Thursday 5 July 2012

Canada Day Long Weekend.....

And a very long weekend it was!  Four days to be exact!  Grandpa and I left Saturday morning with Hailee, Hannah and Cade, to visit Uncle Warren and Aunt Cindi for a couple days.  They have a new boat and wanted us to spend some time enjoying the water.

About a third of the way into our 3 1/2 hour drive, we stopped at a Trading Post for breakfast. Well, actually it was lunch for the kids and breakfast for grandpa and I LOL!  It was way too warm to leave Sparkles in the car, so we grabbed a picnic table outside and moved it into some cool shade provided by the huge spruce trees outside the restaurant.

As we were all engrossed in our various meals, we heard that music. What music you may ask?  Well the music that lets everyone around know the Hungry Bear and Blueberry Hound were coming out for a visit. Yipeeeeeee!  The girls were quite excited and patiently waited for both the Bear and Hound to make their way over to our table.  Cade on the other hand was not impressed, and immediately grabbed my hand and tried to hide behind my leg...hehehe!  The only way to get a picture with Cade was to actually be in the picture myself LOL! Don't you just love my new Tilly hat?? A great way to keep the hot sun from my face and ears :) By the time our four days were over, I was quite happy to have that hat. The heat and humidity were horrible for our whole trip.

  
We can't forget Grandpa in a picture!
He even danced a bit with the hound and bear LOL!

We managed to stretch out breakfast into a good hour. All the kids ate very well and of course wanted "dessert". This trading post has the best ice cream...yum.  It didn't take much for them to convince grandpa to have ice cream LOL!  Mom is going to shoot us!!  After slurping up our ice cream and having a washroom break we loaded up the car once again and were on our way to Uncle Warren's place!

    

Cade certainly enjoyed his Spiderman ice cream!!


Just before arriving at Uncle Warren's, we called his cell phone to see where he and Aunt Cindi were. Where else would they be?  The boat of course.  He said he'd drive home to meet us there.  We unloaded the van as fast as we could, changed into our bathing suits, packed towels/sunscreen and away we went to the boat for the afternoon.

Surprisingly, we didn't even feel the heat or humidity once on the lake. It was actually beautiful! A perfect day for boating....and tubing of course :)  Not to mention feeding the ducks...and unfortunately, a few gulls as well LOL!

The girls didn't want to go on the tube by themselves, so Aunt Cindi (who LOVES water) said she would go with them. It took a bit of convincing to get Hannah on the tube as she wasn't too sure of it, but once Aunt Cindi got on it made Hannah feel a bit safer :)  They had a ball. Hannah kept giving the hand signal for Uncle Warren to go faster and faster....hehehe!

  Their smiles say it all!!

Cade was having none of it however. He wasn't even sure about being on the boat....hehehe! By the time we were ready to come in for the day though, he was telling Uncle Warren to go faster too!  We stopped a couple times and found a nice little area with a sandy beach where the kids could get out and play on the tube...and munch on some fresh fruit that Aunt Cindi had packed. She thought of everything!



Even Sparkles got into the spirit and had her life
jacket on. She became quite the little boater for the couple
days we were there....going for a swim, sunning herself.
It was all too funny LOL!




Canada Day Weekend....Day 2

Today was going to be another fun day. Once breakfast was done and the cooler packed with goodies for lunch, we loaded up into the van and drove the short 10 minutes to the marina once again.  The girls were excited to tube again and wanted to be prepared to show mom and dad how they did it when mom and dad came in after supper.

We anchored in that nice sandy area again for lunch and the kids were able to take off their lifejackets while playing in the water and on the tube.  The ducks came up to the boat for handouts for their lunch as well...hehehe! Good thing Uncle Warren and Aunt Cindi had packed a lot of bread!

By mid afternoon everyone was getting tired and we thought we should go back to the house for a nap. Everyone was going to be up late that night to watch the Canada Day fireworks on the lake.  We wanted to make sure we were all rested, especially so the kids would be in a good mood when mom and dad came in around 7:00. Hannah and Cade slept for an hour, but Miss Hailee refused to even close her eyes...hehehe!

Hang on to that trailmix Uncle Warren.
All 3 kids were trying to get to the M & M's LOL!
 

Snacking while waiting for the fireworks to begin!
  
  

To kill some time we all got in the boat and headed to an ice cream shop along the waterfront in Barrie, Ontario, then picked our spot to watch the fireworks.  What a great night it was, watching all those colors and hearing the crackling and popping of the fireworks.

By the time we made it back to the house it was after 11:00. The kids had gotten their pjs on before the fireworks started, so they were ready for bed after a quick face wash.  A good sleep was had by all LOL!

Canada Day Weekend.....Day 3

Our time with Uncle Warren and Aunt Cindi came to an end today.  We packed up and headed down to Toronto to check into our hotel.  We switched up our plans for today and instead of going to the Zoo, we decided to head to Canada's Wonderland instead. It's only 10 minutes from the hotel, and we wouldn't have to fight Long weekend traffic to get across the city to the zoo.

Wow....can we say hot and humid?  Oh my goodness, it was so hot today. By the time the kids hit the rides they wanted too and we headed to the splash pad, it was SO busy there was no room in the change rooms. It was shoulder to shoulder.

So even thought it was Hailee's birthday wish to enjoy the splash pad, we were able to convince her to go back to the pool at the hotel.  No one else was there so it was like having our own private pool. We had a ball, and the kids were much happier than being out in the heat :)
 
  
 
  
  
Cade was getting quite brave with jumping into the pool!
By the time we left the hotel he was even swimming
backwards on his back :)  
 
It's hard to believe that our oldest granddaughter Hailee will be 8 years old tomorrow. Where does the time fly?  In celebration of her special day we decided to go out for supper a day early....and will you just look at the dessert she had!!  Wow!  How can one little girl eat all that by herself you may ask? Let's just say she had a lot of help LOL!  

  An early happy 8th birthday Hailee!
 
Canada Day Weekend....Day 4

Oh my, our last day of our trip and today it is Zoo day...yeah!  We wanted to get to the zoo early to try and beat the heat. On this kind of day the animals don't even want to be outside and are sleeping the afternoon away.

Wow! It was hot and humid today. Grandma thought yesterday was bad, but today is even worse.  Between stops in the shade and having something cool like popsicles to cool off, we could hardly wait to get to the splash park at the zoo.  We found a nice shady spot and were wishing we had all brought our bathing suits. As it turned out, grandpa was the only adult among us who had his suit...so he had the pleasure of cooling off while running through the fountains, sprays, slides with the kids.  I'm not sure who had more fun, grandpa or the kids LOL!
 



Monkeying around at the zoo LOL!
 
  
The kids love the Rainforest Cafe, so when we left the zoo, that's where we went for an early supper.  If you thought Hailee's birthday dessert last night was big, take a look at this humongus dessert!  It was enough for the whole table to share LOL!  Hailee couldn't even finish her portion...hehehe.
 
She looks so grown up :)

As busy as our four days were, it seemed to go all too quickly, and before we knew it, we were home yesterday afternoon.  I have a feeling that next summer we'll be hitting more waterparks than theme parks or the zoo LOL!


Hailee's actual birthday party is on Sunday, and I'm planning a big cake in the Hawaiian theme that she requested. My mind in spinning with all sorts of ideas.  Pictures to follow in a few days :)

Grandma loves you
xoxoxoxo




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