The top of Mount Nemo is a cliff that drops off over Halton, with Toronto sitting way out on the horizon. Kiki spent the entire time looking at the ground.
In his defense, the ground was better. The whole top of that cliff is rock and tree roots, and he'd figured out he could hop from one to the next. That was the activity. Hop, look back to make sure I saw it, hop again. I've never seen a kid so happy to ignore a world-class view.
We've made Father's Day a hiking day, we have been doing it since Covid. Today. we started with lunch at my parents', then we point the car north of Burlington, off Guelph Line, and go. I've been to Nemo before, there's a lot of trail variety, but with a two-year-old you don't get to be choosy. We took the easy path straight out to the lookout.
I couldn't do much exploring. The edge up there is all cracks and gaps in the rock, the kind a two-year-old can slip right into, so I kept Riri close. She wanted in on everything Kiki was doing, and I spent most of the afternoon as the guy saying “not that far, come back!”
We couldn't stay long, and Kiki got upset that I couldn’t join him and even more upset about leaving. So I told him the two of us could run around for a few minutes first. No game, no destination, just go. He lit up. We ran along the cliff hoping from rock to rock letting him lead while trying to see what is ahead of him.
Here's the part that sounds weird. I find this relaxing. Not sit-down, hands-folded, “nobody make a sound” relaxing. The opposite. The kids are tearing up and down the trail, Riri's throwing rocks and getting her hands dirty, Kiki thinks he is Spiderman and I'm walking slow with my wife, enjoying the breeze and sound of leaves, kids laughter, a warm hand holding mine, feeling all of this happen in front of me. You'd think peaceful means everyone still and quiet. For me it's the kids being kids, wife being wife and I get to be me, watching over my family.
Then we drove home in a car that was, finally, silent.
Dads corner
Be Kind, Rewind!
My mom got Kiki a cassette player. How he got into cassettes is a whole saga for another day, but the hunt is what matters here. We went to The Beat Goes On to ask about tapes. They didn't have any, but they pointed us down to a place on Brant Street in Burlington called The Odd Spot, right beside City Hall.
The whole store is nostalgia. Vinyl, VHS, old T-shirts, toys the works. They had a pre-screening edition VHS of Back to the Future Part III sitting out. I stood there a little stunned at how much cool stuff was packed into one room. We dug through a stack of cassettes and I walked out with a couple.
The owner had Goodfellas playing on a tube TV, running off a combo DVD/VHS player. Right at the part where Henry cutting lines on a mirror, Kiki suddenly points at the TV and goes "Dad, look." I brace myself as my mind races thinking about how do I respond to this? He's pointing at the DVD/VHS player. Totally amazed that he finally saw a VHS player in person. Totally missed the entire scene. I died laughing after I encouraged him away. That was a close one.
The guy behind the counter noticed that I saw a retro Playboy magazine. He said they make great gifts. Puzzled, I asked “How exactly?” He said that some people looking for a gift would come and buy the issue of the month and year their loved one was born. A little NSFW but that would be a fun gift for me to give to one of my friends. Laugh all you want, they do have good articles talking about what is going on at the time you were born. My wife didn’t think it would be appropriate, I disagree, it’s just a light hearted gift. If the recipient was really interested in pics, the internet has plenty more.
Anyway, If you're into nostalgia and memorabilia, go to Oddspot. It's worth the trip.
Events this Weekend
|
|
|
