Kids Weekend – My Path | My Life | Thoughts

January 15, 2019January 28, 2019

Honest Answers | The Royal York Hotel Edition

we went downtown and checked in to the royal york hotel and dropped off our backpacks and headed over to Wayne Gretzky’s for lunch. kids never been and chantal has not expanded her food selection and she settled in with the grilled cheese that was really good. noah and myself picked up “the great one” burger which was really good with a double patty. seventy four bones later we hit the hotel to check out the pool which was warm, narrow and long. a little hot tubing. we were pretty full so we decided we would eat after the movie.

i picked up some tickets for the movie “Free Solo” which was up on bloor. hit this blog post for more about the movie. the plan was to go there and eat after and hit snakes and lattes and play games into the night. the movie was awesome and after we went down the street to starbucks and filled up on sweet foamy goodness.

snakes and lattes in the annex was packed with a 3 hour wait. so we hit the google and found another boardgame cafe south on dundas west. we called and they held a table for us and we got there to play some new games and a little cockroach poker.

my goodness… almost 1am. time to grab a taxi and get back to the hotel. we still have a round of honest answers to record. at the hotel we each wrote our 7 questions on some hotel stationary and we set up my phone to record us in bed answering the entire 21 questions. we shot 38 minutes of footage that i knocked down to 9 minutes that you can watch on YouTube. I had to cut out some questions to protect the kids and me with some of our answers.

how to make coffee at the royal york hotel below…

February 5, 2017

Noah + The Reading | Late Night Card Game

uno_card_game_3

I grew up with UNO. This little card game was developed in 1971 and I used to play it when I was about 10 and up. Kids love it. We have the “Dare” version. So what we do is we write down about 7 dares each. Then the other two people have to agree. If all three of us agree then it’s written down on paper and crumpled up. So we usually have about 20-30 dares for people to do. If you get a wild card then you can pick up 2 cards or do a dare.

We save 3 dares and who ever skips by not doing a dare might have to do the last 3 dares if they skipped the most during the hands that we play.

Last time I had the kids… I rented the Super4 which we call it since it’s just a good deal and lots of laughs. Plus they have a pool with no lifeguard so it’s a free for all in the pool.

Earlier in the night Chantal asked why is their a bible in the drawer. I told her there is one in every room. She opened up a random page and was reading one verse. It was a funny verse and we ended up using it in the game.

The dare was: You had to read the verse we found to the lady at the front desk. Just walk up and ask her if you can read something and read it and thank her for her time. It was just a giddy night and I could not stop laughing. Such a funny night. I have lots of dares recorded but this one we will share.

UNO Dares At The Super8 | Noah And The Reading from Dan Deveau on Vimeo.

January 10, 2017

New Year’s Fire In The Woods

One evening the kids and myself wanted to go into the forest beside where i live and explore the forest at night. It gets dark early which is great and we ventured into Jackson’s Park here in Peterborough. I gave them their camping knives and a headlamp and off we went.

We followed the creek to find a good little spot in the snow along the bank to build a fire using the fallen deadwood.

Up more along the creek we found a little place that is hidden. We started to set up camp and we all had little tasks to do before the sun went down. We would wait till darkness to start the fire and hopefully nobody would see us and call the “fuzz” and report us.

As the smaller sticks started to catch we wanted to add larger wood on top. We should have brought some marshmallows for our trip into the woods. After a while and some blowing on the coals to get it to go… we had a little fire we were proud of.

The fire cracked and flickered under some large trees we camped under. We sat warm in the snow in our snow pants and the warm glow of the fire warmed our faces. It was a sweet sweet moment in the still of a winter’s night in the forest the three of us.

We need to get out and explore more as a little triangle of 3

August 12, 2016August 19, 2016

Snakes & Lattes | Toronto

Toronto is a city where something wacky is lurking around every corner. The city is full of hidden gems, and there is never a shortage of unique (and sometimes strange) places to eat, chill and play around.

This popular board game café is Toronto’s first of its kind. From outside the café, you could just as easily walk past it. A quirky but otherwise neutral banner doesn’t let on to the mind games, drawing against the clock and all-out (yet all in good fun) war games taking place behind the doors. Once inside, it’s like no other café in Toronto and will leave you bringing your friends, kids or the girl you want to kiss back for a rematch.

Wall-to-wall board games coupled with a clean, rustic design gives this hot spot a comforting feel. A knowledgeable staff that can teach you to play any game and the Youtube videos on the channel introduce you to new games that get’s you out of your normal games you grew up with since that’s what everyone else played.

Unfortunately Snakes and Lattes does not take phone reservations. You’re required to leave your name with the host, and you’ll receive a phone call when your table is ready. This can be troublesome for the anxious diners that can’t get there before 8:00 p.m., especially with the café’s rising popularity. It would be best to leave your name on a day that you’re already planning to be downtown so you’re not left waiting outside, since wait times can reach up to two hours during the dinner rush. The café offers an average selection of food, but nothing on the menu is over $10.00. You will never wear out your welcome with access to unlimited games for just $5.00. The $5.00 charge is a game fee that does not cover food but allows guests to play as many games as it takes to avenge their losses or collect their winnings. With a wide selection of board games to choose from and they boast they have around 3,000 different games. it’s always more fun to go with a large group. Cafés in the city that are similar to Snakes and Lattes include Castle, Roll Play Café, Go Lounge and Snakes and Lagers Board Game Bar (owned by Snakes and Lattes). Get your game on at 600 Bloor St or check out the one on College.

We have been to both 😉

You can check out one of our visits in my OSE video starting at the 2:50 mark here.

http://www.snakesandlattes.com/

July 20, 2016December 25, 2018

Trip To Nova Scotia | July 2016

Such a fun trip to take the kids down to Nova Scotia for a week and visit with family and explore a bit of the South Shore. Created a little video made up of little quick video clips shot with my cracked iPod and brought into iMovie to make a little keepsake of the trip. I will add some more images into this blog post shortly.

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

One Second Everyday | Video Project | July 2015

Below is the summary of the Month of July 2015. Month starts off with back to back days at Canada’s Wonderland and then some overtime leading up to a week away with the kids camping. Sweet month!