Before I get in to the vacation details, I'm so excited to share this recipe for Smudgies! I'm motivated to finally lose this baby weight, so I'm on a quest for snacks and desserts that are diet-friendly. This is a genius idea! Every recipe for frozen treats always has bananas in them and I despise bananas.
It's pretty simple:
1 chocolate graham cracker broken in two
1 heaping tablespoon of low-fat Cool Whip
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
You figure the graham cracker is 65 calories, the Cool Whip is roughly 15 calories, and the peanut butter is about 20 calories so in total you've got a 100 calorie frozen snack that has peanut butter and chocolate. I'm in! Yum!
I wrapped them in wax paper and put them in a freezer gallon bag. Can't wait to try these now that we're back home!
So, now on to the fun details! Our Toronto and Niagara Falls vacation! We drove to Troy Thursday night to spend the night at my parents. We needed to pack up the rental mini-van and drop the dog off at Play and Stay. Sean loved the mini-van! It's definitely tempting to get one of these even though I vowed I'd never drive one. A DVD player, third row of seats, stow and go storage bins, GPS, etc. I don't know what's not to love about it.
We woke up Friday morning to the sound of Sean crying because he had thrown up in his bed. Great start to our trip! We hit the road hoping for the best. Surprisingly enough, he had no fever and was in a decent mood. Maybe it was a random one-time thing? Nope. We stopped for lunch at what would have been Sean's first fast food lunch and he managed to spew all over the floor at McDonald's without even taking a bite of food. At least he loved the car he got as part of his not-so-happy meal.
He napped in the car until we made it to the African Lion Safari in Hamilton. We opted to stay in our van and take the risk of animals scratching or damaging it. Hey, it's part of the experience, right?
The first part of it seemed like a bust since the lions were sleeping and the cheetahs were in the shade too far away for a good view. But, once we hit the baboons, things got real interesting!
It was so cool to be that close to these animals!
Sean seemed on the mend so after the car tour we got out and headed to the water park! It was really hot and had been a long day in the car so it felt great to cool off and let the kids unwind before heading to Toronto.
We got everyone back in the car and hit the road once again only to hear Sean whining that his tummy hurt. We pulled over to the side of the road, but he didn't do anything. So, we got him back in the car to have him throw up ALL over the car 10 minutes later. Good thing we had towels packed from the water park. But, that made for an interesting ride to Toronto with a stinky car. When we arrived, we unloaded at the hotel and my parents ran out to grab some Swiss Chalet (a chicken restaurant) and some beer. I think we all needed a beer after that day.
Saturday morning we woke up and headed into downtown to go to the CN Tower. It was a cloudy morning with a forecast of rain so the line wasn't long at all to head up. Even though it was cloudy, we still had great views!
Both kids went on the glass deck! Way scary!
We had tickets to the afternoon Blue Jays game, which was right next to the CN Tower. So, we headed to the ballpark to have lunch before the game started. Luckily, this ballpark is in a dome since it was raining. They closed the dome and we were good to go for the game. It was a little strange being at a baseball game inside, but it sure was nice not worrying about getting wet or sunburned.
The kids were getting restless by the 8th inning so we walked a mile or so to the Olde Spaghetti Factory for dinner. All the meals came with an ice cream dessert that was seriously the best ice cream I've ever had. All I'm going to say is thank God for iPads. I don't know how we'd survive half of the things we tried to do on this trip without the iPad to help bring Sean back down from the ledge.
We started the voyage back to the hotel where we had enough time leftover to take Sean to the pool while Evan took his bath and went to bed.
Sunday morning we decided to go to the Toronto Zoo! It was a gorgeous day! But, very hot. 95 degrees. The zoo is huge and divided into a few sections based on the types of animals. The first thing we had to do was the carousel and a camel ride. But, we kicked it in high gear to get to the Panda exhibit where we still waited in a 30 minute line to see the Pandas. Oh well, it was something we couldn't see at home.
Other mention-able animals included a dragon, jellyfish, watching the penguins get fed lunch, and the tiger. We reached our "heat threshold" mid-afternoon and decided to take the kids to the splash pad inside of the zoo. Even though we didn't bring bathing suits and towels, we let them go in their clothes. It was way too hot to worry about getting their clothes wet.
We weren't the only crazy ones going in fully clothed.
We rode back to the hotel where both kids crashed in the car. We decided to quickly change and go out to eat at a restaurant called the Union Station Eatery. Sean had an epic meltdown from the time we left the hotel until we could get the wi-fi going on the iPad at the restaurant. The boy was worn out. Too many activities + not a lot of sleep = crabby toddler. The food was delicious though!
Monday we drove to Canada's Wonderland just outside of Toronto. It was only 20 minutes from the hotel. We got there right when the park opened and Scott and I booked it to the biggest ride at the park so we wouldn't have to wait in line very long. Cedar point's lines for big rides are ALWAYS 90 minutes or more no matter how early you get there. The line for this ride was 20 minutes. Awesome! We met up with my parents at Kidzville where Sean was in and out of tantrums. After another epic meltdown in a line for a kid roller coaster, he passed out in the stroller and napped for an hour.
He woke up, ate some lunch, and was ready to try some rides. The bumper cars were his favorite, even though he got stuck in a corner and cried until it was over. It's crazy that they don't let adults ride with them. He had no idea what to do!
I was amazed that Evan could go on "rides" too!
Another scorching afternoon in the heat made us move over to the water park section of the park. The water park was HUGE! We could have spent the whole day over there. Sean wanted to be in the pool the whole time instead of the splash pad or the water slides, which was surprising. Scott and I had an hour to go down a few adult water slides and we all took a ride down the lazy river before leaving.
We got a Subway carryout to have for dinner on our way back to the hotel and let the kids play in the hotel room until bedtime.
Tuesday, we woke up, packed the car and headed for Niagara Falls. It was a cloudy morning with a threat of rain, but I still wanted to see Niagara Falls since we were that close. It's about an hour from Toronto. Once we got there Sean had about an hour threshold for being there until the tantrums started again. We walked around a bit looking for a lunch spot, but decided just to get back in the car and head home. I think we were all tired of his antics.
Evan managed to get the stomach virus just as we were driving back home. Lucky us. Another stinky, long ride home with many stops for outfit changes, bathroom breaks, and lunch. Poor baby. He was such a good baby the whole time.
It's taken us all of Wednesday and Thursday to kick the virus. It came back to haunt Sean on Wednesday afternoon and mildly affected Scott yesterday. But, we're unpacked, the laundry is done, we grocery shopped, the kids are at school today seeing their friends, and I'm finally able to take a moment and just breathe. It was a fun, memorable trip, but an exhausting one! I think the next vacation will be Scott and I on a beach with tropical drinks. :)
