Canada 2012

AKA Mason’s first international trip

I started writing about our trip but it turned out to be a book, so here’s a bulleted list.

• Nathan lost his passport. I went to Toronto on my own on Thursday.
• Nathan’s parents miraculously sent his birth certificate by 7am on Friday. *whew, and thanks Woods’!*
• I left the hotel, got 20 minutes down the road and realized I forgot my passport in the hotel. Took an hour to get back to the hotel. *sigh*
• I picked up the boys in Niagara Falls, NY, then brought them both up to Toronto. Finally our family vacation started! A few incidents:
• I almost forgot the diapers and formula at KMart, after paying for them.
• I DID forget the bag of goodies from the drug mart in Toronto. Luckily when we went back a half hour later they had set our bag aside for us.
• Saturday: We all went to the zoo. Unfortunately half of the subway system was shut down that weekend, so we had to take a shuttle to the subway, then a bus to the zoo. It took 2 hours. Mason fell asleep during the last half of the zoo trip. We also tried out the hotel pool, where Mason cried at first (Nathan is a fan of the “jump in to get acclimated to the cold” while Mason and I like to slowly get in so we don’t freeze!) He had so much fun playing in the water.
• Sunday: We visited Casa Loma, a mansion/castle, where Mason slept again. We also went to the CN tower, then headed to Niagara Falls, but not after a few traffic “incidents…
• A lady tried turning out in front of us while we had a green light. She laid on her horn and gave us a mean face. So I laid on the horn and gave HER a mean face. While I went around her.
• A guy skidded against the back bumper of our car and was about 3 inches from my door, in the middle of the road. So after a bit of hollering we checked everything out and everything was fine. How do you deal with a traffic accident in another country, anyway?
• Some dude hopped on our car and washed our windshield for us as we were leaving the city. I was waving my arms and shouting “get off my car!” while Nathan laughed. He paid the guy $2.
• Monday: We walked down to Niagara Falls (our hotel was a few blocks away!) and rode the “Maid of the Mist” boat with Mason. He ended up soaked. At least the pictures are cute. We also walked around the falls, though Mason won’t remember that since he was passed out.
• Once we left Canada we went to Erie, PA to find a beach. Who knew it was so hard? After we found one, we went into the water with Mason, and it took him a while to be okay with the water, but once he was I’m sure he would have played all day long!
• We headed home and got here around 8:30pm. All in all it was a good trip, but it sure does feel good to be home.

Okay, here are some pictures:

“Yay! No more cars!”

Looking out the hotel window.

Mason’s first brewery experience. He cried because it was so loud. Then he was happy because he got to eat french fries.

And have a beer. Just kidding. This is just funny placement : )

Mason’s face here makes us both laugh.

BOTH of their first subway rides!

At the Toronto zoo.

Mason got a little rowdy at the Mexican restaurant… good thing we were outside!

At the CN Tower

Why yes, that IS the city beneath him! Glass floor, anyone?

Niagara Falls

Poor blue kid.

“Hello, my name is Mason. I sleep at really exciting places.”

Back in the USA… at a Bob Evans. : ) Hey, we were hungry.

Favorite. face. ever.

At Lake Erie, easing him into the water.

He’s holding on for dear life!

When we got home from work today I plopped him down in the kitchen to play while I started dinner… he found his way over to the dog water and played in it. No big deal, he’s getting a bath tonight anyway… until I found the 5 chunks of kibble in his mouth. Oh, and there’s one in his hand too! Ew!

That’s all of my pictures from our trip! My favorite might be the kibble-eating one….