Ripley's Aquarium, Toronto - A Five Star Family Attraction!

Ripley's Aqarium, Toronto, Canada

There are a lot of interesting things to see and places to visit in the Greater Toronto Area.

We visited the Ripley 's Aquarium located in downtown Toronto recently when our younger son came home to visit us over the Christmas/ New Year's holiday.

 The price for admission for Toronto's latest attraction and Canada's largest indoor aquarium could be a little prohibitive. Fortunately, there are some discount prices for seniors ( over 65 years old) and for children.

Entrance area of the Ripley's Aquarium

We got there last Friday night around 6:45p.m. So we paid the regular and senior tickets for our senior members.

What we didn't know was that after 7:00pm., there is a $5.00 discount for each ticket. So if we waited for anther 15 minutes,  we could have saved $20.00 for the four of us.

A spectacular open water scenery greeted us as we entered the main exhibition area

After we paid and entered the main exhibition area, there was an impressive scenery of open water on the left. But we could not go there as we needed to follow the exhibition route which directed us to the right
 of us.

Beautiful and colorful displays of water creatures!

Alewives schooling in a big tank

One of the exhibits we saw was a big tank filled with Alewives swimming together.

Some fish such as Alewives swim in a large groups call Schooling for protection reason.

We learned that when Alewives swim in a large number together, they confuse their predators by presenting them with so many targets that they are unable to decide which fish to chase.

Paddlefish with a long paddle-shaped snout

Paddlefish from the Great Lakes Basin have long paddle-shaped snouts which are covered with sensors that allow them to detect tiny electrical charges in water, helping them to hunt.

We saw many unusual water creatures with interesting shapes, sizes and colour.

.

A beautiful poisonous water creature!

This living creature to the left may look pretty and colourful; but it can inject toxins into its preys and paralyze them when in contact.

Fleshy Sea Pen

One of the interesting things we had never seen before  looked like an old fashion feather writing pen is called Sea Pen.

"This sea pen may look like a single animal, but each is really a colony of up to 40,000 tiny creatures called polyps, each about the size of an ant's leg."

This Sea Dragon looks like a branch!

 Beautiful Sea Dragons with clever camouflages swimming by leisurely.

They just looked like tree branches and can be easily missed if we were not looking carefully.

We saw the baby sea dragon and they look different from the grown ones.

There were lots to see at the aquarium. It is a big place with many exhibits that can keep the interest of people of varied ages.

My Mom was mesmerized by the colourful displays

Eighty- seven years old and with limited mobility, my mother was quite memorized by what she saw.

We stepped on a moving exhibit

After stopping and walking for almost an hour, we started getting tired. Here came the rescue!

A moving exhibit!

 One of the most spectacular displays was when we stepped on an automatic walkway that took us through a tunnel like gigantic aquarium.












We were surrounded by a great variety of fishes swimming over our heads.

The best part of this display - we got to rest our tired feet a little.











Simply standing still, we could enjoy the graceful movements of the swimming creatures zooming by and over us.











We got to see the underside of many water creatures!

We could see the underside of the living creatures

As we enjoyed looking at the different fishes and the living things in the water, we learned a few things about these beautiful and fascinating creatures in the lake/ sea.

Sharks lying still, blending in with their environment

There are many aggressive predators waiting to ambush others.

For instance, sharks achieve their hunts by being still - lying quietly at the bottom of the sea, blending nicely into their environment.

When unsuspecting preys swim by, they open their mouths and attack them.

Clownfish - the star of the movie -Finding Nemo

Another interesting fish we saw was the little Clownfish towards the end of the exhibit.

This little brightly coloured fish was featured in the famous animated movie - "Finding Nemo". Nemo was taken by divers and his father encountered many adventures trying to find him.

We were surprised to see how tiny Nemo was!

The discovery area at the Aquarium

The Ripley Aquarium has many interesting exhibits for all ages.

A hands on activity area for kids

It has a sizable area where visitors can ask questions, and learn more about the exhibits.

It also has a hands on area for curious little hands and minds to explore and learn.

Our family's visit to Ripley's Aquarium was fun, entertaining and educational. We purposely planned our visit on a winter night so that we could walk around indoor, have some exercise and spend some quality family time together.

Our most memorable moment occured at the aquarium cafe where we could sit, had something to eat, rest our feet while the younger generation communicated and shared their favourite pictures and stories with their older family member.

To me, that was priceless!

R.T.
Ripley's Aquarium
Toronto, Ontario

Welcome Home, Son!

A Homecoming week for our son!

Young people love to travel and our sons are no exception.  One of them is especially adventurous and has been overseas teaching and traveling.

We haven't see him for over eight months and he's coming home to visit for a week. We are excited to see him and have been working hard to get his room and the house ready to welcome him home.

We scrubbed, clean and purged the things we have stored in his old bedroom, getting rid of any unnecessary clutter and try to make the room as welcoming we possible. We have the feeling that this is like the prodigal son returning back to his father!

Looking for gifts brought back from Korea

It was so good to see him walking out of the arrival gate and we rushed up to give him our hugs. We were thankful to welcome our son home, seeing him safe, happy, more mature from being away overseas, having travelled and experienced other countries and cultures in the world.


J. loves his family, his cousins, especially his younger cousins.
He remembers them and thinks of them while he is in South Korea. Shortly after we took him him, he opened his suitcase and pulled out the gifts he bought back for us and his little cousins.

A cute mouse pad from S. Korea

He loved his time teaching in South Korea and he enjoyed his recent trip to the rice terrace in Guilin, China.

Thankful to have our son home!

He could not stop talking about the wonderful people he met during his travel.

We are thankful and grateful that our son is home, safe and sound with us! We thank God for His mighty protection and blessings on our grown children!

R.T.
Toronto

Welcome to Our Big Fat Canadian Family, Luke!

Welcome to our big fat Canadian family, Luke!

After waiting for more than six long years, our niece has finally gotten her second child home!
They were a happy family of three.  Now theirs is a typical North American family of four:
a father, mother and two kids family, also what we call a million dollar family composed of two parents, a boy and a girl.

J. and her husband applied to adopt a child from Korea through an adoption agency in Ontario. After waiting for quite some time, they finally got words that there would be a child for them in Korea. Both excited parents got  pictures of their soon to be adopted son and flew to Korea in November to sign all the paperwork and to meet him for the first time.

Enjoying a dim sum brunch with family

J. and M. came home with their new son in early January and we met him for the first time this morning at a dim sum brunch.

 Luke, (the name J. and her husband gave to their 13 month old adopted son) is a smart good looking toddler who looks happy all the time.

Luke always has a smile for the camera

Apparently, Luke must have had a lot of experience with the camera. It was almost his second nature to flash us a huge grin anytime we pointed our ipad at him trying to take a picture.

Luke is a happy little tot

He is an adorable little kid who brings a lot of joy to his new family and anyone who happens to be around him.

As adults, we often forget the little things in life that make us smile and feeling happy.

The happy tot has a healthy appetite!

Looking at Luke and observing his innocent little face, the way his eyes lit up when his mom gave him his drinking cup, the happiness that radiated from him when picking up cereal with his chubby little fingers and enjoying them wholeheartedly,  gave us this fuzzy warm feeling inside.

I love my yummy yummy cereal!

It has been so long ago since we had little babies in our house that we have forgotten the immense pleasure and joy the little ones used to bring us.

Luke and Mommy!

Little Luke re awakens in us the great feelings we get from just observing and being around tiny tots and the joy of parenthood!

Welcome to the family, Luke!

Welcome, Luke, to your big fat Canadian family! To you, we may be a bunch of strangers for now. You will get to know us better in the future.

We love you!



R.T.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

How to Create and Draw a Cartoon Character - I tried My Hands at Cartooning!

One of my 2015 new year resolutions - learn how to draw!

I cannot draw to save my life! There is not a shred of artistic talent in me and have never been interested in drawing either.

Being retired does have its advantage - having more leisure time than I used to, I can afford to choose the things that I love to do.

 Thinking of my New Year resolutions for 2015, I vowed to expand my horizon, come out of my comfort zone and learn something I have never tried again.

An art workshop - St. Paul L'Amoreaux Centre, Scarborough

The first thing we tried in 2015 was drawing!

We went to an art workshop, listened to a short lecture and tried our hands at drawing!

Learning about perspective drawing

We learned in a nutshell that there are three types of drawings:

1. Representational Drawing
2. Perspective Drawings
3. Cartooning

Gavin, our art workshop lecturer

Gavin, a professional artist, and our workshop presenter asked us to have a vote on which type of drawings we wanted to try in this workshop.

We voted for trying our hands on cartooning. Gavin demonstrated and taught us the steps to creating and drawing our own cartoon characters:

Cartooning - all you need are a pencil and a piece of paper

Step 1:

Starting with a pencil and a piece of art paper,  draw any ten shapes on paper making them as interesting as possible.

Step 1 in Cartooning - Draw ten interesting shapes

Step 2:

Add the eyes, nose and mouth for each shape. Avoid placing them symmetrically on the shape.

Group eyes and nose together, then add mouth

But instead, group the eyes and the nose together while the mouth can be a little further down on the shape.

 Be creative!  Use different shapes of eyes, noses and mouths. The goal is to create interesting looking cartoon faces.





Step 3:

Add eyebrows and hair. Eye brows give character to the face depending on the shape, size and position of the eye brows.

My completed cartoon characters!

One of Stan's cartoon drawings

Step 4:

Draw three shapes for the body, keeping in mind that there should be:

1 large shape
1 medium shape
1 small shape

My very first cartoon character!

We followed the suggestions from our instructor, added eyes, nose, ears and then the body shapes.

Viola!

Here are my completed cartoon drawings!

I have never drawn in my life or was able to produce anything like these.

We enjoyed the art workshop and loved the cartooning characters we developed!

R.T.
St. Paul L'Amoroux Centre
Toronto

CBT - Cognitive Behavioural Training and juice for People with Insomnia

Recently, a close relative was having great difficulty falling asleep.  He went to see his family doctor who prescribed some sleeping pills. However, the person was experiencing some negative side effects form the sleeping pills which was gradually losing its effectiveness . 

Therefore he sought an alternative way of dealing with his insomnia.  He went to a clinic located  on Warden and Ellesmere in Toronto.  This clinic takes a comprehensive approach utilizing the services of psychiatrists, group therapy sessions and pharmacists who specialize and are devoted to helping patients with sleep disorder.
 
 This patient's family doctor referred him to this sleep disorder clinic. After the first session, the pharmacist strongly suggested Cognitive Behavioural Training (CBT) for him.

She told the patient that he needs to throw away his sleeping pills and suggested the following for him:

1.  Find out the source of your stress
2.  Don't do drugs, try sleeping naturally instead.
3.  Don't stay in bed if you are not sleeping in 30 minutes maximum. 
4.  Get up, turn on some soothing music and read a book; no TV, iPad, email nor any gadgets.
5   If you can't sleep at all, so be it. Eventually, the body will sleep naturally. Taking drugs altered this natural tendency.

That was the patient's first session only. He was very excited and could not wait to learn more about the CBT approach in dealing with his insomnia. 

Also, I have been reading a book by Dr. Sandra Cabot, an Australian doctor specialized in nutritional medicine. She is a firm believer in the healing benefits of raw juice. In her book " Raw Juices Can Save Your Life!", there is a recipe, page 108, that would help with insomnia called Insomnia Juice. To make this juice, you'll need:

2 to 3               large outer leaves of lettuce
1                      whole pear of a apple
1                      carrot
1                      sweet potato
1/4 to 1/2        medium bulb of fennel

Wash, trim and chop and pass through juicer. Drink 17 oz ( 1/2 litre) daily, with half in the morning and half in the late afternoon.

According to Dr. Cabot as stated in her book:

Lettuce contains natural opiates, which help to relax the body
Fennel is a carminative ( natural calming agent)
Vitamin C found in citrus fruits, aids breathing and oxygenation of the tissues during the night

She also advises to avoid stimulants such as coffee, tea, sugar, sweet foods and alcohol during the evening, and avoid drinking excess water during the two hours before bed.

I hope that people with insomnia will be able to try the method of CBT and the insomnia juice recipe therefore helping them to ease their problem.

R.T.
Toronto

We Loved Our Annual Family Christmas Party!

Our family has been holding our annual Christmas get together for years! This tradition started in Thunder Bay when we first landed in that little northern city. I could still vividly remember our family's first Christmas gathering in 1971in this frigid country. Though it was minus many degrees outside; inside our house, it was filled with warmth, laughter, hope and optimism for our new lives in Canada. I could still see clearly our youngest brother - Dave's little face lit up when he got some hockey stuff that Christmas!

I am so glad that this family tradition has carried on for more than thirty years. It started with just our family. As my parents' children and grandchildren have grown and many of whom are married with their own youngsters, this one family tradition has expanded to included many others.

E. was able to make it for this year's big family dinner!

Even though E. has gone away to the U.S. to study and work, he has never missed one Christmas at home. However, due to his work schedule, he did miss the big family dinner for a couple of years.

 I was delighted when E. came home the Saturday before Christmas, therefore allowing him to attend this big family dinner on Sunday at Susan and Dave's place.

A great family get together!

Dave, Susan and their family did a fantastic job organizing this family get together!

Dave's family did a fantastic job organizing a dinner party and a bingo game

They started  planning weeks ago  organizing this annual event making sure there was enough food and variety dishes to satisfy a diverse group of participants of around thirty-five people!

Not an easy task at all!







The food was always delicious as everybody chipped in and brought a dish to share.

Everyone's favorite was the dessert table after the main meal!

A beautifully laid out and very tempting dessert table awaiting us!

Our annual family Christmas party brought everyone together!

 Besides excellent food, there was entertainment after dinner too!

As a tradition, we always have a gift exchange game after dinner.

This year there was something different!

It could be a difficult decision for a kid to choose a gift

We played a Bingo Gift Exchange Game after dinner

What was different and fun at this year's family party?

 A Bingo gift exchange game Dave and Susan introduced to the party after the Christmas dinner!

At the beginning as guests arrived to the dinner, they brought gifts with them.  Mikaela collected them and placed them on the gift cart.



Dave's family came up with some rules to make sure the game was fun and fair for all.

 It was! and everyone had a great time and loads of fun!

 Dave, the Bingo Master, explained the rules clearly before the game started so everyone knew what to expect.

Everyone took part and had loads of fun at the party

We were happy to see everyone, both young and old, at the party participating in the gift exchange bingo game.

Mom had a lot of fun playing Bingo at the family party.

 Even Mom was able to take part!

It was fun to see how excited Mom and everyone was when they scored and yelled out

" Bingo Ah!"  at the party!

Choosing a prize from the Gift Cart

 If you bingo and after your numbers were checked by the Bingo Master, you got to go up to the gift cart and choose a gift from the pile of gifts
collected from the guests.

It was great clean fun for the whole family!

After opening their gifts, the cousins trying their hands at the new games

( While many people feel that they must consume a lot of alcohol to have a good time at a party, I am  immensely proud of our family gatherings! Having fun without anyone getting drunk, fist fighting, saying or doing any stupid things to one another!)

 Many thanks to Dave, Susan, Jordon and Mikaela for organizing this fantastic family Christmas get together! 

The party rocked!

R.T.
Christmas Party
2014
Toronto