That's a Wrap!

 

Shipley's Choice Swim and Tennis Club (our community pool/tennis courts) sponsors a summer swim team and a summer tennis team.  At least one of our kids has been a part of the swim team since 2014, so this was our 9th year in a row of doing it.  And for the past several years, Lacey has done the tennis team.  Their big end of season Patapsco Tournament was this past Thursday.  It was very important to Lacey that she be there, so we actually came home from vacation three days early in order for her to participate.  She played two singles matches and won one and lost the other (to the girl who ended up winning the whole thing).  She had a ton of fun this summer and her tennis coach said that watching her play is "night and day" from last summer.  So I guess all those tennis lessons at SportFit are starting to pay off.  Way to go, Lacey!

Riley and Ella both did swim team.  Here are a few pics from "picture day" a couple weeks ago.

Ella and two of her besties, Ethan and Dom.

The whole team

Out of that whole team, the coaches selected this small group to swim in the final meet of the season: Divisionals.  There are six teams in our Division and every meet all season was a "dual" meet against one of the other five teams in our division.  "Divisionals" is when all six teams meet and swim against each other, so the coaches are only allowed to select three swimmers for each event.  Riley was chosen to swim the 50m Free, 50m Back and a 200m Free Relay.  Ella was chosen to swim the 50m Free, 25m Back and 25m Breast.  Riley got a PR in the 50m Free at 38.94 seconds and won her heat in the Back.  Ella also got a PR in the 25m Back at 25.68 seconds and a PR in 25m Breast at 28.06 seconds.  Way to go, girls!

The relays are always the final events of the meet.  Riley was super excited to swim with these four talented year-round swimmers Avery Slater, Caroline Stutz and Katie Wiseman.  They were really hoping for first place, but they came in at a close second 2:22.77.  But the top three finishers get trophies, so Riley is looking forward to that!

I had a lot of fun watching all three of my girls participate on the SC tennis/swim teams this summer!🎾🏊

Canada's Wonderland

 

As of just a couple weeks ago, Dave and I only had a rough outline planned out for our trip.  We had reserved our hotels, so we kind of knew what days we'd be where, but that was about the extent of it.  At our daughters' swim meet just a couple weeks ago, our neighbor came up to us and said he heard we were going to Toronto on our family vacation and recommended Canada's Wonderland (an amusement park) to us saying our kids would love it.  We decided to add it to our itinerary and make it our grand finale of the trip!  If it weren't for that random conversation at our kids swim meet, we never would have heard of this place and it ended up being such a fun and memorable way to end our trip!

The park opened at 10am, so we made sure to get there by 9:30am and were among the first in line to ride Leviathan, one of their most popular rides.  We all loved it!

Ella's ready to go in the Krachenwagen (bumper cars).

Ella chickens out on some of the bigger coasters (my only kid who wasn't chomping at the bit to go on them the second they were tall enough!) so while Lacey, Tanner, Riley and I hit up a couple of the bigger rides, Dave took Ella on Ghoster Coaster.

We also saw the Victoria Falls Divers Show.  Super cool!

My coaster buddy, Riley!

We waited in line over half an hour to go on Timberwolf Falls.  We knew we'd get a little wet, but we had no idea we'd get ABSOLUTELY SOAKED until right when we were about to get on the ride and saw drenched people getting off the ride.  Dave and Tanner both immediately bailed.  I said we couldn't wait in line that long and then not ride it!  But they took off and captured this pic of us, all soaked to the bone, while they were laughing their heads off at us.  And it didn't feel good because it was in the 70's.  You really need it to be in the 80's or above for it to feel "good" to be this sopping wet in your clothes.  Sooooo.... Riley, Ella and I decided to lay our clothes out to dry, throw on our suits and hit up the waterpark!  I don't have any pictures of that since I had to put my stuff in a locker, but we raced each other down the Riptide Racer, then went on the Muskoka Plunge, spent a little time in White Water Bay, one of Canada's largest outdoor wave pools, and finished up with going down the Black Hole together, a four-story slide full of twists and turns.  It was a super fun way to end our waterpark adventure together.  Then we grabbed our semi-dried clothes and met back up with Dave, Lacey (who air-dried by then) and Tanner.

It was no easy feat, but we finally convinced Ella to ride a "big coaster" - Flight Deck.  This is Canada's only inverted looping jet coaster and simulates the feeling of flying an F-14 fighter jet.  It travels at almost 80km/hour through 5 inversions and I absolutely hated it!  It banged my head and ears so much that I was in pain the entire time.  So, this was definitely a one and done for me, but Ella gave it two thumbs up!

One of Riley's highlights was the last ride we did together - Time Warp.  This one you lie flat on your stomach and you basically "fly" on this coaster.  We decided to make this our last ride of the day.  Lacey and Ella ran off to do Psyclone (for at least the 2nd or 3rd time - they loved that ride!) and Dave declared himself done.  So, Riley, Tanner and I got in line for Time Warp.  As we got toward the front, the ride broke down with people stuck in the "cages" lying down.  They eventually got them down, called in the maintenance guys, etc and and almost everyone (including Tanner) got out of line.  But Riley absolutely insisted we stay.  I thought it was a huge waste of time and thought there was no chance they'd get the ride back up and running, but they did!  And Riley was super happy we got to ride it as our grand finale of the day.  Happy we got to have that memory together!

Thanks for an awesome day, Canada's Wonderland!

12 solid hours of fun.

Goodnight!

This morning we got up and started our drive back home.  But we made one stop - Letchworth State Park in New York.  It was voted "#1 State Park in the USA" by USA Today in 2015 and "Best New York State Attraction" by USA Today in 2017.

We stopped here for lunch and dined in William Pryor Letchworth's former home, the Glen Iris Inn.

Riley snapped this picture of me relaxing on the grounds while we waited for our food.

Letchworth State Park is known as the "Grand Canyon of the East" and comprises 14,350 acres of gorgeous scenery along the Genesee River.

What a great way to end our trip!

So grateful for this family of mine and for the memories we made this week. 

Toronto

 

We woke up on the American side of Niagra and then headed across the border back over the Rainbow Bridge, but this time in our car and then kept on driving all the way to Toronto!  Our first stop was to check out the Art Gallery of Ontario.  But super bummed to arrive there only to find out it's closed on Mondays.  Boo!

So we headed to the nearby Grange Park that a local recommended.

The girls enjoyed Henry Moore's "Large Two Forms."

And the playground.

And then we made our way to the downtown area by the water.  It was fun to see Rogers Centre where the Toronto Blue Jays play.  They're off today - otherwise, I would have talked my family into seeing a game there!  1992 and 1993 World Series Champs - first Canadian team to win the WS. 

It's not Wrigley, but it's still baseball ⚾💙

Then we checked out the Toronto Railway Museum.... I spy Conductor Riley!

Choo Choo!

When Riley found out we were going to Canada, her #1 food request was BeaverTails.  So, we found a place that specialized in them. 

Coco Vanil and Strawberry Cheesecake for Riley and Ella.

Brownie for Tanner, which thrilled Tanner more than Dave ;)

And the classic cinnamon and sugar for Lacey and I.

Yum!

Beavertails with a view!

Whoooah!  What's that??!!

The CN Tower!

Wowzers!  Let's go to the top and check it out!

Here we are at the top!

The Outdoor Observation area (at 1,122 feet) is sadly closed for renovations at the moment, so we just went straight to the Main Observation level (at 1,136 feet).  Above that is the 360 restaurant at 1,151 feet and then you can do the "EdgeWalk" on the floor above that at 1,168 feet.

The total height of the tower is a staggering 1,815 feet!  At the time it was completed (1976), it was the world's tallest free-standing structure and held that status until 2007 when it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa.

In the elevator on the way down.  That's a loooong way down!

Back safely on the ground, Ella talked me into cotton candy since it's "Ella Day" (her half-birthday).

And then I went to check out the Four Seasons (which is listed in my 1000 Places To See Before You Die book).

As I was exploring the hotel - the shops, the lobby, the restaurants, the ballrooms, etc, I peaked out the window and saw our minivan (which I circled in yellow) waiting on the street for me with Dave and the kids inside.  So grateful for Dave who indulges me in getting all my 1000 Places "checkmarks."  He's a keeper 😊

And then we finished the day with a delicious dinner at Scaddabush.  Highly recommend!

Everything we had was delicious!  But they are most known for their fresh, homemade, hand-stretched mozzarella.  😋

Niagra Falls!

 

Welcome to Niagra Falls!

First things first..... let's ride the Maid of the Mist!

Up front with Old Glory.

Starting to feel the "mist."

Now that's mist!

Maid of the Mist selfie.

So pretty 🌊

Sailing into the heart of the falls.... Lacey's looking a little nervous 😉

It was so wet and rainy and windy, you can't even see the falls, which were right behind them.  Ella wouldn't even peek her face out of her poncho 🤣

Getting nailed!

We've both been here before, but never together.

And never with our four additions.

After we disembarked, we made our way up to Crow's Nest.  That was crazy wet because it was windy so it literally was dumping the falls right on us.  It was a memory for sure!

Then we made our way to the Observation Deck.

Now let's go over the Rainbow Bridge and make our way to Canada!

At the border!

Lacey's in Canada with Tanner in the US.

Ella straddling the line. In two countries at once!

A view of the Falls and Maid of the Mist from Rainbow Bridge.

I love seeing the Falls from the Canada side because you can look directly at them.

O Canada!

Ice Cream and the Falls... nice combo!

Is that an upside down tree?

It sure looks like it.... but it's a tree with an awesome hideout.  The kids kept going in and out - talk about a cool treehouse!

Another tree.... another source of entertainment!

Time to make our way back to America....

After we got to our hotel, Lacey realized she had left her "baby Didi" at the hotel we had stayed at last night.  She was so upset.  We called the hotel.  They couldn't find it and said they'd already cleaned the room. They took our number and said they'd call us if it turned up.  But Dave (bless him!) drove Lacey all the way back to the other hotel, talked to the manager, asked to talk to housekeeping, asked to look in the room, etc.  Anyway, long story short......  they found it!  Happy to end the day with Lacey and baby Didi reunited! 

Around 9pm, we headed back out to Prospect Point to see the Falls all lit up at night.

And to see the awesome 10pm fireworks show over the Falls!