Ontario Trip

Here's a few pics from our trip to Ontario. When we first arrived in Toronto, Christian wasn't there yet, so the kids and I went for a walk downtown. They were fascinated with all the crowds and signs, and escalators. Yes, escalators are a big deal to my children, and malls! They're so funny when we go to any city; they beg me to ride escalators and elevators in malls. We're definitely small town, island folk!Christian was still working for our first couple of days there and had to do a concert in Beleville, Ontario, so we decided to follow the band there on the Via Rail. We've never been on a train before either so Isaiah, Brennan, and Abby were so excited. It was a relaxing trip and fun.
Once we got there, I had big plans to take them hiking in a bird sanctuary I'd read about online. We took the bus there which took longer than planned as we missed the stop the first time and had to ride the bus through town on another 40 minute loop around. By the time we made it, we were hot, humid, and slightly grumpy. We had some water and started on our hike. Within the first minute, my little stones were complaining about the mosquitoes. I told them to toughen up and keep hiking. The bugs were BAD!! We were getting bitten any time we stopped walking for a few seconds. But I'm stubborn and told them we were hiking, gosh darnit, cause we'd worked so hard to get there. They carried on reluctantly... About 15 min. later, I said, "This is nuts, do you guys want to turn back?" They all cheered and I think we ran back! Not sure if I'd follow Christian to gigs in the future with the kids. We felt in the way at the theatre, but it was cool to watch Christian doing the sound checks with the band.The next two days, Christian took off working and we drove to Niagra Falls. That was very fun and gorgeous. We were all so happy to have some time with Dad!This pic just makes me laugh! We'd just visited the candy store and were all wound up on sugar. The people sitting in front of us on the incline railway kept looking back at us like we were nuts. We were!We got one more family day together and spent it at Canada's Wonderland! We all went on one small fast ride together, which Abby did not like. We wanted to do one more together and knew Abby would not agree, so Christian told her we were going on the "Purple Nurple Kid's Ride". The name of the roller coaster was actually the "Wild Beast"! Yes, Abby will need therapy when she's older!! She made it through that ride and then was DONE with roller coasters, so her and I went to the kiddies section and did ssslloooooowww rides, while Christian and the boys tackled the coasters. It was so much fun watching them get off rides together and high fiving and then rating the rides on the map. I loved seeing Dad and his boys have so much fun together!
The next day, Christian had to fly to England, so we said our goodbyes and then I took the kids to the Hockey Hall of Fame. They were fascinated with all the history and interactive games. We could have spent all day there but had to be on our way to Windsor. One of the highlights was getting to touch the Stanely Cup three days before it went to Chicago where it was won by the Blackhawks!We had an amazing time in Windsor, but wished Christian had been with us. It was so great to connect with our friends there and sad to leave.