Ontario Science Center: August 2013

Our second day in Toronto was spent at the Ontario Science Center. The science center is a short drive from downtown Toronto, but is easy to find and has free parking. We went to the "KidSpark" area first, as it is designed for young children.

They had an impressive Rube-Goldberg type contraption that the kids could feed small balls into. Matthew could have spent the entire day here!

Nolan and Grandma L. went to the top of a cave and looked through binoculars to see what an owl would see.

Both kids liked pressing on the giant pin board to make impressions of their hands (and faces and bodies).

Matthew made a hot air balloon fly.

He also made a cloud.

Nolan spent a great deal of time building a house out of foam bricks. Matthew joined him a little later and they spent quite a bit of time at this exhibit. There were two little boys who sat in a corner and guarded bricks, preventing other children from playing. Their mother sat nearby and would not intervene to help the little jerks kids learn to share.

The kids learned about centrifugal force by riding on a spinning table.

They also learned about camouflage.

There was a children's store that both boys enjoyed, with a working cash register.

After lunch at the museum and the KidSpark area, we headed down to a different floor and saw the rainforest exhibit. The Science Center is built on a hill, and all levels descend from the main one. The "sixth floor" is at the bottom of the hill, and is the lowest level. It was a bit strange to go down the escalator to get to the sixth floor!

Matt enjoyed looking at the poison dart frogs and walking on the swinging bridge. This area was not very big, but the kids enjoyed it anyway.

On another floor, there were many exhibits about the forces of nature and physics. The tornado one was one of the coolest I have ever seen - the kids would run in circles to generate air currents, causing the mist to form into a vortex. The picture is a little blurry, but it was hard to capture the running kids in the dim light!

Matt also tried the steel drums in a (thankfully) sound-proofed room.

There was a space exhibit there, too. Both boys took a ride on a lunar rover (a hovercraft style vehicle). It moved very slowly and was very difficult to steer - they had fun, but Matt was a little frustrated by it!

Of course, we had to get the astronaut photo-op out of the way.

After a day at the museum, we headed out to dinner. We wanted to eat at Lai Wah Heen, a restaurant that had high reviews for its dim sum. It took us forever to find the restaurant - there was no signage on the street level! The sign for the restaurant is on the second floor of a hotel. We finally looked up and saw it, and went in for dinner. The dim sum was excellent!

The kids had chicken and noodles. Matthew declared the noodles to be the best he'd ever eaten.

The restaurant was pricey and a little fancy - fortunately the kids were very good and had excellent manners.

This was a nice way to spend our last night in Toronto! The following day we would head back to New York and home!

African Lion Safari

On a Friday morning in late August, we packed up the cars and drove up to Canada. Getting across the border was fairly easy, and we didn't have to wait very long. Nolan was shocked when he saw that Canada looked exactly the same as Western NY.

"I thought it was a desert!" he exclaimed.

Canada: Not a Desert.

We continued our drive, past Niagara Falls and on to the African Lion Safari park. The kids were quite excited to get there. This park is amazing! First we drove through the safari area.

The day was quite warm and I had read there was a children's splash area in the park. I had no idea how huge (and fantastic) it would be! The kids could have stayed in this one area all day long. They were in heaven!

We did pry them from the water park and went to see the bird of prey show. This was very interesting and the kids enjoyed it - the birds flew over our heads and they had some interesting specimens.

Grandpa paid for everyone to take an elephant ride next. The kids were so excited!

We let the kids run through a ball pit playground a few times before heading out of the park and toward Toronto.

We ate at a Jack Astor's on the way, then drove through the city and found our hotel. I had scored a great deal on the Hilton via Hotwire. We had a view of the CN tower from our room.

We settled the boys down to bed - the Ontario Science Center was in the plans for the next day!

Grandparents Visit: August 2013

Dennis parents came to visit in late August. The first day they were here, we let Nolan pick our lunch restaurant. He chose Hometown Grill, and wanted to sit by Grandpa. He imitated Grandpa's "Grumpy Grandpa" look. When Grandpa said that smoke would come out of his ears if he thought too hard, Nolan looked to see if smoke was actually coming out. He really loves his Grandpa.

We went up to Mayville, because I thought the boys could go for a swim in the lake. Unfortunately, the dock had already been taken out and the "no swimming" signs were posted. The boys decided to play on the playground.

 Grandpa helped Nolan swing across the monkey bars and had fun on the swings.

Grandpa chased Matt in a big game of tag. Matthew almost got away.

Nolan played tag, too. It was a fun afternoon on the lake.

Dennis had to work on this day, so he missed out on the fun. When he came home from work, we had dinner and packed up the cars... the next day, we were heading to Toronto!

Waldameer!

I was very excited when a friend called and asked if we wanted to go to Waldameer in mid August. Dennis had just returned from a business trip to England, and had a golf tournament for the day. I took Matthew to his piano lesson, then we loaded up the car and headed for Erie, Pennsylvania!

We rode the little roller coasters, the Ferris wheel, the swings, and every other ride in the park. The kids had an absolute blast.

Matt loves the paratrooper ride. Nolan thought it was going to be a "baby" ride and didn't want to get on it, but then was upset when he realized it was a "fast" ride and he missed it!

The carousel is a classic. We had to ride it!

The boys loved the spider ride, and went on this several times in a row. Despite the crowds, they felt it was worth the wait!

We met up with our friends in the evening. The kids loved exploring the park with their friends!

The Frog Hopper ride was great - even the little guys could ride. Also? I'm sort of sad that my guys aren't the "little guys" anymore.

The Wipeout. As far as my boys are concerned, the faster, the better!

The kids wanted to go on the Log Ride at night. I didn't want to get soaked before our drive home. Fortunately, Matthew was tall enough to go without an adult - he went with his friends.

And one of our adult friends graciously volunteered to take Nolan for a ride. I am beyond grateful!

I spent some money on a "Wally Card" and let the boys play some of the midway games. I normally don't do this, but I wanted them to realize how much money could be spent for no prizes.. a learning lesson for them. They did get a teddy bear from one of the games where there was always a winner - they took turns "winning" so that they could each get a bear.

We didn't leave the park until it was nearly 10:00 pm! It was a very fun day. On the way home, we saw a fireworks display from the freeway. The boys were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was the perfect summer day!