Matthew overload

 For Matthew's birthday we helped him decide to go to Casa Loma. He's happy -- we are happy. It is a fairly pricey place to see (with our number of guests) so we had to save it for someone special. And since it was our last pre-lockdown birthday (not that we knew it at the time :p ) we made it worthwhile. The one bummer of the place is that you can't take food and drink in, and there are no in and out privileges. So you have to either starve or dehydrate (I guess you could buy something the the cafeteria. Maybe.) or see it really quickly. It was nice and quiet when we were there. Which was lovely. Partly cause it was Friday, not a weekend, and partly because people were starting to stay home more because of Covid.

 So if you are really rich, why not build yourself a grand castle like estate? It didn't end up getting finished. I think the province or federal government decided that the electical company that the rich guy (owner of the being built castle) should have to give the utilities as a "free service" as in, not private, but taxable. So with the loss of income the house couldn't get finished. And the city of Toronto eventually inherited the estate, and finally someone finished it and made it a tourist place. Poor owner though, he lived with his chauffeur in his old age in some tiny little house.

 Built in pipe organ, kinda nice feature to have if you have a ballroom type place.

 There was some "secret panel" in his bedroom. The grease marks of lots of other guests gave away the location, so we found it too. We were given gadgets to take through the "castle" and you type in the number on the sign to hear a little story/facts about that area or item.

 Going up on the turret was fun. Wonder how scary that would have been before they installed the plexiglass barriers!

 Very nice views of the city!

 The rooms were all pretty big. It isn't often that I feel that my house is small with smallish rooms, but this place definitely did that!

 The second story (I think) had some WW2 relics and things. Which was kinda cool. The birthday boy didn't linger too long here though.

 Philip really liked the room with all the wine. Nice selection, and the supply ought to last for a month at least.

 And there was an interesting long tunnel to a place across the street. It may have been used for some secret sonic (or something) testing during the war, where there was some privacy. Now it had lots of eerie videos shining on the walls of dragons and such like for one of their tourist/game escape type tourist features.

 They had a small collection of old cars. Very nice.

 And their library was well stocked with books. Too bad they were all locked up and there were no chairs to sit in and read. And no ladder on wheels to zip around on. I think Sir Henry missed a few essentials there...but maybe that would have come if he finished.

 The conservatory was very grand. All marble. Stain glassed ceiling with built in electric lights, which was super modern.

 Evelyn, now that we were almost done, was finally ready to try out the gadgets. So don't ask me details about the last few things we saw. Ask her.

 Lots of facts to hear. And big empty rooms. I think Matthew enjoyed it! His favourite was by the cars with the story about Sir Henry trying out his new car, but finding he didn't know how to stop it. So he drove around in circles yelling and screaming until they figured out his problem and threw hay bales in front of him. Once he stopped they could teach him how to stop. Good thing he got a chauffeur, I think!

 And maybe it was also quiet because it was snowing lots. By the next day we had a pretty decent dump of snow! :)

 Matthew spent sometime in the workshop on his latest project.

 Then he started on his treasure hunt. He wanted another treasure hunt. And he's 12. I made it a good hard one. Maybe no one else will ask if it is too hard. ;)

 Uh, what am I supposed to see??

 Matthew needed some sustenance and rest from all the mental work. So we enjoyed a cake.

 And gifts! Melanie made Matthew a portable sketch book. So Matthew can draw anywhere he likes with all that he needs.

 And Nathan made him a model plane of wood.

 And he got a very funny card from friends.

 A homemade card from a sister. A castle (very fitting) with a drawbridge.

 Oh yeah, back to the chase.

 Are we having fun, I wonder?

 And to end the birthday we went out for dinner. Last chance for a meal at a restaurant for a long time, so I'm glad we went! It was very quiet, but it was also very delicious. :) We ate here before when we lived at our old house and several kids remembered it fondly. It was just as good as it had been.

We are very thankful for Matthew. He is sure growing up. Taking a lot more responsibility. Insightful. Sociable. Good natured. (most of the time) 12 years have flown by!