Winnipeg pt 1

Quote of the Day: Somebody gonna get-a hurt real bad! -Russell Peters (quoting his father)
Song of the Day: Superstition by Stevie Wonder

The entry posted prior to this was written at Uncle Ken's house. He picked us up on his way home from work and then brought us back to Gilia after dinner, talking, and relaxing. At Ken's we ate burgers and fries (the fries had seasoning on them.. awesome) and I watched a comedy DVD of the Canadian comic Russell Peters with Tyler, Adam, and Shawn. He was pretty funn, I liked it. Auntie Lori also took pictures but she didn't send them to me yet. After Uncle Ken dropped Oma and I back at home, we played two games of croquinole before bed. I won both games!

Wednesday morning I had cereal for breakfast. Auntie Barb and Melissa picked us up at 10:30 and we headed to Polo Place Mall. First thing that happened was Oma cut her thumb on the railing in McNally Robinson. Super. Anyway she was bleeding but we got some bandaids on her ad kind of took care of it. Melissa and I went into Garage and I got a green belt which is pretty sweet. We went in some other stores including Blue Notes, where we each got two tshirts. I got a pink one with a cartoon of a bowl of cereal and a carton of milk that says, “Soulmates,” and a grey one with two dice on it that says, “That’s How I Roll." Melissa got one with a cartoon of a porcupine and a balloon that says, “Impossible Love,” and one that has a cassette tape that says “omg I’m so retro!” haha they had some pretty funny shirts. We also went in the Bay, where Oma and Barb bought some things, and Roots, but I didn’t buy anything in there. After shopping we went to Prairie Ink, a restaurant in the bookstore. I had half of a Santa Fe BBQ pizza with a ceasar salad. It was really good!

We went to pick up Emily from school and went back to their house. We chilled out and watched TV, and got A&W for supper at my request. We watched “So You Think You Can Dance?” and then Barb brought us back home. After finishing the chocolate cake from Monday, I played some Lewis Black for Oma and we talked about swimming for a while, then it was bedtime!

This morning I woke up around 10:45 and had a toasted bagel and a banana for breakfast. Oma let me take the Crown Victoria and I drove to Seven Oaks Pool to swim for a while. I have only driven the car once before and it’s huge, so before I left the neighborhood I drove around a little to get used to it. At Seven Oaks they have a nice 50 m pool which was split into a diving well, 25 m pool with lanes, and whatever was left was the shallow end for playing etc. For a while I was the only person in the pool, but at the end there were lots of kids there for swimming lessons. I swam 3700 meters, which is about 4000 yards, and left after an hour and 15 minutes. When I got back I had a shower and Oma and I ate leftover spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. We watched a little television and then we played Scrabble. I won 323-232. It was a close game until I made “strudel” and used all my letters for a 50 point bonus. It was fun, anyway! Then we watched Jeopardy!, which I always enjoy.

We left the house at 6 pm and I drove to River East Collegiate with no trouble. We arrived there for the jazz concert at about 6:15. We went in the auditorium and saved seats for Uncle Dave, Cousin Sam (11), Melissa, and Auntie Candace. There were four acts in the concert, and John was in three of them. The first was the Jazz Band, which is REC’s lower level instrumental jazz group. It’s a really big group and they played 3 songs. John had a bari sax solo on the first and was very good, as were all of their songs. Their third tune was Sing, Sing, Sing, which I love. Next was Jazzmyn, the lower jazz vocal group. They weren’t too bad. It was mostly girls and their outfits were (awful) black leggings with their choice of colorful dressy long shirt/shirtdress. So they sounded good but their outfits were mostly bad. After Jazzmyn was Vocalease, the better vocal group. They were awesome. John sang a solo on a song called Fever which was pretty sweet. I didn’t known John could sing at all, but he was awesome. Closing the show was the Jazz Orchestra, the one-to-a-book instrumental group. Their first song, Sophisticated Lady, featured John on bari sax and also gave him a chance to show off his talents in circular breathing. On the next song, Dali, John and this other kid Jacob did a cool two-saxophone dueling solo thing which was SO impressive. I just thought it was great. The third song was a Duke Ellington chart that had some good piano, French horn, and clarinet solos. Finally, the band played Superstition (the Stevie Wonder song) and John sang the vocals on that, and was very capable as far as singing like Wonder goes. Overall the concert was great and I really enjoyed it.

I drove Oma, Melissa, and Candace back to the Hodge’s where we caught up with Auntie Barb and cousin Emily (13), who had just come back home from Emily’s jazz concert. Hers went well too, apparently. We hung around a bit and showed Barb and Emily some video of John’s performance while eating grapes, watermelon, and Amish friendship bread (which was delicious). John came home for a bit then left, and Tim came home as well. I checked my email and Oma and I left shortly after ten and made it home safe! We watched some tv, I ate a Snickers, and then we went to bed.

Today I got up around 10 and Oma and I had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. We hung around for a few hours, then John called and I went to pick him up from school. As soon as we got back we walked over with Oma to Boston Pizza. We shared a large BBQ chicken pizza which was delicious!! Then we all walked back to Oma’s house and John and I played cribbage. In the first game he was leading for a while, then I got the lead and ran with it. The second game he won quickly. The third game was a tiebreaker and it took a while but I won. Then we watched some Corner Gas with Oma and I called my house and talked to my Dad and sister.