After a great sleep and hearty "Trois Rivieres" breakfast we checked out and departed for the substantial journey for big "TO", the centre of the universe. Jane had the gang armed with snacks, batteries for the games and some DVD's to help keep everyone occupied. The seven hours went by quickly, after a quick bit of excitement in Montreal traffic, and we soon found ourselves in the heart of 401 traffic sorting out collector lanes from our helpful google instructions. Jane's a good co-pilot, and we had fun keeping each other in the correct lanes and exits.

Day two was originally designed solely as a travel day, but we decided (on Jane's suggestion) that after check in we would take a crack at visiting the Canadian Idol theatre and crashing the rush line for tickets. We drove into the heart of the city and parked on Front Street to give it a try and...

Canadian Idol - Jane lined up at about 4:30 pm and I trekked back and forth on Front St. switching kids for walks. Peter and I circled Rogers Centre while later Monica and I found an ATM and some snacks from the vending wagon. Periodically show employees came out and kept the crowd occupied with show clips, music and fans on the microphone. However, by about 6:30 we were starting to lose courage on the whole affair.

That's when our luck changed. A camera crew set up in front of the line and a reporter started working the crowd for what must have been a promo snippet. She went live on air and while moving by the kids stopped beside Peter. After some gentle taunting between contestants she swung around and placed the ticket in his hand. He was a pretty excited lad. With that having happened, the show employee came shortly thereafter and sent us through the doors to the ushers, asking them to find a spot for all four of us. In we go, hustled to balcony seats and a great vantage point for the show.

As for the show, it was Beatles night and the performances were very well done. We all experienced the broadcast instructions, cameras and commercial breaks... the making of TV on set. What was even cooler, in my opinion, was the opportunity to see it live and compare that to the show on TV an hour later. Pretty educational for us all... and no, TV is not real.

After a duck in the pool and a snack we hunkered down to get rejuvenated for a busy Tuesday, scheduled to be a "blowout" at Canada's Wonderland.