Road trip, good friends, and simply life

It's been a bit quiet from my end, and I think it's in part because life is just so normal. Well, at least to a certain extent... A couple of weeks ago I had a day (because of Remembrance Day, and Nolan took the day off) so we decided to go to Burlington to visit our dear friends Riley and Tina (remember the cute couple that got married a couple of months ago?).  The drive there was nice and relaxing; we took highway 7 instead of the busy and less-than-pleasant highway 401. In the end, it turned out to be faster as well! We even had enough time to take the Gardner Expressway downtown Toronto, so we could have a look at the CN tower... Unfortunately it was covered in fog, so the view was not great. But still, downtown Toronto never ceases to impress me (still a little village girl at heart!).
It was great seeing Tina and Riley, and of course Julie who is 15 months now. We took it easy, went for walks, visited the waterfront of Burlington, but mostly just chatted and caught up on our lives. It was just a wonderful weekend and we all wished we lived closer together! But really, they are 'only' a 5-hr drive away, so at least doable for a long weekend.

What else happened? We spent a weekend in Brockville to celebrate Nolan's dad's birthday (70!). It was a nice weekend with everyone there, so good to catch up.
We also went to an art gallery for an exhibit, which really we shouldn't do since we alway end up buying stuff. Including this time. However, we are very happy with this new addition! It looks really nice in our upstairs hallway, especially since that is now all painted and has the new light fixtures in. Now it really is our place, completely re-done since we moved in.

We had a somewhat quiet Halloween this year, only 157 kids... That's one less than last year!
And the rest is just same old, same old... Work is still great and still busy. I've been on the road quite a bit, but mainly down the Ottawa Valley so no exotic destinations. Nolan is doing well, so no complaints there either. Running has been a bit quiet, but we signed up for a half marathon in February, so I guess we'd better get our act together soon!

Cats are happy, especially Murphy since we recently moved his girlfriend back to our bedroom:

He spends most of his days now in close proximity of our humidifier. Not sure why he's so obsessed with it, but every year when we pull it out, it's love at first sight all over again...