not want to deprave you of the opportunity to gaze upon the grandeur that is my moustached face. Here is a picture of the group of us from the university.

The Conference was a Thriller (pun intended, read below)

So I never actually filled everyone in on how my most recent conference went. It was the annual Aquatic Toxicology Workshop. Personally, although the turnout for my presentation was low I thought I gave a much better presentation than I did in B.C. The aquaculture section which I presented in was the smallest with only three presenters including myself. So I did not anticipate a big showing. However several St. Andrews Biological Research Station employees I used to work with came to support me. I am sure there was probably more pertinent talks they could have attended so it was a nice gesture.

The banquet was excellent. There was free wine from a Niagara winery I can no longer recall the name of. I had delicious walleye as my main course and apple pie a la mode for dessert. The best part however was that a professional Toronto dance troupe was hired as entertainment. Before the first course they performed a Bollywood dance. After the second course they performed a traditional Afrikaans dance number and for the third course they had a tribute dance routine to a medley of Michael Jackson songs. Following this they came out into the audience to wrangle unsuspecting biologists to dance the Michael Jackson Thriller dance of which I was one. There is nothing quite as amusing as watching inebriated scientists trying to learn Thriller. Anyway below is a picture of me learning the Thriller (I am the tall one in orange).

 

My next conference may be in Chile at the Universidad de Valparaiso. Although this is still entirely tentative. Chile is one of the largest aquaculture production countries in the world (much larger than Canada). My supervisor just returned and apparently they are interested in the research I am conducting. I guess we’ll see.

We finally finished the left over turkey I cooked three weeks ago. The turkey turned out fabulous but there was soooo much of it. I only bought a twelve pound turkey but it was more than enough for two. So I made turkey pot pie, turkey quesadillas, and turkey a la king. Needless to say I won’t be making turkey again soon. I’ve been making pies too; apple, pumpkin and lemon from scratch rather than a can. The lemon turned out a bit watery but otherwise good.

 

We didn’t do too much for Halloween last night aside from carve pumpkins. We stayed in and watched a scary movie (The Unborn) and snacked on Jenn’s homemade guacamole.  Yum!