Weekend in Toronto

A few weekends back we made a quick trip up to Toronto to visit Amelia while she was out east for a work conference. We couldn't pass up the chance to see her when she was only 5 hours away! Plus, we had talked about going on a little family weekend trip after Darin's comps were done and never actually planned anything, so this was the perfect little getaway weekend for us as well.

The drive was gorgeous, driving right along Lake Ontario on our way to Fort Niagra. 

We stopped at Fort Niagra State Park to have lunch and explore a little. We took a little walk by the water which was SO pretty. We thought there would be a beach or pool, but there was not, so we just let the kids play on the playground for awhile and ate lunch. We wanted to go see the actual fort that was there as well but it was a little pricey, knowing that we wouldn't be staying long due to the littles and the fact that we still had a few hours drive to get to Toronto. So we just explored the outside area.

 This lighthouse was really cool. The door was such a pretty background color for some pics of the kids.

We got to Toronto around dinner time. We met up with Amelia and then found this yummy food market.

We went with the Walburg burger from one vendor and some Caribbean food from another.

We took our food to this beautiful little square where we ate.

And stuck our feet in the water to cool off a bit. Belén, of course, got more than her feet wet, because why not? :).

We told her she couldn't walk around in it, so she just stood in the water and dipped her bum in every so often.

Playing in the O.

After we ate we went back to Amelia's hotel room and hung out for a bit. Shae taught her to play Sleeping Queens and then we were on our way to our hotel which was about 25 minutes outside the city (we stayed somewhere a bit cheaper than the downtown hotel prices :). Belén was out so quick. Long day for this one. I love how she fell asleep reading a book. (This drive took us way longer than anticipated since we forgot that we had turned off highways on our GPS earlier and it took us 45 minutes through the city--in pouring rain!-- to get to our hotel. We made sure to not make that same mistake the next day).

I had to stay up a little later to get some editing done while these sweet boys slept between me (Belén was on the other side Darin in the pack n' play). We chose a King size bed so that there would be room for a kid if needed, since it was only $5 more. But of course we turn in to selfish parents when we realize how glorious a king size bed is all to ourselves and know that Shae won't know the difference between the bed and the floor. Best Parent of the Year Award goes to....

Canada netflix streams Paw Patrol! So jealous. So of course we let the kids watch some while we were getting read Saturday morning, and we made sure to download as many as we could before leaving. Sadly they only lasted six days before expiring. 

While Amelia was at her conference on Saturday we went and checked out the Toronto Science Center (another one we get in to for free with our Ithaca passes! Woo!) This place was GINORMOUS! Seriously, it was like an airport, with huge signs directing you everywhere and escalators throughout that would take you to one of the six levels in the museum. It was SO BIG. And really cool. We hung out on the 4th floor for most of our time there since it was geared towards younger kids. Here's a few pics from the visit.

 Haha! Love Darin's face in this one. Belén wanted him to drive with her so badly.

 She LOVED this little grocery store area. It was just the best to watch her play in here.

After the Science Center, we quickly stopped at a grocery store to stock up on some Wonder Bars (the real reason we come to Canada :). We then made our way back to Amelia's hotel for some more hang out time--in the pool! Hence, why Shae is walking around the city with his pool noodle.

We tried to find the same Greek place that we went to last summer but couldn't find it. We found a different place (Mykonos) that was just as good. Toronto sure knows how to do Greek food.

Although we only got to see Amelia for a few short hours on this trip, it was so worth it! We love seeing her whenever and wherever we can. I love how excited the kids get to see her (and her to see them!) Family time is the best.

We also just really love Toronto. It is such a pretty city. We are so glad that Amelia introduced us last year!

Sunday morning we headed home. We stopped at church in Burlington, ON and then stopped again at Hamlin State Park for a little beach fun to break up the trip a little. 

The water was FREEZING. Literally, ICE cold. We could only stand it for about 15 seconds before our feet started tingling.

Might not have been the most exciting Father's Day for Darin since we spent half of it in the car, but we were both so glad that we got to spend so much time together as a family making memories.