Probably not the best title to a blog I know, but I strangely feel quite sad that I am approaching my last few hours, a mix of a variety of emotions, it was just yesterday that Nour and I celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary (I will post this next as we spent most of the day in downtown Toronto yesterday with her two crazy but very loving nieces).

…I am writing about my last few hours of being in my thirties, I may look it (especially on a bad hair day!) but I certainly don’t feel it and I feel excited, apprehensive, slightly nervous, fortunate, spirited and all the other words that may explain a total mix of feelings that I experience at this moment in time while reminding myself of the decision Nour and I have made collectively to be here for this year…time will tell how good a decision this was but for now all feels overwhelmingly positive.

So here I am turning, becoming, living, experiencing, adventuring into the next phase of my life which will dictate the path of my, our next journey in life with my beautiful family and amazing friends for which I am eternally grateful…

Nour’s younger brother returned from Lebanon and as you can see, decisions, decisions, decisions! 

 

It got too much this morning, too many children, too much noise and chaos looming,  things became desperate, then we remembered play dough!

  

  

  

  

  

We joined our friends who were camping in a place called ‘Six Mile Lake Provincial Park’, about an hour and a half drive north of Toronto.  It’s always exciting to be in bear territory with lots of varied wildlife and later found out that the area has rattlesnakes too!  Unlike the name suggests, the lake is not six miles long.  The name dates back to the logging industry as it as used to indicate the distance left until they reached Port Severn.  We joined them for the day to have a BBQ, together we were three families, it was a lovely campsite surrounded by beautiful scenery and an easily accessible lake and walking trails.

The weather was incredible however the forecast was a thunderstorm later in the day…it lived up to its prediction as it rained so much and did not stop for hours, to be honest it simply enriched the experience, we swam in the lake, ate very scrumptious burgers, an upside down pineapple cake that was made on the BBQ, drank amazing coffee with very yummy chocolate chip cookies, danced in the thunderous downpour and sat round a camp fire as we all tested our skills of who could BBQ there marshmallows the best!

The journey back home was truly incredible as we witnessed a torrential downpour and an amazing, truly fantastic lighting display for two hours, although we were driving on some stretches of the highway where there was nothing, the surrounding area was lit up with magnificence every five minutes or so, we were left in awe of natures reminder of how powerful and incomparable it is…praising God and his majesty was very natural.

Another great experience for us all with the people we love and respect, a very long day and sleep was the priority when we got home….guess what, Sara decided to get up at 6am, beautiful!

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/sixmilelake

Well…we have arrived in Canada and it is hot, hot, hot, just the way we like it, flight went well and we are with the crazy Chakroun’s (my eldest brother in law and his family who are just absolutely fantastic, caring and loving, may God protect them all).

We departed from Manchester at midday on the 30th July and arrived in Toronto at around 3pm local time, I went to bed around midnight and not sure how I did it but got up at 7am and took the train to the famous downtown Toronto and spent the day in this totally buzzing city!

I had a lovely coffee to go from Dineen Coffee Company on Yonge Street (definitely recommend) and slowly sipped it in Dundas Square as I admired the beauty and diversity of humanity pass me by, I was in a sort of a trance as I took great pleasure in the huge array of difference within all of us but that which unites us all as human beings are the simple, unifying things like happiness, respect and health, unfortunately this was not present in all that I saw.

My peace was disturbed as three undercover police restrained and handcuffed a young white teenage girl who was sat on a bench beside me, I was a little shocked as it seemed quite heavy handed as she did not seem to pose a threat at all to the officers, obviously I do not know the details of her arrest, but one of them felt the need to show her balck male friend that he was carrying a gun, I wonder whether he would have been given a chance if this was in America?  Although this was happening in the view of all passing public and those who noticed were all observing, one officer felt the need to tell me to stop looking in her direction and give her some privacy which I found a little bizarre considering where this was taking place!  I obliged and soon after she was searched by police in uniform and was taken away.

After this eye opener, I did some window shopping in the Eaton Centre and bought a couple of gifts for my beloved wife whose birthday it is tomorrow, I hope she likes what I got her?

My day in downtown came to an end mid afternoon as I grappled with the subway system to get back to my brother in laws house…didn’t get lost and was proud of my navigation back home…

http://dineencoffee.com