Ontario take two

We planned to visit Ontario for the first time in September 2017 in conjunction with visiting Niagara Falls. After I accepted a job offer to return to BU that month, we cancelled those plans. We visited Niagra Falls and spent a day in Ontario in August 2018. In May 2020 we planned to spend more time in Ontario and visit Quebec for the first time in conjunction with a trip to New England, but that trip was cancelled. The New England portion of that trip ended up happening in 2022, but the COVID restrictions involved with crossing the border at that time meant we didn't visit Canada on that trip. We still haven't been to Quebec, but we spent two more days in Toronto this past Sunday and Monday.

The Bible quizzing competition wrapped up late on Saturday afternoon, and then we headed to the dining hall for dinner at 5:00 followed by the award ceremony and then some team photos. We were trying to leave as quickly as possible as we had a three-hour drive to Toronto. We spent two nights at a Staybridge Suites, which was very nice. There was a door separating where the kitchen and couch were, which meant that Nadia had more privacy as the couch is always her bed. After eating breakfast at the hotel, we drove into downtown Toronto. Our first two stops were the Ripley's Aquarium and the CN Tower. The Aquarium was nicer than some (ex. the Virginia Aquarium) but certainly not in the top tier. We'd rate our top four as the ones in Baltimore, Chicago, Camden, and Atlanta. Some highlights included a giant octopus, two cuttlefish (one of Ian's favorite animals), and watching a diver feed some large sting rays. Although the CN tower is three times higher than the Space Needle, which we visited last September in Seattle, I would say the overall experience is much better at the Space Needle. One pays quite a bit of money to basically just ride an elevator at the CN Tower. Our third stop of the day was at Fort York which is also in downtown Toronto. It was attacked by Americans in the War of 1812. It was free to visit this site, and we had a guided tour. 

Our cell phone plan doesn't include Canada, and so we had turned our phones on airplane mode as we neared the border on Saturday night. We had free Wi-Fi at the hotel which made it possible for us to use my phone to give us directions to the Aquarium/CN Tower. There wasn't any Wi-Fi at Fort York, which meant we had no way to use the phone to give us directions to the Toronto Zoo, but we managed to get there. We received a 50% off discount with our AZA membership. I was most looking forward to walking through the kangaroo enclosure, but sadly that ended at 3:00. Had we known we could have gone directly to that exhibit, but we didn't, and it was closed when we arrived there. We spent over three hours at the zoo. Similar to the aquarium I would say it was nicer than some zoos (ex. the tiny one in Delaware) but also certainly not one of our most favorites. It was a large zoo in terms of how much walking was involved. One of my favorite sights in that zoo was of a baby rhinoceros. 

We planned to have dinner at a Cheesecake Factory. There aren't any Olive Garden's in Toronto, or I would have chosen that since it's Nadia's favorite and it was the day before her birthday. Cheesecake Factory is one of her most favorite places, and I got a $100 gift card from credit card points. This was a mistake because I was forgetting that we couldn't use a US gift card in Canada. We plan to make other trips to Canada in the future as I'd like the kids (or at least the boys) to visit all the provinces of Canada, so hopefully I'll remember this lesson learned in the future! When we arrived, the wait for a table was 90 minutes long, and it was already after 6pm. It was located in a large shopping mall. We were in sticker shock when we looked at a menu of another sit-down restaurant in the mall, so we opted to eat in the food court. One upside is the exchange rate was in our favor, but a downside was the additional 13% tax added to everything. Ian, Oliver, and I loved what we chose to get in the food court. Ian has been wanting to try a chili dog, and his wish came true. Oliver always wants to try new foods, and he had dim sum, and I got a burrito from Chipotle. We did splurge (and I do mean splurge!) and got two slices of cheesecake to go on our way out, which was when we learned they don't take US gift cards. I think it was a blessing in disguise that the wait was so long. I think the prices were likely much higher than at the same restaurant in the US, and we couldn't use our gift card. Nadia got her own piece of cheesecake, and the boys shared s slice. Paul got a soda at a gas station as his "dessert," and I didn't get anything. 

On Monday morning we checked out of our hotel after eating another nice breakfast and used the free Wi-Fi to give us directions to Canada's Wonderland. We had purchased the dining plan that included snacks and drinks in addition to meals. It was a bit of a letdown as there were very few options for "snacks," but none of us went thirsty or hungry. There are 18 rollercoasters, but the kids were only able to ride seven of them. We arrived when the park opened and went right to a roller coaster, but even that first line was much longer than we expected. Paul didn't ride any rides, and I only rode one. In hindsight, we probably should have splurged and got the kids fast passes. We did buy them each a fast pass to ride one ride one time as we wanted them to at least be able to ride the three best rollercoasters one time. They did really enjoy those three roller coasters, but this was our worst experience in quite a while in terms of time spent waiting in lines. The park was open until for twelve hours that day, but we left 3.5 hours before it closed because we had to drive a little over 5 hours to get home. So far, the only time we ever bought the kids a fast pass was at Carowinds, and back then we only bought two because Oliver wasn't riding the big rollercoasters at that point. We don't plan to visit any more amusement parks this year, but we'll try to keep this in mind if we encounter really long lines at Six Flags in Texas in 2025 or at King's Island in 2026. The kids have now been to 37 different zoos/aquariums and 30 different amusement parks. 

It was hard to get up early on Tuesday morning as we didn't get home until midnight on Monday night, but the kids and I helped out at our church's VBS this week from Tuesday through Friday, and the teen helpers are supposed to arrive at 8:00 for a devotional with the youth pastor. Nadia helped with the fourth-grade girls, I was one of the leaders of the first-grade girls, Oliver helped with the four-year-old boys, and Ian helped with the third-grade boys. They provide a lunch for the volunteers, so we were there from 8:00-1:00 the last four days. On Tuesday Nadia also had a physical, and I mowed the lawn as we had been gone for five days. On Wednesday we picked some blueberries, and Ian had a piano lesson. On Thursday I took Nadia to get her learner's permit, bought Ian some sandals, got some groceries, and let Nadia get behind the wheel (in a parking lot) for the first time. Today I drove Nadia to the Wilkes Barre airport so she could fly to Chicago to spend five days with Rachel, Grace, and Wendy. Paul and Oliver left for a one-night camping excursion this afternoon. They'll get back around lunch time tomorrow. Right now, Ian and I are holding down the fort along with Milo and Lily. I'm thankful I don't need to go anywhere tomorrow, and the only place I'm going on Sunday is church because Paul is driving Oliver, Ian, and Xandir to overnight camp on Sunday afternoon. Aside from church on Sunday, I think I'll stay home sweet home until July 4 when I promised I'd give Nadia some more experience driving in a parking lot.