Tales of a Yummy Mommy: Local Tourists

Our family took an early long weekend, and visited the Big City of Toronto! We had a wonderful time being local tourists, in a town not 45 minutes from home.

The trip highlights were:

Ripley's Aquarium:
Simply Amazing. If you haven't taken the kids yet - GO. If you don't have kids - GO. I found the visit through the aquarium relatively short; it took us 1.5 hours to get through with a 2 and almost 4 year old, but well worth the money. When we first entered the building, Ariel took one look over the railing and saw a monstrous slide. For the rest of the visit, she was focused on moving things ahead to get to said slide, so perhaps it may take you and your family longer if your child isn't as goal oriented as mine. We will go again.

The CN Tower:
Nothing beats the view on a clear day. We looked out from the top of the tower in amazement, and enjoyed the breathtaking heights. We got the full experience by laying down on the glass floor and taking a family selfie. Our elevator guide pointed out the sharks on the roof-top of Ripley's Aquarium, and we had a fun time spotting our hotel - the swanky Toronto Hilton - from above. The overall experience made quite an impression on Ariel. She later recounted the experience to Grandma and Grandad, "We were really high up in a tall building!"

Toronto Hilton's Indoor/Outdoor Pool:
I have to admit, I have never experienced an indoor/outdoor pool before, but I would like to again, and again. Yes, I am a bit of a fish, but there was something magnificent about emerging from under the water to suddenly find myself outdoors and staring up at the CN Tower in the sunny afternoon. The sounds from below fading out, as I tucked my head back under. The overall feel was somewhat that of being somewhere tropical, elsewhere...I quite enjoyed it:) With Ariel, I had set my hopes high that she would share my love of the water. She does not. She tolerates it. But, my little Elysie, she and I see eye to eye when it comes to swimming. She watched me duck under the water, and immediately plunged her face in, while pushing away from whoever is holding her with all her might. She may learn to swim before Ariel. I got my fish.

Arielisms:
There were some funny Arielisms that evolved over the course of our two-day trip. Dan and I could not stop snickering lovingly over the word "hello-tel room", aka 'hotel room', which we of course had to get to by taking the, "ele-gator". "Mom and dad, I want to go back to our hello-tel room now in the ele-gator please." Priceless.

Of course, the best highlight of all was spending time as a family. Dan has been travelling for work much these last few months (Berlin, Kelona, Toronto...), we finally managed to catch up with him.