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Brand New Post-Vacation Blog! With Pictures!!!

So the wife and I are back to the old day-to-day routine after an excellent adventure to Toronto for our delayed Honeymoon. We had such a good time it was ridiculous. And we and finally, finally got to meet Martini in person after 5+ years of jokes and general tomfoolery here on SG.

Before we left for Canada a big group of our friends and my wife and I were able to visit my friends wolf sanctuary in Ipswich, Mass. They brought 5 new puppies into the sanctuary recently and it was the first day that they were out for visitors to see. And now, quake before the almight cuteness that is a wolf puppy howling!


Our first full day in Toronto brought JennyLou and I to the zoo. It was awesome and took us over 5 hours to see it all (well, almost all; we skipped a few animals we had seen many times before so that we could get out by closing time).

It was an incredibly beautiful day out, so it was nice to find a bench to sit and lounge with some company nearby:


I'm not sure what species these guys were exactly, but I'd file it under "Animals with really cute and photogenic youngsters":


I am a fan of animals that are prehistoric throwbacks, which is why the snapping turtle was a favorite zoo critter of mine:


And while this little guy was not a zoo animal, I did see him there. I admit I am oddly fascinated by the black squirrels they have that we don't here in Mass:


Right after getting back from the zoo we headed into the city for drinks and snacks with Martini and her sister. It's always cool to meet siblings whose personalities and humor compliment one another. They were pretty awesome company to have when we finally got to eating some poutine:


The next day we joined Martini and company for Ribfest! Which was a grand excuse to be outside all day surrounded by good food and good friends:


I am a lover of all things root beer related, so you can see my satisfaction at finding a cart that sold some amazing root beer (with sugar content that left me jittery for 2 hours):


Here is a somewhat fuzzy pic of JennyLou and Martini at ribfest (this was before the majority of the crowd showed up):


The next day Jenny and I loafed around the hotel until it was time to head into the city for the SG Canada East Gala. We met so many cool people and had a lot of fun talking to them all night. A note for those who go to SG functions; if you get a chance to meet and have a conversation with Suri, do it, she is perhaps the nicest person we have ever met. Seriously.

Here is a pic of Martini, JennyLou and Martini's sister.


And this one is of all 4 of us (the theme was classic Canadiana, which is why I am wearing flannel when everyone else is dressed up):


I learned 2 things when we were in Toronto:
1) It is really, really hard to take a good picture of a playful otter.
2) That city and the SG people we met there are great, and we will absolutely be returning as soon as we can.

That's about it for now, I hope everyone is doing well and having a good summer.

Bonus Picture!
Martini ready to throw down, with myself in the background being generally amused.


Edited to Add:


Fuck Yes!!!!!!!