After Toronto we made a quick one night stop in Ottawa to catch up with my uncle, cousins and second cousins. Despite multiple attempts we couldn’t get a nice photo of all the kids (mainly because mine can’t/won’t sit still).
The following morning we went to the Science and Tech museum to burn the kids out before the quick drive up to Montreal. We bought memberships to the Montreal Science Centre which gives us reciprocal entry to lots of museums. Even though we hadn’t picked up our cards yet I was able to show them the online receipt and we were waved in!
The museum had lots of interactive exhibitions covering transport, mining and even medicine. Moose wasn’t nearly excited enough to see a stethoscope that belonged to William Osler. He did however like smashing a hockey helmet with a hammer.
We had a quick drive to Montreal until we hit the construction. I didn’t trust Google maps and followed the sign posts and ran right into the worst congestion ever!
We spent 2 nights in Toronto to catch up with friends and be tourists.
We managed the CN tower and Ripley’s aquarium in a day. We pre bought tickets to both places online the day before, both kids were free. We arrived at the CN tower at 11am and managed to walk straight onto the elevators without any waiting! The views from the CN Tower are absolutely amazing. I hadn’t realised how big Toronto is, from that height it feels much bigger than Sydney. There was a bar with a special CN Tower lager that I just had to drink! We went to the glass floor level and struggled to persuade Moose to walk on it. Another poor kid was dragged kicking and screaming so the parents could get the iconic shot.
After we went to the aquarium which may end up being a highlight of the trip. It’s got a great collection of animals but what stands it apart is the the layout and design of exhibits. Each seemed to have their own music. The underwater tunnel had a travelator so you could easily move through without bumping into people.
After the kids had a quick nap so we stopped at the Steam Whistle brewery for a beer and pretzel. Much deserved after all that walking!
That night we got a baby sitter from an online agency and went out with friends for dinner and drinks. Toronto has no shortage of unique small bars. Interestingly the ones we went to offered little snacks as well. We had spicy ribs, duck hearts and sweet potato pie.
Our Air BnB was well located, at a good price but damn small and not Ollie proof. Any time we wanted to clean or pack one of us would have to take him out for a walk. Not bringing a portacrib is proving to be short sighted!
We met Cara, my old nanny, for a play date on the way out to Ottawa. Turns out the drive was quite a bit further than I had realised. It took us close to 5 hours with 2 pit stops. For now that seems about the limit the kids can put up with. If all goes to plan that will be the longest drive though. We bought some towels to put under Ollie’s seat to change the angle. He’s in a bucket seat in the van and he’s rear facing so he flopped forward when he slept.
What a sight! It’s everyone’s first time here and it’s more stunning than people make it out to be.
We started on the American side given we were driving from Buffalo. We stopped at the state park, went up the observation deck and went on the Maid of Mist. We donned our cool blue ponchos (they’re red if you take the Hornblower from the Canadian side) and rode right past all 3 falls. The boat should be renamed the Maid of the Downpour. Thank goodness for the ponchos or we would have been soaked! Honestly though, it was a great experience and for $40 USD it was well worth it.
It was a beautiful day so we dried off quickly, had a snack and made our way across the boarder to Niagara Ontario. The boys slept so we drove around for an hour soaking up the sights. We checked into our hotel then explored around the area as much as Moose’s legs would let us. I think we’re going to buy a cheap foldable pram for him! We finished up by putting the boys in the pool before dinner with hopes of getting a solid nights sleep!
We stayed at the Four Points with a falls view room that didn’t disappoint! A big step up from the airport motel in Buffalo and probably the nicest accommodation we’ll have until Disney.
A note on Niagara Falls, it’s bloody expensive! Saying that, I wish we had a few more days there.
The next day we woke up early and headed for the Sky View ferris wheel for a lofty view of the falls. On our way Hanika took Moose to the toilet. While they were gone I heard the unmistakable sound of car vs pedestrian followed by screaming. I ran up the street to find a lot of people walking AWAY! I handed Ollie in his pram to some responsible looking people (what gives me any special ability to be a parent?) and ran to render assistance. It was a poor Australian couple who were hit crossing the road. A bit of blood and tears but no one seemed too injured. Within 10 minutes 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulances and a police cruiser showed up! Good to see the local tax revenue is paying for first rate emergency responders. We made it to the ferris wheel unscathed and enjoyed walking around Clifton Hill.
The hotel has a 12pm check out so we made our way to Toronto. We stopped in Oakville to see a very old friend and arrived in Toronto safely that afternoon.
After a month it’s time to leave Winnipeg and start the road trip part of the trip. It’s been great catching up with friends and family and being “home”.
Since the last post we’ve been keeping busy. We went out to the Living Prairie Museum (a bunch of native grasses), the Forks multiple times, Go Kart racing and even made time for an escape room!
We played some street hockey to introduce Moose to even more Canadian culture. I grew up on a street full of families with children of overlapping ages. As we’ve all left the empty nesting parent’s haven’t moved so there’s been a glut of children around. Things are changing! It was a great multigenerational game with children, parents and grandparents all playing.
The escape room was heaps of fun! We went with Eric and Jenn (Eric and I met each other in grade 6). It was loosely based on the movie “Alien” and involved solving puzzles aboard an alien infested spaceship. There were lots of puzzles requiring different levels of communication. One involved talking Eric through a puzzle via an intercom while he was in a black room and we could see him with a nigh vision camera. The staff acted as aliens and worked hard to scare us. I believe Jenn was successfully terrified.
Tomorrow we’re flying to Buffalo NY to pick up our car and start our first road trip. We’re heading back to Canada through Niagara, Toronto, Montreal then down the east coast of the USA to Florida for 2 months. The blog posts should be more frequent from now on as we write about all the things we’re doing.
