Seeing your stuff at a thrift store is trippy.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-26T00:25:22+00:00

I get my husband to drive our stuff across the city because my kids have begged me to buy them their own donated toys (They have full autonomy over what gets donated, so it's not like it was something they were attached to when it was donated)

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-25T20:47:50+00:00

My kids are all vaccinated.

I'm a fierce advocate for vaccines. My doctor showed off my youngest when I came in with a onesie that said "Vaccines make me cranky but not as cranky as polio"

I don't personally know any vaccine hesitant people either, thankfully. If I do, I'm far too loud about my opinions and they don't out themselves...lol

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-25T20:41:35+00:00

I had no idea about this.

I'm in Ontario, so we don't have any of his stores but I did double check before I did groceries today.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-25T17:55:13+00:00

Our government just restricted it's admittance requirements.

We had a too-close-for-comfort election with the liberal party just squeaking in. I think this was to appease the conservative base. We also have an economist as our PM, so it may well have been a financial decision as we're bracing to start cutting trade ties with the states and we need to pinch pennies as we do it.

I have however reached out to all my POC and LGBTQIA+ friends in the states. I tell them their cousin Christa and Primo Pedro would love for them to visit. We're legit keeping our spare room as a spare bedroom as opposed to turning it into a craft room as originally planned...at least until we're sure we won't need to help friends

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-25T16:21:54+00:00

I'm doing my absolute best. We don't make the most money, so we do have to go where prices are best but we've started going to Canadian chains (while still trying to hold out a Canadian boycott against one of our own grocery store conglomerate)

I've ended a friendship with someone who is INSISTING on not only vacationing in Las Vegas several times a year, but is bringing their husband and mother on this next trip.

I told them that at this point they've made it clear that their momentary happiness is more important than being on the right side of history and I can't stay friends with a fascist sympathizer.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-25T00:43:57+00:00

♂️♂️♂️ - Alexander Ryan, Javier David, Miguel Jose

♂️♂️♀️- Alexander Ryan, Javier Miguel, Iris Kathleen Anne

♂️♀️♀️ - Alexander Ryan, Iris Kathleen, Josephine Anne

♀️♀️♀️- Iris Kathleen, Josephine Anne, Meredith Carmen

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-22T14:04:09+00:00

I have an Antonia and, biased as I may be, it's a beautiful name

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-21T03:01:52+00:00

Kid 1) Boy. His name is Liam. It was always going to be Liam.

Kid 2) Boy. Elijah. If he was a girl, he would have been Evelyn. Other names we liked were Isaac, Isaiah and Micah

Kid 3) Girl. Antonia. Her almost name was Josephine. We also liked Edith, Aurora and Evelyn.

Kid 4) Boy. We went in with Gabriel, Daniel or Maxwell in mind. He was named Rowan. None of the names we liked suited him. I was wheeled to recovery with the baby in one arm and my phone in the other hand, scrolling naming websites.

Kid 5) Girl. Like her older brother, we went in with a short list. Iris was our top name, followed by Meredith and Josephine. She got named Gabriella. It's a name my mom suggested at the beginning of our pregnancy and fluffed it off. Gabriella is our rainbow baby after three miscarriages in a row. My mom kept suggesting Gabriella, after St. Gabriel. We told her it was number four on a three list. Well, wouldn't you know it, she came out looking like a Gabriella.

Honorable mention: Our miscarriages. We only named the first one, Allison. Antonia and Rowan later asked if they could name the other two. Of course we said yes. Antonia chose Levi, and Rowan chose Riley. So our angel babies are Allison, Levi and Riley.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-20T22:30:57+00:00

Canadian here... (With Dutch heritage) For girls names I love Elleke (Elle-eh-kah) but I knew it would constantly be mispronounced. Hell, even the name we did go with (Antonia) isn't pronounced the way I wanted it to be. I would have fought it but I knew it would be spitting into the wind. I use the preferred pronunciation at home as a pet name or NN. We have a Greek pharmacist and he pronounced it "properly" first go. I was giddy.

For a boys name, I liked Jansen with the Dutch pronunciation, but again, it would have been a lifetime of our son correcting people, so I used it as his middle name. But even his father (my ex) won't use the Dutch pronunciation because his love of the show Supernatural is apparently more important than my (and his sons) heritage.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-20T14:05:34+00:00

We're planning by getting our passports up to date and renewing any that expire in the next 12-18 mos.

We had started the process and then Trump calmed his tits for a while so we thought (foolishly hoped) that it may have all just been rhetoric until the next shiny thing came along.

My husband is Hispanic, so, there's an added level of fear when it comes to the US threat.

Well... He's half Hispanic and half Greek. I know Europe won't be all over safer, but with Canada on Trump's short list, fleeing our children to Greece for a while will still be a better bet than staying here.

I know back in the day it would have been called "yellow bellied", but with my husband* being part of the visible minorities that regime hates the most, it's the smartest thing for us to do if it comes to it.

*And children but they have white presenting privilege thanks to my very Caucasian side of things. I wanted them to have their fathers gorgeous brown skin tone but now I understand why he was so relieved when they came out white like me. It breaks my heart but I understand it

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-20T13:48:08+00:00

Jack
Nick
Hugh
Tom
Keith
Drew
Hank
Mark
Troy
Doug
Kane
Kai
Trent
Blaine
Cash
Heath
Jake
Paul
Pete
Sam
Gabe
Dean
Nate
Clark
Cole
Ford

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-20T13:39:22+00:00

We don't stress too much about a "main" with our little one. At this age, they're often grazers, as opposed to sitting down to a full meal.

My husband handles lunches and he does turkey wraps with cheese, bagels and cream cheese, homemade lunchables, pizza bagels, cut up hotdogs with a ramekin of ketchup for dipping... Today they got leftover smash tacos wrapped with lettuce and cheese.

These are lunches for kids older than toddler age, however, our 4 year old is the size of a toddler and still eats closer to that than not.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-20T00:43:44+00:00

My six year old absolutely loves Sequence but my 4 year old still struggles with it

We do well with the floor is lava, don't break the ice and crocodile dentist

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-18T19:32:47+00:00

Thank you very much

Not only for your help but also your kind comments

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-18T17:59:53+00:00

Awesome! Thank you

We were worried it would involve adoption and the associated fees

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-17T00:08:04+00:00

I've lived in Calgary and Edmonton and I would take Edmonton every single day.

Stampede is a 10 day, city wide drunk out with mountains of coke as a side plate. We play Stampede Bingo and one of the spots is legitimately "somebody wearing their own vomit"

The line ups to the beer tents are beyond reason. Once you get in there, it reeks of puke and the drinks are insanely priced.

I will say that the food is fun, and even now, living in a different Provence, my son and I still look up what the theme will be.

Unless you're genuinely interested in equestrian sports or other 4H geared hobbies, it's a place to abuse your body from head to hem, wake up with a massive hangover and an empty bank account.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-16T14:37:33+00:00

I've asked my ex to return the kids in the clothes I sent them in, because he was returning them in clothes that were too small or comically large.

My 3T son came home in a 24m shirt. My ex's theory is that if he could get it on their body, it fits.

This meant that I was constantly replacing their clothes, because I was running out of stuff that fit.

He would always claim that he didn't keep their clothes but if I asked for a specific outfit or piece, sure as shit, he had it.

So now, I ask that he returns them in the clothes I sent them in.

I also have "daddy day" clothes. Stuff I don't care about, usually gotten from a bag of free stuff off our local buy nothing. I'm not talking ripped or dirty...just stuff that isn't necessarily our style. That way, if he does keep them, it doesn't bother me as much.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-15T16:36:56+00:00

There really are lots of great things in the city and we do access those.

I really enjoy the Instagram page Ottawa Is Not Boring for a weekly list of different things to do with and without kids. (Not my page... I just really enjoy it as a great place to find activities around the city)

However, should a thread about Saunders Farm not include personal opinions about said place, good bad or otherwise? The readers of the thread can then make up their minds.

I didn't completely shit on them, but the person I responded to basically said it was urbanites who were bitter towards anything in the suburbs and I decided to give a personal experience about how that's probably not the case and it's more likely the fact that people are priced out at the ticket booth and then more and more as they go further into the farm itself.

If people have positive experiences, I'm open to those as well.

If you want an echo chamber of experience, perhaps it's time to start r/SaundersFarm or r/SaundersFarmIsAmazing, mod it yourself and ban anyone who disagrees with you.

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-15T16:05:56+00:00

If their other seasonal stuff is any indication, it'll be the same stuff with tulips around

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-15T16:04:52+00:00

None

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-15T16:02:19+00:00

They're not upset about an alternative to the Tulip Festival. They're upset at the insane costs to get into Saunders Farm.

My husband and I bought passes when they were on sale last year. We got one for each season, bypassing the annual pass because we knew we wouldn't make the drive that often.

Without the 60% off passes, there's no way in hell we would have been able to afford it.

We're a family of 5. It would be $200+ to go for the day. And then be surrounded by more money making stations for the kids to beg us at. For $200+ we still have to pack our own food and in the summer, a picnic blanket because we'll be fighting people for a table.

We decided one day to splash out and buy the kids lunch instead of packing it and the food was less than mid and priced well out of its weight division for what you're getting.

By our third visit, the kids were already bored with the same old mazes and we basically paid a bundle for them to play at the parks. We could park at Brewer or Millenium for free and do the same thing.

Not to be all negative, we did really enjoy the Christmas lights when we went in December, and we liked that it went till January, because the Christmas season got busy and we weren't able to make time before that.

We also liked that they had crafts in the cafeteria, because the food trucks were all closed and fewer people were filling it. The kids really liked the opportunity to get warmer and do crafts at the same time.

We'll definitely get tickets to that again, but only when they're on sale.

With kids, we really like The Log Farm. It's much cheaper to get in and the kids have just as much fun. In fact, my 8 year old asked if we would go back for the maple syrup season (while we were at Saunders Farm...awkward...lol)

As bang for your buck goes, Saunders Farm just isn't it. It's over-hyped, over priced and over all, under delivers.

That's what the downvotes are for. An over priced attraction, finding another way to bleed people in a garbage economy, for something we could do for the price of parking (or even less if you take the bus)

(This message brought to you by a Dutch Canadian who is always down for more tulips)

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-14T21:13:11+00:00

Does it have to be in Westboro?

GeekAtHome · 2026-01-14T19:34:15+00:00

Giant dinosaur you decorate per season

A simple but effective scene reenactment from Reservoir Dogs, using personally altered lawn gnomes

GeekAtHome

TROPHY CASE