Our Somewhat Adventurous Life: Family Time in Toronto

We went up to Toronto to visit with Mark's family. The weather was divine after the sweltering heat of Houston. The kids were thrilled to be able to play outside and not be bitten by fire-ants or get overheated from the 40+ weather. I am very disappointed in myself though, I forgot to take pictures of all the beautiful scenery that we saw. Next time I will do better. It is such a pretty place.

Alright! It isn't a real castle! Of all the beautiful old homes I could have taken pictures of, this is the one new and outrageously tacky house I did take a photo of. I don't care if I offend the owners, it is a castle in a subdivision (I doubt that is how they were built a 1000 years ago when this style was all the rage). That is right, this house is on about an acre lot in a subdivision with a small castle fort in the backyard for the kids. I feel bad for the people who bought and built around them, the value of their properties plummeted the minute this was built. Well, at least they will warned of an invasion if it ever happened. Note to self: Always make sure there are some building restrictions in the subdivision you choose to build in!

Day One: At the Park!
Jude learned to get up on his hands and knees and even did some token crawling!

Asher... he became one with the grass, falling into it with no reservations and no hands!

Eve spent the day chasing 'butterflies' (moths) with her cousins while we watched Jayden play a marathon of soccer games!

Day Three: Caledon and area. Mark grew up skiing and even competed up through highschool. This is his old club and we had to go back to reminisce. This was the only place that I took shots of the gorgeous rolling hills and forests around the area. The country-side around Toronto is so pretty. The trees are beautiful. The houses, amazing but very pricey (too bad).

We ended off the day by going for some ice-cream, which the kids greatly appreciated!

Day Four...or five...I lost count...: Splash-pad and Beach

Wherever you are, there is bound to be a spash-pad around for the kids to play at: Europe, China, Russia, Toronto...it doesn't matter, splash-pads are more fun than anything else you can take them to (perhaps they should consider getting one at the Louvre...).

The park was right by a beach on the lake (which great lake? I don't know, one of them...)
Jude took a while to get acclimated to the cold water, but eventually found it refreshing.

This time Asher not only got himself covered in sand, but felt it necessary to cover everyone else too...

...Eve was less than impressed! (that is Asher running away in the background trying not to get in trouble)

Mark, his sister (Melanie), his dad and the kids

...So after a couple of days I forgot to bring my camera and didn't remember again until the next weekend when we headed down to Niagara Falls to spend some time there. Even then, I didn't really take a lot of photos.

Here are the buddies after waking up one morning (a second shot of the bear that is so cute and cuddly).