Well hey there everyone and welcome to the year 2006! I hope that you all had a happy, safe and fun holiday season and spent it with those that you love and care about!
Sorry that I haven't had the chance to update since last month but I was away in Ottawa for the holidays visiting family. I will say that I had a really good time with everyone and I must say that when the family has fun they have fun! There were alot of laughs to be had with everyone and it was great to see those in my family that I hadn't seen since over the summer. Of course my sister came home for the holidays too and it was nice to see her because I hadn't seen her since she left for work in Ghana in July. So as you can imagine everyone was happy to see her. Of course the surprise was under wraps for a few weeks as they worked out the kinks and what not but the looks on everyone's faces were ***priceless****. I kind of wished I had taken pictures when she showed up at my Aunt and Uncle's place on Christmas Eve because that would have been a definate Kodak moment! Of course my Grandmother's facials were quite funny too! I almost would have thought that she was going to faint from the shock of when we arrived two days before Christmas Eve. It brought alot of joy to people and was a definate Christmas moment!
So yes I had a great holiday. As I said I went to Ottawa for Christmas and we left on the Thursday before Christmas Eve some time late in the morning and arrived some time after 5:30pm that evening. We thought that the traffic through Toronto was going to be congested but thankfully it wasn't and we went through rather fast. Is it me or does a trip to Ottawa always seem to go quickly when you drive down? It seems like every time we do it seems shorter and shorter. Either way it was great to see my Grandmother and have some of her fantastic cooking! (and you can be sure that when you're at Grannie's you're well, well fed!)
Let's fast forward to Christmas Eve. For that night we went to my Uncle Brian and Untie Pauleen's and met up with family and friends of my Uncle and Aunt's. It was a good time of course and as I mentioned earlier there were lots of good laughs and lots of great jokes shared with people. If memory serves me right we didn't stay too too late and came home some time close to midnight but it was a fun and good evening! But the next morning, Christmas Day was good. It appeared as though everyone got what they wanted and was happy. Of course for Christmas Day dinner my mom, dad, sister and I went to my Uncle Andrew and Auntie Soo-nim's place and met up with the other side of my family. Of course it was odd not having my Grand Dad Morgan not there this year for Christmas because he was away in England for Christmas visiting a friend of his. No matter though we did end up having him on the phone and we got to speal to him but not physically having him there was odd.
Now let's go to New Years Eve! Again, we went to my Uncle Brian and Auntie Pauleen's place. Of course the gang from Christmas Eve was back together again and more fun was had. All we really did was sit about and talk, played a DVD game called "Scene It" and had a pretty amazing pot luck dinner. It should be noted that my Aunt did a fantastic job in assembling both the Christmas and New Year's get togethers and she always outdoes herself every year and this year was no exception! So Auntie Pauleen, if you're reading this,
THANK YOU for your hard work on those two days! Both were alot of fun and made for two great nights!
So in the time between Christmas and New Years I managed to find time to go do some shopping at Bayshore Mall and even managed to take in a Ottawa Senators game! (gee, what a surprise there eh?!). It's great that the Ottawa transit is so accessible both in terms of wheelchair access and that they cover the major destinations within the Ottawa city limits. It was just great as well that to catch the bus to the Corel Centre (now Scotiabank Place) I had to take one bus from Bayshore Mall and go right to Kanata. The ride up to Kanata was pretty neat but once I got into the Corel Centre .. wow .. bedlam!
Yes, inside the Corel Centre it was pure bedlam! You see, there was a 700 team hockey tournament called the
Bell Captial Cup (which by the way I did take in a few game from the sledge hockey division during the time the tourney ran and it was good stuff!) going on in town and most seats were snatched up well in advance and whatever seats were left were for folks like me, tourists, out of towners, whatever term you'd like so you had best try your luck and see what you come away with! But once I did get a ticket and was settled in my seat and what not the game itself was pretty good! The Senators beat the New York Islanders 4-3 after trailing for the better part of the game and early in the second period Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was injured. The hush that fell over the crowd was stunning because at this point the Senators had already lost three other players to injury and to lose your captain and (arguablly anyways) best player would have been a devastating loss. Thankfully he's okay now and is back in the line up.
Anyways here are a few scans of some of my souvenirs!
This is a copy of my ticket from the Senators game that I went to over the holidays. I wasn't too sure if I was going to be able to get a ticket considering it was the Holiday season and there was the aforementioned big hockey tournament going on and most seats were picked up by different hockey teams. Thankfully I was able to but at quite the cost at $75.00. Oh well, at least for my $75.00 I got a meal with my ticket (I sat in a place called "The Penalty Box" a sandwhich bar!). There won't be any complaints from me because I was lucky to get the ticket. Mind you though I needed wheelchair seating and that was harder to get in the end. But you know, you would have thought for a game against a team like the Islanders that the prices would be lower instead of the usual raised prices for games against teams like the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Like I said I won't complain!
Ah yes here's a look at the program that they handed to you once you went through the turnstiles to get to your seats. Not a bad souvenir really to have considering that most of the things that you can buy at the Sens gift shop, Sensations, is kind of pricey if you want something small. I had my eye on a few things at the store but held off until some other time when I am down there and can shop about. So yes! my wonderful program and I wished I could have got a few autographs for it but I would have missed my bus. Either way it's a great keepsake! :)
All the fun came to an end when we got back in the car and left on January 2nd so that we could get my sister back to Toronto for a day or so before she had to head back out to Ghana for a few months before she comes back home in the spring.
So there you have it everyone my first entry of 2006! I look forward to more entries through out the year and I hope you enjoy reading them!
Take care,
J
This is a copy of my ticket from the Senators game that I went to over the holidays. I wasn't too sure if I was going to be able to get a ticket considering it was the Holiday season and there was the aforementioned big hockey tournament going on and most seats were picked up by different hockey teams. Thankfully I was able to but at quite the cost at $75.00. Oh well, at least for my $75.00 I got a meal with my ticket (I sat in a place called "The Penalty Box" a sandwhich bar!). There won't be any complaints from me because I was lucky to get the ticket. Mind you though I needed wheelchair seating and that was harder to get in the end. But you know, you would have thought for a game against a team like the Islanders that the prices would be lower instead of the usual raised prices for games against teams like the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Like I said I won't complain! 
Ah yes here's a look at the program that they handed to you once you went through the turnstiles to get to your seats. Not a bad souvenir really to have considering that most of the things that you can buy at the Sens gift shop, Sensations, is kind of pricey if you want something small. I had my eye on a few things at the store but held off until some other time when I am down there and can shop about. So yes! my wonderful program and I wished I could have got a few autographs for it but I would have missed my bus. Either way it's a great keepsake! :) 