Introduction
This page lists the upcoming events and 'get togethers', listed from the most recent and going back to our first gathering.
For complete information about an upcoming get together, please email me and I will send you the specific details. These get togethers are great to meet IRL all the people you've met on the board, to share ideas, make friends, and have a great time out with the children! If you would like to organize a get together, just suggest one on the board!
Here are the upcoming events:
There is a new email list for those of you who would like to get together. It is a list orgnised by Kathy and Annie from our message board and maintained by Annie. From Annie: " I have created a new mailing list: GTA gifted social. It's a "member only" mailing list, meaning that only people who are on the mailing list can read the archived messages. Hopefully with the mailing list in place, we can have more frequent gatherings. Anyone who is interested in joining can go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GTAgifted_social/ Annie
Here are some highlights from previous events:
April 2003 Adults Only
You know there comes a point in your life where you just have to trust someone else...I still haven't learned that yet because instead of trusting the directions from MapQuest, I trusted myself and got promptly lost! And Lisa was no where near me for me to lean on (snif snif ;). Although I was late, so were most of us! I enjoyed meeting some new faces and am finding it really refreshing to meet up with everyone. I come away from these gatherings, as do others I am sure, feeling connected and inspired. Thank you to everyone who made it that evening.
March 30th 1pm 2003 OG Family Gathering
Unfortuately I wasn't able to attend this meeting, but I heard that the indoor playground that Rosemary's daughter choose was a great place to get together for the children, if a bit on the noisy side. Despite a few loose bears ;), the event was had without a hitch. I am sad to have missed my first OG outing, but now that it is summer, I just know I will see Rosemary and her AD.
February 2003 Adults Only
I'm beginning to become addicted to these gatherings. I know I am one of many who find that these get togethers are exceptionally validating. Despite the fact that there had to be about 10+cm of snow that fell that evening and the roads were slippery and slow -- 13 people representing 10 families came out to the dinner which was held at The Keg in former North York.
December 2002 Adults Only
Now this was a blast! We gota chance to meet some new members IRL (in-real-life) for the first time, while munching on good food on the Danforth. As if two hours over dinner wasn't enough, we headed over for some coffee and desert and the time just flew by -- I think it was well over midnight before our group broke up! Every time we get together I learn something new and amazing about all of us, and this night was no exception. I can't get over how comfortable it is being with everyone and being able to freely converse about our children. Thank you very much everyone for taking the time and energy to come out and make this gathering such a success.
November 2002
What a great time! And a perfect location! Over 8 families came out to this gathering which was organised by Lisa. The pot luck was a most delicious success, and thank you to all who brought out foods for this event. We raised 50 $ to go towards the purchase of a toy or two for the YMCA center. Thanks to 'pumpkin' (Annie's ds) and his fantastic ability to create elaborate and fun play games, my daughter reported to me that while playing outside at the gathering, she caught the 'ABC virus' which she says, "multiplied all inside her until she fell down". She is still, however, warning her brother not to watch Teletubbies for fear that he may catch the dreaded 'Teletubby' virus and there is no one here at her home who has the antidote for that one. For pictures of this event please click here.
Sheri.
As Lisa wrote:
We had a great afternoon at the Ajax YMCA.
Lots of food and the kids had fun. After getting in and checking out the center and eating until 4, the kids did a clean up and went into the side yard playground for some running around time. We then reconvened in the center for more play.
There was air hockey, toys, a computer – which all were shared very well. I brought along Astronomy Monopoly which was also explored by kids and adults alike.
The food was terrific – and abundant. I hope no one went home hungry.
We had a staff member – Barb, who was there to lock up when we finished. We appreciate her help. She commented on how great everyone was in keeping to the rules of the center. She thought it was cute when one child corrected another’s grammar, “There is no such thing as ‘bestest’!”
I have to thank everyone for their co-operation in cleaning up and keeping the kids attended to insure no damage, injury or problems occurred. I am sure this is because you do this anyway. It is nice to see a group of parents and who are considerate of the facility they are using!
The YMCA offered this site to me free of charge because I am a volunteer. The usual charge for the use of the space for a party is $85 for 2 hours. We discussed this, and Sheri suggested that perhaps we take a collection and donate a toy or two in order to express our appreciation to the staff She is collecting the funds and I have asked Barb to suggest an appropriate toy or two. We hope to surprise the center with a gift before Christmas.
Thank you everyone for helping to make this a success.
October 2002
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We had a great time raspberry picking. We were joined by Annie, Colleen, KathyO, and Sheri's families. Despite my last disaster at the zoo, each of us managed to find each other! The weather was cold (very windy), but most of the children didn't even notice. I believe KathyO's eldest daughter won the prize for the most raspberry's picked and kept--while her youngest daughter bypassed the whole basket stage and went straight for the mouth. :) There were still plenty of raspberries despite the late time during the year. Some of the kids managed to convince their parents to go for the visit to the floating balloons inside of the pumpkin, but no one was successful at getting anyone on the tractor pulled hay ride. It was simply too cold! With the exception of Annie's children (who got straight to business picking raspberries) it seemed as though the children were perfectly content playing in the huge sand pit and jumping in the hay. Thank you to everyone who made it out today. We had a great time once again. |
August 2002 The Zoo
Four families came out to this meeting. Unfortunately, only two of us managed to find each other! everyone said that they had a great time, just not all together. :( For future gatherings, it was suggested that someone been holding onto a huge balloon of some sort as an identifier. No matter which way we decide to do it next time, I certainly have learned that saying 'let's meet at the picnic area' is just not specific enough when there are a kazillion picnic tables! I hardly blinked the entire time as I was so hypervigilant yet strangely blind to all sorts of important people walking around me.
The Toronto Zoo now has a water park and this was enjoyed immensly after the long day of walking around the zoo exploring the various animal habitats, harassing the clowns, and climbing over vehicles. If you would like to see some wonderful photos, please click HERE.
August 2002 Edward's Gardens
This gathering was hot. Very hot. And humid. Five families came out to Edward's Gardens. We met by the picnic area, tried (to varying degrees of success) to feed our children before heading on down to the stream for a walk to the less crowded field. First of all I would like to thank all of the families who made it out to the gathering, especially those of you who had to travel quite far to meet some (totally) new people. It looks like the children had a good time running around, exploring and chasing each other. Although I was only able to hear small bits of the children's conversations as they buzzed by me, I enjoyed listening in on their fantasy worlds and characters that they had made up. My daughter, feeling like she had missed out on something, was quick to choose an alternative name -- but the only thing she could think of immediately was 'Leafy' as that was something she was staring at! A big thank you to Gina for emailing me (repeatedly!) photos that she took at the gathering. I will be adding the photos that the children took shortly. For those of you who are interested in seeing some of the pictures, please click HERE.
April 2002
Toronto: (Parents only)
Personally, I had a great time at this get together! Great friends, good food, drinks all sans enfants. How could I not have a good time ;)? In all seriousness, I think we all had fun and even had some productive conversations. The more I know about these woman and what they do for their families and children, the more I am in awe. Thanks for coming out, ladies :)
Toronto: (a family day out)
We had an absolutely wonderful time at the bowling alley. Disco lights, glowing pins, treats, computer scoring (wink to Annie's pumpkin!), and great friends -- you could hardly ask for a better combination for fun. New members came out to join us and had a good time. It was nice to see everyone together and to put some faces to those names! After the novelty of watching our children throw balls down the bumper sided alley wore off, we had some informative and supportive conversations. Look for the photos we took to be posted here (Tomer, had the more impressive camera and has agreed to supplement my own quick shots when he gets the chance.) And thank you, Tomer, for organizing a most wonderful event.
February 2002
Ottawa Get Together:
Meghan has told me (Sheri) that the get together was a success and that the conversations were lively and animated. I'll have to ask her for a more thorough summary just as soon as I can.
Toronto Get Together:
The February get together was a great success. For the most part the children disappeared as soon as we got to the indoor playground, leaving the adults to chat and search for their active children playing between swinging bats of foam and mazes of slides. Although the music (was it really music?) was at times, intense, we managed to sneak in a few words of conversation in between pulling determined youngsters out of the (for whatever reason) forbidden ball pit. Thanks for making the effort to come out, everyone! And the most incredible thing? -- We were blessed to see a new addition to our group -- Ceci's new baby boy!
September 2001
We had a great time enjoying Edwards Gardens. The children ran, explored, played and laughed while the parents (with eyes in the backs of our heads) watched from the sidelines. Our conversations did indeed last longer than two minutes! Almost the whole executive came out to enjoy the day, and new members were met. A very fond memory of late summer was made I'm sure by all. Everyone pitched in in more ways than one to help promote the web site. Thank you each and every one of you!
June 2001
Annie, Avril, Kay, Sheri and our families got together to go strawberry picking in the York Region. The children had a great time and wars were created in the line of 'Age of the Empires', wine on the 'rocks' was also enjoyed wholeheartedly, as were the fresh peas shared so generously by 'Peanut', Annie's dd. And yes, the strawberries were fantastic! To see some photos of our meeting, click here.